It’s a familiar movie cliche. A group of committed youngsters – facing an insurmountable obstacle – band together and confront the issue with plucky resolve, resourcefulness and some sort of montage set to an upbeat popular song of the day. And just when it looks like they will pull off a miracle some sort of bureaucrat enters the picture and threatens to undo the last 80 minutes of film time.
Life might not often imitate art it, but can be pretty similar to a poorly imagined kid’s flick.
Montgomery County’s WUSA Channel 9 had film at eleven:
A county inspector ordered the Marriott and Augustine kids to shut down the stand they set up on Persimmon Tree Rd., right next to Congressional. And after they allegedly ignored a couple of warnings, the inspector fined their parents $500.
“This gentleman from the county is now telling us because we don’t have a vendors license, the kids won’t be allowed to sell their lemonade,” Carrie Marriott told us, her voice trembling.
The kids can’t seem to understand it. “I don’t agree, I think the county is wrong.” “We’re sending the money to charity.”
Update: The county has had a change of heart. After moving their lemonade operation about a hundred feet down the road these kids will be able reopen their stand. The fine has even been rescinded.
Whew! What a relief. We were afraid Chuck Norris was going to have to get involved.
– Written by Kip Hooker at TheVitaminPress.com
Source: WUSA
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (19)
"Tax them early and tax them often."
Disgusting.
How come Mr. Nosy didn't have a shotgun stuffed up his nose, along with a "suggestion" that he "move along now"?
"The most interesting man in the world (Dos Equis)" bought some lemonade, when he heard Chcuk Norris may have to get involved.
When Don Equis goes to bed at night he checks under his bed for Chuck Norris!
The problem of unregulated lemonade stands has gone on long enough; it's time the Federal government stepped in to prevent a major epidemic of lemonade-borne contamination from devastating the country. I propose the Agriculture Department be given sweeping new powers to inspect stands, test lemons, and license vendors in order to guarantee the safety of the American people. And of course we will need new fees and taxes to pay for this, but I'm sure you'll all agree it's absolutely necessary to prevent future lemonade-related tragedies from devastating our country. I'm Barack Obama and I approve of this message.
Soooooo. Barack wants to be the new lemonparty. Somehow I knew he would do that.
Not only that, do you have any idea how many loyal, dues=paying union cadres these rogue lemonade stands put out of work?
I'm with you. What we need is a Lemonade Stand Czar!
Don't give Obama any ideas.
I believe that we should do an environmental impact study first, which will take 5-10 years to complete, in the meantime give subsidies to and purchase foreign made lemonade at grossly inflated prices.
They need to name the bureaucrat and show his/her picture in stories like this.
How I'll make my next fortune: supplying eggs for the faces of embarrassed counties and municipalities!
Are those eggs from an FDA approved chicken farm? Have they been pre-washed? Did you file the proper paperwork? Do you have the proper permits and licenses? Is the temperature inside your commercial chiller below 45 degrees farenheit but above 38 degrees farenheit? Are the egg cartons biodegradable? Were the chickens that laid the eggs you're selling, free range? Has the county health inspector come by your business to do the necessary health and safety walk through, before you can start selling? Are you going to sell soft drinks? That's another license. Do you plan on selling cigarettes? That's another license and you'll need to have the Fire Marshall walk through, yet another fee. When I opened my store, I had no idea how much bullshit paperwork was involved and how much money I was going to spend in fees, licenses, mandatory health classes, CPR training, Fire Marshall, various and sundry inspector walk throughs, before I could even open the doors for business, but when the business when tits up polio it only required about three forms, no fees, and no inspections!
No, hisham, but they will dipped in Chinese paint so you know they'll be chock full o' lead!
Standard government procedure. Tax, (license, permit, inspect,...), what you want to see less of. (Prosperity) And subsidize, (make it easy), what you want to see more of. (Failure)
The vendors license was only the first step!
Next they would need a health dept inspection, have to show a comissary where they kept their unsold product during non business hours (cannot be a private residence) and have access to a 3 bay sink for washing, sanitizing, and rinsing all utensils.
Then would be the State tax certificate, so they can charge sales tax, and they then have to pay their quarterly taxes.
What about the workmans comp insurance? They have to carry that in order to protect the workers in case of injury.
Working papers for those under 18 are required.
What about child labor laws? Are these kids even old enough to get working papers?
How about working hours? Is anyone monitoring that to make sure none of the kids are working more than the government approved daily and weekly hours?
I had an industrious 13 year old come by my business yesterday and ask if she could do any kind of work for me, mowing the property, etc. I had to tell her that while I would like to hire her, I couldn't because of liability issues. If she got hurt while on my property, I could be sued and lose my insurance. She assured me that her family wasn't sue happy, but I told her that her family wasn't the issue, the government is.
The county did'nt have a change of heart, they did'nt like looking like the a-holes they are & cut their losses. When the story started to go national, that's when they backed off.
"...they did’nt like looking like the a-holes they are & cut their losses."
FLASH NEWS REPORT!!! It's too late for the county to spin their way out of looking like a-holes and what's this crap about cutting their losses? What did they lose, an opportunity to collect some easy income by 'squeesing' a bunch of little kids trying to run a lemonade stand? I think the only thing the county actually lost was about 20 inches of face. This over zealous county inspector could just as easily have explained to the kids that being this close to a very busy street endangered them, their customers, and their business. "Better to move farther away from the street and everything and everyone will be safer." "How much is a glass of lemonade?" "50 cents, okay, here you go." "Umm good lemonade little girl/boy!" "Have a nice day kids" "BTW, I'll be back to check on you later and get another glass of lemonade!" "Buy!" Now was that so hard?
So true!!
Expose the roaches to the light of day and they scurry back to the dark..