Cops shut down little girl’s lemonade stand

NBC WBBH-TV ^ | June 18, 2003 | Patrick Taney

[MattAMiller]

Gotta get ready for the sale,” said Abagail.

Even though she’s only 6 years old, Abagail prepares for another day at work.

"We like making money at our lemonade stand. We want it to stay cold so they can have cold lemonade on hot days,” she said.

A young entrepreneur who does the cleaning even the advertising. And it is paying off.

"We are making lots of tips in our tip jar,” said Abagail.

But a few days ago, Abagail and her friends were put out of business by a neighbor.

"We didn't have a permit so she called the cops,” said Abagail.

The police arrived and shut her down.

"We had to take down our lemonade stand,” said Abagail.

Abagail did not have a temporary business permit, which is technically a city violation.

"So we had to do something else to play,” said Abagail.

"I was kind of shocked because I didn't know we needed a permit for 6 year old girls to sell lemonade,” said K.C. Shaw, Abagail’s mom.

According to the city, they have to act on a formal complaint.

"Normally we don't get involved in it but once we do get a formal request we must take action,” said Al Hogrefe of the city of Naples.

So Abagail’s mom went to the city code enforcement office with wallet in hand, prepared to buy a permit.

"$35 every single time for a single use,” said Shaw.

Not wanting to be sour, the city played Mr. Niceguy.

"No we did not charge her, no,” said Hogrefe.

They did finally get the permit.

"Basically a blank check to have as many lemonade stands as we can stand,” said Shaw.

So Abagail is back in business and learned laws can be tough, even for a six year old's lemonade stand.

Shaw said the police officers who shut down the stand felt terrible, but they had to do their job. One of the officers even bought a glass of lemonade from Abagail.

[Sparta]

I'm sure there wasn't anything more dangerous in this town than a girl having a lemonade stand. What an excellent use of police resources.

[microgood]

Whoever called this in should be arrested for child molestation.

[What Is Ain't]

Just be thankful Janet Reno isn't AG. This lemonade stand would have been turned into a barbeque.

[LouD]

I'll take "Old women with lot of cats" for $50...

[HaveGunWillTravel]

Throw that six year old in jail!

[RightOnline]

I can see a neighbor that needs to be burned out....then run out of town.

Extreme, you say? Think again. Such filth are ruining my country, and I'm sick of them.

[Mr. Mojo]

Looks like you have a young admirer around here (roseygll). Maybe she likes apes. She might be following you around like a little chimp following its mother, so protect her well :)

[Joe Hadenuf]

Oh.

[Skywalk]

Order must be maintained. Do you have a permit for this business or are you a rebel traitor? Submit to the authority of the Empire.

[newwahoo]

"So what is Mr. Policeman spending his scarce time and resources on?"

Providing excellent police service to whichever morons enacted the law and whoever called about it. I'm amazed at how many people blame the cops but are silent when it comes to the community that enacted the law in question.

I hope it helps citizens feel better about abdicating their own sense of responsibility.

[zip]

All the other neighbors should put up signs saying "it wasnt me"

Hey, that works for me. I hate to sound like a do gooder, but I actually feel sorry for the neighbor who is so unhappy that he/she has to call the cops on a 6 year old.

[zip]

All the other neighbors should put up signs saying "it wasnt me"

Hey, that works for me. I hate to sound like a do gooder, but I actually feel sorry for the neighbor who is so unhappy with life that he/she has to call the cops on a 6 year old.

[ApesForEvolution]

LOL! Until you really think about it...

[zip]

All the other neighbors should put up signs saying "it wasnt me"

Hey, that works for me. I hate to sound like a do gooder, but I actually feel sorry for the neighbor who is so unhappy with life that he/she has to call the cops on a 6 year old.

[Richard-SIA]

Do you have any idea how much of an UNDERSTATEMENT your post is?

A few years back I needed a job, badly.

No work available in my (then) current field, so I looked at my past experience and the jobs available.

I had at one time done a LOT of air travel, disgusted with the routing the travel agents typically saddled me with I began making my own arrangements.
So years laterI thought I would try to get an entry level job at a travel bureau, NO WAY!
I needed a "license" to do what everyone now does from their PC.

Carpet layer needs help, but I don't have the REQUIRED license, again.

I finally gave up looking for work that I had any sort of experiance with, everything I looked at now required a license, often only available after several years as a virtual serf before you can be fully employed.

Apparently Gov. Org. has decided that your RIGHT to make a living should be a privledge, only granted to those who pay them off and pay the fee's to obtain the LICENSE from Gov. Org.!

Forget about any "entry level" jobs outside of "Scarf & Barf" joints.

There are plenty of jobs, you just aren't allowed to take them!

Of course none of this applies if yuou are an illegal invader.

[zip]

#91 and 92 didn't show that they posted. Sorry for the triple.

[bootless]

Hi roseygll! Welcome to FreeRepublic! I'm the mom of an 11 year old boy, and he came to his first Freep in 2000 ... the day that the Florida election was certified. If you don't remember that, ask your dad!

[ApesForEvolution]

(blush)

Assuming anyone around here is remotely who they say they are, you can rest assured that she's in good hands.

It's a big WWW, but no one is ever out of the reach of an angry ape (with an IT team at his disposal).

[Mr. Mojo]

Assuming anyone around here is remotely who they say they are

Good point. ...The thought crossed my mind as well.

[Rainbow Rising]

Abigail's mom needs to make the neighbor a special batch of lemonade.

Along with a big ol' batch of Ex-Lax Brownies.