Clueless regulators continue to pass new rules, despite the damage done by mindless enforcement of the old ones.  I’ve written about the seven-year-old who tried to open a lemonade stand in California.  Now two middle schoolers in New Castle, NY have gotten in trouble because they held a bake sale at the country fair. The local paper reports:

Their first day was wildly successful, the boys said. They netted $120, of which they invested $60 to buy a cart from Target and added water and Gatorade to their offerings on their second day.

But then – whoops – looks like the boys didn’t get the required $1 million certificate of insurance.  What’s wrong with them -- didn’t they read the 137-chapter New Castle City Code?!

Town board member Michael Wolfensohn called the cops.

"All vendors selling on town property have to have a license, whether it's boys selling baked goods or a hot dog vendor," said Wolfensohn…

a New Castle parks use permit requires a $1 million certificate of insurance and a fee ranging from $150 to $350 per two hours…

Couldn't Wolfensohn have simply told the boys that they needed a license, the parents want to know, instead of calling the police?

"In hindsight, maybe I should have done that, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to do that," he said. "The police are trained to deal with these sorts of issues."

For now, the kids are out of a job.

"I am shocked and sad for the boys. It was such a great idea, and they worked hard at it," said Laura Graff, Kevin's mother.

"I don't get too many offers for babysitting, and we live in a development, so shoveling snow is not an option either," said Andrew. "We were being entrepreneurs , but now I feel a little defeated."

Just one more victim of big government.