mekki: So, she should know EXACTLY how to run a fundraiser.

And the county doesn't. The county can't find its ass with both hands without an $8m grant to seek proposals for the headquarter of a Regional Gluteal-Location Task Force.

TFA quotes the county director of permitting saying this:

"it's technically illegal to run even the smallest lemonade stand in the county"

And the county website says this:

Selling lemonade does require a license

Plain as day, the county has no farking idea what it's doing.

JackieRabbit: Yes. What part of the farking law is so confusing to you, dummy?

Maybe the part where the county says you need a lemonade stand permit but the county permitting director says having a lemonade stand is illegal?

Bunnyhat: What's funny is that the county has given scores of other neighbors permits to let golf fans park on their front lawns. The permits cost almost $300, but prices per car run as much as $60 a day. And some neighbors are reportedly raking in tens of thousands of dollars.


"This gentleman from the county is now telling us because we don't have a vendors license, the kids won't be allowed to sell their lemonade," Carrie Marriott told us, her voice trembling.


Then go get a farking vendors license you stupid vapid little biatch.

The quote at the end was kinda funny:

"Carrie Marriott is having a hard time reconciling the two different perspectives on entrepreneurship at the US Open. "The message to kids is, there's no American dream.""

Is the American dream one where you sell lemonade to raise money for cancer research?

Jesus v2.0: Those of us with an IQ higher than room temperature understand that he's talking about "unlicensed" lemonade stands.

Re-read, please. That is not indicated at all in the comment of the permitting director. You are making an inference that may or may not be true.

"Jennifer Hughes, the director of permitting for the county, says it's technically illegal to run even the smallest lemonade stand in the county, but inspectors usually don't go looking for them."

I'll allow that perhaps the reporter also farked up in not being clear on the terms, but ulitmately the county should have prepared for this. They've known for YEARS that the U-S Open was coming, and they sure as shiat were ready to charge people in the neighborhood permit fees to allow yard parking.

Additionally, Congressional has hosted lots of high profile heavy traffic Tour events over the decades...but we are to believe no kid had ever set up a lemonade stand in a high-traffic area before.

Tommy Moo: My guess is that the county is getting complaints from for-profit vendors selling bottled water and Pepsi at $5 a pop.

THIS (plus a 10% surcharge).

Saw those kind of prices when I went to the '06 Open, where the vendors had an even bigger monopoly than usual because Winged Foot is set apart from the more densely-populated parts of town where somebody might have set up shop.

I think the Masters may be the only major sporting event that doesn't fark its paying customers.

Sandwiches: $1.50-$2.50

BBQ sandwich (hot): $2.50

Chicken Biscuit: $1.50

Muffin: $1

Soda: $1.50

Water/iced tea: $1.50

Beer: $2.75 domestic, $3.50 imported (Not available on the main course after 4 p.m.)

Snacks: $1

Fruit: $1

Ice Cream: $2

Coffee: $1

It's the whole getting-a-ticket part that's impossible.

JackieRabbit: All one has to do is fill out a form.

And did you read the form?

It is written to apply to professional operators and large-scale charities, not kids.

What kind of lemonade stand needs a tax-ID number?

FlippityFlap: The kind run by balding, angry middle-aged Republicans that can't get laid?

That's bullshiat. We do scotch, not lemonade.

Hey, wait a minute...

"I want a permit...no, a lemonade stand permit. I want a pitcher, I want ice cubes, I want..."

"YOU'LL GET NOTHING AND LIKE IT!"

ComicBookGuy: 2wolves: ComicBookGuy

Well, OK, than.

But if you want a place which makes Takoma Park look like Sugarland, TX, go into the Reed College student union (well, certainly during the late '80s, maybe it's changed)

I could be the one resident actual conservative.

Vienna: When I was a kid, my friends and I had a lemonade stand outside of the local city hall (a smaller town), and the Mayor and Chief of Police just happened to be walking by and told us we needed a liscense to operate a lemonade stand. He also said that in order to get a liscense both he and the Chief of Police would need to test the lemonade to see if there might be anything in it.

So, we gave each of them a sample, and they went inside. After about five minutes of us being nervous (thinking we were in trouble), out comes to Mayor and his Secretary, with a car liscense plate, two nails, and a hammer. He told us that the samples we gave were fine and that he personally approved the liscense application (and proceeded to nail the plate to you wooden stand), and he made sure to call a bunch of people working that day to come over and buy some lemonade from us. Heck, he even insisted that if we were in need of more water for our lemonade we could come inside the City Hall and his Secretary would help us make some more to sell.

Ahhh, those were the days, nice people. I doubt something like that could happen today.

Those bastards scammed free lemonade from children. They should burn in Hell

Battlestar Girlactica: I'd also imagine that even if she wasn't, if she were to walk into the public offices and say "I'm going to get my kids to run a charity lemonade stand outside of the US Open", there's someone in there who would be nice enough to help cut through a lot of the red tape.

I would hope so, but the county government behaved like there had never been a golf tournament at Congressional before.

foxyshadis: FOOD - SEASONAL OR TEMPORARY LICENSE
For Profit 14 Days or Less Selling Potentially Hazardous or
Open Food (Including samples), Each License at an Event $65
or
Nonprofit Less than 14 Consecutive Days Selling Hazardous Food $30

Your research skills suck. All it takes is a call or visit to City Hall if you aren't sure, as I'm sure most of the vendors did, and if the mom really is involved in business and charity then she would know more than anyone about how important licenses are in the business world.

I saw that form, too. And a second form very much like it, as noted upthread. Both of them larded down with jargon and legalese obviously directed at far larger operations.

foxyshadis: One that makes hundreds or thousands of dollars at a major sporting event?

This one made 600 bucks so far.

Yeah, huge operation those 10-year-olds had going there. Larger than average, given the crowds, but not exactly a threat to the corporate vendors inside.

Jesus, they played the U.S. Open at Congressional back in 1964, it's been a regular Tour stop for most of the past 50 years...but only now does the county become a stickler for paperwork and fees.

And we are to believe that's not a revenue grab.

Thoguh: Why do these headlines always fail to point out the the kids set up the stand either somewhere where you aren't allowed to sell stuff or in direct competition with vendors who have paid to get a liscense and/or a stall and also have to make sure they can pass health inspections?

Almost every time a "Evil county official shuts down poor kid's lemonade stand" it always turns out to be something like that. I'll save my outrage for another time.

The update says it was because they were likely to get hit by traffic. It sounds more like 'idiot parents got mad when police pointed out that kids could get hit by a car' than 'evil county official shuts down poor kid's lemonade stand'. The police were probably a bit douchy because the lemonade stand was so big, too.

/Parents, WHY would you let your kids near traffic?