Police Release Video Demanding Permit for Little Girls' Lemonade Stand

ashley.rae | June 11, 2015
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Police have released video footage of an officer demanding a permit from the mother of two little girls who were operating an illegal lemonade stand in Overton, TX.

According to KLTV, the girls, Andria and Zoey Green, were running the lemonade stand in hopes of raising $105 in order to buy their father a present for Father’s Day next Sunday.

Zoey told the local station their pricing:

“We had kettle corn and lemonade. The lemonade was for 50 cents and the kettle corn was a dollar, but if you got both it was a dollar.”

The girls had already raised more than $25 before the police busted their gig.

In the footage released to KLTV by the Overton Police Department, an officer asked the mother of the girls, Sandi Evans, if she had a permit for the kids to run their lemonade stand. The incredulous mother responded,

“Really? We have to have a permit? For a lemonade stand? I had no clue.”

Shocked but still compliant with the demands of the police officers, the mother said, “Okay. Can I run down there and get one real quick?”

After speaking to the officers, a friend of the family went to Overton City Hall to get a permit for the girls.

While the city waived the $150 "Peddler’s Permit" fee, the family friend was informed that the state health department would still need to be contacted as there is a Texas law, Texas House Bill 970, which prevents the sale of food without inspection and a permit.

During the exchange with the girls' mother, an additional officer told her in regards to the laws, 

“We just have to enforce ‘em. We don’t write ‘em."

This is not the first time that the police broke up a lemonade stand run by little children. An article on Forbes outlines "The Inexplicable War on Lemonade Stands."

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