Mother wants lighters pulled from shelves

MID-MICHIGAN (WJRT) -- (01/03/08)-- It's a rubberized Dalmatian fire dog that any child might enjoy playing with. But this is not a toy, it's a lighter.

A Beaverton-area family purchased the lighter yesterday and were surprised once they got it home.

"I thought,  'Oh cool, firedog.' I thought, 'Dalmatian, firedog.' I thought that was really neat," said Laura Fowler.

So when Fowler's four-year-old daughter saw it near the cash register at Beaverton's Dollar Daze store, she told her mom she wanted it. They bought it and brought it home.

When Fowler took a closer look, she realized that it was no toy.

"I was terrified.  My daughter is four," she said.

Fowler says other lighters were near this novelty lighter, but didn't realize the Dalmatian and other animal objects were also lighters.

Michigan State Police Fire Investigator Leonard Jaskulka didn't realize the Dalmatian was a lighter at first, and even takes offense that a manufacturer would make a lighter out of the symbolic fire dog. "It's a symbol of safety. I think they have taken this and kind of perverted it a little by putting butane inside of a Dalmatian dog."

We spoke to Sandy Johnson from Dollar Daze corporate offices over the phone. While she says the stores display the lighters where children can't get at them, she is taking another look at selling them.

"My thoughts are that I should pull it off and see if we can get the person we bought it from to buy it back," she told ABC12's Terry Camp.

Which would be welcome news to Laura Fowler. "Toys are supposed to be toys, and lighters are supposed to be lighters. Who would design a lighter that looks like a rubber toy?"

We could not find out who actually manufactures that type of novelty lighter.

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local, terry camp

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