Ah, "porch light"...
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."
I actively encourage it myself. (as long as they're over 18). :^)
No more cookies for her...
The girls were on Fox this morning. They said that KOA had raised over $5,000 for them. They planned to donate the excess to charity.
Duh. I am sure it is pretty scary to have someone repeatedly banging on your door late at night. However, you can call the cops and then get some sleep!
Duh to the girls too...I can't help but feel that there was a bit of mischief in their hearts....hence banging on people's doors late at night with six measly cookies. Brats. If I were their parents I would have read them the riot act. They could wind up dead if they scare the wrong house.
LOL!!!
Never. Over the years she threw many similar dramatic pesentations for others, but I had learned my lesson.
The Youngs have their $930. That's all they are entitled to, thanks to a misquided judge. The subsequenst events of which they complain were occasioned by their own behavior. They should quietly withdraw from public notice without further comment, which can only hurt their cause. Hopefully they will put their ill-gotten gains to some good use. No sympathy here.
They had their parent's permission. The only complaint was from these two pieces of work.
The Youngs have their $930. That's all they are entitled to, thanks to a misquided judge. The subsequenst events of which they complain were occasioned by their own behavior. They should quietly withdraw from public notice without further comment, which can only hurt their cause. Hopefully they will put their ill-gotten gains to some good use. No sympathy here.
So Mrs. Young has an anxiety attack because someone knocked on her door?? Oh, the horror! You have got to be kidding me.
The girls did NOTHING wrong. The judge should be strung up for awarding the nutcase a single penny, let alone $930.
Rit, what was that address for them again?
Durango Herald Online
Friendly gesture ends in court
By George Lurie
Herald Staff Writer
Two Durango teens, whose late-night delivery of cookies to a frightened neighbor resulted in a $930 court judgment against them this week, won't have to dig into their own pockets to pay the fine.
Denver radio station KOA-AM raised more than $1,900 from listeners Friday to pay the girls' $930.78 fine. The remaining sum will go to a charity dedicated to victims of the Columbine High School massacre.
As the radio station raised the money, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, both 18, flew to New York City to tape a segment about the cookie caper for ABC's "Good Morning America." But not before the father of one of the girls filed a restraining order against the husband of the litigious neighbor.
On Thursday, Ostergaard and Zellitti found themselves in small claims court and on the losing side of a decision by La Plata County Magistrate Doug Walker.
Ostergaard, a senior at Durango High School, and Zellitti, a freshman at Colby College in Kansas, were ordered to pay $930.78 to Wanita Renea Young. The judgment stems from a July 31 incident that began when the two girls decided to skip a local teen dance and bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which they then left - together with anonymous notes - on the doorsteps of nine of their rural neighbors.
"An innocent gesture by two young ladies to be kind to their neighbors has turned into a real circus," said Richard Ostergaard, Taylor's father.
Richard Ostergaard successfully filed a restraining order against Young's husband, Herb, on Friday afternoon in county court, claiming he continues to make harassing telephone calls to the Ostergaard residence.
Wanita Young, 49, is a cashier at Wal-Mart and has been director of the Durango Food Bank since 1990. She lives off of County Road 214 in a rural area on the mesa south of Durango and was in the basement of her house watching television with her 86-year-old mother and 19-year-old daughter about 10:20 p.m. when the incident took place.
"We heard this horrible banging on the door, like someone was trying to break it down," Young said Friday. "I ran upstairs and called out 'Who's there?' three or four times. But no one answered me and when I looked out the window, there weren't any vehicles in sight. But I could see the silhouette of someone on the other side of the window. I got really scared and called the sheriff's department."
According to documents filed with the court, the girls had parked about 500 feet away from Young's home, shielding their car behind a grove of trees.
A statement by Taylor Ostergaard included in court documents said the girls "knocked on the door three times loudly, left the plate of cookies on the step and ran away. (We) wanted someone to hear the door and find the cookies so an animal wouldn't eat them before morning."
Three La Plata County sheriff's deputies, who arrived at Young's home shortly before 11 p.m., discovered the cookies and a note scribbled on red, heart-shaped construction paper reading: "Have a great night. Love, The T and L Club."
The initials, unbeknownst to Young, stood for Taylor and Lindsey.
"I had no idea what the note meant," Young said. "Fifteen years ago, I was assaulted by one of my neighbors as I was taking my children to meet the school bus, and I wondered if somehow the incident was connected to that.
"After the deputies looked around, they weren't sure what had gone on and said that it might be a good idea if I took my mother and daughter and stayed in a motel that night," Young said. "My husband was out of town, so I decided to spend the night in Farmington at my sister's house. Driving down there, I was throwing up and feeling a lot of pressure in my chest. I thought I might be having a heart attack."
The next morning, Young went to the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center, incurring more than $1,400 in hospital bills for what doctors eventually diagnosed as an anxiety attack.
Several days later, Young found out who had left the cookies on her doorstep while speaking on the telephone with Taylor Ostergaard's mother, Jill Ostergaard, who offered to pay for expenses related to the incident not covered by Young's health insurance plan.
The girls also wrote a note of apology to Young, but on the advice of an attorney, they opted not to meet with her in person.
Several weeks later, the Taylors and Ostergaards sent Young an attorney-authored agreement outlining their intention to pay Young and releasing the two families from any further financial liability related to the incident.
But Young was advised not to sign the document and took the girls to small claims court - where a decision Thursday resulted in a victory for Young and national attention for the two teenagers.
Lindsey Zellitti was not available for comment Friday but her mother, Martha, said: "We have no qualms against the judge or Mrs. Young. Obviously, this thing snowballed out of control. These kids were just trying to do an act of kindness."
Martha Zellitti said her daughter planned to return to college after her trip to New York, adding that the teens had decided to decline a request to appear on the "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
Taylor Ostergaard said Friday she and Lindsey had no idea of Young's troubled history with other neighbors.
"When I found out she had been assaulted, it did change my perspective and the way I looked at what we did," Ostergaard said. "But we were only trying to do something nice. There was no malicious intent whatsoever."
"This has turned into quite a fiasco," Young said. "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.
"All I wanted was for those girls to admit that they used poor judgment and apologize in person. If they had done that, I wouldn't have even asked for the money. I just hope they learned a lesson."
At our house it's a porch light and a little something called a 12 gauge!!
Wow! Very preceptive and prescient though. Really.
Now they can sue the world for being on "pins and needles." Maybe now that are realizing what pricks they are. Naaaa!
Maybe because of this?
"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."
Ah, "porch light"...
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
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