Nanny State-ism at its best. See the cute little girl running the lemonade stand. Where normal look at her and say “Awwww” Oregon’s health inspector shut her down because she didn’t have a license.
Yup. The health inspector made her cry.
Oregon Live has this absurd but true story:
It’s hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.
So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.
Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.
Turns out that kids’ lemonade stands — those constants of summertime — are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors.
“I understand the reason behind what they’re doing and it’s a neighborhood event, and they’re trying to generate revenue,” said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. “But we still need to put the public’s health first.”
What is wrong with these people. Seriously?
The money quote from the news report is this one:
“Technically, any lemonade stand — even one on your front lawn — must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state’s public health division.”
How does one even say something like that with a straight face.
And just remember that this had nothing to do with actual health. This was about paying a fee to get a license. That’s all it was about. Money.
Big Government. Making girls cry is worth $150 at a time.
HT Memeorandum
August 5, 2010 at 6:34 pm
said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state's public health division.
WHAT? How does one become a food-borne illness prevention program manager and how come there is an entire state program devoted to it?
Syrysly. I want to cry.
environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department.
Do people get elected and just MAKE UP JOBS for their friends??!
August 5, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Wow…wow..
August 5, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Nipping private enterprise in the bud–attacking the virus of entrepreneurship wherever it may be found (especially if it involves making children cry)–is one of the perks of working for big government.
Oregon is where I came from, and it's where my parents and brothers and sister and their families live. I miss them and I miss the beautiful Willamette Valley where I grew up, but I don't miss Oregon's political leadership.
August 5, 2010 at 8:02 pm
It might be very timely that there is a new book coming out entitled “Don’t Take My Lemonade Stand” by Janie Johnson. It deals with exactly this subject and what we should do to educate our children about our massive drift from the founding principles of this country.
August 5, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Bureaucratic jerkwads — thanks for hopefully giving us a lifelong conservative, though!
August 5, 2010 at 8:57 pm
I'll bet the Oregon taxpayers are glad their money is spent so wisely.
August 5, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I am a neighbor here in Portland and must say the press got the story completely WRONG.
I am a neighbor of almost 50 years nearby to where this happened, just a few blocks off NE Alberta Portland. I am a pro-life, like fishing and hunting, and distain all the changes to our neighborhood. I am NOO Bloody obama liberal. The only reason we have this dumb festival is because Obama and his liberals. I am most sad at how much the press is trying to divide our community. As a conservative and a minority, the biggest thing they should be covering about this hippie festival in the middle of our street, is the lack of respect for our neighborhoods. The kid selling lemonade was at an illegal slacker festival thrown up in our neighborhood with no permits, no rules, and NO RESPECT– that goes to 3 Am each Thursday at the end of the months. My kids have tried to sell cookies in the past and had a dirty hippie couple park their VW bus right in front of their little stand. They sold exactly 3 cookies as a result. The hippies drove from two hours away to OUR neighborhood.
I have no problem with the health peoples doing their job. I saw them go to many booth this month and ask to see permits. 25,000 people in your backyard with no damn permits says to me as a conservative that we need the damn thing shut down.
If anyone wants to pay for a permit for these two kids, will you pay for a permit for two children who are not white, not from some suburban white community 30 minutes away? When do we get our neighborhood back? If 100 black folks had a gospel singing event with no stages and no electricity on our street just ten years ago the whole thing would have been shut down.
The real story is not tattooed punk-ass kids defending a surban housewife and her kids. The real story is the racism behind Portland Oregon's Last Thursday event. No one is cover that , just cute white kids pushing our kids out of neighborhood jobs.
I say "welcome to our neighborhood, now get the hell out and go back to your neighborhood for your hippie party"
Terrance "Hunterman"
August 5, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Terrance, I think I can speak on behalf of many of the commenters here by saying that the race of the 7 year old made no difference, and we would decry such action against any lemonade stand run by any child. In fact, I'd be more than thrilled to see local children doing such entrepreneurial things. Lemonade stands are great for children to learn the basics of business…low overhead, easy sales. An involved parent can make a great lesson out of it. (Sorry, homeschooling dad…everything becomes a lesson in our minds).
Sorry you have to deal with the hippies and deadbeats and other rabble invading your neighborhood for an art festival you don't want (why the heck does it run on the last Thursday of each month? That seems excessive, wasteful, and poorly timed. Ahh…that's it. Government…excessive, wasteful, poorly timed).
August 5, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I propose her visit to the health board to pay her lemonade stand tax is an apt occasion to give her an HPV vaccine, a pack of green, soy-based condoms, an application for a same-sex marriage license, just in case she might be gay someday… or a petition for assisted suicide when she becomes depressed about the 150 bucks she had to pay to sell 10 bucks worth of lemonade.
Uncle Sam can never start to early in Oregon, right? Get busy Oregonian morons!
August 5, 2010 at 10:00 pm
I meant "too" early, as I am not a victim of Oregon's public education system.
August 5, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I wouldn't buy lemonade made by a 7-year old girl, especially one who smiles like Damien's sister.
August 5, 2010 at 11:56 pm
its not public education blackrep..its government education.
August 6, 2010 at 12:27 am
Heck, I'd give her the $120 and then she wouldn't have to get the stupid permit.
August 6, 2010 at 2:43 am
then they'd go after her if she didn't declare it as a taxable benefit.
August 6, 2010 at 3:13 am
Government bureaucrats must justify their existence, their gold plated health care, their recession proof job and their gold plated pension.
You want common sense back in the public square, get rid of half of them.
August 6, 2010 at 3:30 am
In spite of the anti-liberal comments on this article (with which I generally agree), I have to point out that practically every state in the union will do this if they have the budget to "erect Multitude(s) of new Offices and sen(d) hither Swarms of Officers to harass out People and eat out their Substance."
August 6, 2010 at 4:39 am
She'll also have to file a 1099 for lemons/sugar and provide health care soon.
August 6, 2010 at 6:24 am
Upon reflection, I realize there is more to this issue than the knee-jerk reactions, including my own, address: In fact, it occurs to me that the outrage expressed by various "conservatives" blaming the "liberal" mindset for this example of over-reaching government is a direct result of the fact that these days, very few people ever go to hospital or die, in droves, as a result of contracting a food-borne illness. Why? Because State governments have inspectors and permit systems and requirements that food service workers must attend classes to learn how to prepare food without contaminating it. How quickly we forget why such offices were established in the first place when they become imminently successful!
Does anyone here — or the little girl whose lemonade stand was shut down by the government inspector — have any idea how many people would die of salmonella if she, the lemonade stand chief-cook-and-bottle-washer, happened to have a pet reptile at home? How many 7-year-olds do you know who know how important it is to wash your hands after handling a reptile, or any other pet, and before preparing food? How many parents are conscientious enough to impress upon the child the importance of these issues when the subject of a lemonade stand comes up?
Contrary to some commenters to the following article, it's not just about the money. The cost of the permit at $150 is excessive, in my view, but that is not the only purpose: The applicant also has to complete food service worker training.
Now, a bottom-line issue: Would anyone like to consider the relative merits of a child (or her parents) having to obtain food service worker training and a permit to open a lemonade stand in our oh-so-over-regulated society, and that child, and her parents, facing multiple lawsuits for damages from customers who were hospitalized with salmonella, listeria, or any one of about a hundred other food-borne illness brought on by inadequate hygiene, in a strictly libertarian society? In spite of my general pro-libertarian philosophy, believing that government is best which governs least, I do nonetheless believe that government exists to protect the rights of the people — and that includes protecting people from the irresponsible ignorance of others.
But there is a simple libertarian solution: I would strongly urge those who object to this kind of government regulation, at least where it oppresses children selling lemonade, to agitate for an exemption for children's lemonade stands provided they post a sign stating clearly that no training as to safe food preparation has been given and no permits have been issued, and therefore the customer puts his nickel in and takes his chances on acquiring a food-borne illness.
August 6, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Don Cline: BINGO! We have a winner!
An stricter alternative would be that parents take a 20 minute course (on washing their hands, turtles etc.) and pay $25 bucks or something. Then they get a permit for any and all of their kids to have a lemonade/bake stand up and that permit will be good until their kids are grown.
On the other hand….I want government to be there ONLY WHEN THERE IS FIRST A PROBLEM that can't be solved otherwise. In this case, it doesn't sound like people were getting sick first. So there is a government solution, but for what problem? However recognizing that you are correct about the potential danger, I could see something VERY minimal. I like your sign idea better than my own. (And the signs should be FREE. Just download the verbiage and print yourself).
I actually have sympathy here for Terrance. If I had a hippie fest the last Thursday of the month in my neighborhood, I would be doing whatever I could within the law to get it under control too. I just would hope that Lemonade stand laws wouldn't be a part of the legal arsenal.
August 6, 2010 at 2:31 pm
(Please excuse the typos.)