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Boards Up After Big Bang

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By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

TAMPA - Michelle Miller looked at the boards covering the three front windows of her house on West Berry Avenue and sighed.

"We're halfway prepared for hurricane season. I guess that's a plus," she said.

Something exploded in the street at the end of the Millers' driveway on New Year's not long past midnight, shattering four windows in their house: two in the master bedroom, one in the living room and one in a guest room.

Windows at six neighbors' houses were damaged as well, Tampa police said. A worker repaired one of the damaged windows Wednesday morning; others remained covered with paper or wood.

Police are pursuing leads to determine just what exploded about 1:15 a.m. in the 1000 block of West Berry Avenue. Whatever it was left a dent about an inch in diameter in the pavement surrounded by a blast pattern.

Michelle Miller, 33, and her husband, Dave, 39, were not home at the time. They had stayed overnight at a friend's house in St. Petersburg on New Year's Eve. Their dog, Rosie, was with relatives.

They returned home Tuesday and called 911, thinking they had been burglarized. Neighbors quickly told them about the explosion. One neighbor told Michelle Miller "the room just lit up and he heard this loud noise," she said.

"It's kind of scary," Dave Miller said. "It's disheartening. Destroying property is totally different from having a good time."

The Millers work for Hillsborough County, he in the real estate department and she in the traffic division. On Wednesday, they were waiting for an insurance adjuster to assess the damage to their house, which property records say is worth about $122,000.

The couple said they have a $1,000 deductible on their homeowners insurance. Like his wife, Dave Miller tried to be optimistic about the repairs.

"All our bad luck's out in one day," he said. "That's how we're going to look at it."

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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