11 year old Katie and 3 year old Sabrina just wanted to sell some of the produce that they had grown in their garden, so they set up a stand to sell it to neighbors and passers-by. Clayton, California Mayor Gregg Manning, however, shut them down, due to the fact that their home isn’t zoned for commerce and is considered a traffic hazard.
They did it for maybe four hours on Saturday mornings to make a little money. They haven’t sold a thing since the police showed up recently in response to one complaint to the mayor’s office.
Ah, yes, we now live in the land of one complaint will get you shut down and in trouble with the law.
“They said traffic was being stopped and then they came up with we can’t have a roadside stand and then they said it was a commercial enterprise,” said Katie Lewis, former produce seller.
As for the traffic issue, neighbor Terri Highsmith says there isn’t one.
“On the weekends is when I mostly notice them selling. I come and go a lot and I’ve never seen any traffic problems,” said Highsmith.
Oh, but that doesn’t matter. A single person has already filed a complaint and they have much more power than common sense.
“They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next,” said Manning.
“Lemonade stands are technically illegal, but they don’t last long enough to do anything about,” said Manning.
This guy is the mayor? For crying out loud, these kids are 11 and 3. They just wanted to do what every little kid has done for thousands of years, yet he’d close down a lemonade stand given half a chance.
“I wish everyone would follow the rules and not be just self-centered,” said Manning.
Yes, Mr. Mayor, because having extra food from your garden that you sell to other people is self-centered.
One person who complained and a “follow the law to the letter” mayor are the ones who are self-centered. These girls aren’t doing anything wrong and it is extremely unlikely that they are going to grow so big that ConAgra and Monsanto should be worried.
Instead of learning about free enterprise, economics, helping others, and learning the value of hard work, these girls are learning about what happens when you encounter a stick in the mud complainer and end up facing hardass politicians.
They are also learning how to fight the law. They have been shut down because the mayor claims the law was made to protect the citizens who asked for it. It is now the citizens who are signing Katie’s petition that are saying they don’t want the protection and the produce stand should go back up.
This is the America we live in today. It’s a “letter of the law” country instead of a “spirit” of the law country. This is how we end up with 5 year olds on the terror no-fly list. Little kids selling their fruits and veggies really shouldn’t scare us. I guess someone should have told these kids that the new America is all about following the rules, watching TV and playing video games.
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