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LUVMBDiesels · #1 08-05-2010, 08:57 PM

Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors, needs $120 license to operate

View full sizeTorsten Kjellstrand / The Oregonian
Seven-year-old Julie Murphy of Oregon City still smiles about her enterprise despite running afoul of county inspectors for an unlicensed lemonade stand at Last Thursday.

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."

Julie had become enamored of the idea of having a stand after watching an episode of cartoon pig Olivia running one, said her mother, Maria Fife. The two live in Oregon City, but Fife knew her daughter would get few customers if she set up her stand at home.

Plus, Fife had just attended Last Thursday along Portland's Northeast Alberta Street for the first time and loved the friendly feel and the diversity of the grass-roots event. She put the two things together and promised to take her daughter in July.

The girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying "Yummy." She made a list of supplies.

Then, with gallons of bottled water and packets of Kool-Aid, they drove up last Thursday with a friend and her daughter. They loaded a wheelbarrow that Julie steered to the corner of Northeast 26th and Alberta and settled into a space between a painter and a couple who sold handmade bags and kids' clothing.

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.

After 20 minutes, a "lady with a clipboard" came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.

That's when business really picked up -- and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.

Technically, any lemonade stand -- even one on your front lawn -- must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state's public health division. But county inspectors are unlikely to go after kids selling lemonade on their front lawn unless, he conceded, their front lawn happens to be on Alberta Street during Last Thursday.

"When you go to a public event and set up shop, you're suddenly engaging in commerce," he said. "The fact that you're small-scale I don't think is relevant."

Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. "Our role is to protect the public," he said.

The county's shutdown of the lemonade stand was publicized by Michael Franklin, the man at the booth next to Fife and her daughter. Franklin contributes to the Bottom Up Radio Network, an online anarchist site, and interviewed Fife for his show.

Franklin is also organizing a "Lemonade Revolt" for Last Thursday in August. He's calling on anarchists, neighbors and others to come early for the event and grab space for lemonade stands on Alberta between Northeast 25th and Northeast 26th.

As for Julie, the 7-year-old still tells her mother "it was a bad day." When she complains about the health inspector, Fife reminds her that the woman was just doing her job. She also promised to help her try again -- at an upcoming neighborhood garage sale.

While Fife said she does see the need for some food safety regulation, she thinks the county went too far in trying to control events as unstructured as Last Thursday.

"As far as Last Thursday is concerned, people know when they are coming there that it's more or less a free-for-all," she said. "It's gotten to the point where they need to be in all of our decisions. They don't trust us to make good choices on our own."

-- Helen Jung

Hatterasguy · #2 08-05-2010, 09:33 PM

Typical local inspectors, they need to make themselves feel important and justify their jobs. I deal with it every day.

layback40 · #3 08-05-2010, 10:40 PM

Lets go pick on a 7 year old !!
These inspectors need to be the subject of a child abuse investigation.

mgburg · #4 08-06-2010, 12:14 AM

What the hell does a $120.00 license entitle you to do?

Sell TAINTED lemonade?

Do you get your money back if NO ONE gets sick?

Oh...wait...I remember...it's to pay the salary of the idiots out there collecting the fees.

Some County Commissioner's nimrod lazy-@ssed in-bred cousin that can't spell to save his life but CAN push a pencil around.

Government...here to heap, er....help you.

MTI · #5 08-06-2010, 11:07 AM

Isn't there a story like this every year? The last one was in FL, again a cute little girl, city cops, yada yada . . .

#6 08-06-2010, 11:12 AM

Don't the guys that do stuff like this know that they are going to end up in the local paper, then on the net, then in jay leno's monolog?

LUVMBDiesels · #7 08-06-2010, 11:22 AM

^^ You got me thinking... Maybe they WANT to be famous LOL

Seriously, I try to stop at most of these stands run by children. I will even pay them a dollar for a cup of Kool-Aid, which I discretely pour into a drain or a convenient bush.

I do love the idea of a bunch of Anarchists all putting up lemonade stands in protest.
The Great Portland Lemonade Party will go down in history!

Hatterasguy · #8 08-06-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

Don't the guys that do stuff like this know that they are going to end up in the local paper, then on the net, then in jay leno's monolog?

They don't care, although I have a feeling the mayors not to happy about it.

#9 08-06-2010, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

They don't care, although I have a feeling the mayors not to happy about it.

Can you imagine what the boss says to them when he starts getting calls from the local media?

Rahulio1989300E · #10 08-06-2010, 12:56 PM

"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."

More like:

"I understand the reason behind what they're doing and it's a neighborhood event, and they're trying to generate revenue," said Jon Killbuzz, a particularly worthless health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. "We need to tax childern at this point, or I might get fired due to a lack of funds."

Jim B. · #11 08-06-2010, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahulio1989300E

"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."

More like:

"I understand the reason behind what they're doing and it's a neighborhood event, and they're trying to generate revenue," said Jon Killbuzz, a particularly worthless health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. "We need to tax childern at this point, or I might get fired due to a lack of funds."

Quick!!

Someone turn in this douche for a FULL and complete IRS audit !!!!!

MTI · #12 08-06-2010, 01:45 PM

Buying and consuming foodstuffs from a 7 year old is the definition of "assumption of the risk"

mgburg · #13 08-06-2010, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTI

Buying and consuming foodstuffs from a 7 year old is the definition of "assumption of the risk"

Hey!!! That's nothing to laugh at!!!

My sister couldn't boil water without burning the pan and her first attempt at making eggs for breakfast set off the neighbor's smoke detectors...not ours. We didn't have any detectors at the time!

All joking aside (Except my sister's first attempts at cooking. And you don't want to know HOW MANY TIMES she had to take her DL test before she managed to pass that!), I'd blow off the permit fee because paying the fees does exactly...what? It does NOTHING to protect anyone. You pay your fee and for all they're concerned, you could be serving up 4-oz., fruit-colored, highly dilluted, hydrochloric acid in Dixie Cups. So unless someone complains, they don't even check to see if there are any issues with what you're doing. You could be serving deep-fried-kitties-on-a-stick and unless someone screams "This tastes like CAT!!!" no one is any the wiser...unless they eat cat on a regular basis. The fees are for revenue generation purposes only and that's it.

Think about it. IF there weren't ANY food fairs and the like, you, as the local tax-pocket-to-be-picked, are still paying for some local assemblyperson's dead-weight relative to hold the "Food Inspector" badge...with all the required bennies they're allowed to fleece from the general public...or, at least, the working ones, anyways.

'Nuff said.

MTI · #14 08-06-2010, 06:18 PM

It is part of family's legend and lore that my sister's first attempt at making lemonade for my father resulted in her discovery that sugar was an integral part of the recipe. My father learned not to chug my sister's concoctions too.

LUVMBDiesels · #15 08-06-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTI

It is part of family's legend and lore that my sister's first attempt at making lemonade for my father resulted in her discovery that sugar was an integral part of the recipe. My father learned not to chug my sister's concoctions too.

LOL I know just what you mean. My daughter did the same thing - unsweetened lemonade - oh Yummy!