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Search will continue for missing Hudson shrimper

By Times Staff Writers
Published February 23, 2005

HUDSON BEACH - The Pasco County Sheriff's Office continued searching for a missing shrimper Tuesday while the Coast Guard suspended its search.

Donald Klette, 19, of Hudson was on a shrimp boat that pulled alongside a disabled shrimp boat about 5 miles off Hudson Beach early Monday, the Coast Guard reported. When Klette and his fellow crew members boarded the other boat, their own boat began to drift away. A line may have broken. Klette apparently jumped in after the drifting boat. The boat later was found, but Klette wasn't on it. The Coast Guard stopped its search for him at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The sheriff's Marine Unit kept searching and will continue today, spokesman Kevin Doll said.

"Since he is a Pasco resident, the sheriff wants to continue the search," Doll said, "either hoping to find him alive or, at the least, recover his body."

DADE CITY - The temporary skateboard park in the parking lot east of City Hall will close for 60 days while officials consider how to address ongoing problems.

City commissioners voted to close the park because of complaints of verbal abuse, vandalism, skaters not wearing their helmets and other issues. Some business owners, however, say the park keeps skaters off public sidewalks.

The unsupervised park opened in summer 2002 as a temporary facility while funds could be raised for a permanent park. It cost the city $10,000. This is the second public skate park that has given city officials problems. Recently, Zephyrhills police Chief Russell Barnes complained to the Zephyrhills City Council about vandalism and skaters who refused to wear helmets.

SAN ANTONIO - A county-owned semitrailer truck got jammed under an Interstate 75 overpass Tuesday after the driver tried to take his 16-feet-tall cargo under a 15-foot-7 overpass.

The flatbed truck was carrying a piece of excavation equipment. It was traveling east on State Road 52 about 1 p.m. when it got stuck under the overpass for a couple of hours, said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Larry Coggins.

The mishap disrupted traffic on SR 52 for a couple of hours. Interstate traffic was unaffected.

"The overpass was banged up, but there was no structural damage, no danger," Coggins said.

The truck's driver, Joe Stadnik, 52, of New Port Richey, is a county employee. Stadnik was uninjured, but he was charged with a height violation, Coggins said. The Florida Department of Transportation cited Pasco County for failing to have an escort vehicle accompany the truck.

[Last modified February 23, 2005, 00:35:16]