The Northwest Washington State Fair in Lynden attracts thousands annually, rain or shine, and this year was no exception. Four of those visitors were my step son, his wife, and two friends from the Tri-Cities. Roger had been looking forward to taking in the fair again for one important reason....the homemade peach and blueberry pie made by the "little church ladies" who sold them there every year. My mouth watered just hearing his description. Imagine my surprise then, when he returned instead with a strawberry-rhubarb and a marion berry pie - made by a pastry company and sold at the fair. The little church ladies small money making booth had been ambushed by the health department.
There is definitely something wrong with this picture, and what is wrong can, in a way, be extrapolated to what is wrong with society's trends today. It boils down to a lack of common sense by those in charge of legislating our lives. I suppose the rationale is that the church lady pies might contain some dastardly food poisoning from which someone somewhere is trying to protect us. Spare me. I will take my chances that those pies will be carefully prepared and free of germs.
The story recently about the kids' lemonade stand being shut down because there was no permit was perhaps worse. It's bad enough that parents can no longer bring homemade cupcakes to school for a child's birthday without reprisal.
These are only a few examples of the actions of well intentioned people in power controlling our lives for our own good. Stop the nonsense. If you don't want to eat pie at the fair, buy lemonade from a kid's sidewalk stand, or eat birthday cupcakes, then don't. Just don't interfere with my rights to such enjoyment. These simple pleasures are a small part of what makes America be America, and we need to rethink our motivation whenever we enact legislation that curtails simple freedoms.
a copy of this should go to the health dept...well said
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