United Liberty

There is a happy ending in the story of the little girl that had her lemonade stand shut down by a bureaucrat in Multnomah County, Oregon:

No need to jack up the price of a glass of lemonade. Turns out kids won’t have to shell out $120 for a health permit to run their lemonade stands after all.

Multnomah County’s top elected official apologized Thursday for health inspectors who forced a 7-year-old girl to shut down her stand last week because she didn’t have a food-safety permit.

Chairman Jeff Cogen also said he has directed county health department workers to use “professional discretion” in doing their jobs.
[…]
Cogen said the inspectors were “following the rule book,” but should consider that food-safety laws are aimed at adults engaged in a professional food business, not kids running lemonade stands.

“A lemonade stand is a classic, iconic American kid thing to do,” he said. “I don’t want to be in the business of shutting that down.”

This was a no-brainer. I’m glad someone with some common sense stepped in and was the adult in the room here.

“There’s no business that’s too small for government to torture.” - John Stossel

A government bureaucrat in Multnomah County, Oregon shut down a lemonade stand run by Julie Murphy, a 7 year old, because she was operating without a $150 business license. Sadly, this is not a joke:

It’s hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.

So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.

Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.

Turns out that kids’ lemonade stands — those constants of summertime — are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors.

“I understand the reason behind what they’re doing and it’s a neighborhood event, and they’re trying to generate revenue,” said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. “But we still need to put the public’s health first.”
[…]
Even before her daughter had finished making the first batch of lemonade, a man walked up to buy a 50-cent cup.

“They wanted to support a little 7-year-old to earn a little extra summer loot,” she said. “People know what’s going on.”

Even so, Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping everything covered when it wasn’t in use, Fife said.