The call came in at 7:06 p.m. Juveniles, seven of them, on a quiet residential street, selling an uncontrolled substance: lemonade. A neighbor had dimed them out, and a Haverford Township police officer responded in a hurry. When he arrived at the two-story brick house on Maryland Avenue, he dutifully informed Dana Kleinschmidt, mother of four of the reputed offenders, who included 5-year-old triplets, that they were violating the law. They were selling lemonade without a permit.
Kleinschmidt was nonplussed. She told the children to cease and desist, but the law was news to her – and evidently to the rest of the township’s police department.
“We all sold lemonade when we were kids,” said John F. Viola, the deputy chief of police. “We all went, like, who calls [police] on kids?” As it turns out, according to Viola, the officer’s visit was a misunderstanding that finally was left to Sgt. Joe Hagan to straighten out.
For 12 years, Hagan acknowledged, he has patrolled the streets of Haverford buying lemonade, paying the kids a buck and surreptitiously not drinking it. It never occurred to him that he was aiding and abetting law-breakers. Legality became an issue on July 10, when William Nickerson called to complain that neighborhood children were peddling the stuff. Nickerson said they were going house-to-house ringing doorbells, and he didn’t think they were being properly supervised by adults. “I’m not being Scrooge,” he said.
The responding officer – who was unavailable, whom Viola would not identify, and whose name and badge number were blacked out of the police report – invoked a township ordinance against vending without a permit. What the officer didn’t realize, Viola said, is that the law doesn’t apply to anyone younger than 16.
“The police officer would have no way of knowing this on the street,” Viola said. “He acts on information he has available.”
There is just no shortage of “stupid” in this country.
I’ll have one thing to say and its a direct quote from various officers of the law. If this came from an officer then it can also directly apply back to them. There is no excuse.
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Its the duty of the police to enforce the law, if they don’t know the law they shouldn’t be employed. Hire other individuals who are responsible enough to educate themselves on the law of the land, not just those who want to ride the government belt strap and collect paychecks.
Have you ever tried talking to an “Adult” neighbor? Especially about their children?
I’ve actually had 3 neighbors say “everyone else is doing it” after informing them that fireworks at 1am in a county under a fire ban and against deed restriction wasn’t such a great idea…One didn’t even know what a fire ban meant.
Stepping onto your neighbors yard to essentially tell them they are bad parents, isn’t going to usually end in a meeting of minds. Anonymous calls to a person deemed by most as authority to help mitigate a situation is a good thing.
The officer HAD the ability to now the ordinance as soon as it became an ordinance, just as a citizen arrested/ticketed for it would be expected to know it.
Persons under the age of 18 do have rights and do have laws governing them. If there would be no such thing as juvenile records or offenses.
#34
Ya got the “dick-head” part right, but it’s because he has been trained to expect (and probably voted for)the government to do everything for him.
#36,
You are right. It can be difficult acting like an adult. It can be frustrating when others don’t listen to what you think, or think differently. Sometimes, acting like an adult even means NOT getting your way.
Much better, easier, to run crying to Mommy. She’ll make it all better and make those bad people act the way you want them to.
Or, they’ll shut down a kids lemonade stand. Yea, that’s a good thing.