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Celtic Radio Community > The Jester's Court > Two Ten Year Olds + Bulldozer


Posted by: Shamalama 02-Jun-2004, 09:15 AM
One can only imagine what goes on in the minds of 10-year-old boys. It's a Sunday afternoon. You somehow get into a fenced construction site filled with big cranes and bulldozers. You manage to find some ignition keys, hop up on the seat, start the engine and away you go.

You knock out power to a radio station, seriously damage construction equipment and level a trailer. Your day ends in the back of a squad car.

To the two 10-year-olds, it may have seemed like a romp in a giant sandbox full of toys. But, Minneapolis police say, that romp did more than $500,000 of damage at the Heritage Park housing development near Hwy. 55 and Lyndale Av. N.

Full story at: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4806557.html


Posted by: Eamon 02-Jun-2004, 09:43 AM
Yikes! They could easily have gotten tangled up in one of the powerlines, and that would have been the end of the story. The parents would have then sued the construction company for millions for leaving the keys in the dozer. Too scary!

Eamon

Posted by: tsargent62 02-Jun-2004, 11:03 AM
I doubt that law suits are still out of the question. I'll bet the radio station goes after the parents of those boys after they figure out the total lost revenue.

Posted by: oldraven 02-Jun-2004, 11:24 AM
Bah! I could have done better. At least hit the Million $ mark boys. They should have used the crane to drop the dozer on stuff. thumbs_up.gif

Posted by: Eamon 02-Jun-2004, 11:41 AM
QUOTE (oldraven @ 02-Jun-2004, 12:24 PM)
Bah! I could have done better. At least hit the Million $ mark boys. They should have used the crane to drop the dozer on stuff. thumbsup.gif

LOL!!! I take it you had fun with Tonka Toys when you were a kid, Oldraven? I once got a backhoe started at a construction site when I was like 14. The second the motor turned over, it stalled, but by that time I was running like crazy away from the thing. Scared me and my friends half to death.

I thought the recent liability concerns would prevent stuff like this...

Eamon

Posted by: oldraven 02-Jun-2004, 12:02 PM
My Dad used to be a landscaper and he ran a dozer most of the time. He owned a dump truck and worked a backhoe from time to time, but he was mainly dozer dude.

Well, when we were cutting the fire-breaks for the fields, ............. no he was making a road out to the barrens so we could harvest a field up there............. AAAnyway, he let me drive the dozer while I sat on his lap once; I was 8, I think. I got scared pretty quick, and he didn't take over when I was headed straight at a tree. Just chuckled at me. I ended up driving half way up the tree before he took the reigns. By that, I don't mean I drove a dozer verticaly up a tree. I knocked the big boy down and kept going. sly.gif

Yeah, I'm so badass. rolleyes.gif I was screaming more than anything.

Posted by: Eamon 02-Jun-2004, 12:31 PM
HA! When you told the kids at school, I bet they thought you were Da Man!

When I was the ops guy at the airport, we were doing some major renovations. I had my sister drive my Godson up to the airport. He is 4 and LOVES trucks. I drove up in this Monster loader (the kind that articulates in the middle) and put Jake in my lap. Well the SECOND we started to roll, he wanted down, and I mean RIGHT NOW. Poor kid! He didn't even want to stay in the loader long enough to move dirt! (Shame, because I always thought it was fun!)

Eamon

Posted by: oldraven 02-Jun-2004, 01:09 PM
Yeah, that stuff's cool when it stands six inches high and says TONKA on the side. Too big and too loud for kids to like the real deal.

I used to play in the back of Dads dump all the time though. That thing was awesome. Like an elevated bunker. Big ol' Ford.

Posted by: Raven 02-Jun-2004, 01:31 PM
Dozer (raven gets dreamy look in his eye)I wish I could have got the keys to a dozer when I was 10......but come to think of it I got in enough trouble without a dozer.....mmmhh ....dozers

Posted by: Herrerano 02-Jun-2004, 02:54 PM
QUOTE
When I was the ops guy at the airport, we were doing some major renovations. I had my sister drive my Godson up to the airport. He is 4 and LOVES trucks. I drove up in this Monster loader (the kind that articulates in the middle) and put Jake in my lap. Well the SECOND we started to roll, he wanted down, and I mean RIGHT NOW. Poor kid! He didn't even want to stay in the loader long enough to move dirt! (Shame, because I always thought it was fun!)

Eamon



A two and a half cubic yard loader by any chance? Fun and bouncy. Dozer, fun and grindy. Backhoe, no fun at all on a hill. Spikey wheel compactor, puts ya to sleep in a minute.

Leo cool.gif

Posted by: talleyrand 02-Jun-2004, 03:10 PM
I got to drive quite a few fun toys but nothing quite like the article mentioned

Massey Ferguson, Check
John Deere (plus mowing (only the 6/8 foot one, never got to use the 16 footer), grading and hauling), Check
Bobcat, Check
Heckendorn, Check (nasty riding lawn mower with limb removing exposed belts and lots of gears)
Backhoe, Never got to play with it. sad.gif

Fortunately, my dad was wise enough not to let me any of his toys until I was closer to 16.

Posted by: Raven 02-Jun-2004, 03:59 PM
I got drive a lot of different equipment on my dad's farm. Plus I drove Tractor Trailers for 14 years but I have never got to play on the toys that I really want to. Namely a Dozer, A Drag Line, or an Excavator tongue.gif Now those are power tools.

Posted by: Herrerano 02-Jun-2004, 04:10 PM
Got the chance to operate a D-7, along with a few other big heavy things. I think the guy that put me on the D-7 thought it was a big joke, but my job was to direct the scrapers in to dump their load and then I would hop on the dozer and push it out while waiting for the next scraper. Those are really big and scarry. Got to learn some really cool hand signals too. Ya know, like the two hands held straight overhead, palms open and facing each other means 'come directly to me'. That's what it means to so ya gotta get outta the way fast or those guys will run over ya. The other really handy signal was made with a solitary finger extended, it usually meant something like, "not there d***a*s, ya gotta watch me." biggrin.gif

Leo cool.gif

Posted by: oldraven 02-Jun-2004, 08:19 PM
The only time I got to actually drive one of those things was one time Dad was transporting a large Cat tandem-steer backhoe. I think I was around 10-11. I was doing alright, until it was time to make a sharp turn, and I put it up on two wheels, then on the other two correcting, and I was on my way back onto the other two when Dad took control of the situation. We almost went over a very large embankment into a valley on this dirt road. Yeah, that one I didn't tell the kids at school about. unsure.gif

Posted by: Annabelle 02-Jun-2004, 08:30 PM
O Man, I wish I could have been out there to play and run over stuff. Craines are the neatest things to operate and drop thing on top of other stuff....I loved it when I was a teenager playing at my dad's pit...you could destroy stuff and have fun too...a childs dream.
I hope they only give them a small smack on the wrist and send them home. We don't want to squash their creative side.

Posted by: Raven 02-Jun-2004, 08:42 PM
A giant dozer to crush and destroy- har har har

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