Aug 17, 2009 7:00 pm US/Eastern
Girl, 10, Fined $50 For Lemonade Stand At NY Park
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
It's a summertime tradition for kids everywhere – setting up a lemonade stand and hoping to make a few bucks off of thirsty passersby.
That is, unless you do it on city park property – as did one little girl who was ticketed for trying to serve up summer refreshment.
To 10-year-old Clementine Lee, setting up a lemonade stand at Riverside Park on a hot Saturday afternoon seemed like a fun way to make money.
Instead, she and her dad got slapped with a $50 fine.
"I was kind of nervous, and I also really felt bad because I didn't know I was doing something against the law," Clementine said.
She and her father, Richard Lee, had only been selling lemonade and cookies for about 15 minutes when three Parks Department agents approached them.
"One of them looked at the sign and said, 'Oh yes, she's selling it,' and then they asked me right away for ID," Richard said.
To Richard's disbelief, the agents began writing them a ticket for selling food without a permit.
"We just live right across the street, so we thought we'd come out here and sell this – we could just leave," Richard said. "And they said, 'No, you know, we're gonna have to write you up.'"
"They made me feel really, really bad, and scared at the same time," Clemetine said. "We could have gotten into really big trouble and gotten arrested or something."
A spokesperson for the Parks Department says the agents showed poor judgment and that the ticket will be dismissed.
If and when that happens, Clementine says she will reconsider setting up another lemonade stand.
After Clementine and her dad got the ticket, they took the lemonade stand to the lobby of their building.
At the end of the day, Clementine made $19, which she plans to put in her savings account.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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