The Pinedale, Wyoming, mom who was slapped with $400 in citations for setting up a stand for her daughter to sell Girl Scouts cookies wants out of the international spotlight.
In fact, after telling her story to Cowboy State Daily on Monday, she’s thrown her arms up over the fuss, and has turned down offers from people wanting to show support for her daughter’s effort to sell 1,200 boxes of cookies.
“It’s not about money, it’s about abuse of power,” said Erica Fairbanks McCarroll, the mom of 13-year-old Emma McCarroll, who caught the attention of a by-the-book municipal code officer in Pinedale who cited her mother hundreds of dollars in fines for allegedly parking her vehicle on the sidewalk of Pine Street while her daughter sold cookies to raise money for a summer camp in Montana.
Fairbanks McCarroll doesn’t have cable or satellite TV service to watch the attention the story has generated. It’s been featured on television news and commentary shows, as well as some of the largest media outlets in the world. She read Cowboy State Daily’s story and was contacted by a writer with the British tabloid Daily Mail.
Nonetheless, a maelstrom of coverage has erupted with people from around the globe saying they can’t believe how the city of Pinedale’s newest scofflaws have been treated.
Reports on the Girl Scout saga were delivered by national TV veteran broadcaster Greta Van Susteren on “The Record” on the Newsmax network, and over on Fox News.
Major news outlets like The New York Times, as well as British tabloids like the Daily Mail, Sun and The Mirror also picked up the cookie-driven drama in a tiny rural town in southwestern Wyoming.
Pinedale Gets Blitzed
The story boils down to a dispute between the mom and city officials who have a well-documented account of the hullabaloo outlined in a memo supplied by the city’s code enforcement officer, who has been rattled by the ordeal and taken time off to recover from verbal attacks and sit low and wait for everything to blow over, said Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock.
Pinedale has issued a news release taking exception to reports that citations were written against Emma McCarroll — the 13-year-old daughter of Fairbanks McCarroll.
“A minor was never cited,” said the release, which disputed media accounts.
In an interview with Cowboy State Daily earlier this week, Murdock pointed to the publication’s headline, which states, “Wyoming Girl Scout, 13, Fined $400 for Selling Cookies,” as evidence of the erroneous report.
However, the article clearly states that Emma’s mom was fined.
Nonetheless, city officials are standing by their legal account of the dust-up and that the citations were justified.
“The town of Pinedale remains committed to ensuring the welfare of the public while supporting local commerce within the framework of state and local laws,” the city statement says. “We appreciate the community’s understanding and cooperation.”
Hateful Backlash
Murdock told Cowboy State Daily that the city has no plans to expunge the one remaining citation issued against Fairbanks McCarroll.
“The mom got the ticket,” said Murdock, who stands by his city code enforcement officer, adding that people from all over are making threats against the town and the officer.
“It’s been pretty nasty,” he said of the response. “She’s getting threats.”
Pinedale Treasurer Amy Sturman sent a screenshot with snippets from emails expressing vindictive thoughts directed toward city officials about the situation.
“I thought you might like to see a screenshot of the hate mail your feel-good girl scout article brought about,” she wrote in a Thursday email to Cowboy State Daily.
The emails provided by Sturman show four-letter words and other profanities being leveled against the city ‘s chief overseer of municipal codes.
“The last thing your town needs is a negative image of a code enforcement officer who has an authority complex,” wrote one person.
Another person wrote that he had planned to stay in Pinedale on vacation, “but after I read the girl scout cookie deal, I’m going to pass.”
One woman wrote: “You are getting very bad reviews for your callous treatment of a Girl Scout.”
Dispute Lingers
At the center of the controversy are three citations issued to the Girl Scout mom, who said the city’s reponse has been “unprofessional.”
Two of the citations were tossed out on technicalities by the city, leaving Fairbanks McCarroll having to pay a fine of $150, which she’s done.
She also paid a $508 legal bill to argue her case before the city.
The first citation was for unlawful obstruction of the road and sidewalk without receiving permission of the Pinedale City Council. The second citation was for “exception,” meaning that McCarroll didn’t leave 5 feet of unobstructed, continuous passage on the sidewalk as allowed by the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
The third citation was for parking a vehicle on the sidewalk.
A key point in the dispute seems to be Fairbanks McCarroll’s belief that when she was asked to move her car from the sidewalk, which was blocking pedestrian traffic, she did so by moving it behind the fence and parking out on the street the following day.
Her daughter also was asked to move from the sidewalk as well, which she did.
For sure, there’s a dispute between city accounts and Fairbanks McCarroll over who was told what about moving from the sidewalk, and where they were told to move.
Fairbanks McCarroll argues that the fines were unwarranted, especially since her daughter set up the cookie sales operation in the driveway of her own grandparents, and her vehicle was parked in the driveway of her parents.
Nonetheless, the officer snapped photographs of their sales activity between March 13 and 15 to prove that Emma McCarroll had set up the stand, and mom had parked illegally in the driveway, which straddled the public sidewalk on Pine Street.
The issue became more problematic because Pine Street — the main thoroughfare through this tiny town of 2,000-plus — is essentially controlled by WYDOT, which claims ownership of the property, and activity like selling cookies infringed on the state transportation agency’s right of way of the street.
A WYDOT spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
“It’s an abuse of power,” Fairbanks McCarroll said.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
