*** Children find ways to use motorized scooters ***

Shreveport, LA (AP) -- 12/30/2004
Last year's gotta-have-it toy -- the motorized scooter
-- was sitting inside the garage at Tyler Wooten's house
on Sunday while the 9-year-old was playing baseball
down the street.

Tyler's dad, Brian Wooten, doesn't really like his son using the
electric scooter when he can ride a real bicycle or old-fashioned
scooter. Since Tyler received the scooter from his grandparents
last year, his dad has been strict about when and where he can
ride it, especially since Louisiana state police declared such
scooters are illegal on public streets.

"Last year after Christmas everybody bought them, and then they
said they really aren't legal because you have to have a driver's
license
to operate them, and of course a 9-year-old doesn't have a driver's
license," Wooten said.

This year, the motorized scooters weren't as popular as four-wheeled
powered vehicles, such as the pink Barbie jeep that 5-year-old
MacKenzie Littleton was riding in her family's yard on Sunday.

Her 11/2-year-old brother, Dylan, had just received a green
Kawasaki Ninja four-wheeler. The siblings were taking turns
driving around together or chasing each other.

"They're too little for scooters," said their mother, Misty Littleton,
who keeps rules: Don't ride in the street, and don't ride in lawns
other than theirs and the next-door neighbor's.

"We're probably going to do helmets, too," Littleton said.

Safety was on the mind of the Wootens, too. They bought a
light for Tyler's motorized scooter, and have grounded him
from using it when they found him riding without a helmet.
They won't let his 5-year-old sister, Hannah, use it unless a
parent is riding with her.

Many children who received motorized scooters as gifts last
year have found ways to enjoy them. Parents have set down
rules for the devices, and the riders have learned to avoid
attention from the police.

Hannah Richard, 12, said she and her friends have to
steer clear of the Dogwood subdivision on their powered scooters.

"There's a Dogwood lady who doesn't like people
disturbing the peace, and she'll call the police," Hannah said.

She learned the hard way how dangerous the scooters can be.
Once last year, she and a friend were both riding on her electric
scooter. They were going up a driveway and crashed; her friend
fell on the grass, but Hannah fell on the concrete and got a few scars.

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
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