Health Inspector Shuts Down 7-Year-Old's Summer Lemonade Stand

[Ryan Ruck]

Health Inspector Shuts Down 7-Year-Old's Summer Lemonade Stand

August 6, 2010

One enterprising 7-year-old girl trying to make a little extra summer cash had her lemonade turned into lemons.

Health inspectors for Multnomah County in Oregon shut down Julie Murphy’s stand, where she was charging 50 cents a cup for Kool-Aid lemonade, according to the Associated Press .

The little entrepreneur got the idea for opening a stand when she saw a TV episode where a cartoon character, Olivia the pig, opened one, according to her mom, Maria Fife. While selling her cold drinks at a monthly fair in northeast Portland last Thursday, a health inspector asked for her license and then said she’d have to close up shop or risk being fined $500.

Lemonade stands require a permit in Oregon, according to OregonLive.com – and while kids who stir up a big pitcher and make a homemade sign might fly under the radar if they set up shop right outside their home, that’s not likely to happen at a large event where county health inspectors are on the prowl.

"I understand the reason behind what they're doing and it's a neighborhood event, and they're trying to generate revenue," Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department, told OregonLive.com. "But we still need to put the public's health first."

The cost of a temporary license for a stand? A chilling $120.

Since the lemonade stand got squeezed out, the county’s top elected official, county Chairman Jeff Cogen, apologized for the sour treatment Julie got.

“A lemonade stand is classic iconic American kid thing to do,” Cogen told the AP. “I don’t’ want to be in the business of shutting that down.” He also called Fife to apologize.

Cogen noted that the regulations for food stands are aimed at professional food service operators and that the inspectors are expected to use professional judgment. “This isn’t something we need to be using our limited resources to crack down on,” he said. Cogen said he could identify with Julie. After all, he recalls having lemonade stands as a kid.

[American Patriot]

Follow up on this.. they apologized to her.

[Ryan Ruck]

When will the idiots learn?

Georgia Police Close Girls' Lemonade Stand

July 15, 2011

Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn't have a business license or the required permits.

Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn't know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.

The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.

The girls needed a business license, peddler's permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.

One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.

The girls are now doing chores and yard work to make money.

[Phil Fiord]

It is surely a law that was intended to stop street vendors all over the place. Likely, an exclusion for a minor operating a stand was not included.

Unhappy with a law? Work to change it through due process.

Still, I do agree targeting a couple girls selling lemonade seems low.