A couple of weeks ago, our 5-year-old daughter opened a lemonade stand for a day at Mamaw’s house in my hometown. She probably broke a local ordinance when she did, but Paden City, W.Va., doesn’t have a Lemonade Police Unit. Portland, Ore., apparently does:

It’s hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.

So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.

Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.

A county official later apologized for the actions of a health inspector on a power trip. “I just feel like we have to be able to distinguish between a 7-year-old who is selling lemonade and trying to learn about business and someone who actually has a business,” Jeff Cogen said.

Ya think?