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Irregular News for 07.03.06
Sarasota, FL -- When 11-year-old Chandler Williams showed his mom what he'd won at a Sarasota family game center recently, her hair "stood on end."
The prize was a plastic skeleton arm with a bony hand, but that's not what scared the boy's mother.
It was the 11-inch stainless steel knife that Chandler revealed when he pulled the hand from the arm bone.
"I almost had a heart attack," said the boy's mother, Heidi Williams of Punta Gorda. "I was just devastated."
The knife was obtained by her son two weeks ago while he and his father were visiting Livingston's Entertainment Center in Sarasota, said Heidi Williams.
She said her son turned in tickets he'd won by playing games at the center and selected the knife from a case of prizes for children under age 18.
But Larry Adami, owner of Livingston's, said he doubts the family's story. He said the knife was more likely in a case of specialty knives that are offered only to adults.
Located in a 45,000-square-foot building, the center offers games for both children and adults, similar to the Chuck E. Cheese franchise. Both also have bars that offer alcoholic beverages.
The Livingston's center has been operating for 16 years. It has been offering specialty knives as adult prizes for 12 years, Adami said.
"We're sorry this incident happened," he said.
The goal is to provide "state of the art fun for people 8 to 80," he added.
But state Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, a medical doctor who has three kids, said he, too, was shocked when he was shown the knife Friday.
So shocked, in fact, that Kreegel quickly convened a press conference to publicize to parents the need to beware: Dangerous items like the knife could wind up in the hands of a child.
"Have no doubt about it; this is a dangerous piece of stainless steel," Kreegel said, as he whipped the knife out of its bone case in front of TV news cameras. "This is not something we need in the hands of children."
He lightly jabbed the knife at a piece of paper. The blade sliced through the paper like a razor.
Kreegel said he contacted the center's general manager to find out how the business could allow such a weapon to be given to children.
He said a general manager emphatically maintained that employees vigorously check ID cards to make sure those offered prizes from the adult display case are adults.
Sometimes, boys will barter outside the business to obtain adult items from others, the manager told the lawmaker.
A state law declares it is unlawful for any dealer in arms to sell to a minor a "Bowie or dirk knife." A dirk knife is a dagger-style weapon similar to the knife contained within the skeleton arm.
The law also prohibits the sale of any firearm, pistol, Springfield rifle or other repeating rifle, brass knuckles, slingshot or electric weapon to a minor.
Another law prohibits children from bringing weapons to school.
Adami speculated that the boy's father might have picked up the skeleton arm from the adult case. The father may have given his son the item not knowing it concealed a knife.
The item, manufactured in China and distributed via the Internet by the company Bud-K Worldwide, was selected for Livingston's "collectible weapons case" by the center's purchaser, said Adami.
The case includes replicas of weapons made famous by such movies as "Blade," he said.
"We have had lots of parents that have won these particular items," he said.
The knives come with the handle taped to the case. The adult who selects it is directed to "take it immediately to his car," Adami said.
"Our policy here is that nothing from that particular case is to be given to minors," he said.
Employees are instructed to ask for identification cards from anyone who looks younger than 30, he said.
He said if the Williams family had returned to the center within a few days, the staff could have reviewed security videotapes to determine whether an employee or family member had obtained the knife.
"I'm concerned for them also," said Adami. "I would hate to think an employee did give a knife to a child here."
source
Sarasota, FL -- When 11-year-old Chandler Williams showed his mom what he'd won at a Sarasota family game center recently, her hair "stood on end."
The prize was a plastic skeleton arm with a bony hand, but that's not what scared the boy's mother.
It was the 11-inch stainless steel knife that Chandler revealed when he pulled the hand from the arm bone.
"I almost had a heart attack," said the boy's mother, Heidi Williams of Punta Gorda. "I was just devastated."
The knife was obtained by her son two weeks ago while he and his father were visiting Livingston's Entertainment Center in Sarasota, said Heidi Williams.
She said her son turned in tickets he'd won by playing games at the center and selected the knife from a case of prizes for children under age 18.
But Larry Adami, owner of Livingston's, said he doubts the family's story. He said the knife was more likely in a case of specialty knives that are offered only to adults.
Located in a 45,000-square-foot building, the center offers games for both children and adults, similar to the Chuck E. Cheese franchise. Both also have bars that offer alcoholic beverages.
The Livingston's center has been operating for 16 years. It has been offering specialty knives as adult prizes for 12 years, Adami said.
"We're sorry this incident happened," he said.
The goal is to provide "state of the art fun for people 8 to 80," he added.
But state Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, a medical doctor who has three kids, said he, too, was shocked when he was shown the knife Friday.
So shocked, in fact, that Kreegel quickly convened a press conference to publicize to parents the need to beware: Dangerous items like the knife could wind up in the hands of a child.
"Have no doubt about it; this is a dangerous piece of stainless steel," Kreegel said, as he whipped the knife out of its bone case in front of TV news cameras. "This is not something we need in the hands of children."
He lightly jabbed the knife at a piece of paper. The blade sliced through the paper like a razor.
Kreegel said he contacted the center's general manager to find out how the business could allow such a weapon to be given to children.
He said a general manager emphatically maintained that employees vigorously check ID cards to make sure those offered prizes from the adult display case are adults.
Sometimes, boys will barter outside the business to obtain adult items from others, the manager told the lawmaker.
A state law declares it is unlawful for any dealer in arms to sell to a minor a "Bowie or dirk knife." A dirk knife is a dagger-style weapon similar to the knife contained within the skeleton arm.
The law also prohibits the sale of any firearm, pistol, Springfield rifle or other repeating rifle, brass knuckles, slingshot or electric weapon to a minor.
Another law prohibits children from bringing weapons to school.
Adami speculated that the boy's father might have picked up the skeleton arm from the adult case. The father may have given his son the item not knowing it concealed a knife.
The item, manufactured in China and distributed via the Internet by the company Bud-K Worldwide, was selected for Livingston's "collectible weapons case" by the center's purchaser, said Adami.
The case includes replicas of weapons made famous by such movies as "Blade," he said.
"We have had lots of parents that have won these particular items," he said.
The knives come with the handle taped to the case. The adult who selects it is directed to "take it immediately to his car," Adami said.
"Our policy here is that nothing from that particular case is to be given to minors," he said.
Employees are instructed to ask for identification cards from anyone who looks younger than 30, he said.
He said if the Williams family had returned to the center within a few days, the staff could have reviewed security videotapes to determine whether an employee or family member had obtained the knife.
"I'm concerned for them also," said Adami. "I would hate to think an employee did give a knife to a child here."
source
