By George Lurie
Denver Bureau Chief
DENVER - A Florida Mesa woman - winner of a $930 judgment in small claims court last week against two local teens now known worldwide as the "cookie Samaritans" - said Friday she will resign as director of the Durango Food Bank, a position she's held since 1990.
"I'm very proud of the work I've done to build up the Food Bank to where it is today, but with everything that's gone on this past week, I just don't have the heart to do it anymore," Wanita Renea Young said from her attorney's office in Denver.
Vilified in scores of Internet blogs and by the national - and international - media, which has dubbed her "The Cookie Monster," Young, 49, will appear on "Good Morning America" today to tell her side of the cookie story.
Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, both 18, whose late-night, knock-and-run cookie drop last summer sent Young to the hospital with what she thought was a heart attack, appeared on the nationally televised program last week.
Now full-fledged celebrities whose court fine was paid by donations from adoring fans, the Durango teens' unrepentant vow to continue their anonymous cookie deliveries grates on Young.
"I cannot believe that the American people have made superstars out of these girls," Young said. "What a terrible lesson they have learned - that they can take half-truths and, with the assistance of the media, generate such an unwarranted outpouring of sympathy and financial support. They ought to be ashamed of themselves."
Meanwhile, Young's husband, Herb, and Richard Ostergaard, Taylor's father, will meet Thursday in the La Plata County Courthouse, where Judge Martha Minot is expected to decide if a temporary restraining order preventing Herb Young from having any contact with the Ostergaards should be made permanent.
Ostergaard requested the restraining order last week after he said Herb Young made a threatening phone call to his home following the court ruling.
Herb Young said Friday that his family is "caught up in a terrible nightmare. People who aren't aware of all of the underlying facts in this case are making unfair judgments about us and that's just wrong," he said.
Young said his family continues to receive hate mail and harassing phone calls that have included death threats - which are being recorded and passed on to the La Plata County Sheriff's Office.
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In the midst of all of the media coverage, Young said most people continue to overlook or ignore the fact that his wife was physically assaulted by a neighbor 15 years ago - "something that obviously influenced her reaction when, home alone with her 86-year-old mother and one of our daughters, she heard this horrible banging on our door at 10:30 at night and saw shadowy figures outside our house."
Before - and after - last week's court showdown, the Youngs, who, like the Ostergaards, are Mormons, sat down with church elders and attempted to diffuse the cookie craziness.
"On the advice of our bishop and stake president, we backed way off," Wanita Young said. "We were made to understand that the girls and their parents were committed to toning it down too. But while they have gone on national television and continue to be all over the media, we haven't been defending ourselves or putting our side of the story out there. So after praying about it, we decided to fly to New York and accept 'Good Morning America's' invitation.
"I'm sorry to say," Young added, "that I will probably never go back to our church again."
Although they considered leaving Durango, the Youngs have decided to stay put.
"We still don't feel safe in our own home," Wanita Young said. "But where would we go? We are getting these awful calls from every state in the country - even Canada and Puerto Rico. So I guess we're going to have to be big and suck it up and count on the people who know us for their continuing support - which we have been extremely grateful for."
And while she has yet to set a date, Young said she does intend to return to her job at Wal-Mart. "My supervisors have promised that they will provide me with a safe workplace, so I'm going to give it a try," she said.
"We just want to get our life back," Herb Young said. "I just don't know if that's going to be possible."
Reach Staff Writer George Lurie here .