NH charity busted by feds for helping teens become entrepreneurs

[Dave Ridley]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=The+Common+Man+fined+over+youth+program&articleId=afe09b8b-677a-4705-b498-49bd33ecec28

The Common Man fined over youth program

By GARRY RAYNO
Union Leader Staff
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006

A well-known New Hampshire businessman who helped a dozen teenagers start and run their own summer business last year has been fined for child labor violations.
Alex Ray

ALEX RAY

Through the Communities for Alcohol- and Drug-Free Youth (CADY), Alex Ray, owner of The Common Man Restaurants helped young people develop a business model and run a breakfast room in The Common Man Inn in Plymouth last summer.

The teenagers, from 13 to 15 years old, designed the business model, managed the business, scheduled fellow students to staff the breakfast room from 7 to 11:30 a.m. seven days a week and made the bank deposits.

They were paid by the inn, although the business was set up as a separate entity. An AmeriCorps volunteer supervised.

"The project was a hugely successful pilot. The kids loved it, their parents loved it and the guests loved it," Ray said.

After the summer ended and the students returned to school, Ray and CADY received a letter from the U.S. Department of Labor in December citing violations of federal child labor laws involving four kids ages 14 to 15 years old. The department assessed Ray's company a $3,960 fine.

"The child labor laws are pretty strict in regards to young people and when and where they can work," said John Chavez, U.S. Labor Department regional spokesman.

Federal law prohibits children under 16 years old from working before 7 a.m. or working more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week when school is not in session.

Lisa Mure, executive director of CADY, agreed the program was very successful. Her organization encompasses the LinWood, Newfound and Plymouth Regional school districts.

"We did know about the child labor laws and we communicated to (the supervisor) and he communicated to the kids." Mure said. "The inn wanted the restaurant open by 7 a.m., so the kids said 'Let's come in and do the prep on own time so we can open at 7 a.m.' which was a good thing for the kids to do."

Mure said the project grew from a community discussion that concluded there are few activities in the area for young people outside of school or athletics.

She said Ray was involved early in the planning process. "(Ray) is very committed on a personal level because of his success in business and his early jobs in the hospitality industry," Mure said.

With an initial program, the department might have written a letter and used "our tax dollars to fight for people who really are at risk," Ray said. "If it was incorrect machinery, an exposed gas line or a 13-year-old handling an electric mixer, I could understand, but that is not the case here by anybody's stretch of the imagination."

Ray contested the fine, negotiated with the division and paid a $2,000 fine earlier this month. Chavez said that concluded the case.

Ray said he will continue the program next summer both at the Inn and at another location.

[Dave Ridley]

Do you guys think this merits some kind of demonstration?

How about a demo outside one or more of the Common Man Restaurants supporting Ray?

Should be easy to get the Union Leader to show up and cover reaction to their own story.   It could generate some more free publicity for his restaurants too...our way of rewarding people who tangle with the feds even by accident.

Here is the restaurant website...the one called "airport diner" is located in manchester

http://www.thecman.com/HTML/Restaurants_Concord.html

[Fluff and Stuff]

Do you guys think this merits some kind of demonstration?

How about a demo outside one or more of the Common Man Restaurants supporting Ray?

No.  It looks good for talk on local radio, LTE, and you should try to contact Ray and tell him that he has friends.

[Dave Ridley]

sent Ray an email

[Dave Ridley]

contact info for the fed automaton

John M. Chavez 617-565-2075

[Russell Kanning]

I wonder how this would have worked out if they wouldn't have involved the government from the start. Having an americorp guy oversee? ....... ack.

[Russell Kanning]

We liked their restaurant in Tilton with the big guitar on the ceiling.

[Russell Kanning]

Maybe we should hold porc meetings at their places.

[Dave Ridley]

i called the chavez bureaucrat guy and told him I was with the keene free press and wanted to know how much tax money they spent protecting us from Alex Ray and his entrepreneurial education program. 

[Thespis]

I'm glad he's not letting this get him down, and is continuing the program.

Leave it to the government to punish the people who are actually helping kids grow into responsible adults.

[CNHT]

I wonder how this would have worked out if they wouldn't have involved the government from the start. Having an americorp guy oversee? ....... ack.

This is what I find confusing ? if it's a gov't program, how is it that they are now  fining themselves? 

[Caleb]

I think Alex ought to just tell fedgov that he'd rather owe them the money than beat them out of it.

Caleb

[Kat Kanning]

The Government Sucks.

(Just in case you hadn't noticed.)

[Dave Ridley]

I called Spokesman-Bureaucrat Chavez again and this time caught him live instead of voice mail.  He was generally polite.

I had not heard back from him, but he said he was looking into it, the question of how much tax money they spent on this.  I said I really wanted to know how much of my tax money had been expended.  He said I was using up tax money by asking the question and having them look.  I said every minute or dime you're expending on me you're not using to hurt my friends.  He said oh so your a friend of Ray, that's it!  I said I haven't met Ray (but he was interrupting me at this point).  Somewhere I said again, I don't know Ray but but every time you persecute someone this way, for helping kids, you should expect the public to push back.  He said we didn't punish him for helping kids but for violating the law.  Do you think organizations should be above the law just because they're helping kids?

I said laws are not supposed to be blindly enforced; for God's sakes there are thousand of laws no one enforces because they are silly laws.  I think we have a law in NH that says you can't run a biz on Sunday, but they don't enforce it, they don't push it because they realize the public would push back.

He said you're not much of an objective journalist and I said I sure am not, and want to be up front about that.

Earlier in here I asked him who was the one that actually made the decision to go after Ray; he said it was a department or branch in NH and I said you guys have a branch in NH??  And he said yes last I checked NH was still part of the Union, and I said we're working to try and fix that.

He asked for my number again, I thanked him for speaking with me.   It may look kind of cantankerous on paper but it was a mostly civil exchange.

[intergraph19]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=The+Common+Man+fined+over+youth+program&articleId=afe09b8b-677a-4705-b498-49bd33ecec28
Ray said he will continue the program next summer both at the Inn and at another location.

Good for him.  He's doing his own little protest.