New York Politician calls police on 13-year olds for illegal bake sale

[kuronosan]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40194328/ns/us_news-life/

...


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.


... Wolfensohn told the paper he had asked the boys if the sale was to raise money for a charity, before calling the police.


"All vendors selling on town property have to have a license, whether it's boys selling baked goods or a hot dog vendor," Wolfensohn said.


He said "in hindsight" he perhaps should have told the boys they needed a license rather than calling the cops. "The police are trained to deal with these sorts of issues," he told The Journal News.


A permit to sell things in the park costs $150 to $350 for two hours and a $1 million insurance certificate is also required, the paper said.
New Castle Recreation and Parks Superintendent Robert Snyder told The Journal News that they needed to know what went on in the park.


"What if there was work going on that was dangerous?" he told the paper. "But I do understand why parents would think they can do this."


Andrew DeMarchis told The Journal News of his disappointment.
"We were being entrepreneurs," he said, "but now I feel a little defeated."

This just in - having a bake sale is now dangerous. If you make brownies, the terrorists win.

In all fairness, this should give them a good experience of what opening a restaurant is like. Not to mention the guy is sort of right - there's no way of knowing if the boys are lacing their goods with drugs, alcohol, or brown sugar.

[Shalyn]

Is the law different if it's for charity?

In all fairness, they could lace cookies with razorblades, too! Everyone hide in your homes and order groceries online, make them leave them at your step, and scan it for foreign objects! I hate that some of these laws aren't so much used as guidelines but are often seen as unchanging and absolute. Hurting people who aren't causing harm to others through use of law is unnecessary and a waste of time, in my opinion.

[Acturus]

I guess the kids...


... didn't have the dough.


YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

[aurik]

No, but it would look a hell of a lot worse for the politician:

"local alderman shuts down boy scout bake sale for cancer awareness!"

[Ksandra]

Wasn't there a thread like this about a girl selling lemonade?

Shit is semi silly.

[Lucavi]

Is the law different if it's for charity?

The law is always different if its for charity. Seems like you can get away with anything if its for charity.

[BadKarma]

The law is always different if its for charity. Seems like you can get away with anything if its for charity.

Tucker Max got prostituted for charity. Completely legal.

[Lucki]

I guess the kids...


... didn't have the dough.


YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

http://apostleislands.files.wordpres...pg?w=480&h=496

[aurik]

Wasn't there a thread like this about a girl selling lemonade?

Shit is semi silly.

It's not really. What happens if someone gets legitimately sick because they messed up the recipe or mis-handled the ingredients? That person has been harmed and thus the opportunity to petition a court to be made whole. That's why there's an insurance requirement, so that there is a guarantee that were something like this to happen, the consequences would be shouldered by the appropriate party.

[Cleverness]

They should have had a permit but I agree that calling the cops was stupid. In a day and age where 13 year olds are more prone to be in gangs, drug use or selling, etc, spooking a couple of kids trying to run a business is a douchebag thing to do. Especially in this economy, $60 at 13 is alot of money assuming the $120 is all profit and they split it evenly.

[Drex]

not to mention all the legitimate food vendors they're stealing business from. those guys are thinking, "why did i pay for this permit if those guys can do it for free?"

this just in: you can't just do whatever the fuck you want when it comes to money and things people eat. there's a (perfectly reasonable) expectation that when i buy food from a vendor, they know what the fuck they are doing. selling food without a permit in an area that requires a permit is essentially lying to your customers about your own credentials. you could say "oh they're 13 they didn't know better" but now they do. these are the kinds of things they will need to learn to pay attention to. it's not like they got fined or arrested, they just learned something important to their prospective business. i don't see a problem.

more power to them, learning by experience is the way to go anyway. hopefully they'll take this knowledge and use it on their next try.

the businessman could've gone down and told them, but he'd look like a douche regardless and they'd probably blow him off. you know as well as i do that most 13 year olds don't give two shits what some guy in a suit tells them. a guy in a uniform is a different story.

[archibaldcrane]

Did the cops fine them or just tell them to pack it up?

[Ksandra]

It's not really. What happens if someone gets legitimately sick because they messed up the recipe or mis-handled the ingredients? That person has been harmed and thus the opportunity to petition a court to be made whole. That's why there's an insurance requirement, so that there is a guarantee that were something like this to happen, the consequences would be shouldered by the appropriate party.

the silly part was him calling the cops right away like others said. That's why I said semi, it's understandable why they have those rules inplace.

[Drex]

Did the cops fine them or just tell them to pack it up?

just told 'em to leave and why, they let them keep the money they made too

[archibaldcrane]

just told 'em to leave and why, they let them keep the money they made too

Sounds reasonable enough to me.

[quannum]

the girl was dipping into my profits

http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/17290.gif

[Yugl]

The one think you have to remember is that he was not selling cupcakes. They were terrorcakes.

[Demosthenes11]

don't really see the problem here...was a weird reaction instead of just telling the kids to beat it but it's still the right thing to do

[Valisk]

Lemonade Stand at Convention/Parade/Festival/whatever v2.0

As wrong as you guys want it to be, the guy who called the cops was right.

[Valisk]

Wasn't there a thread like this about a girl selling lemonade?

Shit is semi silly.

Beaten. Guess I should have read.