Rosemary Kelzer is a 84 year old woman who has owned a novelty store near Branson, MO. for thirty years. She sells seashells with Little Hoppy the Mule's profile on it, hillbilly gag-gifts, postcards, saltwater taffy, and 5,000 other items. Her business is in the crowded old part of town near the White River steamboat landing.Ever since the big boom in town from the Vegas-style shows, her business has gone well, but she gets a lot of tourists who lets their kids run wild. While their mom's and dad's are deciding which velvet picture of mules playing poker they want to buy, their kids run through the place grabbing stuff and taking off without paying.

Discuss Rosemary's rights and liabilities in stopping the little scamps who try to grab stuff and run out of her store.

1. Assume in this case that the Common Law applies.

2.Then assume that the following law applies. Section 537.125 Shoplifting: Any merchant, his agent or employee, who has reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing a wrongful taking of merchandise or money from a mercantile establishment, may detain such person in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable length of time for the purpose of investigating whether there has been a wrongful taking of such merchandise or money. Any such reasonable detention shall not constitute an unlawful arrest or detention, nor shall it render the merchant, his agent or employee, criminally or civilly liable to the person so detained.