  The SO(3) lattice gauge theory with a Villain form of action was investigated
by Monte Carlo techniques on asymmetric lattices with Nt = 2 and 4, where Nt is
the number of sites in the temporal extent. Unlike the results for higher Nt,
only one transition of second order was found for Nt = 2 . An extended action
with an irrelevant term to suppress Z_2 monopoles enabled us to get a better
view of the deconfinement transition as the effects of bulk transition could be
suppressed as well. Although the action has no global Z_2 symmetry for the
SO(3) theory, unlike the SU(2) theory at finite temperature, our study revealed
a second order deconfinement transition, with properties similar to the
deconfinement transition of SU(2).
