Teen skateboarders cited

DaMac Estates does not have the best reputation.

The working-class neighborhood on the northern fringe of Brooksville is a well-known haunt of drug dealers.

So it's all the more important to Tonya White that her son and his friends have ways to keep busy. She keeps a billiards table in the garage, a trampoline in the backyard and computers in her home.

But there's another hobby - almost an obsession - that keeps her son occupied: Skateboarding. After school and on weekends, you can find Al White, 16, Jacob Webb, 15, and Brandon Ross, 17, wheeling around their neighborhood, perfecting tricks and killing time.

The boys would rather walk to Hernando High School so that they can ride their boards home after school.

"I can think of much worse things they could be into," White said Wednesday afternoon. "Especially around here."

But the boys' pastime got them into a spot of trouble last Friday - unwarranted trouble, in Tonya White's opinion. It was around 7 p.m. and the trio was cruising down on Campbell Drive when Deputy Richard Purchase motioned them over.

The boys came to a stop and walked over. Purchase asked for ID. They didn't have any official ID, just their Hernando High School cards. After asking them a few questions, Purchase gave them each a $47 ticket for skating on the right shoulder of the road.

State law states that pedestrians should walk toward oncoming traffic in the left lane.

Al White called home. His stepfather came over and was incredulous that the deputy was ticketing three teenagers for the offense. He couldn't understand why a warning didn't suffice.

"We were all very upset," Tonya White said. "We don't have $50 to spend."

As such, they are planning to contest the tickets in court.

White would rather see deputies arresting drug dealers or catching speeders.

By the letter of the law, the deputy was in his right to give a ticket. On Thursday, the sheriff's office didn't have an official explanation for why a warning wasn't given instead.

Lt. Cinda Moore, spokeswoman, said DaMac is a problem area and that Purchase does a lot of work there.

It may be that he warned them before, Moore said, but she wasn't sure.