What's in YOUR Cookie Jar Little Girl?

Nobody Wins : This article was sent to me by my good colleague in Australia, (amfortas) who was ever so keen to note that this happened all the way around the world, in my little home town. I'm glad SOMEONE is paying attention. Put that with the video, and you see the problem.

*** Who needs the human tapeworms behind these restrictions? St. Louis-Area Girls Told to Close Cookie Stand Each February and March for the past six years, Caitlin Mills, 16, and Abigail Mills, 14, have put a card table in front of their home in Hazelwood, Mo., and sold Girl Scout cookies to drivers passing by. This year, however, the city of Hazelwood notified their mother, Carolyn Mills, that the girls’ cookie stand violated city ordinances and must be shut down. Today, according to a news release from Freedom Center of Missouri, the Mills family — but not the Girl Scouts of America as they are not involved in the case — filed suit in state court to ensure that children in Hazelwood and all over the state will be free to set up similar stands in their own front yards.

“It is a time-honoured tradition for American children to set up a stand in the front yard and sell lemonade or baked goods to people passing by,” said Dave Roland, Freedom Center of Missouri director of litigation. “These stands are not only a fun way to pass a summer afternoon, they are frequently children’s first encounter with the basics of entrepreneurship, customer service, and money management.”

Notice of the city’s move to shut down the cookie-selling stand came as a surprise to Mrs. Mills. “It never even crossed my mind that my girls might need to get permission from the city before setting up their cookie stand,” she said. “I was even more shocked when city officials told me that you couldn’t even get a permit for it.” Caitlin Mills was diplomatic about the situation. “We know that our city officials are working hard to make sure that Hazelwood is a nice place to live,” she explained. “But even good city officials sometimes make mistakes. All we are asking is for the court to say it was a mistake for the city to tell us to shut down our cookie stand.” The implications of this case, however, reach far beyond Hazelwood’s city limits, according to Roland: For more than a century, American courts adhered to the principle that people could use their property almost any way they saw fit as long as they were not harming anyone else. Despite this general rule, courts allowed governments to use the “police power” to create laws carefully designed to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. Over time, however, courts shifted from the presumption that citizens should be able to make use of their property to a presumption that government should be able to restrict its use. The issue in this case is whether state and local governments still face any constitutional limitations on their ability to control the use of private property.

“Courts have already held that cities can control what citizens can build on their property, where they can build it… even what color they can paint it,” Roland said. “If Hazelwood and other cities can prohibit kids from setting up a harmless, temporary cookie stand in their own front yard, it is hard to say that our constitutions still offer any significant protection for private property rights. The Freedom Center of Missouri hopes to remind the courts that vigorous protection of property rights is vital to the American constitutional system and way of life.”

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So, a kid (or in this case young adult) cannot sell lemonade (or cookies) here in Hazelwood without a permit, and they do not issue permits. Therefore, the kid has to wait till he grows up and gets his first job at McDonalds...thereby discouraging him from having a business of his own.

Getting 'permission' is how they are training the kids that they cannot do much of anything without the government's permission. It also makes the parents look weak.

On the other hand, if Caitlin and her friend Abigail had actually been allowed to sell their cookies here in Hazelwood, more than likely, they would could been robbed, as this young girl was in the video. I'd say the chances were at least 50/50.

The question here is...is this happening in YOUR neighbourhood? Here in Hazelwood, I have it on good source (a teacher) that a boatload of the kids make their money selling drugs in the halls between classes.

And now...we know why: In Hazelwood, you don't need a permit to sell drugs in school, and you have your locker to put the money safely away.

Many a billionaire has a story about how he making money as a kid. Paper routes, selling lemonade, and their early experiences made them into the success they become.

What kind of choices are we giving our kids when they can't experiment with selling honest products, and yet the profits of drugs are sold in the halls of our school, with teachers looking the other way?

Not much.