Girls Sued for Random Act of Cookies

What kind of a person sues a couple of teens for delivering her home baked cookies? This woman must have serious issues that need professional help. As for the judge, what was he thinking? He should have dismissed this case as frivilous and ended the matter. Then people wonder why lawyers have a bad name.

Now, the Sailor strongly reccommends that everyone who views this blog, get busy and start baking those cookies. Remember, no nonsense and no nasty notes. Well, time for the Sailor to head to the galley and crank out those oatmeal raisin cookies. A note to the girls: Perhaps next time you should bring milk too?

Let's all make Doc Farmer proud! - Sailor

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