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Girls Get Donations in Colo. Cookie Case
Yahoo ^ | 2/10/05 | ROBERT WELLER

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."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: cookies; nogooddeedunpunished
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To: DB

You can think for yourself, right?


201 posted on 02/15/2005 8:51:20 AM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: Judith Anne
Instead, Mrs. Young is demonized...in my opinion, the comments about her are way over the top. Yep, exactly why I decided to play devil's advocate.
202 posted on 02/15/2005 8:52:34 AM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: Judith Anne
Wonder if they went to anyone else's house after Mrs. Young's, that night...

Actually, that WOULD be interesting information. I'd also like to know what the Youngs' 18yr old daughter thought about the whole thing, since she was in the house at the time.

Meanwhile, here's another interesting nugget from one of the articles:
One church group wrote that members were very concerned because one of its favorite programs is for youths to ring doorbells, drop off treats and run.

203 posted on 02/15/2005 8:54:18 AM PST by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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To: beezdotcom

Actually that was interesting. If they file lots of lawsuits, I do have less sympathy for them. However, the parents of the girls and the girls should probably know that fact about the Youngs already then. If so, why did they choose to deliver there?

I think the hateful comments towards Mrs. Young on this thread were over the top and more hateful that anything Mrs. Young has done, frankly.


204 posted on 02/15/2005 8:58:28 AM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: BushisTheMan
I think the hateful comments towards Mrs. Young on this thread were over the top and more hateful that anything Mrs. Young has done, frankly.

So do I, frankly. ;-D

205 posted on 02/15/2005 9:27:45 AM PST by Judith Anne (Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
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To: beezdotcom
One church group wrote that members were very concerned because one of its favorite programs is for youths to ring doorbells, drop off treats and run.

I'd love to know the guidelines for that. I'd bet they don't include at 10:30 at night, banging on the back door, hiding the car, hopping a fence and a ditch, hiding in the bushes, etc. etc.

206 posted on 02/15/2005 9:29:48 AM PST by Judith Anne (Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
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To: BushisTheMan
If so, why did they choose to deliver there?

Even IF they knew, they still probably thought it unlikely to get sued over dropping off cookies. They might just as likely have thought it unneighborly to leave them out of it. But who knows?

I think the hateful comments towards Mrs. Young on this thread were over the top and more hateful that anything Mrs. Young has done, frankly.

Perhaps. But don't confuse hyperbole with sincerity.
207 posted on 02/15/2005 11:05:45 AM PST by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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To: Judith Anne
I'd love to know the guidelines for that. I'd bet they don't include at 10:30 at night, banging on the back door, hiding the car, hopping a fence and a ditch, hiding in the bushes, etc. etc.

I'll take that bet. Church people with a license to "sneak and skulk" are unpredictable...I've witnessed it firsthand. Usually, though, they know their audience well enough to get away with it, since it's often another church member who is the "victim". (Said he who helped the youth pastor teepee the senior pastor's house.)
208 posted on 02/15/2005 11:09:21 AM PST by beezdotcom (I'm usually either right or wrong...)
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To: BushisTheMan
Some people who think they are never wrong always have to redirect EVERY comment like you just have.

It doesn't matter whether or not I think I'm wrong, it matters whether or not I am wrong. And in this case I'm not, unless you care to prove otherwise and refute my argument.

209 posted on 02/15/2005 11:11:42 AM PST by mcg1969
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To: BushisTheMan
Actually that was interesting. If they file lots of lawsuits, I do have less sympathy for them. However, the parents of the girls and the girls should probably know that fact about the Youngs already then. If so, why did they choose to deliver there?

Perhaps because they thought they were doing a good deed, and had no idea that it would result in a lawsuit. Indeed, as someone else points out, they may have felt the Youngs would be particularly offended by being left out.

It also helps explain why the teens' parents offered to pay her medical bills so quickly, and why the teens sought the advice of an attorney so quickly. It seems reasonable that the neighborhood knew of the Young's tendency to sue. (After all, they had sued their neighbors in the past.)

210 posted on 02/15/2005 11:31:11 AM PST by mcg1969
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To: beezdotcom

One Halloween, my sister's boyfriend took about 100 pumpkins and stacked them against the front door, then rang the bell and hid in the bushes. ;-D

Once, one of Hub's church choirs teepeed our house with about 30 rolls, and then it rained. They said, "otherwise, how would you know we loved you?" They came by in the rain, as we were cleaning up, helped, and then demanded snacks. ;-D

Once, two of Hub's boy students started yelling at each other, in the middle of class, "Mine's longer!" Then they pulled up their shirts, whipped off their belts, and sure enough, the heavier boy's belt was longer.

Once after our first child was born, I went to the HS where Hub was teaching at the time (no, he doesn't teach anymore--that was a loooooooong time ago) with our son and told the secretary to intercom Hub that an irate parent was waiting for him in the office, and she did. ;-D And while I was still expecting, the HS students gave him a "shower," including a baby bottle with scotch in it, for HIM.

Once, in HS, a kid with diabetes put vodka in oranges with his needle, and passed them out to all of us at lunch. I ate mine. ;-D

I'm actually over this issue, now. I don't care what happens to Mrs. Young anymore (well, maybe a little) and I'm still annoyed with the posters who decided she was an evil democrat hypochondriac witch. Sooooooo....you get the last word, if you want it. ;-D

PS, thanks for being reasonable. I appreciate it.






211 posted on 02/15/2005 11:37:52 AM PST by Judith Anne (Thank you St. Jude for favors granted.)
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To: BushisTheMan
I said:
"They probably weren't there more than 20 seconds."

You said:
"So, you know 100% for sure it wasn't more than 20 seconds? That would be what I would call an 'opinion' or a 'guess', not a fact."

I said:
"You can read, right?"

You said:
"You can think for yourself, right?"

I see you can read, just not too hot on reading comprehension... No point in further "debate", you are incapable.
212 posted on 02/15/2005 1:14:33 PM PST by DB (©)
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To: mcg1969

You can't refute opinions.


213 posted on 02/15/2005 4:35:07 PM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: DB

So if you add "probably" to any assumption, you don't have to be right? Maybe this is more accurate in that case:

They probably were hiding behind trees, they probably were hanging out in the shadows, they probably caused her anxiety attack, etc.


214 posted on 02/15/2005 4:38:45 PM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: mcg1969
they thought And now you can read their minds too? Wow, I'm impressed.
215 posted on 02/15/2005 4:40:08 PM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: BushisTheMan

Don't be. You seem to have missed the word "Probably" at the beginning of that sentence.


216 posted on 02/15/2005 5:01:19 PM PST by mcg1969
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To: flashbunny

I saw a picture of mz "young" on another thread today...IMHO ole herb is so afraid of this "woman" he would not dare disagree with her.

She "appears" to be so evil, i'll almost bet you that he would think Hillary Klintoon would be a kind and considerate "goddess"!!!

Somebody close by please hurry and loan him a gun so he can end his misery!!!


217 posted on 02/15/2005 5:07:24 PM PST by cajun-jack
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To: mcg1969

See my note to DB about probably.

You can put "probably" in front of anything to hedge your bets.


218 posted on 02/17/2005 9:47:25 AM PST by BushisTheMan
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To: BushisTheMan

Or you can use it to reflect your honest uncertainty about something---which is what I did.

Geez, get a grip.


219 posted on 02/17/2005 11:22:11 AM PST by mcg1969
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To: mcg1969

Funny but all your previous posts seemed to claim with such certainty that the Youngs were scum and the teenagers were just sweet things.

PROBABLY you didn't mean that then?


220 posted on 02/17/2005 11:39:06 AM PST by BushisTheMan
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