• Lemon aid: Stirring up trouble Lemon aid: Stirring up trouble From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – August 16, 2004 Two little entrepreneurs learned this week why the city Health Department is regarded as a dysfunctional bureaucracy that can’t keep
• Lemon aid: Stirring up trouble
Lemon aid: Stirring up trouble
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – August 16, 2004
Two little entrepreneurs learned this week why the city Health Department is regarded as a dysfunctional bureaucracy that can’t keep its priorities straight. Mim Murray, 10, and Marisa Miller-Stockie, 12, are running a curbside lemonade stand in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood to raise money to buy laptop computers.
Like a hawk after baby mice, a health inspector swooped down Tuesday afternoon and demanded to see their business license. The girls say the inspector also accused them of selling unsafe ice cubes. Their product is Country Time lemonade, and the ice cubes are store-bought. The inspector acted in response to a complaint from a cranky person who lives nearby. This is the same Health Department whose commissioner, Melba Moore, once sat on her hands in the face of a real potential health emergency by refusing to shut down two city restaurants that had failed health inspections.
In any case, the girls refused to close shop. The incident drew national publicity and caught the attention of Ms. Moore. This time, she showed better judgment by coming to the girls’ rescue. She dropped by the stand Wednesday, apologized for what she said was a mix-up, bought some lemonade, left a big tip and noted that kids don’t need permits to run lemonade stands.
We’re not the least surprised that the health inspector didn’t know as much. Mim and Marisa learned that sometimes you can beat City Hall.
