Deputies in North Carolina say they’re seeking a teenager who robbed a 9-year-old’s lemonade stand at gunpoint.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday that the stickup happened near a traffic roundabout in Monroe, about 30 miles southeast of Charlotte.
Deputies say the young drink vendor reported that a male teenager with a camouflage hat and black shirt placed a black handgun to the boy’s stomach Saturday, demanded money and then fled on foot.
Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Underwood tells The Charlotte Observer less than $20 in cash was stolen. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]According to his father, Sean Mulvaney, Brendan wanted to raise money for a trip to Disneyworld and also planned to donate some money to a needy family in the area.
“We are trying to teach our son good manners and to do something with himself,” Mulvaney said. “He wanted to make some money with a lemonade, we said sure. It’s better than sitting in the house.”
These entrepreneurial dreams were quickly crushed when a state health official visited the lemonade stand and told the family to shut it down because Brendan didn’t have a permit.
“She didn’t introduce herself, she didn’t leave a card,” Brendan’s dad said. “She asked if we had a permit and I said ‘no’ and she told us we couldn’t do it. Then she started taking pictures. She was rude.”
“We didn’t think that we needed (a permit), we didn’t know that we needed one,” said Brendan’s mom, Jodi Mulvaney. “It didn’t even cross our minds.”
The Department of Health initially seemed confused by the incident, as the agency doesn’t inspect stands, and issued an apology to the Mulvaney family.
“While we work to confirm the inspection was performed by DOH staff and the surrounding circumstances, we offer Brendan an apology for any inconvenience,” said spokeswoman Jill Montag. “We are working to better understand the situation but in the meantime want to assure the community that DOH does not issue permits for or oversee lemonade stands.”
But only hours later, the over-zealous government bureaucrats reversed their stance.
According to The New York Post, vendors at the Saratoga fair had complained to health inspectors about Brendan’s stand because he was undercutting their prices: He was selling lemonade for 75 cents, versus the $7 drinks inside the fair.
And so in an effort to “level the playing field,” officials insisted Brendan did, in fact, need a permit.- READ MORE
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