First They Came for Kid-Run Lemonade Stands, II
Then the "licensing gestapo" came for adults with cancer trying to raise money with weekend yard sales:
Salem, OR -- "A woman fighting a terminal form of bone cancer is trying to raise money to help pay bills with a few weekend garage sales, but the city of Salem says she’s breaking the law and is shutting her down. Jan Cline had no idea, but the city of Salem has a clear law that states a person can only have three yard sales a year.
Cline has been selling her stuff in the backyard for a few weekends and said she thought she’d be fine by keeping the sale out of everyone’s way."
But then a city inspector showed up and shut her down....
HT: Matt Bixler
Update: Jan Cline's friends have set up a Facebook page for her, and there is a website here to make donations.
HT: Matt Bixler
Update: Jan Cline's friends have set up a Facebook page for her, and there is a website here to make donations.
8 Comments:
Suggest the bureaucrats simply look the other way, after dropping $10 in the kitty.
Another example of petty martinent-ism at the local or state government level.
The worst enemies of free enterprise are state and local governments.
Don't leave out the local retailer who pushed to have the rules created.
Laws are rarely created in a vacuum, there is always a special interest behind any law.
I suggest that the lady should just move her sales onto ebay, the locals can't interfere.
That's an excellent comment about how laws are created... I hadn't thought of it that way at the local level... only in the context of state/federal lobbyists.
If she wasn't a cancer patient, who's quite immobile at this point, ebay etc. would be a viable option. In her position, selling her possessions on the street, so to speak, is about her only option.
My foundation has made a donation to Jan, and we're encouraging others to do so. More info at bottom of http://goo.gl/7PPHe.
"Another example of petty martinent-ism at the local or state government level. The worst enemies of free enterprise are state and local governments." -- "Benji"
And the federal government is so much better:
John Dollarhite and his wife Judy of tiny Nixa, Mo., have been told by the USDA that, by Monday, they must pay a fine exceeding $90,000. If they don’t pay that fine, they could face additional fines of almost $4 million. Why? Because they sold more than $500 worth of bunnies — $4,600 worth to be exact — in a single calendar year. -- Big Government
Sure its that way. In my county to have a farmers market you must have a hundred acres, be on a main road, live on the property, and have county's approved toilets. Only one farm met the criteria, until recently, and the new Guy has been trying to get through red tape for two years, so far. Owners of the original place were friends with the right people.
The purpose for this rule (and most towns actually have something similair) is to prevent a private residence being turned into a store. This is mostly done so the neighbors aren't annoyed by living next to a retail operation (it is an extension of zoning laws really) and how many people here would like to live next to a house with the traffic, parking and noise of a retail store going on next to your yard? This is clearly a special circumstance but having a never ending yard sale next door is not a fun thing to deal with and this can and does get abused badly (it is also a favorite method to dispose of stolen property in my town).
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