Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
Fri Feb 4,10:49 PM ET
Add to My Yahoo! Oddly Enough - Reuters
DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.
The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.
Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.
The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night."
The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.
It reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.
But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.
She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.
Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
Fri Feb 4,10:49 PM ET
Add to My Yahoo! Oddly Enough - Reuters
DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.
The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.
Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.
The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night."
The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.
It reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.
But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.
She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.
Sometimes surviving a heart attack, is not a good thing for the rest of humanity.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:53 am Posts: 4470 Location: Knoxville, TN Gender: Male
Why wouldn't the judge just verbally reprimand them for staying out too late and tell them not to do it again? I don't understand the need for that fine.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
ElPhantasmo wrote:
Wow, I bet that lady's really popular in her community now.
Hahahaha
_________________
LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 4:32 pm Posts: 766 Location: Grayson County, Virginia
I hope someone leaves her a flaming bag of poop in the near future.
_________________ "I came here as a child when it first opened," said Tarsley. "Now that I have kids, where are they supposed to go for Whoppers or Chicken Tenders? We need to ask ourselves, as a culture, 'Where are our priorities?'"
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) - Two teenage girls who got in trouble for surprising their neighbors with homemade cookies will not have to pay nearly $1,000 in medical bills for a woman who says she was so startled that she had to go to the hospital.
Radio station KOA-AM of Denver raised more than $1,900 from listeners Friday to pay the girls' $930.78 fine. The rest of the money will go to a charity dedicated to victims of the Columbine High School massacre.
The story unfolded when teens Taylor Ostergaard, 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, decided to bake chocolate chip and sugar cookies and place them outside their neighbors' doors with large red or pink construction-paper hearts that carried the message, "Have a great night" and were signed with their first initials: "Love, The T and L Club."
The trouble began when they approached the home of Wanita Renea Young, 49. Young said she heard someone banging on the door of her rural home late in the evening. She went to the door and saw "shadowy figures" but they refused to answer when she called out to them.
The teens said they did not answer when the woman called out because they wanted the treats to be a surprise.
Young said she was so frightened, she spent the night at her sister's home, then went to the hospital the next morning because she was still shaking and had an upset stomach.
The teens offered to pay Young's medical bills but she insisted on going to small claims court. Judge Doug Walker, after hearing the teens' explanation, awarded medical costs but declined to order punitive damages.
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."
Meanwhile, Richard Ostergaard, father of Taylor, got a restraining order against Young's husband, Herb, in county court, claiming he continues to make harassing telephone calls to the Ostergaard residence.
Wanita Young said, "This has turned into quite a fiasco. It's something that never should have happened and it's just devastating. My phone hasn't stopped ringing. My life has been threatened and I'll probably have to move out of town."
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
Fuck this lady
_________________
LittleWing sometime in July 2007 wrote:
Unfortunately, it's so elementary, and the big time investors behind the drive in the stock market aren't so stupid. This isn't the false economy of 2000.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
tommymctom wrote:
Wanita Young said, "This has turned into quite a fiasco. It's something that never should have happened and it's just devastating. My phone hasn't stopped ringing. My life has been threatened and I'll probably have to move out of town."
Lady, I think you should keep going on out of the country. Those girls offered to cover your bills and admit their mistake and you drug them to court?
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:36 pm Posts: 833 Location: Detroit, MI
Quote:
Wanita Young said, "This has turned into quite a fiasco. It's something that never should have happened and it's just devastating. My phone hasn't stopped ringing. My life has been threatened and I'll probably have to move out of town."
Good, I hope she gets an anxiety attack over all of that, too. Stupid greedy woman.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 584 Location: upstate NY
Perhaps if the girls had answered when they were spoken to, this wouldn't have happened. Their running away without answering when they were directly adressed by the person they were 'doing a nice thing for' could cause suspicion in the woman.... I guess some poor judgement on both sides.... Perhaps I'm playing devil's advocate here, but sometimes one just wants to be left alone at home. I'm not too thrilled with unannounced callers, no matter why they're showing up.
Think about all the suspicion in society in this time - there's anthrax and letter bombs being mailed to people - should one all of a sudden blindly accept an unexpected package? Maybe its unfortunate but this is where we are as a society....For all she knew it could have been poisoned, the nice note notwithstanding. Just looking at things from the other side....
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:36 pm Posts: 833 Location: Detroit, MI
JaneNY wrote:
Think about all the suspicion in society in this time - there's anthrax and letter bombs being mailed to people - should one all of a sudden blindly accept an unexpected package?
Yes, yes you should. You should stop letting the news pump you full of fear 24/7 and realise that the odds are heavilly, heavilly in your favor that the package was a good thing instead of a bad thing.
What the crap is in Durango, Colorado that is worth terrorising, anyhow?
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 584 Location: upstate NY
aerojad wrote:
JaneNY wrote:
Think about all the suspicion in society in this time - there's anthrax and letter bombs being mailed to people - should one all of a sudden blindly accept an unexpected package?
Yes, yes you should. You should stop letting the news pump you full of fear 24/7 and realise that the odds are heavilly, heavilly in your favor that the package was a good thing instead of a bad thing.
Speak for yourself, when talking about letting the news pump you full of fear, because you're certainly not speaking for me - fear is one thing I don't have, personally, and never have had, despite the current administration's attempt to scare people - my point was to try to look at it from a different point of view and try to understand why the woman might have felt as she did.... though honestly, if I found unsolicited cookies by an unknown, on my doorstep, I'd probably have just thrown them in the garbage. I don't want gifts from people I don't know. Just who I am.
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