PORT RICHEY -- A Saturday morning fire destroyed a mobile home in rural northwest Pasco County, leaving a mother and three kids homeless, county fire rescue officials said.

"It's pretty well destroyed with the amount of heat and smoke that was in there," said battalion chief Doug Drape. "It melted everything."

The fire, which was apparently the result of an electrical short, burned the roof and walls of an addition to the double-wide mobile home, Drape said. Smoke and heat claimed the rest of the home, 14265 Dabney Court, Hudson.

A woman, her two daughters and her son were inside about 10:30 a.m. when it started. One of the girls heard a noise in the add-on room, saw the fire and woke her mother. They escaped without injury.

The family will stay with neighbors, and the American Red Cross was expected to provide clothing for the children to wear Monday, the first day of school. The family, whom officials did not identify, has insurance, Drape said.

AAA hopes new color will be impossible to miss

TAMPA -- The nation's largest auto club is changing the color of the equipment for children who help their classmates cross the street to a shade drivers can't miss.

The AAA is calling the blaring lime green color "Lectric Lime" and is hoping it will lead to improved school safety at the half-million elementary schools the auto club outfits nationwide.

It's the same color most new school zone warning signs sport.

"You can't miss them," said Yoli Buss, director of traffic safety for AAA Auto Club South's headquarters in Tampa.

For 75 years, the AAA has been supplying schools with safety equipment for children who volunteer on safety patrols. The change in equipment color won't apply to adult school crossing guards, who are usually law enforcement employees.

Buss said recent studies of motorists have shown that Lectric Lime is more noticeable than the previously used orange shade. When the program began, the safety color was white.

The auto club provides schools with free ponchos, belts, flags and baseball caps to outfit school safety patrols nationwide.

Father, son face charges after four-hour standoff

LARGO -- A sheriff's SWAT team engaged in a four-hour standoff Saturday with a father and son who were holed up inside a trailer after the father beat up his girlfriend and the son threatened someone with a shotgun, deputies said.

The men eventually came out of their home and surrendered Saturday afternoon in the Buckeye Mobile Home Park at 1100 Donegan Road, which is north of Ulmerton Road and between Seminole Boulevard and Starkey Road.

Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Cal Dennie gave this account:

Friday night, Jimmy Palmer Sr., 40, assaulted his live-in girlfriend, Sandra Mayhall, 38, who then spent the night at a neighbor's home.

Saturday morning, Robert G. Francis, 40, a visitor to the trailer park, found out about the beating and confronted Palmer, calling him a wife beater. That prompted Palmer's son, Jimmy Palmer III, 23, to point a shotgun at Francis.

Deputies were called, but the Palmers refused to come out of their home. They and a third man, Dave L. Schusler, 22, stayed inside the trailer drinking until they ran out of beer. They then surrendered.

All three were charged with obstruction. Palmer Sr. was charged with aggravated battery, violating his probation, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Palmer III was charged with aggravated assault.

Man found dead in car at Tampa gas station

TAMPA -- A 57-year-old man was found dead late Friday in a car parked at a gas station on E Hillsborough Avenue, police said.

Police spokesman Joe Durkin said Steven B. Clevenger had no known address. He was shot once in the chest.

Police found his body at 11:20 p.m. in the parking lot of the Texaco station at 3401 E Hillsborough Ave.

Durkin said police are investigating his death as a homicide.

Man shot in chest Friday in Brandon

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies are investigating a shooting Friday night that left a man in the hospital with gunshot wounds to his chest. Christopher E. Kyle, 36, was shot about 9:45 p.m. at 2207 Lumsden Road in Brandon.

He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, which refused Saturday to release any information about his condition. Sheriff's spokesman Alan Hill said deputies have a suspect, but the suspect's identity would not be released until after charges have been filed.

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