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Thingish Things

The Nanny State Diaries: What the Fauquier?

Written By: Bill Lalor - Aug• 23•12

Via Ed Morrissey at HotAir:

What does every 10-year-old girl want for her birthday?  A big party and lots of room to have fun.  My own 10-year-old granddaughter had her campout/sleepover birthday party at our house three months ago.  Fortunately, we’re not farmers in Fauquier County, Virginia — where we would have had to apply for a “special events” permit to host the party for the Little Admiral or her friends.  Martha Boneta isn’t so fortunate, because when she invited her friend to stage a birthday party for her 10-year-old daughter at the farm, a few extra clowns showed up and issued her a citation for it — which could cost thousands of dollars in fines.

I’m a New Yorker and thus accustomed resigned to living in a Nanny State; NYC reminds us every day what Washington would happily meddle with (everthing) if not for the U.S. Constitution.  Still, every story like this is exasperating. It’s not just the mean-spirited and arbitrary enforcement, or the context – a little girl’s 10th birthday party, for the love of God – it’s the fines.

For the Bonetas, non-compliance is likely to cost “just” a few hundred dollars, or maybe a few thousand, to say nothing of the time (the Bonetas won’t just take a ½ PTO Day; they run a farm) and attorneys fees. 

For doing what?  And for whose benefit are these fines?

Unfortunately, given the dire financial straits of many local governments, it strikes me we’re about to witness an expansion of creative, non-“tax” means of raising revenue.  Such as taking “just” a few hundred bucks here from law-abiding citizens, and there, and there and there for “violations” in matters in which government and bureaucrats have no legitimate place – such as a little girl’s 10th birthday party.

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