Thank god for the nanny state...

[nikimcbee]

to save us from this illegal activity

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/i...nd_runs_i.html

After 20 minutes, a "lady with a clipboard" came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.

That's when business really picked up -- and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.

[Moeceefus]

no suprise. just like some places trying to tax peoples yard sales. and charge people for rain water.

[Castout]

Ouch

next is telling whom you to marry and who to choose as the head of state . . .


I can understand the lady with clipboard was just dong her job but still that's a bit too stringent. And that's a symptom she may need to get la**

[UnderseaLcpl]

W.T.F!? I mean just.....wow. I've heard of many instances of excessive and pointless regulation killing small businesses, but this one takes the cake. They even made her cry? $120 to run a lemonade stand!? I hope the local media has a field day with this.

I.....I don't think I can express any more of an opinion without resorting to compound curse-words at the moment. Please excuse me, gentlemen.

[nikimcbee]

This city absolutely deserves it, you get what you vote for. They are also in the middle of banning plastic bags too. The best part is when the city aperachiks wringing their hands when small businesses are leaving the city by the droves.

The funny thing was, I got to see the city of portland in action last week, at the classic boat show. We had the pt boat down there at the show. And at 8am, here comes the city park po-lice to try and write us a ticket for not having a mooring permit (~$2000for the permit....) That is a whole another story. Anyway, the funny part was, there were 6 park rangers who showed up to write us a ticket. We gave them a tour of the boat, we gave them a hard time about "who put you up to writing us a ticket" (note- there's the hard core anti-war lefties here and we're a pt boat...with big gunz...oh noz) They gave us a donation, and we never saw them again.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

They gave us a donation, and we never saw them again.

Good to know there's some semblance of decency remaining amongst complete jackasses. A mooring permit? At that price? For a history exhibit? For what mother-......uh-oh, I'm about to lapse into profanity again. Time for me to go.

[papa_smurf]

Come to the UK for the ultimate nanny state.....

[Penguin]

"bottled water and packets of Kool-Aid" - tsk-tsk-tsk what about homemade lemonade, are the kids too lazy nowadays?

Maybe a good state attorney can also charge the kid with fraud

[STEED]

Originally Posted by papa_smurf

Come to the UK for the ultimate nanny state.....

Too bloody right.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

The funny thing was, I got to see the city of portland in action last week, at the classic boat show. We had the pt boat down there at the show. And at 8am, here comes the city park po-lice to try and write us a ticket for not having a mooring permit (~$2000for the permit....) That is a whole another story. Anyway, the funny part was, there were 6 park rangers who showed up to write us a ticket. We gave them a tour of the boat, we gave them a hard time about "who put you up to writing us a ticket" (note- there's the hard core anti-war lefties here and we're a pt boat...with big gunz...oh noz) They gave us a donation, and we never saw them again.

Did you think of telling them that you are part of a military exercise? Landing commandos in the park.

[Wolfehunter]

Government are crooks, For kids to setup a lemonade stand they have to get a license from municipality also if you want to have a garage sale. Sad really sad.

Freedom my ass.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Castout

I can understand the lady with clipboard was just dong her job but still that's a bit too stringent. And that's a symptom she may need to get la**

I don't think she was just doing her job ... she could have easily injected some sense into the situation and let the girl slide.

Frankly I think that lady is a pathetic excuse of a bureaucrat, and the tax dollars spend on her salary and benefits could be better used elsewhere, perhaps to pay for tests assuring that lemonade stands are sanitary.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Rest assured, the lemonade I would serve her would be completely sterilized....I mean sanitary.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Castout

I can understand the lady with clipboard was just dong her job but still that's a bit too stringent. And that's a symptom she may need to get la**

Riiiiight.... because having some man wave his self-proclaimed Magick Wee-Wee in one's general direction is the solution to all of life's many problems.

Seriously, though, I can see both sides of it. Making a little kid cry by publicly calling her out for setting up a freakin' lemonade stand is pretty harsh. There had to have been a better way to handle it.

OTOH, the rules are there for a reason, and if the inspectors had not done their jobs and someone had bought some lemonade and gotten sick later or found some reason to make a public health issue of it and it turned out that the rules weren't followed, they probably would've gotten raked over the coals for not doing their jobs.

Seems like the organizers of the event need to take a little of the heat for not being aware of the laws in question and the fact that their event was big enough to draw the attention of the people who are required to enforce them. That's assuming they knew the kid's family was setting up the stand and either said nothing or never even bothered to find out about the regulations and requirements that might apply to their event.

Update: the county chairman has apologized.

Jeff Cogen, chairman of Multnomah County, says the health inspectors were ''just following the rule book'' but they should have given the girl and her mom a break. On Thursday, he talked with Julie's mom to apologize.

''A lemonade stand is a classic, iconic American kid thing to do,'' Cogen told The Oregonian. ''I don't want to be in the business of shutting that down.''

[Aramike]

Riiiiight.... because having some man wave his self-proclaimed Magick Wee-Wee in one's general direction is the solution to all of life's many problems.

Now you're getting it...