What a Difference a Decade Makes: 3 Girls Busted for Illegal Lemonade Stand
Police in Georgia Shut Down Girls' Lemonade Stand
July 15, 2011AP - 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.
3 Girls Busted for Illegal Lemonade Stand
'We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with,' says police chief in Midway, Ga.July 15, 2011
msnbc.com - Three girls trying to raise money to go to a waterpark thought that a lemonade stand would do the trick. But then they met the long arm of the law — their local police chief.
The girls had started up their stand in Midway, Ga., when Police Chief Kelly Morningstar and a deputy drove by.
"They told us to shut it down," 10-year-old Skylar Roberts was quoted as saying by The Coastal Source news website.
"It’s kind of crazy that we couldn’t sell lemonade," added 14-year-old Casity Dixon. "It was fun, but we had to listen to the cops and shut it down."
Morningstar defended his action and received the support of Midway's mayor.
"We had told them, 'We understand you guys are young, but still, you’re breaking the law, and we can’t let you do it anymore,'" Morningstar said. "The law is the law, and we have to be consistent with how we enforce the laws."
That city law requires a business and food permits ($50 a day), even if the stand was at the home of one of the girls.
Health issues were also a concern, Morningstar said.
"We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance,” he said.
News of the bust caused an outpouring of local support for the trio — and The Coastal Source said it had given the girls tickets to the waterpark.
Back in the early 70s, when I was around 10, we lived within the city limits of Frederick, Maryland; at the time it was a mid-sized town with the largest employer probably being Fort Detrick. While my single mom went to work there, we would ride our bikes freely around town, trekking the 3-4 miles to the post's pool or up to the local strip mall for penny candy and ice cream.
ReplyDeleteFor a couple of summers, we ran a backyard carnival, the brainstorm of my younger sister. We would solicit local stores for prizes to give away. We always hit it big with the local department there -- one year they gave us baseball cards with bubble gum which was a huge hit. My sister, the ham of the family then and still today, even setup a stage where she was writer, director and star of the show. [Somewhat related -- we sometimes made a campsite in the backyard, setting up a tent and sleeping outside while my mother slept inside. Those were the days...when there weren't mandatory bike helmets or seatbeats and when you didn't worry about child molesters or kidnappers.]
The young police officers on the force today can't even fathom a childhood like ours. To them, it's normal to body slam and tazer and to bust little girls running lemonade stands (or backyard carnivals). They are trained as soldiers, seeing us as enemies who they must fight against rather than as citizens who they are sworn to protect and to serve.
By the way, none of us grew up to be carnies -- not that there's anything wrong with that.