Sour taste: Health inspectors shutter girl's lemonade stand
County official in Oregon apologizes for overzealous officials
7-year-old told: No license?
No lemonade!
PORTLAND, Ore. ? A county official in Oregon has apologized after health inspectors soured a 7-year-old's business venture by shutting down her lemonade stand. Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen, the county's top elected official, said the inspectors were "following the rule book," The Oregonian reported, but that regulators should take into consideration the intent of the food safety rules: To govern adults running professional food businesses.
Cogen's apology came after inspectors cracked down on Julie Murphy and her mother, Maria Fife, after they set up a lemonade stand at a local arts fair in northeast Portland. After just 20 minutes of selling the drinks, made from gallon jugs of water and Kool-Aid packets, an inspector asked to see their license, The Oregonian reported.
According to state law, even the ubiquitous summertime children's enterprise technically needs a temporary restaurant license, at a cost of $120 for one day. After giving the pair the choice of continuing to sell the lemonade and face a fine of up to $500, or pack up and go home, the mother-daughter team opted to leave, the newspaper said.
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What a bunch of crass douchebags. Get me off this fucking planet.