Posted on 11/15/2010 11:13:00 AM PST by Falcon28
Alert the authorities! Some kids in New York apparently think it’s still okay to engage in capitalistic ventures in America!
Think again, kiddos:
A politician in a New York suburb called police on two 13-year-old boys for selling cupcakes and other baked goods without a permit, according to a report Monday.
The Journal News in Westchester County said the boys, Andrew DeMarchis and Kevin Graff, had a brisk business selling cupcakes, cookies, brownies and Rice Krispie treats for $1 each in a Chappaqua park.
However, New Castle [which includes Chappaqua] Councilman Michael Wolfensohn called the police after discovering the sale was not for charity, the newspaper said.
Kevin’s mother, Laura Graff, said the teens were “good kids” who were scared by the police call.
“I am shocked and sad for the boys. It was such a great idea, and they worked hard at it,” Laura Graff, Kevin’s mother, told The Journal News. “But then some Town Board member decided to get on his high horse and wreck their dreams.”
DeMarchis, Graff and two other friends, Zachary Bass and Daniel Katz, had hoped they would make enough money to open a restaurant, the paper said, adding that they made $120 on their first day.
$1 per cupcake? $120 in one day?! Obscene profiteering!!
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
HOpefully when they get older they’ll vote with their feet like I intend to do. Then again I’ll be 50 tomorrow. . . sigh.
Libtards gone bonkers.
They learned a valuable lesson that day.
I side with the cops on this one. You can’t just open up business in a park. Even if you are a kid.
The government did not get rid of the mafia. They just replaced it with themselves.
Another little hitler telling kids what to do.
This should be encoraged, not discouraged.
Open up the parks for bike rentals, boat rentals, food vendors.
Drop this licensing crap. Let the buyer beware.
this loser will likely get retired by the voters and then move to FL...I’ll need to keep an eye out...
I vehemently disagree with a lot of the crap that is now required of entrepreneurs. I can understand some safety issues but it makes it difficult for pull oneself up by his or her own bootstraps. That said, the age of these entrepreneurs is irrelevant to me. They should be treated as anyone else who wants to run a sidewalk business. Elsewise, every sidewalk entrepreneur will find a kid to front for the business.
As to the cop issue, I think it looks like over-reaction from the Councilman. Why he couldn’t have asked the kids the name of their parents and told them they needed to have those parents contact the city is beyond me. On the other hand, it might have been better to have the cop shut them down. Those kids were probably just sitting ducks for some gang action at the end of the day. Do I sound conflicted? I am. I think I would have asked someone to watch the kids, noticed who picked them up at the end of the day, and discussed it with the adults.
What do the two leading residents of Chappaqua (i.e., Hilly and Billy) have to say about this?
I tend to agree. What are the laws in this municipality? If they are onerous, change them. Otherwise comply with them.
This is what happens when legislatures and governing bodies go unchecked, they outlaw kids selling lemonade, etc. FWIW, two 13 year olds sounds like they were just trying to make a quick buck, but if they can’t do it legally - they need to stop.
As it turns out, a different gang got to them much earlier in the day.
Looks like he’s been stealing cupcakes for years.
[ I side with the cops on this one. You can’t just open up business in a park. Even if you are a kid. ]
Not to mention that foul sugary unhealthy yellow liquid young kids want to sell for a quarter a cup along with their crudely designed signs with some letter written backwards....
“As it turns out, a different gang got to them much earlier in the day.”
Can’t argue with that but at least that gang didn’t shoot them for their profits or ipods.
Because the kids did what they were told. Keep in mind that ultimately, all laws are enforced, and all taxes are collected at the end of a gun.
Well, he won’t be getting reelected. Talk about overreaching government...sheesh. And obama says it just appears that the government has become overreaching, it really hasn’t. Same lame excuse married men give there wifes when they are steppin out on them. Oh honey it’s just your imagination.
Sorry, can’t accept your implication that the cop would have shot the kids had they not obeyed him. Cops are charged with enforcing laws. They don’t write the laws. In the same way we expect soldiers to carry out official orders, we also expect cops to enforce laws. If you have a problem with the laws they enforce, there is another branch of government with which to lodge your complaint.
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