Cops Bust Lemonade Stand: Appleton, Wisconsin Police Apologize For Mistaken Shutdown

Appleton, Wisconsin police officers are apologizing to two sisters, ages nine and 10, for busting their lemonade stand on a new city ordinance regulating vendors.

It turns out, they read the law wrong.

According to FOX-11 in Appleton, Vivian and Linda Coenen were partaking in a 15-year-old neighborhood tradition: selling lemonade in their driveway during the city's Old Car Show. “The kids have been setting it up for six or seven years now,” said Margi Mann, the girls' mother.

But then, Mann got a knock on the door. It was the Appleton P.D.

Apparently, as WTAQ reports, an ordinance was passed in the city on June 1 that banned vendors from selling food and drink within a two-block radius of any city event, in order to protect non-profit groups selling at the events.

The girls took the news hard at first, although they were able to drum up some sympathy by adorning their homemade signs with "The City Shut Us Down" and giving their wares out for free -- with a tip jar.

Still, neighbors were upset about the long arm of the law fiddling with a lemonade stand. So aldermen took a closer look at the ordinance to see if they could fix it.

As a matter of fact, it was already fixed. As the Post-Crescent of Appleton reports, the law actually only pertains to "licensed" vendors. Lemonade stands don't need licenses to operate in Wisconsin, so they are exempt from the two-block radius law.

"Not our finest hour," Police Chief David Walsh told the P-C, "but I believe the officer was acting in the spirit of inter-departmental cooperation rather than malice toward childhood lemonade stands." He apologized to the girls, and said the department would see to it that it doesn't happen again, according to an Associated Press report.

And Mayor Tim Hanna is telling kids to rev up the lemon-juicing apparatus in advance of Art in the Park on July 31.

"Get out there. Stock up some lemonade because it's supposed to be pretty nice out. And good luck," the mayor said, according to the Post-Crescent.

Comments

[Shaktas Na]

08:55 PM on 08/04/2011

It's happened yet again. Time to do something:

http://www.rys2sense.com/anti-neocons/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26151

[Bigrcube]

12:56 PM on 07/26/2011

The lemonade stand was just a front for a meth-lab in the backyard garage.

[Bigrcube]

12:55 PM on 07/26/2011

Gov. Scott Walker trained police departments.

[Bigrcube]

12:55 PM on 07/26/2011

Well, at least the cops didn't shut down the lemonade stand with their Guns-a-Blazin' ?!?!

[Renee Johnson]

12:09 PM on 07/26/2011

let me get this correct...Child Murders walk free and children's lemonade stands get shut down...just checking on how the laws work in this country!!

[Elyriaohio]

08:12 AM on 07/25/2011

Shutting-down kids lemonade stand is so much easier than fighting crime.

[O Dannyboy]

12:29 AM on 07/25/2011

Ignorance of the law is no excuse ... for chickensh1t police work.

[ImaBeast]

12:06 AM on 07/24/2011

Damn right, those illiterate cops should be apologizing. AND they ought to make 'em pay those kids for lost wages. Out of pocket!

[Guru Michael]

03:37 PM on 07/23/2011

The cops in this country are out of control, America is definitely not the home of the free any longer, the fascism is growing daily.

[wtchyldy]

10:18 AM on 07/23/2011

Okay - I DID read to wrong - to PROTECT nonprofits.
Need another cup of coffee

[wtchyldy]

10:16 AM on 07/23/2011

So the town doesn't want NON-profits setting up stands.
I hope I read that wrong.

[jozie]

09:54 AM on 07/23/2011

I think we should all move to that town. If their crime rate is so low that this is what they have to spend their time on, it must be an absolute utopia!

[Guru Michael]

03:38 PM on 07/23/2011

or police state...

[retromega]

01:55 PM on 07/22/2011

So the city is taking steps to ensure this doesn't happen again. What are they doing? Hiring cops that can read? Or are they doing psychological tests to hire cops that do something other than show off how tough they want to be? Do they still train their cops on the APC (that's a armored personnel carrier - a tank like carrier that makes behave strangely in small towns) that the Feds gave them?

[Max Shaw]

12:49 PM on 07/22/2011

When even the Police dont know what laws they are enforcing or even what the laws state---its pretty damn sad.

[ShawnRay]

11:19 AM on 07/22/2011

Union cops shut down small business, I am surprised. They might get to be a powerful corporation and help finance Scott Walkers reelection bid. The real question should be "are your employees unionized?".