Last week, on one of those days when you could fry eggs on the sidewalk if you wanted to, I was driving back to work from lunch and noticed something that I seem to observe less of today than when I was a kid in the 1950s and ?60s. It was two youngsters trying to make a buck with an old-fashioned lemonade stand. They had picked out a fairly busy intersection and had placed their enterprise on the street corner where a large tree provided them some relief from the sweltering sun. Their frosty pitcher of ice-cold lemonade sure looked tempting on such a scorching day.
I thought about stopping to provide them with some business and to soothe my parched throat, but I had a better idea. I was going retrieve my camera from the office and return so I could take a picture of the young entrepreneurs and place their picture, with a story, in the paper. One of the attributes of a good community newspaper, as discussed in newspaper 101 at many industry conferences I have attended in my career, is that it does its best to include as many local names and faces as possible.
But, in the world we live in today, it has become more difficult to follow that time-proven guideline like in the past. Let me explain why. When I got to my office, I actually had my hand on my camera when a sudden apprehension overcame me concerning my return to photograph and interview the adolescent business owners. Interestingly, I don”t think this dark cloud would have appeared as recently as a decade ago. But, upon thinking of all of the negative possibilities that could arise from something that appeared so positive and innocent, I set my camera down and continued on with what I needed to accomplish at the office that afternoon.
Here is where my mind took me in the space of a few moments while contemplating the lemonade stand picture and story. The first concern was whether or not the kids would be receptive to me asking to take their picture. Chances are they would be OK with it. But, then, to avoid legal issues, I would need to seek out their parents and get their approval to take the picture and include their children in the paper. I recall an incident last year at the local swimming pool when one of our staff members was actually threatened by the father of a child at the pool. Our person was there to take a photo of the pool because there was a possibility it was going to close, due to a lack of funds. He identified himself to the father, but that didn”t matter. People are sensitive about the security of their kids, as they should be.
The next thought that went through my mind was the fear of getting these kids and/or their parents in some kind of trouble with the local authorities. I didn”t want someone knocking on their door, after seeing them in the paper, and charging them with operating a business without a business license or permit.
Lastly, and similar to the last thought, it worried me that they might be approached by some county, state or federal official who would give the kids a cease and desist order until the product(s) they were selling were checked to see if they were safe to consume and that their sanitation procedures met the guidelines.
Chances are that none of my bad thoughts would have occurred, but the reality is that I had those thoughts. It”s where we are as a society today and not where we were a few short years ago. It”s too bad. It would have been a good picture for the kids” scrapbook.
Gary Dickson is the editor and publisher of the record-Bee. He can be e-mailed at gdickson@record-bee.com or phoned at 263-5636, ext. 24.
