No license? No pop stand, St. Paul tells 2 youngsters

Star Tribune ^ | Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune

[vannrox]

Mikaela Ziegler, 7, and her 4-year-old sister, Annika, were selling refreshments Wednesday afternoon near the State Fairgrounds when a woman approached them. But she wasn't there to buy.

"She said, 'You can't sell pop unless you have a license,' " Mikaela said.

That's how it came to be that an inspector with St. Paul's Office of License, Inspections and Environmental Protection shut down Mikaela and Annika's pop stand.

[vannrox]

......!!!!!!

[coloradan]

Remember, all these laws are for the children.

[PISANO]

Another example of the "DEATH OF COMMON SENSE" that seems to RULE in our country the past 15 years or so.

[George from New England]

I still fail to see where if someone gets sick from a private kid-run lemonade stand that it is a given that they sue the city!

Leave the kids alone, BIG BROTHER.

[New Horizon]

All I can say is...WTF?

[chiefqc]

Little tin God alert, with its brain on vacation flunkey doing its bidding.

[jjm2111]

""I don't think that was right," she said, "Cause you should be able to just sell stuff without having something that you don't know you're supposed to be having."

Smarter than most Democrats. Also the death of common sense is going to kill this country.

[quack]

Maybe they can outsource to another country that doesn't impose such restrictions?........just a thought(sarcasm)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I remember when a big publishing company announced it was moving out of down town St. Paul. Someone in city government was quoted as saying, "...good, we're growing and need the space."

[cornelis]

This is BIG MONOPOLY, Libertarian dark side.

[Chemist_Geek]

"Cause you should be able to just sell stuff without having something that you don't know you're supposed to be having."

Then you wrote...

Smarter than most Democrats. Also the death of common sense is going to kill this country.

Um. Just how did you make it through the tortured grammar in that quote to figure out what it meant?

And besides, what you call "common" sense is hardly that. Everyone's idea of what is "commonsensical" is different. I'm sure that we could find a significant number of people who think it's commonsensical to herd us FReepers into concentration camps.

[goldstategop]

Idiotic bureaucrat shuts down a kiddie pop stand. Film at 11.

[blackdog]

Two conservatives in the Minnesota pipeline.

[4mycountry]

Um. Just how did you make it through the tortured grammar in that quote to figure out what it meant?

I agree. I'm still trying to figure out what it says...it does say something, right??

[Corin Stormhands]

Maybe I'm missing something. I don't think the spokesperson handled this very well.

But if this is right outside the State Fair, then presumably the girls are surrounded by vendors who did pay the fee. And they're in competition (admittedly not real serious competition) with vendors inside the gate who also pay to sell (admittedly at extortion prices).

I dunno. I see this as a little different than kids setting up a lemonade stand at the end of the street.

Maybe I'm wrong.

[Chemist_Geek]

"Cause you should be able to just sell stuff without having something that you don't know you're supposed to be having."

I think little Mikaela was complaining that she was ignorant of the law, and that she shouldn't have to comply with it anyway.

[Spruce]

Cripes! These kids set up a few blocks from the fair. Probably made a whole $5! Criminals!

[freekitty]

It's getting really bad when you send a government official out to shut down a child's lemonade stand.

[Sloth]

Scofflaws! How dare they, flagrantly transfering their private property to others -- in exchange for MONEY, and without the state's permission. Greedy little capitalist pigs.

[Rebelbase]

I agree....makes me wonder if mom/dad didn't set the kids up in that location, unless their property adjoins or is very close to the fairgrounds.