The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Rapunzel on December 04, 2013, 03:04:32 am
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/03/city-not-ok-with-11-year-olds-plan-to-sell-mistletoe-to-help-pay-for-her-braces-but-says-she-can-always-beg/
City Not OK With 11-Year-Old’s Plan to Sell Mistletoe to Help Pay for Her Braces (But Says She Can Always Beg)
Dec. 3, 2013 3:25pm Erica Ritz
11-year-old Madison Root knows that braces are expensive, so she wanted to do her part to help pay for the cost. Sure, she could sell lemonade at the end of the driveway — but with her uncle’s farm overflowing with mistletoe and Christmas right around the corner, why not sell that at Portland, Ore.’s popular Saturday Market instead?
Well — because the city says so.
The girl had gathered enough mistletoe from her uncle’s farm for 100 nicely-prepared bags of mistletoe for customers, KATU-TV reported, and brought it to the Saturday Market last weekend with her father. She thought the location was perfect — a public area overflowing with patrons, vendors, booths, beggars and more.
But Root and her father were soon asked by a security guard to stop selling their wares because city ordinance bans such commerce without proper approval. The guard reportedly added that she could continue on the sidewalk outside or beg for donations instead.
City Not OK With 11 Year Olds Plan to Sell Mistletoe to Help Pay for Her Braces (But Says She Can Always Beg)
Madison Root said she was asked to leave the Portland Saturday Market unless she stopped selling mistletoe. (Photo: KATU-TV)
(http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Madison-Root-620x367.png)
Mark Ross, a spokesman for the Portland Parks Bureau, said begging is a protected form of free speech.
“It’s crazy!” Root told KATU-TV of the outcome. “People can get money for pot, but I can’t get money for braces? I’m working for this! They’re just sitting down on their butts all day asking for pot!”
The young woman says she has no interest in begging, and “would rather work for something.”
Her father, Ashton Root, said that while they understand the rules — vendors compete and pay for prime locations — it seems like “the city laws are supporting begging and are against working.” He said he hopes their story can “make a statement and possibly make a difference.”
But all is not lost for young Madison Root, who is already finding customers elsewhere. After her story made the local news, customers began calling in orders for dozens of packages of mistletoe. Business owner Ken Cook of McKenzie Farms even donated $1,000 to her braces fund.
“This girl is what America is all about,” Cook said of the “little entrepreneur.”
Thanks to the outpouring of support, Root has already gotten her top row of braces.
Speaking from the orthodontist’s office, she said with a smile: “It’s just awesome; I feel that we can get people to stop begging and start working … People should be able to work for money. People should be able to try hard to make a living!”
Watch below for a follow-up interview with Cook, and Root expressing her thanks from the orthodontist’s office:
Two videos at link - I strongly recommend everyone watch them, she is an amazing little girl... and that jerk Bob Beckle this afternoon on The Five railed kids don't need braces and they should have thrown her out... :chairbang: :chairbang:
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I missed that part with Beckel, though I had The Five on Sirius. He's nuts, or cheap or both!
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I missed that part with Beckel, though I had The Five on Sirius. He's nuts, or cheap or both!
More than a few people here in Portland are calling this a set-up by the dad to get the braces paid for by strangers.
This family lives in a nice house in Lake Oswego, which is the richest of rich suburbs in the Portland metro area.
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More than a few people here in Portland are calling this a set-up by the dad to get the braces paid for by strangers.
This family lives in a nice house in Lake Oswego, which is the richest of rich suburbs in the Portland metro area.
Sure, it could be. Or it could be the family are scrabbling from paycheck to paycheck, so underwater on the mortgage that they can't sell the house. We don't know.
What we do know is this girl was willing to work for what she needed. Mistletoe is horrible to handle, if you never have before. Sticky and slimy at the same time and very toxic if you forget and lick your fingers.
That's good enough for me to praise her.
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More than a few people here in Portland are calling this a set-up by the dad to get the braces paid for by strangers.
This family lives in a nice house in Lake Oswego, which is the richest of rich suburbs in the Portland metro area.
What I observed is a very mature, very well spoken young lady that puts most adults to shame with her grasp of capitalism and actually working for a living instead of begging (which is what they told her she could do)...
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More than a few people here in Portland are calling this a set-up by the dad to get the braces paid for by strangers.
This family lives in a nice house in Lake Oswego, which is the richest of rich suburbs in the Portland metro area.
So people who are financially comfortable can't encourage their kids to work for the extras in their lives?
This sounds like the kind of thing that parents used to teach kids all the time.
Leave it to lefties to presume greedy motives for straightforward entrepreneurship.
(btw, the people are paying for mistletoe, not braces).
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More than a few people here in Portland are calling this a set-up by the dad to get the braces paid for by strangers.
This family lives in a nice house in Lake Oswego, which is the richest of rich suburbs in the Portland metro area.
I know Lake Oswego very well - I use to have a girlfriend who lived there. Yes there are some upper class neighborhoods as there are in many suburbs, but these neighborhoods of "the rich" do not make up the majority of Lake Oswego. Anyone here can do a Google Maps drive-through and see for themselves that most of the homes don't look very different than the moderatly priced homes in their towns.
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There is nothing wrong with her working and selling. What there is something wrong with it is that vendors pay good money to secure selling areas and permits. If they can just send their kids in the area to sell w/out paying for security and advertising, that's not really capitalism.
That's theft. Plus, nobody can find the security guard who apparently gave them the boot.
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There is nothing wrong with her working and selling. What there is something wrong with it is that vendors pay good money to secure selling areas and permits. If they can just send their kids in the area to sell w/out paying for security and advertising, that's not really capitalism.
That's theft. Plus, nobody can find the security guard who apparently gave them the boot.
It may not be appropriate, but the use of the word "theft" to describe a young lady who is selling goods that she worked to prepare is a bit extreme.
The security guard question is tangential to the issue at hand. We've got a government shutting down kids' lemonade stands and making bake sales illegal. What used to be acceptable and a good thing has now become problematic.
If the government said she could beg but not sell, the problem is not with the girl.
Is it?
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**nononono*
There is nothing wrong with her working and selling. What there is something wrong with it is that vendors pay good money to secure selling areas and permits. If they can just send their kids in the area to sell w/out paying for security and advertising, that's not really capitalism.
That's theft. Plus, nobody can find the security guard who apparently gave them the boot.
The reason she went where she did is it was outside the vendors area... She was between guys selling pot and they were not shut down.
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**nononono*
The reason she went where she did is it was outside the vendors area... She was between guys selling pot and they were not shut down.
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That's what the dad said originally. Now he changed his story and said that there were beggars in the area. He got called out by people who saw the girl selling her mistletoe, and how there was nobody selling pot near them. So, we know that's one lie already...
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The dad is a PR guy for a living who runs a tech company owned by his own dad. Yet they're accepting donations to pay for braces. Disgusting. As bad as the Linda Tirado fraud, IMO, except this guy is targeting conservatives for their money, while Tirado is targeting liberals.
There are suckers born on each extreme, I guess. :thud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJ0XXTafYo
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Geesh.....there is a reason why hawking items without permits is against the law.
It's not fair to the merchants who have built and sustained their businesses and pay monthly rent/mortgages and salaries to have every Tom...Dick...and Harry........and 11 year old little girls selling items.
Then there's the safety concerns....it's mistletoe and toxic if not handled properly.
Finally, I would NEVER purchase lemonade at a child's stand. R U NUTS???
Throw them a dollar is you want....but I ain't drinking anything that isn't packaged and sealed.
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Geesh.....there is a reason why hawking items without permits is against the law.
It's not fair to the merchants who have built and sustained their businesses and pay monthly rent/mortgages and salaries to have every Tom...Dick...and Harry........and 11 year old little girls selling items.
Then there's the safety concerns....it's mistletoe and toxic if not handled properly.
Finally, I would NEVER purchase lemonade at a child's stand. R U NUTS???
Throw them a dollar is you want....but I ain't drinking anything that isn't packaged and sealed.
Not even in your own neighborhood, DC?
Good grief! If kids have the initiative to make lemonade, put out a table in their yard and sell it to people in the neighborhood, why in heaven's name shouldn't people buy it?
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Not even in your own neighborhood, DC?
Good grief! If kids have the initiative to make lemonade, put out a table in their yard and sell it to people in the neighborhood, why in heaven's name shouldn't people buy it?
For the record, my own daughters run lemonade stands in front of the house during the summer. I wouldn't bring them to Portland Saturday Market to do so, however, because I don't want to pay the permit fees. I also wouldn't whine to the media and set up a donation site when told the actual law, but that's another story. :beer:
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For the record, my own daughters run lemonade stands in front of the house during the summer. I wouldn't bring them to Portland Saturday Market to do so, however, because I don't want to pay the permit fees. I also wouldn't whine to the media and set up a donation site when told the actual law, but that's another story. :beer:
Another story indeed! ^-^
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Well she was on The Kelly File last hour and for the record does not WANT donations... she wanted to sell her mistletoe and earn the money fair and square.
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Forget everything else that was said about her or her family. That appearence on the Kelly file said all I need to know. She is a remarkable young lady with class, and with a work ethic like few others. She is going places.
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Forget everything else that was said about her or her family. That appearence on the Kelly file said all I need to know. She is a remarkable young lady with class, and with a work ethic like few others. She is going places.
It's good to know that some kids are being raised right, and have a rare work ethic in these lazy, self-absorbed times.
Refreshing, even......... :patriot:
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Update.
Glenn Beck placed her mistletoe on his The Blaze Marketplace, the Blaze is only taking the credit card processing fee. $10 a bag and $5 shipping.. The first 1,000 she had available sold out in an hour, she is collecting more mistletoe and will have another 1,000 for sale.
Personally... I think this is awesome of this little girl and Beck for encouraging his entrepreneurship rather than what the people told her at the park in Portland who told her she could just beg for money - not sell product for money....
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Good.
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Geesh.....there is a reason why hawking items without permits is against the law.
It's not fair to the merchants who have built and sustained their businesses and pay monthly rent/mortgages and salaries to have every Tom...Dick...and Harry........and 11 year old little girls selling items.
Then there's the safety concerns....it's mistletoe and toxic if not handled properly.
Finally, I would NEVER purchase lemonade at a child's stand. R U NUTS???
Throw them a dollar is you want....but I ain't drinking anything that isn't packaged and sealed.
I'm with you on this DC.
Yes it's great this little girl wanted to earn money, but what has she been taught? That it's OK to circumvent rules, and if you get caught just twist the truth so you look like the victim.
I know a few ladies from church who make the crafters rounds. They make a nice piece of change selling their crafts. But they also pay to set up their booths at different venues. They have to abide by rules. Why should this little girl be any different?
Why are we teaching our children to "work" the system?
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I'm with you on this DC.
Yes it's great this little girl wanted to earn money, but what has she been taught? That it's OK to circumvent rules, and if you get caught just twist the truth so you look like the victim.
I know a few ladies from church who make the crafters rounds. They make a nice piece of change selling their crafts. But they also pay to set up their booths at different venues. They have to abide by rules. Why should this little girl be any different?
Why are we teaching our children to "work" the system?
Nope.. if she was "working" the system then she would have done what the guards told her to do - beg. She is a very intelligent and articulate young lady and when offered donations since she refused saying she wanted to work for her money, not take handouts.
I guess some people would have her do what the people on both sides of her were doing - sell pot.
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Nope.. if she was "working" the system then she would have done what the guards told her to do - beg. She is a very intelligent and articulate young lady and when offered donations since she refused saying she wanted to work for her money, not take handouts.
I guess some people would have her do what the people on both sides of her were doing - sell pot.
I never claimed she was working the system.
My problem is this......and I'm going to use illegal aliens as my example.
You and others have gotten pissed off over the years that illegals are stealing jobs and money by undercutting other small businesses by willing to work for less. You don't hesitate to call them lawbreakers.
The little girl is essentially doing to the same thing to the local merchants. Today....a little knapsack full of mistletoe.
Tomorrow, her dad builds a kiosk...or a stranger sees her success and puts up a kiosk selling wreaths, bunting, ribbons.
Nobody is demeaning her entrepreneurial spirit and her intelligence. She's awesome.
If the law is ignored, you'd see flea markets and food trucks flooding the curbs.
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I never claimed she was working the system.
My problem is this......and I'm going to use illegal aliens as my example.
You and others have gotten pissed off over the years that illegals are stealing jobs and money by undercutting other small businesses by willing to work for less. You don't hesitate to call them lawbreakers.
The little girl is essentially doing to the same thing to the local merchants. Today....a little knapsack full of mistletoe.
Tomorrow, her dad builds a kiosk...or a stranger sees her success and puts up a kiosk selling wreaths, bunting, ribbons.
Nobody is demeaning her entrepreneurial spirit and her intelligence. She's awesome.
If the law is ignored, you'd see flea markets and food trucks flooding the curbs.
They already do, DC. For instance when we lived in CA and went to the flea market on the weekend the entire area was always ringed with vendors who could not get a space, etc. The flea market was no less busy and the people on the outskirts selling anything from strawberries to who knows what made money as well... and not quite the same as illegal aliens since she is an American Citizen....
No wonder so many are on welfare when people criticize someone for actually wanting to work for a living - no matter how young rather than take a handout... she had to go climb the trees and cut the mistletoe, bag it, and will be shipping all 3,000 units she has now sold... unlike our former liberal spy who thought the we all owed him a college degree and free healthcare, this 11-year-old wants to earn her way in the world... and for that I commend her.
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They already do, DC. For instance when we lived in CA and went to the flea market on the weekend the entire area was always ringed with vendors who could not get a space, etc. The flea market was no less busy and the people on the outskirts selling anything from strawberries to who knows what made money as well... and not quite the same as illegal aliens since she is an American Citizen....
No wonder so many are on welfare when people criticize someone for actually wanting to work for a living - no matter how young rather than take a handout... she had to go climb the trees and cut the mistletoe, bag it, and will be shipping all 3,000 units she has now sold... unlike our former liberal spy who thought the we all owed him a college degree and free healthcare, this 11-year-old wants to earn her way in the world... and for that I commend her.
Me too, Rap!
Anyone of my five children would have done the same thing.
And, resourcefulness will get you farther today than a Bachelor of Arts degree.
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Me too, Rap!
Anyone of my five children would have done the same thing.
And, resourcefulness will get you farther today than a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Glenn Beck interviewed heer today and asked her where this comes from.. she said by dad is an entrepreneur and so is my grandfather.. it is just what our family does.
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Nope.. if she was "working" the system then she would have done what the guards told her to do - beg. She is a very intelligent and articulate young lady and when offered donations since she refused saying she wanted to work for her money, not take handouts.
I guess some people would have her do what the people on both sides of her were doing - sell pot.
The guard told her she could sell her wares outside the market, or beg. ALSO, the story about two people on each side of her selling pot has turned out to be false. geesh. And the adults in her life aren't teaching her the proper way of doing things. The parent should have forked over the permit fee *probably reasonable, most are approx $25 - $45* if he wanted his child to learn the gratification of earning your way. God knows how many boxes of cookies, candy bars and what not I've bought for my children, nieces, nephews, etc.
Instead these people "work" the system.
I guess some people think its OK to teach children they're special and rules don't apply to them. Maybe she'll run for Congress when she grows up... she's being primed for it now.
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* * *
Throw them a dollar is you want....but I ain't drinking anything that isn't packaged and sealed.
That's your choice; what gives you the right to force your choice on everyone else?
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The guard told her she could sell her wares outside the market, or beg. ALSO, the story about two people on each side of her selling pot has turned out to be false. geesh. And the adults in her life aren't teaching her the proper way of doing things. The parent should have forked over the permit fee *probably reasonable, most are approx $25 - $45* if he wanted his child to learn the gratification of earning your way. God knows how many boxes of cookies, candy bars and what not I've bought for my children, nieces, nephews, etc.
Instead these people "work" the system.
I guess some people think its OK to teach children they're special and rules don't apply to them. Maybe she'll run for Congress when she grows up... she's being primed for it now.
She got a very valuable lesson for a young entrepreneur - government gets it's sticky paws into all the pies.
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That's your choice; what gives you the right to force your choice on everyone else?
Was I? :pondering:
Didn't mean to do that....was just telling you how I would handle that situation.
You can drink all that swill you like :beer:
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Was I? :pondering:
Didn't mean to do that....was just telling you how I would handle that situation.
You can drink all that swill you like :beer:
In this context, and in tandem with your statements about why there ought to be laws regulating hawkers, yes, you are.
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She got a very valuable lesson for a young entrepreneur - government gets it's sticky paws into all the pies.
EC you may want to take a look at this.
http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/
Who do you think pays for that market to be there, the upkeep, cleaning, web page, etc?
Do you think it's right that someone could just come in and sell wares without paying for those services provided by the market? While others who follow the rules pay?
Someone is paying for that property to be an open market for vendors. Vendors pay fees to cover those costs. Her dad was completely irresponsible in taking her there, knowing full well she'd need a vendors permit. And he continues to be irresponsible by leading her down the path they are going. Making her believe SHE is being victimized. A responsible parent would explain why she's unable to sell there, and get her a permit *showing her the process the whole way* so she can sell there.
Being self sufficient is a whole lot more than just getting a product together. She should be taught how to navigate the business world too. And by that, to navigate it with dignity and respect, not manipulation. But then again I read somewhere he's a PR guy so..........
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In this context, and in tandem with your statements about why there ought to be laws regulating hawkers, yes, you are.
So if your wife opens up a little coffee shop in the neighborhood strip mall....her own little Starbucks...and hawks everything you own to turn the key, hire people, incur a payroll.....and a cute little teenaged girl dressed in Hooter's garb opens up a hot coffee and warm doughnuts CART only 60 ft from her front door.......
whatcha gonna do?
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So if your wife opens up a little coffee shop in the neighborhood strip mall....her own little Starbucks...and hawks everything you own to turn the key, hire people, incur a payroll.....and a cute little teenaged girl dressed in Hooter's garb opens up a hot coffee and warm doughnuts CART only 60 ft from her front door.......
whatcha gonna do?
Hire her and make her shift manager.