Once again, my expectations have been trashed.
I expect that if I read the words “police” and “lemonade stand” in the same sentence, it will go something like this:
“Police enjoy a glass of lemonade served up by an aspiring 4 year old entrepreneur”.
I don’t expect to read this:
Police shut down little girl’s lemonade stand . . . ”
But that’s what I read in this associated press article and, once again, I’m left shaking my head.
It comes from Coralville, Iowa, where police closed down a lemonade stand, telling a 4 year old girl and her father that she didn’t have a permit.
Apparently Coralville has a bike ride, and this aspiring entrepreneur set up a lemonade stand to take advantage of the event.
But a city ordinance says that food vendors have to apply for a permit and get a health inspection. No permit . . . no stand.
Now I could understand the police getting involved if a lemonade stand was placed in the middle of the road (or somewhere else) where it was causing a danger to the public.
I’d expect they would explain that the stand would have to be moved to a safe spot, to prevent injury to a cyclist etc.
But I have a hard time understanding the police getting involved here. Closing a lemonade stand to enforce a city ordinance. Really?
