It just wouldn’t be summer in America without petty tyrants shutting down lemonade stands. “Overton officials shut down girls’ lemonade stand, saying they lack permit”

“Wanting to make a little money to take their father somewhere special for Father’s Day, Zoey and Andria Green, set up a lemonade stand Monday, but their efforts soon were thwarted by government red tape.

The 7- and 8-year-old sisters talked with the Tyler Morning Telegraph Monday in front of their home on Garden Club, where they were visited by police Chief Clyde Carter, who shut down their stand, because it lacked permitting required by the city of Overton.

Chief Carter and Overton City Secretary Rachel Gafford declined to talk with the newspaper on camera, but said laws were laws.

Carter said last month a title company set up a tent in Overton, attempting to offer car title loans, and he had to run them off for soliciting without a license.

“We can’t run one off and then let someone else do it,” he said.”

Of course Texas has not outlawed officer discretion, and the authorities can very well ignore a 7 year-old’s lemonade stand while insisting a car title loan company comply with licensure laws.  That is, of course, If they were interested in liberty.  They have unintentionally taught Zoey and Andria Green a valuable lesson about government – that if they have any power at all, they will abuse it, and that government actors must be held by a tight leash.