I watched a feel-good human interest piece on the NBC Nightly News this evening. It appears that a young girl (pre-teen, but I can't judge 'em any closer than that) has been earning a little extra cash in Fayetteville, NC by delivering lunches for downtown merchants using her scooter. Of course, she's as cute as a button and the citizenry love her to death, but the local gendarmerie busted her for it, citing that the city has ordinances against operating scooters, skateboards, roller skates or other unpowered vehicles on city sidewalks. Anyone who has shared a sidewalk with kids on skateboards or bicycle messengers can see the rationale behind that, but it seemed clear that in this case her activities were not as dangerous or annoying. Still, she was "contravening a breach of the peace there", to quote the late Long John Baldry, and she was definitely violating the law.

The young lady has taken her case to city hall and argued it persuasively, and as you'd expect, the townfolk support her 100 percent. The only city official interviewed, a dour old gorgon who looks like she hasn't smiled in living memory, could only cite by-law and paragraph and she seemed completely intransigent in her zeal to uphold the law. It's become a cause celebre in the town, and the city council is now deliberating what to do about it (i.e., they're stalling). The tone of the reporter covering the story was definitely biased in favor of "the young entrepreneur". And now that the MSM has taken up the story, the end result is a forgone conclusion.

So whaddaya say, Zoners? Is this a case of government meddling in private citizens' lives, over-regulation and anti-business attitudes from a hidebound and rigid bureaucracy? Or is it another example of private enterprise riding roughshod over the law and trying to secure special exceptions for itself, bending the rules and scoffing at the law in a conscienceless search for profit?