Proving that there must be something in the water in Florida, a man has come forward to shut down a child’s lemonade stand for being illegal.
Tampa Bay Times is reporting that a 12-year-old named T.J. Guerrero is trying to save up for an ipod by selling lemonade out in front of a local block, but there’s one person who is not a happy customer. Neighbor Doug Wilkey tried to get his lemonade stand shut down and complained several times throughout the summer about the stand. The lemonade stand also sells baked goods, so obviously Guerrero has the best of intentions with his harmless stand.
T.J. even enlisted the help of another neighbor to make a yellow sign to advertise the cookies and lemonade. That said, Wilkey wasn’t pleased and decided to take things into his own hands by asking officials to shut the stand down for being “an illegal business.”
We wish we were joking. According to the disgruntled neighbor, the Palm Harbor Middle School student’s lemonade stand was causing, “excessive traffic, noise, trash, illegal parking and other problems that reduce his property values.”
In an e-mail the neighbor wrote, “Please help me regain my quiet home and neighborhood.”
“Wilkey wrote that T.J’s friends made noise as they lingered near the stand with their skateboards. The boys used profanity, threw rocks and debris that Wilkey had to pick up before mowing, and set off fireworks that scared his dog, he said. Once, a child accidentally ran his bicycle into the back of Wilkey’s parked truck, damaging it.”
The neighbor continued to reach for reasons on why T.J.’s lemonade stand was harmful to people and suggested that perhaps the goods were contaminated.
“The city could possibly face repercussion in the event someone became ill from spoiled/contaminated food or drink sales.”
That said, the 12-year-old boy claimed his longest line was five people and that two neighbors let the customers park in their own personal driveway. As for possible contamination, the boy sells his fresh baked goods in a Tupperware container.
As for one customer, Vincent Titara, he doesn’t see the big deal in a boy selling 50-cent cookies and lemonade for $1.
Of the “illegal business,” he said:
“I had one when I was a little kid. We all did. I think it’s cute.”
As for T.J., he’s not letting one neighbor get him down. He’s too busy counting his money to see if he has enough yet for that ipod he’s been saving up for.
[Image via martiapunts / Shutterstock]
