Neighbourhood Gang Shut Down By Alert Community
A phone call from a concerned neighbour and some smart thinking by a local police officer has shut down an illegal operation by local thugs in Haverford, NJ:
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.
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.”
The deputy chief of police said, “”We all went, like, who calls [police] on kids?” , yet said nothing about the officer who went to the parents’ door and told them their 5 year old children were in violation of the law. And to boot, said the officer was just acting on information he had available.
This could easily turn into “Which is the biggest dick?” game. Do you vote for the idiot neighbour who ratted the kids out, the idiot copper who went to the parents house and told them the little kids were violating the law, or the idiot deputy chief of police who blamed the idiot neighbour and gave a free pass to the idiot copper under his command?
Hmmmm, it seems all three parties are pretty ginormous dicks, so this round will have to go to Haverford, NJ, where there is an abundance of dicks hanging out (yes, I know what I typed there).
I’m guessing Haverford voted Obama?
July 20th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Only five cents! At least that what it looks like on the the mini-mafiosa’s sign.
Hell,last time I bought a glass of lemonade from a kid in Surrey,about fifteen years ago, I paid 25 cents!
I was gouged!
I’d go exact revenge, but the little F***er is probably about 23 now, and would beat the crap outta me.
July 20th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
The dick level is very high in that story (and not in a good way).
July 21st, 2009 at 3:55 am
Watch these little pricks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcCSlL7As54
July 21st, 2009 at 11:24 am
Nancy, I just spewed Diet Coke all over my computer typewriter, and my computer tv screen!
Seriously, laughing my freakin’ guts up!!!!! Sigh… I wish I’d thought of that when I was a kid.
Hey…is there an age restriction on opening a lemonade stand? Hmmmm…
July 21st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I wouldn’t trust anyone over 12. Would you?
July 21st, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Nancy, HA!
Man, that would have been a really cool thing to do. I have a story about a lemonade stand, and a guy who was actually selling tomatoes that took place when I was about 4 years old…before I could read…but it’s really pretty boring.
It’s “boring” now, but my older brother and his friends seemed to have REALLY ENJOYED THEIR DASTARDLY SELVES, messing around with me. Sigh.
Short answer…NO!
July 21st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Wake me when William Nickerson gets his ass kicked up between his shoulders.