- Text
Lemonade Stand Shut Down by Food Inspectors; County Chair Apologizes
Julie Murphy Shows Lemonade Sign (AP Photo/Torsten Kjellstrand - The Oregonian)
PORTLAND, Ore. (CBS/AP/KOIN) Jeff Cogen, the top elected official in Multnomah County, Ore. tried to turn lemons into lemonade, by apologizing Thursday for the shutting down of a lemonade stand by county health inspectors at a Portland arts fair last week.
"A lemonade stand is a classic iconic American kid thing to do," the county Chairman said. "I don't want to be in the business of shutting that down."
Cogen told CBS affiliate KOIN that he called Julie Murphy's mom and "shared with her my feeling that it really wasn't the county's business to be stopping 7-year-olds from selling lemonade."
He said she appreciated the apology.
"It's not necessarily best to have strict lines all the time," Cogen told KOIN, "and sometimes professional judgment and discretion needs to be used here." He's asked the health department to find a better way.
Cogen also says that he ran a lemonade stand, and his kids do, as well.
Maria Fife, Julie's mom, said her daughter wanted to open a lemonade stand after seeing a cartoon character open one. She was selling Kool-Aid lemonade for 50 cents a cup when an inspector approached and asked for her license - which costs $120 - at the fair. The other vendors reportedly rallied around Julie, and her "business" started booming.
According to KOIN, two inspectors then threatened Julie with a $500 fine, and she left in tears.
While the county inspectors were doing their job, Cogen said, the rules are meant for professional food service operators.
"This isn't something we need to be using our limited resources to crack down on," he said.
- 11 children removed from Texas home in abuse case
- UVA lacrosse jury asks to see Love's door, wall
- Teen Mom 2's Leah Messer attacked outside cinema
- Police: Spa massacre "probably domestic related"
- Playboy Playmate has "no animosity" toward NYPD
- Woman held captive and enslaved for nine years
- Woman jailed in PA has history of pregnancy cons
- Remains found of Ohio girl missing since 1999
- Elizabeth Smart marries in Hawaii
- Cops: 12-year-old naked girl found naked, hungry
- U.Va. lacrosse player guilty of killing girlfriend
- L.A. teacher Mark Berndt pleads not guilty
- Prince of Monaco punched in nightclub brawl
- Second child of LA woman taken off life support
- Mom arrested after maggots found in baby's diaper
- Report: kidnapped Mont. teacher choked, buried
- Ohio mom, baby found shot to death alongside man
- Syrian forces resume Homs shelling
- Royal Bank of Scotland losses widen on writedowns
- A nun, football coach and Marine going to Oscars
- German business confidence sees 4th straight rise
on Facebook
- Six decades of Oscar fashion
- GOP presidential debate: Winners and Losers
- Is world's shortest man this 22-inch-tall Nepalese 72-year-old?
- Christie: Buffett should "write a check and shut up"
on CBS News
