The shocking stories of government harassment of ordinary citizens doing ordinary things just keep coming. Last week, I wrote about the persecution of Jill Bass in Oak Park, Michigan for planting a well maintained, community tended, organic garden in her front yard.
Now comes a story out of Midway, Georgia of police shutting down a girls’ lemonade stand for lack of a business license, peddler’s permit, and a food permit.
The permits cost $50 per day (or $180 per year), making selling lemonade a money losing proposition for the children who were only trying to raise money to go to a water park.
The lemonade stand was in operation for one day before police had the gall to shut the poor children down, whom I have no doubt were traumatized by the event. Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar said police were concerned with how the lemonade was made, what was in it, and who made it.
For heaven’s sake. These girls weren’t selling hash brownies! This was lemonade. Water, sugar, lemon juice.
Is this too difficult for government officials to comprehend?
I guess this explains why the government prefers children to go to fast food restaurants serving government approved franken fare made in factories that barely qualifies as food in most cases.
But hey, fast food establishments have all their permits in order so they are a-ok.
I myself operated a lemonade stand when I was a child to raise money for various summer activities. I can’t even imagine a police officer telling me I was breaking the law and that I had to stop. My neighbors certainly would have protested against such idiocy since they always enjoyed and supported children in the neighborhood taking on such projects over the summer that brought the community together.
It seems that in Georgia, which not so coincidentally suffers from a high obesity rate, children should be inside during the summer watching TV or playing video games instead of outside, interacting with the community, learning simple business skills and putting their arithmetic to practical use with a simple lemonade stand!
High Time for the Return of Civil Disobedience?
This government harassment of normal, everyday activities by citizens has simply got to stop. I hope the people of Midway, Georgia express their outrage to the local authorities.
Perhaps the cutting of local and state government budgets across the country will have a silver lining over time .. fewer government workers and increasingly cash strapped budgets may mean less – or even a cessation of this stupid type of government behavior.
In the meantime, it could be high time for some well placed Civil Disobedience. Citizens need to stop rolling over on this stuff. Would the police dare to cuff a Mom or Dad who told them to get lost or come back with a warrant if they tried to shut down their children’s lemonade stand?
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Source: Police in Ga. Shut Down Girls’ Lemonade Stand
Picture Credit
Erica
Let’s have victory gardens and lemonade stands flourishing throughout the United States!
Leila
Georgia is also where a city (an Atlanta suburb) outlawed the nursing (breastfeeding) of children over the age of 24 months. Codifying their preference for frankenfoods and obese children again! Getting them on pasteurized dairy, rancid vegetable oils, and corn syrup right from the start! And better yet, making real food illegal so as not to provide competition for the cancer industry!
Sue S.
Is it a coincidence that the ad I see right under this comment box is one asking me if I would like an exciting career as a police officer??!! It is for policefoundations.org, a Canadian organization (I’m in Ontario). Funny.
Dale
No, it’s not a coincidence. Ads are generated specifically to you the user based on lots of things like subject matter within the page itself, cookies on your computer, etc. While searching for a nice ukulele case on-line, a banner ad appeared, the very next day, on a site I was visiting (which BTW had nothing to do with ukulele’s) offering the very case I had been researching the day before from the very same site.
Crazy stuff…
jason and lisa
totally off topic here but did anyone hear about the school in switzerland where the school has special training for all staff to learn to use non gender-specific words?? all of the books and toys in the school have been carefully selected to be non gender-specific. no toy cars or little dolls.. just a universal mix of toys and books… all of the students are reffered to as “friends” instead of boys and girls.. makes me wonder what on Gods green earth is the problem with little boys being boys and little girls being girls.. why is this such a problem.. i bring this up because i believe it will be just a matter of time before something like this happens here in america.. i totally totally agree with sarah.. i have been saying for years now that this country has one of two things in its future…..either total government takover and full police state, or another revolution.. and like it or not, believe it or not, the government is gearing up for the takeover.. sad part here is that with all of the GMO, soy and processed crap that all the “men of the country eat now, “men” arent “men” like the old days.. same with women.. we will just “sheeply” sit by while our childrens country rots down the drain.. we would rather keep a smug smile on our face and look down on other countries where the public rises up and takes to the streets when governments run wild.. i guess we are better than they are.. but give it time is all i say.. mark my words, one of two things.. the only possible outcome… again sarah, keep up the fight..
-jason and lisa-
Dale
Thumbs Up for this post…
lisa
We homeschool our four children, and I think it’s important to teach REAL history so that our children can stand for the freedoms that our forefathers fought and died for: Smaller government, respect for God, individual liberty, personal responsibility, personal education, concern for one’s neighbor, etc. One person asked, “What can we do?”. We can begin with being responsible for ourselves and teaching our children the same, which means not depending upon the government (buying raw milk, checking sources for food, using water filters instead of trusting the EPA reports, consider vaccination carefully instead of believing it’s all “SAFE”, voting at every election, writing congressmen, teach our children from real living books about real events instead of letting them waste their brains on media, etc). One family at a time can make a difference by setting an example & inspiring those around them.
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama
If my kids were old enough I’d take them outside to set up a lemonade stand right now. Sadly, they’re not. Although when they ARE older this is certainly the sort of thing we’d encourage them to do — selling lemonade, baked goods, and eggs or produce from our farm (which we hope to buy next year!).
We engage in civil disobedience constantly. Raw milk is illegal in my state. I not only buy it, I organize a buying club, store it, and distribute it. People have been arrested for this before and I am fully aware of that. I choose to do it anyway. I’m planning to have my baby at home when s/he arrives in the next few weeks, even though that, too, is illegal.
STOP following laws that don’t make any sense. Just don’t. Do what is right and take back our freedoms! TAKE them, because arguing or getting upset isn’t going to do any good. Just take, they are your right to have.
jason and lisa
hey i posted right under you.. read yours right after i posted.. i totally agree with you.. we have strength in numbers.. the government knows that if the public wises up they are up sh*t creek.. that is why they are making examples out of children like this.. they are trying to put fear in to all of the people and create the image of them being all powerful.. stories like this one happen every day across this country but you rarely, if ever, see this on mainstream media.. the public is forcefed more “important” news like the wherabouts of lindsey lohen.. or omg, did you see what paris hilton was wearing last night?? they know that if the people ever wake up, we have our strength in numbers so we have to be controlled just a little longer until the day comes when we are UNABLE to take back our country.. ill say the same to you that i say to sarah….keep up the fight…. we share the same spirit….a spirit that is uniquely american -you may take me out, but i’ll be damned if im going without a fight-
-jason and lisa-
Emily @ Butter Believer
Bravo, Kate!!! Your courage has inspired me.
I am horrified, though, to learn that home births can be ILLEGAL?! I honestly have no words…
Erica
Well said, Kate.
Julia
Oh my goodness…the double standards! Hah, abortion is legal but home birth is not? What is wrong with our country? They are so two faced with their talk of “the rights of a woman over her body” so they allow her to murder a poor innocent child, but those rights go out the window when she wants to have her baby at home?? Oh yes, because the baby at a home birth is in MUCH more danger than the aborted baby….? I sense a disconnect there…
Marsh
Unfortunately, the kids did learn what entrepreneurship in America is like today. People don’t care what laws are in place until it personally affects them. They don’t care how many permits/licenses are required to build houses or run a restaurant because the costs are all hidden. But, when it gets to the point that you have to have a permit to plant a tree in your front yard or some innocent kids are made to comply with the laws, they get all worked up. Our local volunteer fire department cannot do chili cook-offs or bake sales any longer because we don’t have a three-basin sink or a commercial kitchen where these items can be assembled. The laws are to benefit corporations, people, and corporations are now on the same basis as people in law though they never die, have no conscience and are only beholden to their shareholders.
Sarah C.
I feel like I must be the only person who agrees with the police, to a certain extent. We had an unfortunate incident up here in Boston over the winter where a bunch of homeless people turned up sick at the hospital from food poisoning. The source turned out to be soup that was handed out on the street by a well-meaning church group. There was subsequent legislation passed that required all food to be handed out through shelters and soup kitchens so that it could be properly handled.
What if the next group of kids wants to hand out baked goods? Hot dogs or sandwiches? I think reasonable people would agree that the line needs to be drawn somewhere; we just can’t have unlicensed food vendors all over the place, no matter how adorable.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
There is risk inherent in every activity. Should there be a law against walking down the street because some people get hit by cars?
The odds of someone getting sick from lemonade are slim to none. Therefore, common sense should prevail in this situation .. let the kids be and operate their temporary lemonade stand!
Sarah C.
Agreed, Sarah. Lemonade is probably about as safe as any food can be with the amount of acid and sugar in it, and common sense dictates that the children should be allowed to run their stand. But I also understand that puts the police or the board of health in a tough spot – to enforce the rules on the books (do their jobs) or not? They could have easily looked the other way in this situation, though.
Josh VanTassel
This is exactly why more laws always leads to less freedom. In a nation governed by the rule of law, a “well intentioned” law usually overrules common sense. Thus, the notion that our lawmakers should be constantly passing laws to be effective is a flawed one. The more laws on the books and the larger the government is, the less freedom we have. This story demonstrates this all to well.
Julia
I don’t know. I have to say that I can’t agree with you at all, Sarah C. You can just as likely/unlikely get food poisoning from a licensed restaurant, or worse e coli from eating contaminated meat produced by big shot meat industries. Eating is a risk we have to take, I guess. However, when does it stop?
You mention food that was handed out to homeless people as an example (not selling). So, am I not allowed to serve food to guests in my home either? After all, I am not a licensed professional, and therefore can not be trusted to feed people! What IS the line? It is a dangerous to allow the gov to draw that line. An individual has the right to make certain decisions concerning the food they eat. We know there is a risk consuming food we ourselves don’t prepare (or know the source of). Let the people take that responsibility not the gov.
It’s just ridiculous. There is no justification.
Julia
Btw, all I can see is red flags here. The day could come where we could not servesthings like nutritious butter, lard, and other animal fats to our children without facing “child abuse” charges because the government deems it unhealthy. I was just reading a discussion on whether or not obese children should be taken away from parents (and parents charged with child abuse).
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/should-parents-lose-custody-of-super-obese-kids-2510149/
The problem with this, is that it could turn into something worse (give them and inch and they will take a mile). All that needs to happen is for someone to have the OPINION that these good foods are hurting children and *bam!*…child abuse. Slippery slope!
Adrienne Urban (@WholeNewMom)
Our out of control government shuts down a lemonade stand for not having a permit. Let’s stop this nonsense now! http://t.co/RrYnb7k
Gwen
What ever happened to personal responsibility? Yes, maybe one case out of 100 there might be something in lemonade-stand lemonade that might make you sick. How is that the government’s concern? If you choose to buy the lemonade, you are accepting the fact and the risk involved. Personal responsibility! Probably most people buying lemonade from kids know the kids and their parents and therefore trust them.
The horrible irony is that many food companies are so powerful that they are able to block the FDA inspecting them or telling them what to do, so they are able to get away with anything and put all sorts of horrifying things in our food, with little to no regulation. So instead I guess the government decided to pick on little kids…
Brittnee Turner Horting via Facebook
They are going to bleed us all dry with permit fees, insurance, registration, taxes, etc…we are all supporting the government, even when it’s hard to support our own families!