Posted on 02/10/2005 12:09:43 PM PST by ZGuy
The cookie conflict isn't over yet. The spat between two teens from the southwestern Colorado town of Durango and one of their neighbors over a batch of cookies they baked last summer has garnered national publicity over the past week. It has led to donations for the girls.
For Herb and Wanita Young, it has all been a nightmare.
"We have got horrendous phone calls, tons of hate mail, threats to our life," said Herb Young in a telephone interview Thursday.
The saga began in July when Taylor Ostergaard, 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti decided to bake chocolate chip and sugar cookies for their neighbors. They placed them outside 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."
Things went sour when they approached the Young home. Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she heard someone banging on the door late in the evening and saw "shadowy figures" who refused to answer when she called out to them. The teens later said they did not answer because they wanted the treats to be a surprise.
A frightened Young said 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 Youngs said they tried to settle the dispute, even enlisting their clergy. The teens say they offered to pay the medical bills, but Young insisted on going to small claims court where a judge awarded about $900 in medical costs.
As they story spread, Denver radio station KOA raised more than enough money to pay the court award. The girls, who did not immediately return messages, were expected to be in Denver later Thursday to accept a check from the station. They have already been invited on national television shows and a cookie company has created a "Kindness Cookie" in their honor.
Things have not gone as well for the Youngs.
"It's horrible, nobody has heard our side," said Herb Young, adding the couple has had to hire a lawyer. "I don't believe the girls meant for this to happen. But they could have prevented it from happening if they had just shut their mouths when they came out of (small claims) court. Now they are caught in something they can't control."
The parents of one of the teens asked for a restraining order against Herb Young, accusing him of making harassing phone calls. He admitted calling the Ostergaards once after hearing the teens were talking to a newspaper and at one point said "the gloves were off," which apparently was taken as a threat.
"My home isn't a home any more," Young said. "We are all on pins and needles."
The Youngs are no strangers to court proceedings. In addition to the cookie lawsuit, records show the Youngs have sued or been sued at least nine times since 1991. Two more court actions have involved restraining orders.Interesting.
Many of the suits filed by the Youngs were small claims. In 1994, Renea Young was granted a restraining order against one neighbor after they quarrelled over a shared driveway.
Another complaint was spurred by a July 4, 1997, accident in which the Youngs' pickup collided with a slow-moving hay-bale loader turning into a field as they attempted to pass it on a county road.
I don't have an underdog fixation...one of the reasons I love FR is to be with a bunch of people who think mostly like I do...
Maybe I identify with Mrs. Young, though frankly she looks 10 years older than me, and I'm 10 years older than her. We do live way out, as I've said before...nobody bothers ANYBODY after dark around here, or visits without a call in advance. I'm just thinking, here's a woman alone in a rural area, hubby out of town, taking care of an elderly mother, with a girl teen in the house...it's 10:30 at night, no car in the drive, somebody banging on the back door and not identifying or showing themselves...
The girls said they only went to houses with the porch light on, I've got to assume they mean the front porch light, because you don't see the back porch light from the road...they hid their car, then hopped a fence and a ditch,
honestly, this sounds more like pranking to me than trying to be nice to somebody...
Nobody gets their kids through the teen years without some pranking, and we're no exception, but nothing ever scared me or made me mad--this episode would do it, though...it's why we have a big loud yard dog outside and a mastiff inside, plus of course like all sensible rural people where there are bears and cougars, we're armed.
As a nurse, I do know that there are people with non-fatal arrythmias that can be triggered by fright or alarm, and I'm JUST GUESSING that's why Mrs. Young went to the ER to be checked out the next day...
I was serious when I said that the folks around here think the girls were lucky to get off...I really wonder at all the posters who have contempt for Mrs. Young, who think the poor girls were misunderstood, who feel free to speculate that Mrs. Young was drinking, etc., who approve of people sending money to the parents of the girls, etc.
I do think that going to court is going too far. I wouldn't have, because it's a waste of time and money.
Who is Renea Young? The Mrs. Young I'm talking about is Wanita Young...
As for those haybalers, you have to watch out because a lot of times, there aren't any turn signals. I always tap the horn lightly before passing, so they know I'm there.
I've never been to court or been taken to court...and never want to be, either...
Okay, read your link and I see that Wanita is Renea.
Also, your link said one of the girls was a HS senior, and one a college freshman. Old enough to have common sense.
The link also says that the girls still deliver cookies, although at an earlier hour, according to their mom. Good thinking.
Okay. My mistake. ;-D
Well, I disagree. When we did something that made a neighbor angry or upset, my parents made sure we did what was necessary to make it right, whether we broke a window, or (as I did) scared an old man clipping roses, or (as my brother did) threw cherry bombs in wet cement, or let our dog tear up a garden, or whatever.
I actually am tired of this story, aren't you? And I could be wrong, Mrs. Young could be the craziest old drunken hypochondriac wicked witch and the girls pure as the driven snow. I just suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.
That's a good point. I honestly didn't know about that.
LOL! Racoons! The loudest noise ever made by a critter in the middle of the night here was an armadillo...
She wanted an apology in person from the girls. She didn't get it, she got a written apology. (My parents would have made sure she did. Then, they would have said, "Honey, Mrs. X is not like other people, you have to be careful around people like that, they can be troublemakers.")
Court records contain half a dozen letters from neighbors who said that they enjoyed the unexpected treats.
The cookies were good. It was a nice surprise. They weren't scared.
ROFL!
Hmmmmmm.....
Wonder if they went to anyone else's house after Mrs. Young's, that night...
About 5 years ago, some kids in my neighborhood rang my doorbell and ran twice. The third time, I sprinted out the door just as an M60 went off under my feet.
I was pretty sure who did it, so I had a little talk with the parents.
Never had a problem with the kids again. Man I guess I could have won a BUNDLE off that gig, huh?
Some people who think they are never wrong always have to redirect EVERY comment like you just have.
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