In Portland, Oregon, health inspectors shut down a 7-year-old girl’s lemonade stand at a street fair because she didn’t have a $120 temporary restaurant license.

“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.”

OregonLive.com reports that “the girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying ‘Yummy.’” Perhaps city inspectors could have also cited the girl, Julie Murphy, for false advertising or at least for making an unsubstantiated claim, since it is unlikely that an independent panel of experts was commissioned to establish that the lemonade was indeed “yummy.” Some customers could have bought the lemonade, thinking it was yummy, and then discovered that it was just packets of Kool Aid mixed with water and not really that yummy after all. Someone needs to protect them from this possibility.

Julie’s mother 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.” But before you join the Lemonade Revolt movement supporting Julie and before you cheer the mother on, remember that this statement is coming from a woman who allowed her daughter to illegally sell lemonade and produce possibly fraudulent advertising materials. As someone encouraging her own daughter to endanger the public and engage in criminal activity, maybe she isn’t the best person to be lecturing us about trust and good choices.

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