Want To Shovel Snow For Money? There’s A Permit For That

A few entrepreneurial teens in Bound Brook, NJ, learned in a valuable lesson in government dominance

Bound Brook cops stop teens seeking snow shoveling work

School was closed for the blizzard that wasn’t, but there was still enough snow on the ground that two Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School seniors thought they could make a few extra bucks.

In the process, Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, also learned a valuable lesson about one of the costs of doing business: government regulations.

The two friends were canvasing a neighborhood near this borough’s border with Bridgewater early Monday evening, handing out fliers promoting their service, when they were pulled over by police and told to stop.

Bound Brook, like many municipalities in the state and country, has a law against unlicensed solicitors and peddlers.

Despite the rule, however, Police Chief Michael Jannone said the two young businessmen were not arrested or issued a ticket, and that the police’s concern was about them being outside during dangerous conditions, not that they were unlicensed.

You have two issues, first, this was mostly about stopping people from making money without a license. Anyone going door to door needs a license that costs $450 and is good for 180 days. Second, being told that you are not allowed to go outside and walk around? What nation are we living in?

“We don’t make the laws but we have to uphold them,” he said Tuesday after reading some of the online comments about the incident. “This was a state of emergency. Nobody was supposed to be out on the road.”

He’s right, they don’t make the laws, but, if President Obama can tell law enforcement to ignore the law regarding illegal aliens, the Bound Brook police can ignore some teens wandering around offering to shovel snow, especially when this goes to many people calling them to come.

The police say the story is about someone calling because they saw a “suspicious” person walking through yards, and that they were concerned for the safety of the teens. We’re quite a delicate society now, eh? Grandpa would like to let you know that he walked 5 miles to school in the snow. Uphill. Both ways. With an onion on his belt.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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