Police

Children Fined for Lemonade Stand

It is a sad day for American's when children get fined for a lemonade stand. That is exactly what happened in Montgomery County, Maryland to six children trying to make a few bucks. They set up a lemonade stand outside of the Congressional Country Club in Montgomery County where they were holding the US Open. The stand was intended for fun and refreshment, but that came to an end when a local cameraman from the local news spotted a country inspector that was issuing a five hundred dollar fine to the children.

The Permitting Service claimed that they were just attempting to fulfill their duties by protecting the safety of people and the community. Right. I'm sure that six children selling lemonade outside of the US Open was a severe threat to the safety of those around them. Sure, governmental agencies are forced to uphold these laws, and sure, the laws themselves do not discriminate between children and adults. They are in place to stop illegal vendors who set themselves up outside of sporting events.

Therein lays the problem: where is the line drawn between protective and excessive? The country inspector should have used better judgment, because all this ticket did was stir up a lot of bad press for them. By the end of the day, the fine had been dropped and the children were forced to move their stand down the street. This could have all been easily avoided, and the children could have moved their stand at the beginning of this embarrassing fray and saved the county government a lot of embarrassment and grief.