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By Times staff writers
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 8, 2000
Driver has heart attack on I-4, dies after wreck
PLANT CITY -- A Lutz man died Tuesday night after he suffered a heart attack while driving and wrecked his car on Interstate 4, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Floyd A. Holcomb, 62, of 17803 Sunrise Drive, was eastbound in his 1997 Chevy shortly after 9 p.m. Just west of the McIntosh Road exit, the FHP said, he had a heart attack and lost control of his car.
The car swerved onto the median and then across the westbound lanes, landing in a ditch. Holcomb was taken to Brandon Regional Hospital, where he died.
ST. PETERSBURG -- A 44-year-old woman has been arrested and accused of stabbing her mother twice in the stomach during an argument over money, police said.
Nancy Schroeder was charged with attempted homicide and was held in the Pinellas County Jail.
Police said Schroeder asked 77-year-old Marion Gross for a dollar on Monday night, but she held the bill over her head.
Schroeder stabbed Gross in their home at 1945 62nd Ave. NE after the two argued, police said. Gross was treated at Bayfront Medical Center and is expected to recover.
CLEARWATER -- Nine fire trucks were dispatched to the Alpine Road Condominiums Wednesday night for what turned out to be a minor fire. Fire officials said initially it was a water heater fire that was put out quickly. The large number of trucks was sent because the building at 1409 Alpine Road is a condominium complex.
ST. PETERSBURG -- The top of a Florida Power pole caught fire briefly Wednesday night, bringing at least five fire units to the Second Street S site because the pole is near a large tank holding diesel fuel.
The fire was put out quickly and the piece that caught fire, the wooden cross-arm at the top of the pole, replaced. The pole is on a Florida Power transmission site off Second Street S.
An insulator on the pole "tracked over," in effect spilling electrical voltage onto the wood, according to Florida Power line foreman John Allen. There were showers of sparks but never any danger to the tank, according to fire Lt. Christopher Bengivengo.
Allen said the insulator got contaminated with dirt during the dry spell and when it rained Wednesday night, it caused the tracking over.
PLANT CITY -- A Lutz man died Tuesday night after he suffered a heart attack while driving and wrecked his car on Interstate 4, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Floyd A. Holcomb, 62, of 17803 Sunrise Drive, was eastbound in his 1997 Chevrolet shortly after 9 p.m. Just west of the McIntosh Road exit, the FHP said, he had a heart attack and lost control of his car.
The car swerved onto the median and then across the westbound lanes, landing in a ditch. Holcomb was taken to Brandon Regional Hospital, where he died.
ST. PETERSBURG -- A 44-year-old woman has been arrested and accused of stabbing her mother twice in the stomach during an argument over money, police said.
Nancy Schroeder was charged with attempted homicide and was held in the Pinellas County Jail.
Police said Schroeder asked 77-year-old Marion Gross for a dollar on Monday night, but she held the bill over her head.
Schroeder stabbed Gross in their home at 1945 62nd Ave. NE after the two argued, police said. Gross was treated at Bayfront Medical Center and is expected to recover.
A memorial service for Eugene Woodward, a University of South Florida medical student who died Saturday in a car accident, is planned for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Church of the Transfiguration, 4000 43rd St. N in St. Petersburg.
Woodward, 25, was killed when a Ford Bronco driven by his twin brother, Ed, was hit by a car on Interstate 275 in Tampa, just north of Busch Boulevard. Ed Woodard survived the fiery wreck.
The family has requested that those wishing to make donations give them in Eugene Woodward's name to CASA, the Center Against Spouse Abuse, P.O. Box 414, St. Petersburg FL, 33731.
TAMPA -- Tampa voters could wind up with two term-limit questions on the November ballot -- one for the mayor and another for the City Council.
City Attorney James Palermo is recommending that the council today approve two separate ballot referendums. The package deal the council had proposed could face a constitutional challenge for dealing with more than one issue, Palermo said.
But City Council member Bob Buckhorn says splitting the issue helps those who favor removing the two-term limit to allow Mayor Dick Greco to run for a third consecutive term in 2003.
"It's important that it be a single issue, as simple and self-explanatory as possible," said Buckhorn, considered a sure bet to run for mayor in three years. "The issue is term limits, and voters need to understand we're talking about a repeal of term limits."
PINELLAS PARK -- One person was killed and five injured late Wednesday in a four-vehicle collision on U.S. 19 at 116th Avenue N.
Police said a Crown Victoria westbound on 116th Avenue pulled out in front of a truck, southbound on U.S. 19.
The Crown Victoria spun out and hit a northbound Cadillac. The truck went into the northbound lanes, hitting a Volkswagen Fox carrying three people, one of whom was killed.
The other two people in the Volkswagen, two people in the Crown Victoria and the truck driver were taken to Bayfront Medical Center. The driver of the Cadillac was not injured, police said. No identities were available late Wednesday.
PINELLAS PARK -- City Council members say they'll make sure a tennis court and walking trail will be part of the Broderick Park renovation.
Retaining the tennis court and walking trail means the total renovation cost will be about $2.2-million, higher than the amount budgeted but lower than the contractor's bid of $2.5-million.
Most of the excess cost was incurred when Pinellas Park officials decided to build a hurricane-resistant recreation center for city employees and their families.
Because the price for that was so high, council members had told city staff members to cut the price while saving the hurricane-worthiness of the building. City staff members had told the council the cost could be dropped to about $2.1-million if the tennis court and walking trail were eliminated.
The council is scheduled to make its final decision during tonight's 7:30 council meeting.