Bomb explodes in mailbox in DeKalb County

KILPATRICK, Ala. (AP) &045; DeKalb County and state officials are trying to find out who built a homemade bomb that exploded inside a mailbox at a home in the Kilpatrick community.

DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said Monday that the state fire marshal’s office has been brought in to examine the shrapnel.

He said the explosion occurred about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, but authorities weren’t notified until Friday morning.

“At this time, all we really know is that it involved a homemade explosive device,” Harris said. “We are not sure what kind it was, but there is the possibility it could have been a pipe bomb.”

The mailbox is a good distance from the home, but he said the people who live in the house heard the explosion.

************

Utah lawmakers take shots at Ala., other Southern states

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &045; People in Utah are used to being mocked by the outside world. It appears some lawmakers there have decided to strike back, and they’re aiming their barbs at the South.

Three weeks into their legislative session, lawmakers here have questioned the patriotism of Alabama and North Carolina on the floor of the House and have mocked Arkansas as an illiterate state on the Senate floor.

In debate over a resolution encouraging school districts to give students Veterans Day off, Representative Ken Sumsion suggested Utah’s schools were more patriotic than their Southern counterparts.

Sumsion said that when he lived in Alabama and North Carolina, he was offended that school districts there didn’t give students Memorial Day off, suggesting they declined to do so because of still lingering resentment from the Civil War.