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2 killed in Pasco crashesBy RYAN DAVIS © St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2000 HOLIDAY -- Before leaving a Tampa work release program Nov. 2, Ronald Francis Williams nearly started to hyperventilate, his mother said. "He was nervous," said Janice Heimer, his mother. "He was worried he wouldn't adjust back to society well." Williams, 42, who had been serving a two-year sentence in Sneads and Tampa for his third drunken driving offense, was scared he wouldn't find work, his mother said. About 11:10 p.m. Friday, nearly six hours after he left to meet the owner of a lawn maintenance company, Williams was hit by a 1988 Oldsmobile and killed while crossing U.S. 19 near Mile Stretch Drive, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. He was less than a half-mile from his mother's home at 2051 Shady Cove Drive. Williams and the man he was meeting were going to discuss a job opportunity. He was walking. After three DUIs, he doesn't have a license, his mother said. Williams was one of two Pasco residents killed in unrelated fatal crashes late Friday night. Sarah Renee Osteen, 23, of 40735 Osteen Lane in Dade City, was killed in a Richland accident about 11:55 p.m., troopers said. Osteen, who was traveling east on Otis Allen Road, turned left onto Old Lakeland Highway in front of a southbound car driven by Steven Bush, 17, of Zephyrhills. The cars collided. Bush and his two 17-year-old passengers were treated at East Pasco Medical Center and released early Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Across the county in Holiday, Williams' mother learned of her son's death about 1:30 a.m. when a trooper knocked on her door. Williams had returned home Friday afternoon, just hours before he went out, after working in northern Florida doing telecommunication tower construction work with his brother. "He was starting to have a life again," Janice Heimer said.
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From the Times |
