A State Health inspector has shut down a 7-year-old boy's lemonade stand after vendors at the nearby Saratoga County Fair complained that he appeared to be running a professional operation that was competing with their stands.

Just a day after the state issued an apology to Brendan Mulvaney, the state Health Department on Monday said he'll need a permit if he reopens his stand.

DOH spokesman, Gary Holmes said one of the departments' inspectors closed down the stand at the entrance of the Saratoga County Fair after four separate vendors complained about it. Holmes said the vendors whom he did not know reported Mulvaney's stand, asking if he had a permit. When Sean Mulvaney said his son's stand did not have a permit, the inspector, who Holmes wouldn't name, shut it down.

Reached Monday, Sean Mulvany said he believes the state is trying to cover for its employee. "Yesterday they issue an apology and today I need a permit," the father said. "This makes no sense. My child is 7-years-old, he's all over the paper with a lemonade stand, you saw him in front of the sign and they are trying to say it was my stand. Some higher up must have told them to do this so they don't fire the employee."

It gets even better after the story broke, state Senator James Tedisco visited the boy at his stand and called for the state to keep its nose out of a little boys business.

 

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