Neighbors in Cedar Falls, Iowa, call police on 10-year-old selling cookies to pay for school clothes

A 10-year-old Cedar Falls, Iowa, girl was forced to end her street corner cookie business after neighbors called police.

Savannah Watters was selling cookies and flavored water so she could buy new school clothes, The Courier reported.

Why did neighbors call police?

Her business was a success — so much so that neighbors called police on her three times. Their main complaint was about the amount of traffic coming into the neighborhood.

“No one had talked to me about anything, they just took it upon themselves and called 911,” said Kara Watters, Savannah’s mother, told the Courier. “The police show up to talk to my daughter.”

Her daughter was selling the cookies for hours every day for about five weeks. On one day, Savannah earned a total of $250.

“Every day for a couple hours I would bring my wagon and go down to the end of the street and sell stuff,” Savannah told the news outlet.

Her mom, a former baker, helped Savannah bake the cookies.

“I enjoyed it a lot, so then I wanted to have a cookie shop with my mom ’cause it’s always been my dream to do that,” Savannah said. “I just wish that I could’ve just kept staying there.”

Business was booming and Savannah was preparing to make order forms and business cards to hand to customers.

“Then we come to find out yesterday they (the neighbors) ended up calling 911,” Kara Watters said. “What they were saying is they didn’t like the traffic turning around.”

Savannah was selling the cookies near North Union Road and Paddington Drive in the city, the report stated.

Neighbors called police on July 27, 30 and 31, according to the report. After the third call, the young entrepreneur decided to stop.

The first complainant told police Savannah was selling the cookies without adult supervision. The other two calls involved traffic complaints, Cedar Falls Public Safety Director Jeff Olson told the Courier.

“We had her move a few feet back from the curve,” Olson reportedly said.

Melissa Winberg, a neighbor, told the Courier she called police because, “We’ve had too many people coming in that we don’t know.”

She added: “My daughter was in our driveway riding her bike, and a car pulled in and almost hit her.”

Winberg tried parking her car across the driveway to prevent people from pulling in and turning around.

“We had three semis, a dump truck and four cars parked along the road,” Winberg said. “To be honest, if her mom wants to open a cookie shop, there are other ways of doing it than making her 10-year-old daughter sit on the corner for seven hours a day.”

What are her plans?

Savannah’s cookie business has not entirely crumbled. She still plans to sell her sweets from a less visible spot — her driveway.

“She’s trying to figure out how she can keep it going,” Kara Watters said.