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City tells Girl Scouts they can't sell cookies from their driveway
Apr 6, 2011By Frank WileyHazelwood, MO (KSDK) - A cookie controversy heats up in Hazelwood, as the city faces a lawsuit over a Girl Scout cookie stand.
The Mills family was selling Girl Scout cookies out of their driveway a few weeks ago. It's the same spot where they've set up for the last six years. Then the family received a letter from the city, informing them that they were in violation of the occupancy code, and the two young girls were forced to shut down their stand.
The Freedom Center of Missouri plans to file a lawsuit in state court Thursday that will challenge the city's constitutional authority to prohibit the cookie stand.
"Heartbroken, because my girls have been doing it and now they can't," said Carolyn Mills, the girl's mother.
"Based on the complaint, we had to send code enforcement officer go out and investigate the situation," said Tim Davidson with the City of Hazelwood. "They were allowed to sell their cookies even though they were in violation of code."
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Hazelwood Crackdown on Girl Scout Cookies
Michael Calhoun/Carol Daniel
March 24, 2011
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HAZELWOOD, Mo. (KMOX/AP) – The city of Hazelwood says they do support the Girl Scouts but not when they are violating the home occupancy code.
They’d been warned, but the city says the Girl Scouts Abigail and Caitlin Mills continued to sell Girl Scout cookies from a stand in front of their home. A neighbor complained anonymously because of all the people and the traffic and the dogs barking at all the people and the traffic.
“Based on this complaint, the city of Hazelwood had to take action,” says spokesman Tim Davidson. He says it is also against city code to sell products from home.
And while he has heard some complaints from residents that Hazelwood is being too harsh on the teens, Davidson says others have pointed out that one tenet of the Girl Scouts is good citizenship.
“The fact that we did have this code in place, it’s the responsibility of every good citizen to respect the laws that we have,” said Davidson.
But the girls’ mother, Carolyn Mills, is vowing to let them keep selling their cookies, until they reach their goal of 2,000 purchases.
She says the cookie stand is equally important as a learning opportunity. “This is teaching leadership, communication, entrepreneurship,” Mills explains. “They’re getting to know the value of money, and how to keep people from ripping you off.”
Mills says the cookie stand has been a six year tradition, that started by chance. “We were parked in the driveway, counting the cookies in the back of the van, when suddenly a car pulled up and the driver asked if we had any extras,” explained Mills. “And then another car pulled up. And another.”
UPDATE:
The battle of the cookies is over in Hazelwood.
Wednesday the Rev. George Hutchings bought the last 36 boxes. Hutchings took some boxes and told the mother and daughters to give the rest to neighbors.
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