"Let her have a childhood"

My wish for all children.

If this was a neighbourhood lemonade stand I would say ridiculous, however this was at a county fair with more than 15,000 people in attendance. I know people will say it is only Kool aid but what if the girl goes to the washroom and forgets to wash her hands because she is not trained in food safety and then handles the product? Plus it is not fair to the other vendors that are losing drink sales to someone who didn't pay to play. What if you had the booth next to hers and you lost 500.00 in beverage sales to her I would be choked to find out she didn't pay for her licence. If she wants to sell her lemonade at a stand in her neighbourhood that is great but if she wants to move to large events she needs to learn to play by the rules.

You do have a point, Greg. Also, if she's allowed to operate without a permit, then they have to let everyone operate without one. That's the first rule of ethics. A stand in front of her house in one thing, but at a fair where all vendors paid their permit fee, is another story. It's the mother who should've known better, unfortunately it doesn't matter to that little girl who just had a lesson in rules and regulation.

WOW! Talk about bureaucracy gone wild. And Carolyn that happened here in Miami recently in which the county approved a law banning ordinary good hearted people from feeding the homeless in downtown except for a few licensed organizations because of "food safety" concerns. I understand you need regulations for the well being of society but seriously. Stop with the ridiculous bureaucracy already and let people live.

I'm surpirsed they didnt call the IRS and try to make the little girl pay taxes on the kool aid sales...

If this was a neighbourhood lemonade stand I would say ridiculous, however this was at a county fair with more than 15,000 people in attendance.

It was about the MONEY -$150 for the license the article said -or a $500 fine. There was going to be a health inspection if she had purchased the license and not if she didn't? No, just a piece of paper. It was a lemonade stand - just add water and stir. It was about the MONEY and let's not pretend public health was involved.

Greg and Carolyn are absolutely right! Greg's post detailed considerations that those sympathetic to the cute little girl are not considering. Greg makes a distinction, as the Oregon officials did, between a neighborhood lemonade stand where the consumers are known and the child and her family are known and a state fair with 15,000 attendees.

It is a no brainer to see the difference.

The environment of the fair changes the whole issue, and if Oregon gives into the thoughtless supporters of the cute little girl, they are wrong. In such a crowd disease can be a very nasty thing even with the licensed who must abide by sanitation laws.

I think mommy dearest should be taken to task. The child did not think this gambit up on her own. I wonder if mommy was present at all times? Or if the child was left alone at her table. If the latter, that in itself is insanity to expose the child to the kinds of individuals mingling in the crowds who could be a threat.

greg111:

Did you read the article? The other vendors surrounded the inspectors. They weren't happy with what the inspectors were doing. Also take into consideration:

If all employees washed their hands after using the bathroom at restaurants, there wouldn't be a need for a sign in the bathroom to remind them of something they should know from childhood right?

"Did you read the article? The other vendors surrounded the inspectors. They weren't happy with what the inspectors were doing."

Things like this usually happen when you have a child reduced to tears.

Unfortunately she didn't have what was required to be able to serve 15k+ people. This is very different than setting up a stand at the end of your road and selling to the neighborhood.

And just to save myself another post response to Eric W. below . . we're a society that creates a lot of trash which causes bacteria that clings to *everything*.

Yes, I feel bad that the little girl ended up in tears, but that could have been avoided had her mother done a little bit of research to find out about lemonade stands at HUGE gatherings.

Good post V. Some humor is a good thing. This country has gone MAD.

Considering our precious FDA department is literally a handful of people screening the entire nations food supply (deathly inefficiently at that), there is absolutely no room to point fingers here other than some valid health/safety issues. Its funny how you see all these commercials on TV for the stupid weight loos and weewee hardeners that all say (in extremely fine print) that the claims have not been evaluated by the FDA yadda yadda yadda... so there aren't even checking things that are openly sold to the masses via television, way more than 15,000 people that's for sure. Who fines the FDA when people get sick/die because foods and drugs aren't checked for consumption? I agree, its all about the money... that's the real cost of our so called "freedoms".

I find myself basically agreeing with Greg on this one since this was being done at some kind of large fair vs out in front of the girls house. It would be one thing if she were trying to raise money for some kind of charity, but it seems like she was just there to make whatever cash she could before someone asked her to leave.

I mean, really...at this point I feel pretty confident in assuming that her mom is using her as a scapegoat to make some tax free cash without much cost involved since she didn't pay the vendor fee and there was no hint of this being done for a charity. Overall, there aren't enough details provided but I still agree with them shutting down her stand.

I would like to know the following:

Are both her parents currently employed?

Was her mom running a separate stand nearby where this was just being done to keep her child entertained while she was there working?

greg111 - A little piss never hurt anyone. North americans are such wimps. No double dipping, don't pour my coffee without gloves, don't make my sandwich without a hair net.

I am not a germaphobe, I don't care if I have to pick a hair out of my soup. Big whoop, people all over the world for thousands of years have dealt with worse and survived.

We have extremely lenient food laws, more so than most. Why? Because it's cheaper than spending a bit more money to make sure that cow skin, ammonia, hooves and other left over bits aren't ground up into ground hamburger ect. .

p.s. Canada has stricter food laws. =) so your whining about us whining is moot

LMAO, V, great post.

Not sure where you all inferred that it was a county fair - it doesn't state that in the article at all. I live in the area and as the article states, it was a local artist street fair. You know, a small neighborhood farmers market type street fair. The health dept rep was not even close to being accurate when they tossed out that 15,000 number for attendence! There is no way the local neighborhood would support that kind of traffic-both foot and vehicle! We don't even get those numbers FOR a county fair on any given day.

Yes, mom should have known better than to try to skirt around the rules-I'm sure that there were hand-outs stating that you needed a food seller permit-there usually are. But, the health inspector could have just taken mom aside and said "Hey, were you aware that you needed a permit for an even like this? Because of health regulations, blah, blah, blah..." But the inpector CHOSE to be a turd about it, apparently. Why else would the other vendors have rallied around the little girl?

I've got to believe that she didn't just have a little roadside stand going on. I've been to fairs before and you can't just walk in and set up, you need to rent space. The parents probably set it up and put her there as a gimmick- "Look at the cute litle girl selling lemonade!"

Yeah, it may seem ridiculous, but that is how the Russian spies were first outed according to this report:

Russian Spies Outed After Daughter Poisons Neighbor’s Lemonade Stand with Polonium-210.

You can read it all here. FUNNY stuff.

http://www.dailygoat.com/?p=944

Adam if you want piss in your lemonade, be my guest, I'll pass, thank you. It's easy to to stand there and snub your nose at the "ridiculous" health codes because thankfully you never had to attend the funeral of your child who ate a hamburger tainted with E.Coli, or become deathly sick over bad beef entering the country, or be contaminated with many other foodborne infections. Have you ever seen someone with salmonella from bad poultry or shigella from bad shellfish? You don't know the misery or you wouldn't be standing their complaining about health laws. Yes many generations before us never had these laws but you fail to point out, that foodborne disease outbreaks were common place where people, including young children died in large numbers. Perhaps that would explain the healthcodes we have today. Eh?

So, lets break this down. Girl sets up drink stand at a fairly large event where obviously it has been organized and other food vendors have been required to get a licenese. First question; Where were the organizers and why didn't they take care of the issue? two, big mean 'ol drunk with power health inspector decides he's going to stop this travesty and uses no tact to shut down the offending drink stand, much to the dismay of the litle girl, and some of the other vendors. Is it possible that the inspector might have used some reason and tact in this matter? Last; county official appologizes because he does not want to lose votes?

My conclusion: I have noticed that many individuals the work in government jobs, previously known as civil service have no desire or motivation to act as civil servants. This is one of the biggest problems in government now that these peple do not work to serve the people, they serve only themselves and their unions. I appologize for generalizing. I know there are government workers that are veryy committed and work hard, but there seems to be no room left for reason. As cictizens and taxpayers, we have lost our ability to control our respective governments at every level. We can elect different people, but this rarely changes anything because the structure cannot be altered. Elected officials have little power over unions and the power structures that control how ouir resources are used. OK, so this is a little heavy to get to from a story about la lemonaide stand, but it is a symptom of a much greater problem.

are you kidding me? All of you people that say the system was rtight for shutting down a little girls leomanade stand should be ASHAMED of your selves. I do not care WHERE she is selling the stuff, do you really think her sales of leomanade in any way would interfere with real vendors?

how much would this kid make? 50 bucks?

it is whacko's like all of you that have helped to put this country in the shambles it is in today.

Lighten up Francis!! Good god!

I do have to agree with Greg. It is a shame that it was done in a way that made the little girl cry. But, did it really happen the way it is made to sound? If the inspector simply said this to the girl and she started to cry - how would that have gotten the attention of the other vendors? How would it have lasted long enough for everyone to gather around and another inspector coming for "backup?" I have a feeling that the mother probably started making a big deal out of this - probably getting loud and argumentative - thus attracting attention. If this is the case, I begin to wonder about her motives to begin with. But back to the point - if someone were actually to have gotten sick from this (or claim they did), that would open the organizers and possibly the town council up to a law suit for allowing it. It's sad to say it; but in the litigation happy society that we now live in, people have got to protect themselves. Hey if McD's can get sued for selling hot coffee - how easy of a case do you think someone would have with this? It is just a shame that our society has been brought to this point.

If this had been a sidewalk stand in front of their home, I would say shame on the inspectors. However, when you are talking about serving at a fair being attended by 15,000 people, this is no longer a kid having fun, this is a business. I can understand the feelings of most about this only being a little kid and her mom selling lemonade from a mix, but think about it from the other side. How could they shut down any other vendor who did not have a permit if they allowed this girl and her mom to operate. People are always yelling on this board about equal protection, well that extends to enforcement as well. You can not selectively enforce laws and still have them consitently followed or be able to enforce them at all. Also, the potential for health problems are much greater at a big fair like this than sitting on the sidewalk or the end of your driveway in front of your house. In addition, with this being in at a large public event, had someone gotten sick, the organizers, the town, and anyone else you can think of would have been sued for not shutting them down.

My guess is there have been many fairs at this location in the past and the rule was in place long before the woman and her daughter decided to set up shop. My question is, what is so special about them, that they are now above the law while others are abiding by it? Is it because there was a cute little girl involved, which would exempt them? If that's the case, I'm going to send my 3 year old into my local bank and have her take the money from the teller drawers. If anyone complains, I'll just tell say "hey, she's just a cute baby girl, let her have the money if she wants." I've been to many fairs before and I've always seen families, including the young children, selling their wares in their own booths and their permits are hanging up for all to see. Sorry but if anyone here is wrong, it's the mother of that child.

Shouldn't it have been up to those running the county fair to make sure that all necessary licenses were in place - prior to the fair opening?

Shouldn't they have been the ones to be publicly reprimanded? And not a little girl?

Sometimes common sense just doesn't seem very prevalent.

If the inspector allowed this, next year at the county fair every booth would be "run by" a minor.

I think the biggest issue here is how the inspectors handeled the situation. they could hav pulled the mother off to the side and told her the requirements and said " miss you need to get the permit t be able to sell here I won't say anything about it today but you will have to have it tomarrow" Then did his job and looked of te stand made sure everything was ok for the public and if he found something wrong told them what they needed to fix. Also 150 dollars for a permit is damn steep. They really need to take a look at what each vendor is selling and make adjustments. A little girl selling kool-aid in a stand for 50 cents a cup probably will not clear 150 buck in a week going up against the other vendors and if she is actuallly cutting into their sales that much then mabee they need to look at what they are selling andfor how much.

For the health conserns she probably running a cleaner operations than most of the vendors cause her mother was there with her watching. Most mothers now days will make their kids take a shower if a fly lands on their kid.

I've been away from Portland for a while and just arrived for a visit a couple of weeks ago. The tone of the city is kind of depressed and "stabby". I'm not surprised that this happened and appalled that it did but it seems like more and more control freaks are out their mucking things up. I'll be happy to get home to my laid back island. I don't know if attitudes are influenced by this economy but it seems like this city has too many people wanting their way and blowing off everyone that does not agree with them. This is the city of my birth and my first love but dang it is showing a lot of disrespect for those milling about.

I'm so tired of these little kids taking our jobs and not paying taxes.

Sure, make a little girl obey the law, but if you try and make an illegal alien obey the law, you are just a racist. Meanwhile, it's the illegals who have stolen all of the jobs kids used to do in order to learn to be responsible, self-sufficient adults--lawn mowing, babysitting the "rich white people's kids", working the farms. These are all jobs that "no American will do," because when Americans try to do them we are faced with all of the laws we are forced to obey or pay the price. Why should a little girl be forced to obey laws that millions of adults around this country are not forced to obey? Because she wasn't in front of her own house in her own neighborhood? Last time I checked the illegals aren't picking their own land or mowing their own lawns or babysitting each other's children. Shouldn't they be forced to obey the rules as well?

Kurt-2022535 -- The inspectors DID talk to the mother. I don't think that it's clear why she decided to not pay her fee, but she chose to pack up and leave. We can thank MSNBC for (again) editorializing and providing incomplete facts.

Since this was a county-sanctioned fair, a regional event, vendors and exhibitors can't just waltz in and set up a booth or table at whim. On a much smaller scale, I've organized craft fairs for church and PTA type situations that involved several hundred vendors. They were required to describe their merchandise and purpose, sign contracts, and pay for their spot prior to the day. I didn't permit late-comers to just set up their tables for free.

I have happy memories of selling lemonade in front of my childhood home, and I feel badly that this child was placed into a situation created by her mother who should have, in my opinion, researched and understood procedure. There's a big difference between a little stand in front of a child's home and a county fair geared for over 10,000 people.

Also, you're assuming that she was running a cleaner operation than other vendors just because her mother was "watching." I've seen horrors in women's restrooms of mothers with their children that I've now become almost fanatical about not touching any surface without a paper towel. Don't assume that all mothers are clean people and teach hygiene.

I do agree that the booth price was high, but that's not for us to determine. If that's the going rate, it applies to every vendor, regardless of age.

I've also known many of today's parents who are germaphobes to the point that their kids can't build up antibodies to ward off common illness. Their children are always sick with the common cold.

Really this girl was at a street ART fair, there aren't Food Vendors. You people are sick who think this was the right thing to do. These "inspectors" are out to take your tax dollars, and you think it is OK.

So for all the people who think that she should have had a permit for her daughter, What about child labor laws.

You are what is wrong with this country!

Lu-1328381 This story has nothing to do with illegal. And V. I would once like see a story that Obama is not blamed for.

Greg and the rest of the ding bats read the article this was a neighborhood art fair and there might be 15,000 people show up in a day and I have been to them before. This was not a county fair let alone a state fair which 99.9% all food sales are highly controlled and inspected. The kid was using bottled water and Kool Aid bought at the store, pour the Kool Aid in the water shake up the bottle and you got a mixed drink not a germ factory. And if a bunch of you miss prissies would play a little more in the dirt you and you kids might have more of an immune system to the every day germs that have been here for years. Remember the War of the Worlds, it was the lack of an immune system that brought the invaders down and if we keep going the same thing is going to happen to the residents.

If you lived in or around Portland, OR you would know this is just another prime example of the incompetence in the county and city government and that is why I live in the outlying area and rarely even go down town to shop.

This wasn't the county fair with 15,000 people it was a little local arts fair with people selling hand made crafts etc. Who cares if she was selling lemonade? And where did you guys get the idea this was a county fair. READ THE ARTICLE!!

Elect me as your next King and There will be no taxes on lemonade stands. Also, no politicians

to waste your money. And while I'm at it, crooks will go to and stay in jail. And the enemy will

be defeated.

And here is a way to get everyone back to work. If it is sold here, it must be MADE here.

Your next King..........

NJ Person what the inspectors was looking for was an resturat licence not an permit for the to be the spot she was in. Now if it was my going to sell drinks and a arts fair I would not even think to have to go a restruant licence nor would I have dreamed of needing it. Now if I was doing cooked food or thing more along that line yea but not selling kool-aid buy the cup and to be honest I would almost bet that the people that was running the show probably did not think she would need one either other wise they may have said something when she got the spot to set up.

I think a lot of you are silly. A fair with 15000 people, I'm sure this little girl didn't bring enough drink mix to the fair to serve this many people. If anything, maybe a couple hundred servings at the most.

Greg111, Hand washing at a fair? Really? Most county fairs I've been to used outhouses. And not many of those booths have running water. Now lets say there was a place to wash her hands. Someone uses the bathroom before her and doesn't wash, and she touches the same spot on the door they did leaving. Now what? Also, I'm sure it's not like she stuck her arm in the jar to stir the mix. I'm not sold on your sanitation argument.

If I were there I would have been in the crowd telling these people to leave her alone. She alone wouldn't affect things for the other vendors (The ones who supported her btw). She wasn't going to contaminate anything that nobody would have caught anyway. This is just a bad situation all the way around.

And IF something had gone wrong and any of you critics had gotten sick, you wouldn't dream of hiring a lawyer try to get you mega bux, wouldja; of course not...

Why would I sue a 7 year old girl because I got sick? Are you saying she has a disease worse than food poisoning?

Naw. I'm saying I've been around for a while, and I've read about people getting sick from various causes, not unlike this one; and I've seen a sheetload of lawyers trying to get mega bux, with very little effort.

I don`t know, I`ve walked in, and turned right around and walked back out of some pretty scummy restaurants, that I wouldn`t take a dog into. I believe i would buy Kool-Aid or lemonade from this little girl before I would some restaurants or vendors.

Frankly, it still amazes me as to just how many people actually want the government to stick it nose up their a$$, Capone style, just to do "business". "Youz wants to do bidness here? Youz a gonna have to pay us for protection insurance." (ie - a license.)

Money is tight and most cities/counties are looking for any way possible to generate revenue. Including those that are questionable, to those that are downright illegal. This is just another ploy to take from anyone they can.Give us our cut so you can make a pittance here.

Based on this story, I think we need to ask ourselves this question; Was Robin Hood a good guy or a bad guy? He actually only took from some the rich, and gave to the poor. When you consider the whole story, would you describe that as theft or justice?

Hmmmm?

Frankly it amazes me how so many of you got state fair or even county fair out of the words "Last week at a local arts fair, Julie and her mother were surprised when a county inspector asked to see their restaurant license." Local arts fair... means local people on a piece of public land, selling arts and crafts made by said people, this was a local fair about the size of our local farmers market, no where near state or county fair size.. jeez read slower.

upright- i agree... local fair, or other, she had to have an ok from someone that said it was ok to have the stand that ran the gathering, being a "local arts". i am guessing some person said it was ok with a smile, and no malice intended.

Here where i live, something is going on at least once a month, they try to make events that people of all ages can enjoy, and it sounds like this one is no diffrent. She wanted to participate, have fun, doing something most kids dream of... doing something to make someone smile. People today are too wrapped up in themselves, and what $ they can make. The mother even took time to spend with her daughter, something i'd say goes beyond what any amount of $ can say. To this day, if i see a kid with a lemonaid stand i'll pull over and root thru my car or pockets for change to buy a cup. Makes a kid happy. Stop dor a brief moment to say thanx, ask "hows the buisness going?" and head out to my destination with something to think about after, like what it was like when i was a kid, or happy that i was able to crack a smile, and someone else to do the same, something that we dont see as much as we used to that isn't lined with what someone knows is a false smile, but a real one. This was all about $... no less, vs a little girl, and her lemonaid stand that at the end of the day, would have been luck to make $50.00 at the end of the day, vs the cost of a licence....lol, inspectors are a joke!

Greg111,

I know people will say it is only Kool aid but what if the girl goes to the washroom and forgets to wash her hands because she is not trained in food safety and then handles the product?

LOL I am rolling on the floor at your naivety. I've been in the food manufacturing, retail AND sales for most of my life, and I can honestly and fairly tell you, that there are HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS and probably even MILLIONS of "vendors", "owners", "employees", etc., who DO have health licenses and have been trained in food safety, that do NOT wash their hands after going to the bathroom, or even after handling your money. The cross contaminate quicker than you can move your eyes from one side to the other.

Furthermore, if you went "behind the scenes" of the restaurants, deli lines, and even those great food vendors at fairs, and SAW what their kitchens and backrooms look like you wouldn't ever eat out again. I've had the privilege, to see AND to have to work in these filthy places, and how they got licenses to sell food in the first place, is way beyond me. That "A" or "B" on the door or wall of your favorites restaurant, doesn't mean squat. Some of the health inspectors are so lax, they just want to get the day over with, and they pass places that wouldn't pass in a third world country.

I'm betting this little girl's lemonade stand, was a LOT cleaner than some of those places I've seen.

What if you had the booth next to hers and you lost 500.00 in beverage sales to her

She'd have to sell 1,000 cups of lemonade to do that. Do you really think she would have brought along enough supplies to be able to do that?

To all the people who keep referring to the event as a "county fair" - did you actually READ the article? The event was a "LOCAL ARTS FAIR". We have these in my city all the time and except for a couple of large, well-advertised ones that have been going on for many years, I doubt that there is anything close to 15,000 people attending. Many of these local arts fairs are held right next to residential neighborhoods - the little girl probably lived nearby, already had a lemonade stand, and just thought she might be able to make a little more money this way. She's seven years old, for heaven's sake - she probably wouldn't have the patience to run the stand for more than a few hours - so why is it such a big deal?

Typical MSNBC to skew or leave out the facts in the headilne.

To all the folks espousing that obtaining the license would have been the "right thing to do" because the setting was a public fair with 15,000 people, and presumably it would help ensure a "a more sanitary service" I ask:

• How (exactly) does paying a $150 fee to the city of Portland help ensure sanitary services? I guess one could argue that the fact that it helps foot the bill for inspectors, if that were true, but I'm guessing the fees draw far more revenue that what's needed to have a few inspectors running around.
• Do you really believe that if the fee is paid it will help ensure that food handlers wash their hands after taking a crap?
• I wonder if there's any empirical evidence that paying these fees actually reduce incidence of sanitary related food borne illnesses? I was in Portland a few weeks ago, and I ate at a reputable establishment, that surely must have paid their fees, and I still wound up with a nasty case of food poisoning............perhaps a higher fee would have prevented this?

I get the need for inspectors, and though I asked the question about empirical evidence supporting the claim or assumption that licensing and inspection make a difference, I believe it probably does.

But, make no mistake, once fee based programs like this get started it all about the revenue and maintaining it; and this is why little girls selling lemonade get busted!

THE STUPIDITY OF AMERICA JUST KEEPS GROWING AND GROWING. THIS IS EMBARRASSING!!!!

The little girl sets up her little FIFTY CENT Kool-Aid stand and some derelict from the government starts a national furor. This should have never even gotten past the fair where it occurred. But no, this bureacrat who has priapism from his authority position needs to make an issue about it.

Thank God the chairman Jeff Cogen had enough common sense to realize the stupidity of these "inspectors". As he stated,,,,

"A lemonade stand is a classic, iconic American kid thing to do,"

YES IT IS!!!!!!!

Too many Americans are so preoccupied with their authority and delusion of grandeur they forget that kids need to be kids. The fact that this little girl and her mom had the ambition to set up a Kool-Aid stand and expose her to a small taste of entrepreneurism should be an inspiration. She could be, like many of the children nowadays, sitting in her house watching TV, endangering herself on the internet or playing those great mind expanding video games. Instead these buffoons come along and make the poor girl go home crying. If I were Jeff Cogen I would reprimand these wannabe's and make sure they understand that there are rules and then there is common sense, again, something many people in this country lack.

Just 2 weeks ago I was driving through our subdivision and there were two kids about 10 years old with a 25 cent Lemonade Stand on the corner. I stopped and asked them how business was doing. I looked in their little tin canister mom or dad gave them to keep their earnings in and there was maybe $2 in it. I asked to have 2 cups at 25 cents each. It was almost 100 degrees in Michigan that day and I asked them how long they were selling their lemonade, they told me about 3 hours. The lemonade was some of the best lemonade I ever drank. They told me their mom hand squeezed the lemons to make it with them. That was all I needed to hear. I looked at their sweaty little faces and pulled my wallet out and gave them $25 dollars. They said it was too much. I told them no, it wasn't enough and I thanked them for having some of the best lemonade I ever had.

Two days later they came to our house with a full pitcher of their lemonade and told me their parents were very thankful. The kids thanked me and left with the biggest smile on their faces. I don't know if they sold anymore lemonade that day but it didn't matter. The fact that they were willing to sit there for hours trying to make a few dollars was a testament that our country was and can be great again.

As far as Mr. Vendor at the art fair is concerned if I was him I would have just walked up the little girl and thanked her for her determination. I'm sure he made plenty of money selling his watered down, over iced drinks and $5 dollars hot dogs.

On Thursday, he talked with Julie's mom to apologize.

Wasn't it the little girl's stand and wasn't she the one leaving in tears? Why apologize to the mother?

As for the earlier post it was not a county fair. 2nd of all the little girl was most likely as clean as all the other vendors so don't go assuming. This was a case of some stupid individual who does not have a clue what they are doing. This is what happen when you put the most uneducated and far from the most desirable person possible in a position they never should of gotten in the first place. Any dealing with any goverment agency has seen this from one time or another. If they haven't it just a matter of time. What an idiot and I mean not just the person who made an issue of this but a lot of posting I read on it supporting the stupid person.

And if somehow any of you regulation-critics got sick from a traceable germ, you wouldn't DREAM of filing your suit to get what you deserve, wouldja.

A guy living not far away was one of a group who got botulism at a local restaurant. It made the news, and the results weren't pretty.

Let's see...15,000 attendees and $.50 per cup. Wonder if mommy dearest put all the proceeds in her child's piggy bank? I totally agree w/ Greg and Carolyn on this one. Neighborhood stand...no problem. Stand at a paid event like this one...gotta have a permit...simple!

Some how, i'm not surprised that Greg111 is threatened by a 7 year old girl. must suck for him to be such a little bitch that he comes to the internet to bad mouth a 7 year old.

Let's see...15,000 attendees and $.50 per cup. Wonder if mommy dearest put all the proceeds in her child's piggy bank?

Do you really think that all 15,000 bought a cup of lemonade?

V, you're not too bright in a lot of ways but I'll stick to this article. She is operating in a location where there are other vendors in direct competition with her and she is doing so without the proper required licensing. Is it a big deal, yes and no. It is not if she's in her neighborhood doing this but at a fair competing with legitimate businesses? I'm all for kids making a little coin but the next issue you run into is she is too young to legally work in the US! What if the other vendors then started hiring 10 year olds for cheap labor, would that be ok?

They were right to shut her down and give her a lesson on fair competition and following the rules. Run your lemonade stand where it belongs, on a street in your neighborhood, not at a fair!

J-dubs...

As you've only been a member of newsvine for one month, allow me to enlighten you about ethics.... Insulting me on a personal level is a violation of the newsvine code of honor, which states... (in part... you can go to the home page for the rest...)

Above all else, respect others. Address issues and arguments and refrain from making personal attacks. If you see something disrespectful or inappropriate, report it - rather than further inflaming the situation.

1. Adding a personal attack to an otherwise valuable comment or article serves only to render that contribution invalid in its entirety. Such content is subject to moderation.
2. Harassment and/or intimidation of others on Newsvine will not be tolerated, and patterns of such behavior may result in account cancelation.

She is operating in a location where there are other vendors in direct competition with her ... not if she's in her neighborhood doing this but at a fair competing with legitimate businesses? .... What if the other vendors then started hiring 10 year olds for cheap labor, would that be ok?

Did you not read where it said....

Other vendors urged Julie and her mother not to leave. A second inspector arrived and the two inspectors were surrounded by a crowd of vendors supporting Julie and her mother....According to the Oregonian, one vendor at the local arts fair is planning a "lemonade revolt" the next time the fair is held — later this month.

After a county inspector squeezed out a kid's lemonade business, so many Oregonians puckered up in disgust that the county chairman had to pour on a little sugar. The apology sweetened up some sour feelings and made 7-year-old Julie Murphy eligible to resume selling her Kool-Aid and water concoction for 50 cents a cup.

So .... if everyone over there at the fair is OK with it, and the county inspector is ok with it, why do you feel the need to continue to bash a 7 year old girl trying to make some honest money? Let me guess you probably also claim to be a conservative republican always going on and on about "keep govt out of our lives", "too much BIG govt influence"... and yet you wanna have govt patrolling 7 year old lemonade stands?

Davy-755715
A guy living not far away was one of a group who got botulism at a local restaurant. It made the news, and the results weren't pretty.

And if somehow any of you regulation-critics got sick from a traceable germ, you wouldn't DREAM of filing your suit to get what you deserve, wouldja?

then again you are right there have been billions of dated cases against those little lemonaide stand people filed in the course of every year!!!! put one of those cases up, only one ok?

in reply to Greg111 "however this was at a county fair with more than 15,000 people in attendance" it says in the article it was a local arts fair not county fair.

I'm going to ignore the whining willies that are siding with the inspectors.

If we need to change this the solution is actually simple. Just beat stupid bureaucrats that do these types of things....preferably with sticks. They will learn.

In the end this nation of 'laws' will be reduced to nothing more then revolt anyway. Because there will be a law for everything, at any time or place. People need to go back to leaving each other alone. That goes double for government involvement in individual lives, including that of a 7 year old girl and her lemonade stand.

For all those saying it was just a local arts fair...it doesnt' matter, you cannot set up a vending stand on PUBLIC PROPERTY without a license or permit.

Simple fact: If the other vendors had to pay a license fee or whatever, so should the 'girl'...and by 'girl', I mean her mother. Everyone is totally correct, the little girl did nothing wrong...it was the mother's ignorance that put her daughter in this situation. We have local craft shows in my area similar to this, but every 'vendor' has to pay a fee to participate. If the profit from the event will not cover the entrance fee or vending license, then you might not want to participate. You can't make exceptions because the girl is 7 yrs. old...the mother is not.

I have participated in these kinds of fairs in the past, only in a different state. I had to sign a paper, saying that I understood the regulations and pay a fee to rent a space. One of the regulations is about food. There are specific rules about what kinds of food you are allowed to sell with out a license. If you don't follow the guidelines, you get shut down. I feel really sorry for this little girl, and it was probably not handled in the best way possible, but rules are there for a reason. If she needed a license to do what she was doing, then she should have had one. The mother should have known that, or the organizers of the event should have told her that.

there is a big difference between visiting a lemonade stand on a corner and setting up shop at a organized event. I think we all agree that we will patron and encourage children who take the initiative to sell lemonade, newspapers, whatever, in front of their house. The problem here is that it appears that there were some type of permits needed for this event and this family failed to mention that to the little girl. Selling a dozen or more drinks in front of your house is one thing. Leaving the front of your house to attend an organized event without proper paperwork, where you expect 15,000 people, is cheating!

You know... I have been on both sides of this argument. I was a kid who sold lemonaide and thought is was fantastic and it has become a great memory.. but I have also been a vendor at events where the booths cost a minimum of $50 (up to $1500 for others) and since I have been selling food stuffs and handing out samples I have had to undergo food inspections... acquiring health certificates... as well as paying a lot of money to take a class in order to get a food handlers card here in california. While I am not so concerned about a little girl selling lemonaide... I would be pretty p/o'd if a kid was selling a beverage at a FREE booth.. with NO certificates or health inspections when I had to pay for all of them and her price is .50 cents compared to the $4 I HAVE to sell my beverages at to break even. I think the common public doesnt understand the costs and work involved in working at a trade show or festival.

Personally I think the inspector really over reacted about all this... but... i also think the parent was in poor taste to let her young daughter set up shop at this kind of venue. So often folks will trample everyones rights and view points with the expectation that their child is due something. Well... sorry thats not how it works. Childhood is about the joys AND the dissapointments of life and learning how to deal with it. No one was ever promised a happy childhood... they should be allowed a healthy childhood free of abuse... but happiness is optional. Its usually a bi-product... but sometimes it isnt. I will also offer... its the children that face and learn to deal with dissapointment that succeed the most in life. Being told YES all the time does nothing for their conflict resolution skills.

Teach that little girl to write her congressman with her complaints... thats how you turn this around.

While this may have been an overreaction, requiring a permit is a good idea. There are health concerns when food or drinks are sold in public, and these can be addressed when a permit is issued. After all who wants to get an E.coli infection because whoever prepared the drinks did not wash their hands after a bathroom visit?

See its that kind of lunacy that makes me want to jump to the other side again...

If you are afraid of everyone that didnt wash their hands after using the restroom why do you leave the house to encounter a Kool aide stand much less a festival?? Seriously... every door handly... every pen at the bank... the counter at the fast food restaurant.... every conveyer belt in every grocery store is COVERED with fingerprints of people that havent washed their hands. With your logic how is it we havent all died from rampant infections already??

Do you think for one second that the kool aide was any more or less infected than the drinks served by a vendor who HAD his health certificates?? NO!! it just means the vendor paid his money and the festival can not be sued. THATS IT

The certificate does not guarantee you that the vendor washed his hands after using the restroom... it just means that if his mother didnt teach him that.. the state did. It does not mean that he made it part of his daily routine.

There is bacteria everywhere. Learn to love it. The more you get the stronger your immune system becomes. All that sanitizing gel you use... and bleach you spread around isnt helping you... in the long run its hurting you. And again... if you think that Kool aide is the enemy... youre crazy. Most cases of food poisoning in the country occur in places that have health certificates and regular health inspections.

Dont even start me on the subject of migrant farmers and picked produce... you think it falls off the vine and onto your grocers shelves??

Get real. Kool aide isnt going to kill any one.... whether she washed her hands or not

I love how pissed people are getting, all the insults being thrown. Somebody said Greg was "threatened by a seven year old" for his reasonable, thoughtfull opinion. Did anyone hear that guy call anyone a name? No. Wow, that's not assumptive or anything.

Oh, and others are whiney babies, or horrible people siding with "the man". Oh, and those who are citing the constitution and forefathers, and just taking this story to dramatic heights. Has anyone invoked the name of Obama or some lame, unoriginal variation of his name? OH!! Wait, have we decided who the liberals and conservatives are yet? That's so STUPID!!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Man, you people need to try some decaff or something. Calm down, people, there's way worse things to get all tore up about.

lemmings, thats what....

Slight correction: paranoid, fearful, highly litigious lemmings.

Our priorities are so screwed up. People get in an uproar about a kid selling Kool Aid without a permit then get behind trying to make sure a Hollywood child molestor remains free or an atheist doesn't have to hear a prayer or see a cross.

Seriously, all the comments above about not washing hands, pee in the Kool-Aid, etc are out of line. This girl wasn't doing ANY of that and her Mom going to get a piece of paper wouldn't have changed it if she was.

Yeah but this would be a different conversation if we were disscussing an article about people getting sick after getting lemonade from this stand if the health inspectors let it go. I some how think that those of you who criticize the inspectors for shutting it down would be criticizing them for not shutting it down if people had gotten ill. And by the way I didn't know that Kool-Aid was somehow immune from bacteria growth.

Absolutely NOTHING can grow in Kool-Aid.

hmmm. Portland. I live here. It's hard for me to stomach (no pun intended) that a Mom in this area would even buy a package of Kool Aid. When it comes to Camp Fire, Girl Scouts, Kool Aid, I pass on the sugar, but donate a little cash. NO ONE should be drinking Kool Aid.

Kool Aid is awesome. Of course, I use less sugar in it than most people, but that's beside the point. =(

you want sad? how about the little girl who drew flowers with sidewalk chalk in front of her house on the stoop and sidewalk? a neighbor complained and the little girl and her mother were charged with vandalism, true look it up..

upright, can you provide a link to that? If it IS true, it's more than sad - it's pathetic. We're taking our kids' childhoods away from them with things like this.

UPDATE: I found the article on this online. Apparently some neighbor called and reported the chalk drawing as "graffiti". The stupidest thing is, according to the article, the relevant law states that "scribblings" can only be considered as "graffiti" if they are "not consented to by the owner of the commercial building or residential building". So since, in most municipalities, the owner of a house is also the de facto owner of the sidewalk in front of it (and if you don't think that's true, try not shovelling your walk and see how fast you get cited - or see what happens if someone falls on the sidewalk in front of your home because it's in disrepair and YOU'RE expected to fix it), and since I'm sure the girl's mother (the owner of the building) had given her approval, how is this considered "graffiti"? It just seems like nowadays, people are so caught up in the letter of the law that they don't use common sense.

http://www.stopgeek.com/six-year-old-girl-facing-300-fine-for-chalk-drawing-on-sidewalk.html

Here Vicki, I found the story for you. You know all you had to do is google it.

Ummmmmmmm....no!

No, it's not understandable. This is why I left the US. Way too much interference into everyday life. There is always someone telling you how to live. US - get over yourself.

And stay out please

If you moved out of the US then don't worry about anything that is going on in this country, thats one of the biggest mistakes this country made allowing People like you telling us what to do.

MeridaOso-1139158 - you have county fairs every day? That must get expensive.

This was not everyday life, this was a county-wide fair that was attended by 15000+ people. Those regulations are in place for a reason. If this were her neighborhood I'd be fine but if she's gonna setup a booth at a fair, she should do so under the same regulations as everybody else at the fair.

Ummmm, Yes - Lets say someone gets sick. Lawsuit! Everyone wants to sue these days; not just the kid's parents but the inspector's office as well.

I think it is great when kids do this, but all it takes is one health issue, no matter how small or large and everyone is screwed.

Merida - you should have moved due to this goverment's inability to get a handle on mass torte, not because of someone following the rules of the law in a screwed system. - don't hate the player, hate the game!

It's all unfair until YOU get sick. Sorry, either follow the rules or get them changed.

I'm afraid I have to agree with PJ. This was no ordinary neighborhood lemonade stand set up in the front yard. At a county fair attended by 15000+ people - follow the rules like everyone else.

I don't care where it was, it's a little kid for Christ sakes. This is not the way to treat a child and I'm not surprised you left wing-nuts are trying to justify this.

I recently received a letter from my Congressional Representative, here in Oregon, bragging about how closely aligned he is with California Progressives and that he always voted with Nancy Pelosi, Diane Fienstein and Barbara Boxer. California politics has taken over Oregon and it is turning into a Nazi State. There are principles of freedom that overrule bureaucratic malfeasance. Traumatizing children for being a child is unforgivable and I will be voting to throw these Liberal Progressive Nazis out of office this November.

SD Hagerman - hilarious!!! I am a republican. Right wingers are for accountability. I don't care if you are right, left, up, down, black, white, female, male - the fact is that we live in a society that has to make laws and rules. It is not because it is fun to do so, it is because we have many entitled individuals in the world (arguably a left-wing ideal). No matter - the rules are the rules.

This has nothing to do with which side of the voting poles you are on.

Thank gosh MeridaOso-1139158 left the country. One less jerk to worry about.

Anyway... The girl was not running a simple 'in front of her house" lemonade stand. She needed proper credentials to operate at the fair. Period. Seven or seventy, age isn't the factor. Without a license, it is wrong. Mom and Dad are to blame. Morons.

PJ, in this case you are mistaken. I repeat, this is a CHILD and a child is NOT subject to any laws in this country, they are only responsible to the will of their parents. You are WAY off base. Even you should know that no one can make a legal, or binding contract with a child. If anything, the people putting on the fair are responsible, NOT the child.

"I know people will say it is only Kool aid"

That's what they said in JonesTown too.

@SDHAGERMAN

the point is they approched the Mother as well, As the adult in the situation she should have purchased the permit. a $120-150 permit is trivial considering that she stood to make around (under the assumption everyone bought one cup of Lemonade at $0.35 per cup) $3750.00 raise the price the profit goes up. As an Event everything would have been signed up for in a guardians name, thus making the guardian the legal party for the stand. Thus all laws applied to said venture or event would hold fast in a court room. This isn't about crushing the hopes and dreams of a child it's about upholding the law. Otherwise every Tom Dick and Harry would be setting up Vendor booths at fairs and say "it's my kids business venture".

It's a horrible thing that happend and it's sad that it hurt a small child, but I'll be damned if her mother or father's name wasn't on every peice of legal paperwork in reguards for the fair. If there was no paperwork, then they are lucky they got off without any fines at all.

I think we all had lemonade stands when we were kids at the end of our driveways oron the corner of our block. But when you set one up at a fair where you will get alot of business, it's no longerkids having fun, it becomes a business and you are required by law to have a permit. I'm sure the fair wasn't run by 8 year olds and that they had to get a permit to set up the fair. The mother should be happy that they gave her an ultimatum to leave or pay a fine. The mother was the ignorant one thinking that it was ok to do that at a real event.

Lithium makes a good point, why did the people running the fair allow it? They are also responsible. The child is not responsible in no way shape or form.

I think you're all missing the point. If the fair permitted the lemon-aid stand, they have the responsibility of making sure the documentation is in order. Also the bureaucratic agents should have went to the people running the fair and not harassed a little 8 year old girl.

What kind of example does this set? What kind of ass!@#$s condemn a child. This is not a reflection of the freedoms our founding fathers intended.

Who condemned the child? Did the inspectors go up to the little girl and yell at her? Did they tell the little girl she was going to get fined? No, they told her MOTHER. You all sit here and rant about the inspector being an @!$%#, but you know what? If he was truly an ass, he would have just wrote out the ticket for the fine and been done with it instead of giving them the chance to shut down the stand.

As far as the little girl crying, how many times have you seen a child cry only because they didn't get what they wanted? how many times have you seen this scenario at the store?:

-"Daddy, can I have some candy?"

-"No."

-"WAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Get a grip folks.

wow this country needs an enema!!

Thank You, Are you awake yet!!!!

Finally someone has gotten it right!

Facts in a Nutshell....

This poor Lil 7yr old child crying because her Momma didn't follow the rules.

who set the booth up, buying/brought the Kool-Aid, the jugs of water, the box for the money, the 7yr old or her mommawho didn't take the time to get the permit, was this CHILD suppose to know the law or is it her parent/parents responsibility.

And last but not least

We have become germaphobias whose later generations will get sick at a drop of a hat because we are washing all the good germs when we wash constantly! Oooohhh No I touch the keyboard better get the hand sanitizer, alcohol or antibacterial soap Quick

PJ, in this case you are mistaken. I repeat, this is a CHILD and a child is NOT subject to any laws in this country, they are only responsible to the will of their parents.

Really sdhagerman? I'm not sure what reality you live in but the one I currently reside in sends 13 year olds to adult prison. Adult time for adult crime I believe the saying goes.

And I have to agree with other posts I've read. If you had lost a child or loved one to E. Coli I doubt you'd be making statements about how we are "whining germaphobes".

There you go again, SD - making excuses. It is not the child; it is the law - get it straight. So by your logic, any kid can do anything and laws or governship do not apply? Nope, you are wrong. The parents were involved, or at least the mother; they should have known better if the child did not.

Bottom line - no matter the age, race or sex of the person or people involved; safety is safety. when one physically creates something for consumption there is inherent risk, and there needs to be accountability if that risk leads to an unfortunate illness. THAT IS WHY THERE ARE RULES FOR THIS.

SD - You can rationalize it any way you want - just like the Left Wingers you so despise.

momdragonas:

Hand sanitizer is as scam. The bacteria come back in a matter of seconds & most hand sanitizers do not even have enough alcohol to kill the bacteria in the first place. It is more of a psychological comfort than a physical cure. Don't worry yourself.

So I assume that all of you who believe that the inspector was right are all for Arizona's law about illegals, but all of you that are against the inspector are against Arizona's law about illegals, right?

Yes, it's a little girl (and her mom) and maybe it was handled poorly but along with the other points made (food safety, unfair competition for the paying vendors, etc), what message would they be sending to a kid about right and wrong. I know, I know.."its just a little girl"..but at what age do we need to start teaching kids that there are rules and they need to follow them? Not being there to hear the exchange between the girl, mom and the inspector, maybe a good way to have handled it would be to explain the reasons then do the inspection on a temporary permit at a reduced cost and do it all on site..just so she learns something of business (both, she and mom) procedure and a warning that a future infraction would result in a fine. We DO need to teach kids to follow the rules and do it at an early age. We don't have to destroy them in the process but guide them in doing things right.

Lu-1328381 --- This little girl and her mom are illegals? Or is the inspector illegal? No wayyyy... Really???? Keep on topic and stop politicizing every thread.

First of all the inspectors shut the stand down for not having a permit. A permit the mother was not even aware she needed. You people are full of yourselves. Neither the mother, nor this little 7 year old girl are responsible. The people putting on the fair should have checked to make sure all documentation was in order and clearly they did not. The inspectors should have gone to the fair organizers and not this mother and her poor little girl. Though the law is to protect food safety I see nothing in this article that states anything about food safety laws being violated, only that a permit was not purchased. All of you trying to make an arguement based on food safety are grasping at straws in an attempt to make your warped heartless points. I can only feel sorry for you poor misguided trolls.

Let me explain something to all you nefarious creeps. Oregon is the ninth largest State in the Union with a population density that is fortieth out of fifty states. The growth in this State is stagnant, it's stagnant because our timber industry and fishing industry has been shut down by Liberal Progressive creeps like you. Louisiana has nothing on Oregon. Our economy has been depressed for decades. We have two resources in this State, tourism and our precious children. You people can look down your noses, or kick my dog, but if you screw with our children there will be Hell to pay. As far as I and many other Oregonians are concerned there's a forty acre fence around each and every one of our children, with a sign over the gate that reads "Teaching Area". I've no doubt that many of you will scoff at this, we don't care. If there is one thing I'm proud of it is this State's commitment to its children. You should be so lucky.

This was not everyday life, this was a county-wide fair that was attended by 15000+ people.

Read the article again - this was NOT "county-wide" - it was a LOCAL arts fair, probably held in the little girl's neighborhood. And as a regular attendee at such fairs, I can tell you that 15,000 people sounds like an exaggerated number. Even if that many people DID show up, that figure would be for the whole day, or possibly even a couple of days - and it's unlikely the little girl was, or would have been, there for more than 2 or 3 hours.

I think a lot of ya'll are reading too much into this. IF it was as some thing then why did the chairman get involve and apologize? it 's pretty sure looks like the person with the issue was not capable and need intervention by the supervisor. I don't think this is a case of debate but a case of yes almost a neighbor hood Kool aid stand shut down. I wonder whoelse got shut down. Also the people there backing the little girl is another clue.

DRU and raherner,

You seem to forget EVERYTHING that happens in this country affects the rest of the world. We are the ones who impose our views on everyone else not the other way around. This country is filled with smug pompous a-holes who think only of themselves and don't consider how their actions hurt others. You two seem to be great examples.

I am born and breed American and I have been to other countries where I have actually felt embarrassed to call myself American.

If this was a neighbourhood lemonade stand I would say ridiculous, however this was at a county fair with more than 15,000 people in attendance. I know people will say it is only Kool aid but what if the girl goes to the washroom and forgets to wash her hands because she is not trained in food safety and then handles the product? Plus it is not fair to the other vendors that are losing drink sales to someone who didn't pay to play. What if you had the booth next to hers and you lost 500.00 in beverage sales to her I would be choked to find out she didn't pay for her licence. If she wants to sell her lemonade at a stand in her neighbourhood that is great but if she wants to move to large events she needs to learn to play by the rules.

No, it's not understandable. This is why I left the US. Way too much interference into everyday life. There is always someone telling you how to live. US - get over yourself.

In response to Meridaoso's post I would like to take a moment to defend the US, my adopted and hopefully final country. I have lived on three continents now. In three countries and I have to say that of all of them the USA offers more liberty, more freedom than most other countries in the world. Most of the folks that I see bashing the US for it's limitations of freedom etc have never really lived in other countries. And I don't mean stay for a few months. I mean lived as in years! Not as an American in a diplomatic enclave but lived just as any other citizen. Do that and then come back and complain about America.

There are rules and regulations to maintain peoples safety and liberties. And yes, sometimes these are on the ludicrous side. Find me a country where that isn't the case. Or better yet, buy yourself a little island, appoint yourself president and then have away, dearie! I congratulate the child on her entrepreneurship and her willingness to work and persevere. But as many other posters pointed out, the stand wasn't in her front yard, it was in a public place with hundreds of visitors. Let me see, had this child sold, let's see, Taco's or salads, or maybe a cut up fruit salad would thos of you who are crying foul see things differently? I buy children's lemonades at stands all the time. Their smiles and excitement are priceless. I never drink the stuff. I pay them, usually twice what they ask and then toss the stuff once they can't see me anymore. Food poisoning, is never intended by the vendor but it happens especially in an uncontrolled setting. Would food poisoning have happened with lemonade, most likely not. But if one child sells lemonade, what's to stop another child from selling tostitos and fresh homemade guacamole and pico de gallo? Where should the officials draw the line?

OK, I am done with the soapbox...NEEEEEXT.....

Greg111, I saw your same post further up this blog. Typically you people just repeat the same rant. I suggest you read this story, you seem to have missed one improtant point. The law governs "ADULTS" not children's lemonaid stands.

Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen, the county's top elected official, said the inspectors were "following the rule book," The Oregonian reported, but that regulators should take into consideration the intent of the food safety rules: To govern adults running professional food businesses.

sdhagerman, your logic is faulty. While the words may say 'adult' the implications are that professional food stands are run by adults not children. Otherwise you'll have a dozen stands operated as a front by 7 year olds while the parents, whose business it really is get away without having to buy a license or maintain proper food safety. Semantics, my dear, can be quite childish. Pun very much intended!

If you're going to tell someone to read the story and berate them for not doing so, one would assume you've read it as well.

"According to state law, even the ubiquitous summertime children's enterprise technically needs a temporary restaurant license, at a cost of $120 for one day."

Of course I've read the story. I suggest you read the Oregon Law. Children are not subject to these, or any other regulations. If they're under 18 the law and your point are moot.

If you don't believe this , try to take an 8 year old to court and sue them for damages.

Your comment wasn't about laws and regulations (it is now it seems), it was quoting part of the article to try and make someone else look foolish. I also quoted from the article.

I have no reason to take an 8 year old child to court, especially in Oregon. And I have seen the parents of children taken to court for something their child did. Your point is moot for trying to steer from the issue of you quoting only what you wanted to quote in order to make someone else look bad.

If by chance what I quoted was wrong . . I was quoting the author of the article, take up Oregon law with them =)

SD - I actually think you are on to something. I take it all back!

Hey everyone! Lets all open businesses under our kids' names and not abide by any regulations - that should save tons of money, and hey, who gives a crap if someone gets hurt or sick! When they come for us, we will say it is the kid's business and fault. Therefore nothing can be done. We can start these businesses on the planet that SD is from.

Sorry SD, I had to get sarcastic; your argument is so lame.

"Children are not subject to these, or any other regulations. If they're under 18 the law and your point are moot."

Actually, I think it's somewhere around 12 years of age when the courts recognize that a child has developed an understanding of morals and the impact of their actions on others and can be charged with a crime. Been a long time since I was in school. Regardless, her mother was the adult in charge and therefore the person responsible. I don't doubt she was using her child to make a quick buck, otherwise, why go through the effort of setting up a stand at a fair instead of a stand in her driveway.

"If you don't believe this , try to take an 8 year old to court and sue them for damages."

In some states you must go after the parents as they are liable for their children's actions. In other states the child is responsible and the judgment is deferred until the child reaches the age of 18.

Greg111, I have a question for you. Were you the first inspector on the scene, or the second? I know you were one of them, it's obvious because your such a bleeding heart liberal jerk. You know, if city hall finds out you're commenting on-line about how stupid you behaved with the child, they may fire you....we can only hope that comes true, you putz!

No I believe the bleeding heart liberals are the art vendors who gathered around her in protest. Another way too long screen name. By the way I am pretty sure the County Chair is a bleeding heart liberal as well, if you have read any thing he stands for, he screams Democrat. About the only people who are not bleeding heart liberals in this story are the health inspectors, they are money mongoring Republicans straight up!!!

Sdhagerman, you wrote:

Of course I've read the story. I suggest you read the Oregon Law. Children are not subject to these, or any other regulations. If they're under 18 the law and your point are moot.

If you don't believe this , try to take an 8 year old to court and sue them for damages.

Yes, you are correct but you have taken this line out of context with the law. The law also states that children under the age of 18 are not to enter into any legal business transaction without an adult acting on his or her behalf. This includes signing the agreement to rent a space at the local arts fair.

Lemonade is trivial, but it is not exempt from the law: it is not personal, just business. Society screamed for businesses to be held accountable for the health of society. Society allowed the Department of Health to initiate rules for food and beverage servers. Regardless of how old the young girl is and what beverage she served, the lemonade stand still falls under the guidance of the Health Department.

The permit the mother was to have purchased would have required identifying information just in case something bad were to happen to identify the source. What could possibly go wrong with a mixture of sugar, artificial flavoring, and water? The water may have come from a contaminated source. Without the contact information registered at the Health Department, they would not be able to track down perhaps a busted water/sewer line in the area that the child obtained her water from. As a result, they would not have been able to prevent more unrelated illnesses.

It is not just about the government keeping the little girl down or figuring out who was responisble for the permit, it is all about the reasons for a permit in the first place. So nothing bad happened except a little girl bursting into tears. That is not the point. The law is there for when bad things do happen that cause people to get sick.

I have lived in communities where even children's lemonade stands on private property requires a special permit of operation and some of those communities require a permit to have rummage sales. Heaven help you if you don't get the permit when you hang a sign on the garage door that says "OPEN Friday and Saturday 9-5" because then it falls under a permanent business with a whole different set of community rules to follow.

Laws are made for a reason and if we are unable to determine the reason, we should have the laws changed. Until then, everyone, including children, must follow the rules. Personally, I think we have too many rules that no longer make sense and we have been too distracted lately with bigger issues o have those unreasonable laws changed. Maybe now is a good time to start reviewing laws to prevent another little girl's breaking heart. Choosing who must follow the laws and who can get away breaking them sends a very negative message to our children. The law is the law and if the majority does not like it, the law must be changed because if we allow laws to be ignored, laws will be ignored.

I made a similar type of mistake with my children. I did the responsible adult thing: I accepted the fact of not ensuring the legalities of the situation and explained to my children that mommy messed up. The next time we were getting ready for a similar event, my children reminded me to make sure we were allowed to do what we were going to do. It appears that children tend to learn from their parents mistakes if we let them and they tend to not hold a grudge. Eventually, I tried to teach my children to do what they can to change laws while but I was no match for others telling my children it is okay to ignore the laws they think are unreasonable. Others did not have to appear in court or visit my child in a juvenile detention area. The law is the law and ignoring it does have consequences.

Agreed Lisa - accountability. These are, some times unfortunately, the rules.

The did follow the rules. The left. However, I think a simple person would be able to understand the difference between a vendor set up as a business and a child who is not set up as a business but simply trying to make HONEST MONEY through a small venture, but not every weekend.

I sold greeting cards door-to-door as a child. Honest money. I had to learn how to present myself. I had to refine a manners ever-so-slightly. I didn't have a peddler's license. Did I need one? Would it be better if the child were to just take the "I feel entitled to anything and everything I want" attitude? Don't mock a child who is showing they are willing to work for their money.

A girl with a little wagon was selling lemonade and cookies at a city wide yard sales event. One glass and one cookie was 25 cents. I gave her $5.00 and that was some of the best $5.00 I have spent.

and don't forget to give her a trophy just for showing up...

I agree Boog,

I do understand that there is a small health risk, but then again any one with common sense knows that. That is the problem with many today.....NO COMMON SENSE!

Many on here had a lemonaid stand or some other way that they made money as a child. Well this may have hurt another vendor (which I doubt) it was likely the same way they started as a kid.

My other concern is if the health dept shuts down this one, how long before the ones in front of the child's home is going to get shut down. Let's face it, this is some Jack@$$ on a power trip.

Boog--loo - you are missing the point and reason for this - health safety. One person or 200 who could get sick because they "made" their own with no accountability to standards is the reason for enforcement.

It is statistics - the chance of someone having an adverse reaction in the neighborhood is very low due to the very low numbers of buyers, but at an even like this, the probability is much higher.

You selling cards door to door is a whole different story, plus back then, society was not as law-suit happy.

I agree - we should reward those who want to work instead of stting back waiting for hand-outs, but the rules of engagement must be followed for safety.

Whooo Hooo. Glad to see someone finally put the wording "common sense" Ya'll the one that know what I was talking about. The rest while trying to sound very educated and taking the defence of some other idiot are making a case for stupid.

Next they'll be saying the kid who mows your lawn needs a business license. Or the kid who delivers your newspaper. These are all jobs that kids do and no one asks if they have a license to do it.

PJ- having a license does not mean someone is following regulation. it only mean they paid a tax or fee to sell. A license in this case would of not made one bit of difference in someone getting sick or not. Think about it a little bit.

Common sense? If making sense was so common, do you honestly believe we would have laws that make no sense?

Paying the fee for the license goes into the pool to pay for the health inspectors who provide service to investigate potential problems. It does not mean the little girl is at fault for selling something to make the public sick, the license requirement also asks for identifying information that will aid in the investigation of tracking down the source of a problem if a problem did occur. Lucky for the mother, nothing of that sort happened. The mother was told to shut down and it was her reaction that caused the little girl to cry.

A simple "Sorry, little one, Mommy messed up and now we get to go see what everyone else has to sell" would not have caused the little girl to burst into tears. I know this for a fact because I was in that mother's position and I handled it completely opposite. The older couple in the booth next to ours offered positions for my children if they would rather stay. It was so cute how the gentleman approached and offered a sales position for the "best" salesman and a model position for the "prettiest" girl at the event and he offered $20 a piece for their help. My kids were delighted! "$20, did you hear that?" Not only did my children not burst into tears nor were they confronted with any arguments about breaking laws, they both learned something about the art of selling from a seasoned vendor.

The next month, I was reminded by my children to makes sure I got everything in order. My children didn't even consider making this an issue for special considerations. Rules are rules. Besides that, do you have any idea how long a 7 year old can stay focused on operating a stand? I guarantee it is not the 10 hours we committed ourselves to! I, the adult, did most of the work. When we look at the reaction of this little girl, we must also look at what her mother was doing during the hours of operation when the child became bored. Was it really the stand of a child or the mother? In my case, it was my children's idea but I was the one making it work while teaching them how to do it. When we were shut down, it was actually a relief because my children were hot, tired, and bored anyways. That is until the couple next to us took over for a whole three hours. The event was far from being over but my children and I were done.

Common sense? Common sense dictates that you do not put a seven year old in the position of having to work all day. Common sense dictates that a mother does not put the child in the middle of legalities without an explanation of where mommy messed up! Common sense dictates following the rules whether or not you like them and teaching your children what they can do to change those rules without breaking them. Then again, common sense would have had the mother pull the inspector out of earshot to discuss the legalities of the situation. Common sense? If it really were common, the majority would have it and we would not be discussing issues, would we?

lawyers and their omnipresent lobbyists... i think.

We live in an overly-litigious society unfortunately... and until we get serious on legal reform these issues will continue to plague us.

LAWYERS!!!!

I agree! Children are germy and dirty, if you're going to take lemonade from them you have obviously considered the possibility of getting sick. The health dept. just needs an excuse for getting paid.

That's just silly John.

that's right - Democrats will grow the "social welfare" side of the government... they'll shut down the stand for health reasons.

Republicans would have 3 intelligence agencies separately monitor this lemonade stand and then probably shut-down the girl for terroristic threats.. after all, who knows what would happen if she got baking soda near that lemon juice!?

I agree with all the comments that stress that when we create layers upon layers of bureaucratic oversight, we end up with too many people on ego-trips and too many lawsuits.

John right on the money, about too much government.

It is the case of a government employee being the story.

this is disgusting

John is mostly right. I guess Hong must be an expert on stupid huh? Or a republican?

One thing she is lucky about, she wasn't robbed by teenage punks who wanted to buy their drugs like it was at a Pontiac Michigan Lemonade stand ...

Praying your troubles away is not just easy, It works!

Hong is that the best you can do on the subject? bet ya don't even know what the article is about huh?

No. illegal alien thing is not on the back burner. As a matter of fact, this story brings to light every issue that we discuss as being either right or wrong. If the word "illegal" is in play that is a discussion about a law that some agree with while others do not. Breaking the law is the discussion here. It is not the 7 year old, it is the mother for her part in all of this. The child did not rent the space. Are we so focsued on tears of a child that we forget this part of it?

Hello? Mommy messed up, not the little girl. Mommy did not follow the rules. Mommy, by her actions caused her little girl to become disappointed. Mommy did all this to make a topic of discussion for us. Using the little girl to hide behind is not only wrong it is sick in the head and shows what kind of woman the mother is and what kind of community that ignores the fact it was mommy that messed up!

What the heck, we have been letting our children take the fall for our decisions all along, why stop now? Pin this on a 7 year old, why not? I'm sure the mommy thinks she has the brightest star in the universe, why not let the little girl take the blame and ride the waves of the reaction the little girl's tears have caused. Why not allow a little girl's ignorance of the law let the mommy go scott free? Why not? Regardless of the law, it was just lemonade and a little girl's ignorance, right?

Come on now! If that were true that age determines whether or not a child must follow the law, we would not be sentencing kids barely out of kindergarten to life sentences in prison, would we? Yet, still we do. Why is that? One answer: if parents willnot teach their children to follow social rules, the children do not deserve to be a part of society. It is a lemonade stand today, but next year it could be banging the mommy on the head with a hammer and prison time. After all, little girl saw it on Saturday morning cartoons and the hammer to the skull only made little birdies flying in a circle while mommy laughed. Why not?

Rules are rules and mommy and/or daddy is supposed to teach those rules and how to follow them. If a rule gets broken, mommy and/or daddy is supposed to teach their children how to accept responsibility. If rules were meant to be broken, why do we send our children to prison for doing those things mommy and daddy laugh at? Today, a lemonade stand; Tomorrow, who knows what laws are meant to be broken instead of changed.

Hey kid, next time set up the stand next to the craft fair but out in the parking lot or over on the sidewalk. Far enough so it "appears" to be a legit neighborhood stand, but you can still grab quite a lot of their customers without paying to be there.

Ha ha! You lost $500.00 in business to a little girl

Greg - I agree with you but quit with the cut and paste reposting already. We heard it the first time.

Greg, that is just silly. A little girl selling lemonade and a cookie at 25 center a pop, is not going to do any damage worth noticing to the professional vendors. Let's see, for her to make 500 dollars, she would have had to sell 2000 cookies and 2000 glasses of lemonade.

Stop with the reposting of your dull rant and think about the math for a moment. 2000 glasses of lemonade is a hell of a lot of lemonade. Another fact that clearly wasn't considered by the we-must-regulate-everything crowd. An acidic drink like lemonade is a poor environment for the growth of many disease-causing bacteria.

And for all those who think it is a wonderful lesson for her to learn to "follow the rules". That was the principal prupose of the USSRs "Young Pioneers" youth organization. To turn every kid into a party-line loving, ratting out their parents, bunch of robots.

Greg111 you must be mentally challenged since you can only say one thing several times and then it has no baring. Read the article this was a neighborhood not county arts fair, After reading your rants several time has lead me to believe your were either one of the inspectors that goof or are related to one of them and trying to defend their position. The county like all government just wanted their money and that the bottom line. Doubt you could sell enough Kool Aid at one of these things to pay the license fee.

"A little girl selling lemonade and a cookie at 25 center a pop,"

I believe the price was 50 cents and I didn't see cookies mentioned in the article.

Greg, we got the point the FIRST time you posted this. If you're going to continue to cut and paste it over and over and OVER, you might try getting your facts straight first. This was NOT a county fair - it was a LOCAL arts festival, and was very likely held in or near the girl's neighborhood. They have fairs like this where I live all the time, and most of them are in residential areas.

Well then, I see you're against job creation.

Socialist state? bs thy name fits you precisely so you better start detecting yourself ... Oregon's gas pump law is great. When I lived thirty miles south of them over the border I went up there for my gas all the time.... and the gasoline itself was ALSO LESS EXPENSIVE PER GALLON THAN THE SELF-SERVICE stations in the state where I lived at the time. Why? I was told the cost of the security-type self-service gas pumps was enormous as was their maintenance.

And are you aware this "socialist state" has no sales tax?

Oregon understands that getting something for nothing doesn't hack it. Any criticism of them defines you.

Second sight, as you return to your own State you will be required to stop at an Agricultural Inspection Station where you'll be asked if you have any fruits or vegetables. Please inform them that you are in the right place and then stay the heck out of our State.

sd.. you are funny! What's your beef? You are Oregonian? Poor Oregon. And going through the intermittant Agricultural Inspection makes me no never mind. And yes, I do quite a bit of shopping up in Oregon. Does this bother you?

And since the state where I lived and worked is very cross-cultural (admirably so for the most part) and if you live there, all I have to say to you is...

You leave first. ROFL You simply do not belong anywhere with human beings. Try Death Valley. Nice and warm there.

SecondSite, perhaps you need to check your eyeglass prescription.BJ's name isn't bs. Nice try.

The kid's mother should have followed the rules. Period.

lolol ny... .. my specs are fine.. I was addressing the first poster on this thread... the self-styled "detector".. u might notice that I just use the identifier parts of our nics.. saves time... even when folks misspell the second part of my nic (Sight not Site ;) ) .. makes me no never mind.

And shoot... I agree with you, you know. Mommy Dearest is responsible for her child... and I hope Child Protective Services takes a look at how she is using the kid.

Still Working-1671973,

I'm not sure I can agree with you without some real evidence to support what you appear to be hypothesizing.

Would you leave a child alone in a group of thousands of strangers to sell lemonade?

I REALLY HOPE YOU WOULDN'T!

If you read the article it says that her mother was there with her at the fair they were running the stand together.

It's called parental supervision... Nobody in there right mind would let there child alone around that many people.

I agree... no one in their her mind would leave the child alone, even for a potty break.

And no parent in her right mind would teach her child to break the law, either.

So, what conclusion can be drawn? Could it be possible? remotely possible, that mommy dearest is not in her right mind?

One thing I do feel, however is that the Public Relations Department of Oregon's government is not in its right mind. Aplogies? sheesh, because the kid cried on cue?

The whole incident being publicised sure brought the inept in terms of values out of the woodwork... the ones who spoil their kids who grow up to create contortions in our culture today.

The best place I ever lived was Oregon. I would still be there if I could have found a permanent job. Outlaw self service gas pump? No it was not an outlaw. It was a community decision to not let automation interfere with economic growth. People need jobs in order to support businesses. Last time I checked, robotics and automation did not spend money to support the economy.

This detracts from the lessons of the article. Mommy did it. Mommy broke the law and is hiding behind baby girl. Mommy teaches baby girl that it is okay to not have to follow the rules. Mommy teaches baby girl that and the community, obviously supports it because they are not looking at mommy, they are too wrapped up in baby girl that mommy is hiding behind. If that is going to be the precedent ruling factor, why not allow baby girl to sell her naked body in pictures? After all, it is a way of making money, right? A 7 year old model, right? Rules are rules if the lemonade stand doesn't hold a lesson to learn for the little girl, what is to stop her from telling mommy that she wants to be a model and was offered more than 50 cents to break the law. Are we going to continue ignoring mommy's part in helping her youngster develop entrepreneur skills? Honestly, where does it begin and end if we start making exceptions for a little girl's tears?

Before you go ranting your anti-government, anti freedom, and common sense arguments, look at the extrmemes that will be allowed if children can make business decisions supported by a parent and not be held under the same rules of social governing. Yes, the extremes do need to be considered. Otherwise we need to change our laws to be written in simple "common" language that takes into account any exeption to the rules.

Change laws, do not ignore them. That is the message I got from this post and I would love to declare that it is "common sense" but I realize how uncommon sense really is. Some folks have it and some do not. That is just the way our society is. Honestly, change the law but do not be in favor of ignoring it or you will open yourselves up to a wave of other laws being ignored by our children. Oops! I do believe that is already in progress!

Imagine, a society that teaches children to follow rules they cannot change and change the rules they can... unimaginable, isn't it? After all, it is so much easier for a mother to teach her baby girl that it is okay to just ignore the rules and when baby girl grows up ignoring rules, mommy can claim that she did everything she could to teach her child the difference between right and wrong. Sorry, folks! I am a mother and I am just not buying this type of logic for ignoring rules that a 7 year old needs to follow because a 7 year old relies on the guidance of her mother.

A 7 year old stole from a store wanting to make money on the resell value of the stolen merchandise and mommy was waiting in the car. Sorry, folks, the child acted on his own and mommy had nothing to do with it. Can anyone see where this article's logic leads us? Following the rules for a society means it is a teaching ground for the parent to instruct the child to follow bigger rules. Is it okay to teach the child that he or she does not have to follow rules that he or she thinks prevents an opportunity to be in business? That is like saying it is okay to leave the garbage pile up in the back yard because your only 7 years old and health does not matter when you grow up.

I shutter to think what parents are teaching their children and I cringe each time I see a headline of a young one being sent to prison for a life sentence. If more parents taught their children the difference between changing laws and ignoring them when the children had the little lemonade stand, perhaps it could have avoided the headlines that make me cry.

drpaul for President! Ramifications are a reaction to an action, the trickle down.

Dear rechid,

I hear you, buddy. One problem is that so few take responsibility for their own actions or the actions of their children. Also, how can anybody pay for anything (particularly all of those "free" government "entitlements") without taxing the pee out of everyone? I really love all of those perks and automatic raises that a lot of our politicians and higher up government workers get and give themselves!

rechid, while you are the honorable person and would take personal responsibility should you become ill if you drank her lemonade, then there is the person out for the almighty dollar and would take this young lady to court. Maybe the greed of our government should reconsider the costs of a booth for a 7 year old, for $10 instead of $120.

Is this Russia....this isn't Russia.

An "At Your Own Risk" sign isn't good enough. I can always make the claim I didn't see it or I can't read. The sue happy idiots in this country will always find a way.

Funny how you can move to this country and get all sorts of tax breaks to start a business, if you were foreign born, but one of our own gets shackled for selling Kool-Aid.

I don't agree with allowing this at an event with 15,000 people but I also don't agree with the misleading headline. I fully expected this to be about a child that had her stand shut down at the end of her driveway not at an event of this size. I also have to agree with other comments that this wasn't for the little girl. Setting up at an event like this even at 25 cents a cup can rake in a pretty good tax free buck. There is no proof but I believe mom was hiding behind her kid.

Why was there no take from the event coordinator, someone aloud them to set up and the rules and requirements should have been explained at that time. I find it hard to believe they just showed up, picked a spot and set up shop.

That's why all "we" can do is speculate, speculate speculate.

Browns... It appears that is exactly what they did.. or rather, what Mommy Dearest did. Set up shop at a likely place. I doubt if spots were assigned. They didn't used to be, at least, especially for such a huge event.

And it should be evident that someone blew the whistle on them. The article stated that other venders grouped around the Government Rep, watching... and some posters here assumed it was in protest of what he was doing.

Personally, I think it was because they wanted to see the job done.

Who knows. Either hypothesis is possible. I didn't detect in the article any quotes from any of them.

The article stated that other venders grouped around the Government Rep, watching... and some posters here assumed it was in protest of what he was doing.

No one here is assuming anything - the article very clearly states "the two inspectors were surrounded by a crowd of vendors supporting Julie and her mother". (Bold print added by me.)

And what proof was there in the article that "they" supported Julie and her mother? And what evidence was there that they were venders? Were any quoted? Named? Nope. Just a vague and UNSUPPORTED ASSUMPTION by whoever was playing pun games with the "report." The article itself is LABELED by MSNBC in its own category of Peculiar Postings! Anyone who thinks of it as Gospel Truth has reading problems big time.

This was a County Health Inspector that asked for required papers which would have shown that Mommy Dearest, and her daughter had taken the 2-hour orientation explaining the sanitary laws which were covered by the mandatory fees.

This was the shoddiest writing I have seen yet on MSNBC and a high school student working on his/her high school paper would do a better job. The intern who wrote or edited the "several news sources" is hopelessly incompetent... Even giving the child's full name is NOT recommended by ethical journalists and editors.

... but what is more incompetent, Vicki, are readers who jump to conclusions from inadequate writing. (Bold font mine)

Yes, too many laws and too many permits that prevent people from doing what they want to do regardless of whether "at your own risk" sign tells people they buy your product and you are not liable for selling a defective product that causes them to live on a social welfare system paid by tax payer dollars.

Sorry, but tax payers got tired of funding business mistakes while crying for more businesses. Something had to give and it fell onto the source of the social problems blaming business while ignoring the part that mommy and daddy plays in all this. After all, ignoring laws and sources are what we are promoting through this article, right? It does not take care of the people who are negatively affected and being a society that lives off of social benefits, somebody has to suffer the consequences if we do not want to name mommy and daddy.

My great grandfather, the most judemental and prejudiced man I ever met, used to say that stupid people should not breed because they teach their children stupid things. Not once did he point a finger at the child until, of course, the child was old enough to vote. Then again, he always held a grudge against the voters that put Kennedy into office and then held the smiling buffoon up on a pedestal when that president was assassinated. He also claimed that the ABC government did not fix the economy, the ABC government only made it harder to find honest pay for honest labor to raise an honest family. What the hell did that old man know! He also claimed my children would see a return to the horse and buggy mode of transportation. Obviously he did not know about the awesome walking shoes I bought last month!

We spend so much time on non-issues to cover up the real issues! Licensing for a business that a mother supervised for a child. The mother did not follow the rules but we make it okay because the little girl only had a lemonade stand and she cried. As a parent, last ime I checked, I was responsible for my children's actions. Are you now telling me that my children can do anything they want to do breaking rules if I teach them how to cry?

Change laws, do not cover up a tendency to make it okay to break them when the situation serves us. Otherwise, you are telling me it is okay to take the law into my own hands when the law does not serve my best interest. A short cut through my neighbors yard is in my best interest even if it kills the grass and they have a no tresspassing law in their favor. The law does not serve my best interest and if I bring my 7 year old with me, who is going to prosecute?

Dear karen-396302,

Sometimes I wonder if some of these morons weren't either created in some bizarre, top secret government lab or if there has been too much government-worker inbreeding.

I was thinking the same thing Karen and boog a loo22-

Liza up there would attack the child?? Not special? How would you know...Ok they went home, is that not enough to make you happy or do you need another pound of flesh! You have a mental problem to address any child the way you did on here. Mom will know better next time, but something tells me you will never change! You act as if she took something away from you..Your the SAD ONE!

Kiki, if I could I'd vote for your post twice.

kiki et al... It's "attacking" the kid who did, after all, have a temper trantrum, and if reporting that, to me it is a comment on her parent(s). It obviously is a successful mode and even the article reports it in such a way as to illustrate it, and wouldn't be if she was getting wise parenting.

And by the way, the current article was updated from the first one which was more informative about the incident and dwelt on the conditionning both of them are getting from the wimps at the state level. It's called Negative Reinforcement... bad behavior succeeds it is not only repeated but emulated.

Several of us "attacked" Mommy Dearest. A seven-year-old doesn't understand about licenses; mommy dearest must be one ignorant lalapaloosa not to have known. It would seem that any fair, arts, state, rock and roll, would be well advertised ahead of time if it attracted 15,000 visitors.

And what is artsy about kool aid being advertised as lemonade?

Mommy dearest is using and, in my opinion, bordering on abusing her child. But the State of Oregon to "reinstate" the kid! Did they pay the fee? Also, I think there is an error in the reportage... it claimed a "restaurant" fee was applicable. I check it out and I think the reporter should have also. There were booths with dry goods, and booths with refreshments. The license was a booth/refreshments fee... maybe the reporter couldnt read? (like some here rofl...ok ok but really)

refreshment and restaurant might look the same to a speed reader? hmmmm?

It's "attacking" the kid who did, after all, have a temper trantrum

I'm assuming you don't have any children, since you're equating a small child crying because she's sad/upset with having a temper tantrum (and btw, it is "tantrum" and not "trantrum").

Why Vicki, by gum, you caught me in a typo... hoooray for you...

Pity your ability to absorb logic, evidence, and facts vs assertions and vague generalizations isn't as fine tuned. And not only do I have five kids of my own, but I suspect I know a great deal more than do you about child development; I use it constantly in my work.

Ah, well, Vicki, in your case, where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise.

And they wonder why the children in this society are lazy. We try to teach our children work ethics and we turn around to find some government sponser jack-ass has scared them, causing them to wonder why try if you just get shut down. I see the same thing happening with craft bazzars that have bake sales. Now you must include every ingredient in your SECRET recipe oatmeal cookies incase someone gets sick. Well-they should know if they can eat that cookie! There will be less and less little ones with lemonaide stands in the future do to all these changes resulting in more unenthusiastic kids not wanting to work. Go Government Go! But I am sure you will find a bail out for that too so my taxes can pay for it.

They were also probably serving the lemonade in BP oil created plastic cups. I definitely smell a vast Right-Wing Greedy Oil company and radical Islamo-facist conspiracy.

Asking her to pack up wasn't enough. They should have executed her on the spot as an example to all terrorist 7 year old lemonade stand owners around the country.

Hmmm, I don't know. Clearly you're ill and you didn't drink it.

I'm sure, if you had your way, we'd turn this country into a Nazi State and regulate everything, even the air we breathe ... Oh wait! They're trying to do that too.

Old saying layla,

Caveat Emptor.

If you're not in a coma a person can generally approach a lemonade stand and make a reasonable determination if they want to buy or not.

The license is not required. Also the license is not there to promote health and safety at a lemonade stand. The license is there as a TAX for the local community. The people arguing on the inspectors behalf are all showing their level of vapid thought toward what was asked for and what that license actually could 'do' or not 'do' in that type of setting. I love how human ignorance, and group think government arrogance, shows itself so vividly in the most simple of human endeavors.

capiway ...stealing from the government? That is supposed to be sarcasm? Those were health inspectors. Try stealing from safety.

Try this.. how about stealing from the kid her chance to be a well ajusted child and not made the center of a bunch of (including us) pseudo-psychtherapists analyzing her "rights" vs. her "abuse."?

Second,

You are incorrect and capiwah is correct, although a bit flamboyant with the bank bailout triad afterward.

The mere existence of a piece of paper does not promote safety. The inspectors did not shut down the stand because it was unclean, or had bugs floating in the lemonade. The inspectors shut down the stand because a small industrial treated piece of dead wood with some ink on it wasn't paid for and presented.

They didn't pay their TAX. Safety was not the concern.

Good mom! you should keep her!

LOL love it Al.. hmm ok that might date me Al Jolson but my grandy bequeathed me a collection of 78" records with all his stuff on it (I think it may be valuable if I knew if it could go on digital somehow!)

Yep... them were the days.. when folks were their own health inspectors. I do not think that is a comment on our protective government. I think it is a comment on our world class stupidity! LOL