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[Doc Farmer]

Girls Sued for Random Act of Cookies
Written by Doc Farmer
Wednesday, February 09, 2005


I've Always Litigated on the Kindness of Strangers


I am a news junkie. I freely admit this. I have to get my fix on a regular basis, or I start going through withdrawal. I listen to local news radio while at work, I normally have Fox News or the Weather Channel on TV in the background, and I'm always surfing web-based news services. Drudge, Cybercast News Service, Reuters, NewsMax, AP, WorldNetDaily, etc., etc., etc. When I'm not doing work research or moderating the ChronWatch forums, that's where you'll find me. I like to keep up to date on what's going on, and this affords me the opportunity to find little-known and under-reported tidbits of news. You know, the kind that either make you go "Awwwwww, ain't that sweet" or "Grrrrrrr, that really ticks me off."

Today's commentary comes under the "Grrrrrrr" category, I'm afraid.

In the small community of Durango, Colorado (I wonder if it's far from South Park?) two young teenaged girls were being sued for medial expenses and mental cruelty by a middle-aged woman. The girls went before a judge, probably their first ever experience in a court. It wasn't a criminal case, but a civil one; even so, that can be quite stressful on two young ladies. Sadly, the teenagers lost the case, and were ordered by the court to pay $930.78 to the plaintiff in actual damages.

Their crime? Baking cookies and delivering them to strangers.

Yup. You didn't misread that. Two young ladies, Miss Taylor Ostergaard and Miss Lindsey Zellitti, committed the heinous crime of bakery. They were bored one evening, it seems, and decided to act in a criminally domestic manner. Since they didn't want to attend the local dance, they instead committed wanton acts of random kindness. They baked a couple of batches of cookies, wrapped them up nicely and then (after one of the girls asked her father's permission) set out to deliver them to nine of their rural neighbors' houses.

Well, eight of the nine houses were pleasantly surprised to receive the nocturnal nosh, but one woman, a Wanita Renea Young, reacted in a quite different manner. You see, it was 10:30 at night when the girls came knocking at her door, leaving the cookies at the doorstep and running back to their car in glee. Mrs. Young, who was with her 19-year-old daughter and her elderly mom, took this as a potential attack and called the local cops. Apparently, chocolate chip cookies are the new "weapon of choice" for Al Qaeda. Must've missed that particular news release from the Department of Homeland Security.

Anyway, three La Plata County sheriff's deputies (three? must've been a dearth of cow-tipping activity that night), who arrived at Young's home shortly before 11 p.m., discovered the cookies. They also found a note scribbled on red, heart-shaped construction paper reading: "Have a great night. Love, The T and L Club." T&L as in Taylor and Lindsey, not Terrorism and Lawlessness. Sadly, however, this was not enough to placate the pounding of Mrs. Young's heart. Her hubby Herb was out of town, and this cookie-conundrum caused her to get a case of the vapors. She went, the next morning, to the local hospital because of a "panic attack."

Oh, the humanity!

She then, as far too many Americans these days are wont to do, phoned her (bleep)ing lawyer.

I'm sure this must've been a poser for her legal counsel. Pastry crime is not one of the more active categories of jurist prudence. Still, when in doubt, sue. Which is exactly what she did.

The families were shocked and horrified, of course. Firstly, that an act of warmth and kindness would have caused anyone such distress, and second, that some batty bint was taking them to court over it. The girls apologized for causing any unintended harm, as any good and decent and moral young ladies would do. The father even offered to cover the medical bills, even though there was no malice or intention of mischief on their part. Or evidence of actual harm to her psyche on the plaintiff's part. Well, this wasn't enough for Mrs. Young, apparently. So, she took them to small claims court.

The judge, one Doug Walker, looked at all the evidence, including exculpatory letters from the eight other houses who had been savagely cookied that dark night (who were quite pleased and delighted to receive the late-night snack). This did not sway Judge Walker, however, who decided that the girls had shown poor judgment in going out late at night (10:30 is late?) to deliver cookies to strangers.

Let's see. They didn't want to go to the local dance because they didn't like the atmosphere, so they stay home and bake cookies. They want to give them out to strangers, just to brighten their evening. One of the young ladies asks her father's permission, which he gives.

Poor judgment? Oh, yes, absolutely. On the part of the judge, however. I'm surprised he didn't order that they be hanged.

Now, Mrs. Young is crying and wailing about all the negative publicity she's getting. DUHHH! I'm sorry, but what the heck does she expect? She took a random act of kindness and tried to turn it into a cash cow. She says she's received death threats, which I find doubtful - possibly she interpreted a random phone call stating "I hope you stub your toe on something" as attempted murder - and says she might have to move out of town. Somehow, Mrs. Young, I think that's something your neighbors might appreciate, quite frankly.

Now, as to the fine money, a radio station in Denver (KOA-AM) picked up on the story and raised all the cash needed, plus some extra (which will go to a deserving charity). The young ladies in question have been on TV a couple of times, and the father of one of them has now had to put a restraining order against Mrs. Young's husband Herb to stop the threatening phone calls. Geez, the guy won. Why the Sam Hill is he threatening the family who lost?

Well, I think it's time we send a message, that a good deed should not be punished, that kindness is not a crime. Therefore, I'm planning to get the sweetest revenge. Dad has kindly sent me his chocolate chip cookie recipe. I plan to bake a couple of batches, wrap them up nice and safe, and send Mrs. Young and Judge Walker each a couple dozen cookies. I was tempted to cut out a heart-shaped piece of red construction paper and write BOO! on it, but that might be construed as a threat. Instead, I'll just hope they'll accept the fact that sometimes people do the right thing for the right reason.

In fact, I'd like to invite all of you to do the same thing. Whip up a batch of your favorite cookie recipe and send it to the addresses below. Pass this story along to your friends, by the way, so they can join in on the fun. Don't send threats, or "altered" recipes, or do anything mean or nasty. Just send these two folks a not-so-random act of kindness. Perhaps they'll finally understand what that means in today's world.

~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~

Send your cookies (remember, homemade not store-bought) to

Wanita Renea Young or Judge Doug Walker, La Plata Courthouse today!

If you'd like to read more about this story, just got to http://news.google.com and use the search term "Wanita Renea Young" - you'll be surprised at how many hits that story actually makes!

~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~

For a detailed account, please read: Durango Herald

~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~


About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a writer and humorist who is also a moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. He formerly lived in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but now resides in the Midwest. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk.

This Article Was First Published In ChronWatch At: http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=12926
_________________

Fat, Bald and Ugly - And PROUD Of It!

[Snipe]

Jeeze Doc! I already sent cookies. The War Department and #2 Kid
baked nearly 100 chocolate chip cookies and packed them off to #2
Kid's husband with 2/19 at Ft Benning. Everything was consumed down
to the crumbs.

Last week, we all went down there and saw B & E Companies graduate.
Now #2 Kid is anticipating a move to Ft Carson. Well, at least it's on
the other side of Wolf Creek Pass from Durango.

(^_^)
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

[RogerRabbit]

Should the Youngs wish to relocate to Canada I would gladly hold a cookie sale to assist in their endeavor.

Too bad we do not have a phone number, email, or address to contact them.
_________________
"Si vis pacem, para bellum"

[coldwarvet]

Perhaps Colorado needs to test their water supply. Professor Churchill and now this. What is going on perhaps the lack of oxygen due to high altitudes? Perhaps we should give a million dollar grant to some educrats to study the situation.

CWV
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.

"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto

USAF 75-79 Security Police

[GenrXr]

Another great article Doc, and this reminds me of the leftist mantra which has stood the test of time from the dawn of mankind. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me, oh I suppose you as well.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[Doc Farmer]

[srmorton]

There will always be obnoxious people like the Youngs, but the really
terrible thing is that there are liberal judges that reward them for
being obnoxious. This is just another example of how important it
is that the Democrats be prevented from obstucting judical nominees
as they have been.
_________________
Susan R. Morton

[Doc Farmer]

[I B Squidly]

Sent my opprobium to the editor of the Denver paper when Drudge linked this story last week.

I suggested Ms Young's property should be clearly marked with warning signs that she's a threat to community and good will. She's quoted as saying of the girls,"I hope they learned a lesson." I'm sure they did, that is Ms Young is a litigious moonbat.

But like Sue Morton I'm disgusted that a judge would hear let alone rule on this. How will this joker rule when Young pulls this on meter readers and trick-or-treaters?

[jwb7605]

There is a radio talk show on KOA (Denver) called "The Sports Zoo", hosted by Dave Logan and Scott Hastings from 3-7 Denver time. Logan was a wide receiver for Cincinnati, then Denver, and Hastings a basketball player for several teams, lastly Denver Nuggets.

The two hosts decided to have a fundraiser for the two girls, and collected, I think, nearly $4000. They gave the girls their fine money ($900) back, and gave the excess to a charity (never forgotten fund, I think).

With respect to Ward Churchill, Govenor Owens publicly apologized on behalf of Colorado citizens for professors like him in an interview on the "Northern Alliance" radio network a few days ago (with a Hugh Hewitt show guest host).

I've lived in this state for 22 years. It just used to be that the wierdos were ignored a lot and never made national publicity. The state is comprised of a lot of normal people surrounding intense pockets of insanity, similar to California.

[Doc Farmer]

[blue9t3]

Doc, Im appalled---Are you actually willing to give up Grandma's famous raisin-n-ricin nookie reciept? ---- man-I dont know about you sometimes!
_________________
MOPAR-BUYER

[DLI78]

Doc,

You terrorist! You better believe Ms. Moonbat Young will come after you for sending Weapons of Massive Derriere and encouraging others to join in your criminal enterprise.

Hmmm. I see the word "R.I.C.O." in your future.

And what about your pathetic defense that you're "not holding a gun to her head making her eat the cookies." C'mon, Doc! What part of the liberal mindset do you not understand? She is the VICTIM here, therefore everything and everyone who doesn't bow down and praise her is part of the PROBLEM.

I'll bet her lawyers are salivating at the sight of all those cookies coming in. Good eats and a big time Ka-Ching! It doesn't get better than this.

When you are forced to go on the lam, let me know. You can hide out at my place (but pay for your own long distance calls) and I personally don't find anything about chocolate chip cookies offensive.
_________________
DLI 78
Army Linguist
1978-1986

[Doc Farmer]

[GM Strong]

Two actions would seem to be required here.

1. Order cookies from the girls for your own consumption. They are probably great for sharing with friends.

2. Send the Youngs a couple boxes of store bought cookies. Give them enough to survive on while they migrate to Canada.

The Youngs are obviously neurotics and paranoid.
_________________
8th Army Korea 68-69