Ah, the joys of big government.
This one’s from the New York Times:
Julie Murphy, a 7-year-old Oregonian, set up a lemonade stand on July 29 at an art fair in northeast Portland. County health inspectors shut her down, however, telling Julie and her mother, Maria Fife, that they needed a temporary restaurant license, which costs $120. The penalty for selling food without a permit, they warned, was $500. At 50 cents a cup, that’s a lot of lemonade.
Others at the fair urged the family to give away the lemonade, and they wrote “free” and “suggested donation” on Julie’s sign with a marker. But the inspectors were unmoved.
Julie left the fair in tears.
How do you feel about your hard-earned tax money being used to pay government bullies to harass a 7 year old?
Update: From Gawker:
Mean Oregon health officials shut down 7-year-old Julie Murphy’s lemonade stand because it wasn’t up to code. But now the county’s top official has apologized: ”A lemonade stand is a classic, iconic American kid thing to do,” he said.
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1 Big Government Makes 7 Year Old Lemonade Entrepreneur Cry at Taxes // Aug 9, 2010 at 7:55 am
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