Children’s Lemonade Stands Are Under Attack

August 09, 2010   Zach   2 Comments

If you haven’t read these stories about the 7 year old in the Oregon, and the two 12 year old boys raising money for team soccer uniforms, you should.

There is a war on Lemonade in North America! These are the corporate criminals who are bankrupting our countries by not paying their taxes or getting the correct licenses! These children are in fact terrorists poisoning their lemonade with cyanide. These children are destroying our parks with their corporate desire for profits. It’s time to crack down on them… shut them down for health concerns, vilify them for trying to raise money for what we  can only assume is corporate uniforms of some sort.

You see her face? She’s a criminal!

Give me a damn break government! Kids selling lemonade is an iconic tradition for kids from 4 to 12. It’s a first step into business. It’s entrepreneurial. It teaches kids that if you create something of your own, you can put a little extra money in your pocket.

I sold lemonade as a kid, my little brother does it too! And I’ll tell you right now, 99/100 the lemonade is delicious! Something my brother introduced me to was a mix of pink and regular lemonade… a very interesting and tasty mix that bring lemonade to a whole ‘nother level.

This is outrageous. If they start shutting down lemonade stands, you can be damn sure they’re coming after your babysitting money. Don’t forget to pay your taxes on your garage sale. Hosting a poker game with some buddies? Don’t forget to get a gambling license or you may end up with a fine or maybe even jail!

How broke are our governments that they start coming after the littlest of little guys?

The County Chair in Oregon, Jeff Cogen, called and apologized to 7 year old Julie Murphy and said he’s spoken to those health inspectors about ‘professional discretion’.

The same needs to occur in Port Coquitlam, BC.

Contact Mayor Greg Moore and let him know you think what his bylaw officers are doing is wrong!
Tel 604.927.5410
mooreg@portcoquitlam.ca

UPDATE: The email above is inactive! Here’s others to contact.

carrolls@portcoquitlam.ca
forrestm@portcoquitlam.ca
pennerd@portcoquitlam.ca
pollockg@portcoquitlam.ca
westb@portcoquitlam.ca
wrightm@portcoquitlam.ca

Yes, it may look like a minor issue, but already our kids spend less time outside and being active than any before it. These two were outside, raising money to be active (soccer uniforms) and learning about business. It should matter to everyone! We should not be mute on this!

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  • Hford

    I remember seeing the kid at the dog park and I actually mentioned to my wife, “wow, how great, a young entrepreneur who is working toward something instead of sitting inside playing video games or loitering at the mall”. I should also mention that on a number of occasions I witnessed the young man pick up garbage around the park and fill the dog bowls with water – further demonstrating his civic pride over and above his personal capitalist ambitions.

    After seeing him on a few occasions I actually thought there would be hope that the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well and that there were still people that had dreams and were driven enough to work hard instead of asking for a hand out or simply being a cog in the system at some government agency or worse, in real-estate. After all, this kid was doing what Jim Pattison, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet did before him – he was working hard, harming no one, and following a vision, and I might add with little or no help from the system around him.

    Of course, I was wrong to think that this beacon of hard-work and determination could last!

    But despite my personal feelings I will say that I find it hard to believe that “ambitious” employees of the city of port coquitlam, and/or “highly skilled” RCMP officers used paid time to locate, process the necessary paperwork, and then proceed to shut-down a child’s lemonade stand. The complete shock of this makes me wonder if there is anything sacred. Surely there must be better uses of government employee time – like checking facebook accounts, converging on a local eatery for lunch, or attending a “team-building” seminar.

    What I find most shocking is that civil servants managed to find time to shut down the lemonade stand while working inside of a grueling 37.5 hour work week. I pray no civil servants were injured or exhausted with the added work that young Mackenzie caused them.

    I end this rant with words for Mackenzie by Henry Ford : ” There are no big problems, there are just a lot of little problems.”- you just survived your first little problem, keep going!!!

  • http://swingcatproductions.com/blog/ Zach

    Hey Hford,

    Thank you very much for your comment! It’s great to know some of the backstory about their involvement at the park – cleaning up, giving dogs water.

    It’s also very disappointing that the Officials have gone this route. It sets a precedent that, unlike in the States hasn’t been undone or apologized for.

    It’s voices like yours that help tell those doing this ‘This isn’t right.’ So please, continue to speak out against this subject and others that are equally offensive (there’s no lack of them.)

    I don’t know how the community is reacting to it, but I hope they aren’t taking this quietly.