Webb City teen ticketed three times for driving mower without l

WEBB CITY, Mo. -- A 16-year-old Webb City resident has been ticketed three times for driving without a license -- on a riding lawn mower that only goes a few miles per hour.

Police chief Don Richardson said Claude "Dooner" Brown has been pulled over each time because of dangerous situations and has been warned about his "driving habits" more than once.

"It makes me feel pretty mad," Brown said. "I'm just going a couple of blocks up and coming home from mowing. I guess as long as I stay off the road, I'll be fine."

At the $15 to $20 he makes per yard, it would take Brown about 10 mowing jobs to pay the three $60 tickets he's received.

The problem, Richardson said, is that Brown, who has been studying to take the driver's exam, sometimes drives the mower on city streets. Richardson said someone on a riding mower is subject to the same restrictions as someone on a bicycle.

Richardson said most police officers realize the boy uses the mower to mow lawns, and they leave him alone for the most part, unless he uses it for transportation outside his job.

"Most people see him driving the mower around with a dilapidated wagon hitched on going to his mowing jobs," Richardson said. "I admire him for doing that, but if he's going to use the mower for something other than a mowing service, he needs to get a driver's license."