It Happens Again: Police In Ga. Shut Down Girls' Lemonade Stand

reply to post by crankyoldman

correct me if I am wrong, but because the girls are under 18, they could not sign a "contract" with the corporation of their local city to sell their stuff. Since they aren't able to "get a license" how do they fall under the enforcement of such matters?

Even if they were over 18 years of age and determined, reasonably so, that they were not subject to the intrusive licensing schemes, they would still have standing in a court of law. All people have unalienable rights protected from intrusive government. That protection, all too often, must come in the form of seeking a redress of grievance from the courts because of the criminal actions of government.

but it in no way does the law protect anyone from anything.

This is absolutely correct. The law works in the negative, which when confronted with a positive act of legislation- and by positive I mean progressive and not "codified" legislation - this is your first clue that legislation is most likely not law. Legislation is not law, merely evidence of law. Legislation can no more be law than a map can be the territory.

The law says you can't place your semen in food, and food safety people say you can't either (regular folks figure it is a bad idea too) and YET, someone just did it. So how exactly did the laws prevent that from happening? How did the law prevent a suit? It didn't it just gave a reason for a suit, the law stops nothing.

Again you are spot on! It is law because such a nasty act would be a violation of peoples rights. Any legislation enacted serves as very strong evidence of that law, and the regular folks, or "wisdom of the people" is wholly rational and sane on this point. That said, protection from the criminal act is virtually non existent. What has happened is an absence of justice. This is when we recognize justice best, in its absence.

Folks need to actually read the titles of the agency's that they think protect them. The Food and Drug ADMINISTRATION is not the Protect People Form the Mishandling of Food Organization. The Environmental Protection Agency is NOT the Human Protection Agency - there actually isn't one of those oddly enough. The EPA protects the environment from people because they see the word as an asset.

Even if the language used to name these administrative agencies were as you said they're not named, it would not give them any more authority than they have now. The so called "Patriot Act" is not an act of patriotism. The so called "Leave No Child Behind Act" still manages to leave children behind, and the so called "Personal Income Tax" is not a direct tax on income.

What folks need to do is come to understand the law. Ignorantia juris non excusat! Ignorance of the law is not a lawful defense. All valid law is rooted in rights of individuals. This is not to say that legislatures are bound to legislate law only. They can enact legislation that has no basis in law, but also doesn't in any way violate the rights of individuals. Taxes do not violate rights of individual when applied properly. Often times the problem lies in the application of the legislation.

There are "laws" hundreds of millions of them - ignorance of those hundreds of millions is no excuse. These little girls are expected to know all of them already.

Legislation is not law, merely evidence of law. An ordinance prohibiting the sale of lemonade at a stand in your front yard is not - by any stretch of the imagination - a smoking gun when it comes to evidence, and the evidence is far greater that the application of this ordinance is unlawful in this instance.

Originally posted by Skewed
There was once a time when the police officer would have stopped and bought a cup and stood around chatting with them for awhile making sure no mean boys came by to steal their money.

Long long ago in a galaxy far far away.
Not here, not now

Good for the cops. I wouldn't want lemonade from some strangers kids. Do you know what kids do with their hands?
Yea its cute an all but food poison is not cute. are the parents to cheap to shell out the $100 to get the permit (thats the cost in GA) Even though the permit is useless and they don't do inspections its just a way to get money. But still kids are dirty

Originally posted by Bixxi3
Good for the cops. I wouldn't want lemonade from some strangers kids. Do you know what kids do with their hands?
Yea its cute an all but food poison is not cute. are the parents to cheap to shell out the $100 to get the permit (thats the cost in GA) Even though the permit is useless and they don't do inspections its just a way to get money. But still kids are dirty

You're right...the permit is a joke, and yes kids are dirty , but look at it this way, at least theyre doing something productive and not on that same corner at night selling drugs. I usually just give them a few bucks and tell them to keep the lemonade

Originally posted by SkepticUnderdog
also since when did kids need a licence to sell lemonade? unheard of.

Since governments decided that running deficits was the only way to make an economy grow. For some reason they then decided that they needed an illusion of trying to close them. My locality brags about collecting $40,000,000 from citations last year in a relatively small community. Of course they are in massive debt anyway. I guess next year they'll need to budget $80,000,000 in citations and have to find a way of making that happen.

Originally posted by Skewed
I wonder how many meth labs and dead hookers they had to drive by to get there.

Concerns over safety? HAHAHAHAHA.....What about the safety of the food at grocery stores.

I am emailing this police department.

Email??? the heck with email. im phoning them to let them kno just how terrible they are. and im from canada!

Seems to me, that young ladies home made lemonade has at least an eighty percent chance of being better for the human body than any of the products in the consumer market place these days. I mean for a start the stuff will contain lemon juice, rather than several hundred artificial ingredients,including flavourings, colourings, sweetner agents, and several other disgusting things that should never have passed the lips of mankind.

The thing that makes this story so outrageous, is that kids have (unless I am missing my mark) been making money this way for decades. Its a godamned cultural convention ! Charles M. Shulz, creator of Peanuts should know. I mean his characters turned the whole idea of a young enterprise right on its head, with the idea of kids offering therapy by the half hour!!!

To be honest this just smacks of the deliberate destruction of the very ideals on which the free world as a whole,let alone the so called American Dream are based.

A crying shame.

Originally posted by Liquesence

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by Liquesence
What the girls SHOULD do, is open back up, offer FREE lemonade

But then they'd be in the same situation as the people in Orlando giving free food to homeless people, and they'd just get arrested for that.

I hope that's sarcasm.

It would depend on if there is a local ordinance against feeding the homeless, plus the people getting the free lemonade would not likely be vagrant, but i do not know the laws there. I doubt that Midway, GA had a huge homeless problem anyway, and if they did they would probably scare the girls away anyway.

Originally posted by gncnew
What's really a shame is the person(s) who most likely called in a complaint about the little girls stand.

According to the article, the officer was just "driving by," and happened to see them out selling. Instead of asking to buy some or keep driving, what does the officer do...? "You gotta permit to sell that lemonade?"

I mean, really.

A cope sees a lemonade stand and the first thing that crosses his or her mind is "do they have a permit?"

Geez...

Well, then I stand corrected and that dude needs to get laid.

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


Thank you for the lesson in law JPZ, I always learn from you..

Having said that it was very common when I was growing up to have lemonade stands, I remember making little dolls with live flowers and tooth picks and selling them for 2 cents, in those days you could buy a bag full of candy.

Originally posted by Liquesence
Seriously, the "it's the law" argument is just a bogus excuse. What kind of person (cop), sees a lemonade stand then thinks--even considers-- whether the girls have a business license or a permit? It DOES take a bottom feeder to do such a thing and to not be a part of the community and help support the people, especially kids. As others have mentioned, in other jurisdictions cops eagerly purchase some. Granted, there may not be a "law" in those places, but the fact that such absurdity is enforced is troubling, and the cops should refuse to enforce senseless and victimless laws, which in itself would send a message to the council or the legislature.

What you and a few others also fail to understand is something called a chain of Command (and to nip it in the bud right hree and now leave the nazis at nuremberge or My Lai / My Khe) out of the argument because its not even close to being the same).

I can assure you when issues liek this come up its generally not the police who initiate anything, but someone with City Council.

Blaming the Police for enforcing a law that is on the books avoids the overall problem, which was the people failing to pay attention to city council when they were passing these laws to start with.

The Police do not make the laws.
The Police cannot change the laws.

Take part in government.....

Originally posted by Xcathdra

Originally posted by Liquesence
Seriously, the "it's the law" argument is just a bogus excuse. What kind of person (cop), sees a lemonade stand then thinks--even considers-- whether the girls have a business license or a permit? It DOES take a bottom feeder to do such a thing and to not be a part of the community and help support the people, especially kids. As others have mentioned, in other jurisdictions cops eagerly purchase some. Granted, there may not be a "law" in those places, but the fact that such absurdity is enforced is troubling, and the cops should refuse to enforce senseless and victimless laws, which in itself would send a message to the council or the legislature.

What you and a few others also fail to understand is something called a chain of Command (and to nip it in the bud right hree and now leave the nazis at nuremberge or My Lai / My Khe) out of the argument because its not even close to being the same).

I can assure you when issues liek this come up its generally not the police who initiate anything, but someone with City Council.

Blaming the Police for enforcing a law that is on the books avoids the overall problem, which was the people failing to pay attention to city council when they were passing these laws to start with.

The Police do not make the laws.
The Police cannot change the laws.

Take part in government.....

So the city council initiated shutting down the stand?

What you and others fail to understand is that you have a choice whether to enforce particular (unjust and asinine) laws. The problem is, in fact, the "it's the law" (i'll leave out the "it's our job" point, even though it is still applicable ) mentality.

Police do not make laws, no, but their refusal to enforce certain laws (or ordinances) is ALSO a step in changing the structure of laws.

Pretty simple. You have a choice.


Blaming the police overlooks the point that citizens probably did not take into account how broadly the law would try to be enforced or how vague it could in certain instances, and in this case there is a question as to whether the law actually applies, not to mention the officer's discretion.

I do take part in government, but i only live in one place.

Rather bitter response from the police.

This is more then likely some azzhat neighbour who likes to rat and hate on everyone and leads a very dismal life who complains about everything and everyone.

It is because they are trying to both stifle and hinder the entrepreneurial spirit in our youth. Since they did not swear total, blind allegiance to TPTB this is what they got as they only employ slave labour.

When you factor in costs for the permits, products, water, sugar and taxes they make $100 they'd be left with less then like $15 which makes it cost prohibitive to run an operation like this.

I was going to TRU for a toy car run and in May saw 2 stands setup and if I would've had extra money I would've contributed to their cause. Someone on this site who lives in either the same city or county should stop in with a $50 or $100 and donate it. A trio of tweens aren't going to use the proceeds to finance a terrorist attack but to go have fun filled day at Six Flags Over Georgia in Atlanta which should've gotten involved and offered the three passes for the summer.

IT IS THE LAW! We were only doing our jobs! We don't make the law. There is a chain of command.

Use your senses man. You really think that these police officers jobs would be in Jeopody if they didn't bust this devious criminal syndicate of Lemonade peddlers? Even if some old busy body complained to town hall. Who cares? I think most of these cops actually get their jollies from bullying the meek.