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Home Front: Culture Wars
Sleazy Neighbor fails to hit Jackpot against Cookie Baking Teens
2005-02-04
Hat Tip DRUDGE
Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
No good deed goes unpunished, it seems...
A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.
I guess ol' Wanita's treats should have been spiked with Valium
The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.
Or as Fred Sanford used to say "Elizabeth I'm comin' to join you. This is the big one..."
Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday. The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night." The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking. It reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.
Interesting. They'd have been better off hearing the cursing, which they probably heard from ol' Wanita anyway.
But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies. She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
As I said, Fred Sanford...
The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.
True, 10:30 was late, but an 18-year-old is still allowed, and I imagine that the parents were watching out... Seems like ol' Wanita is now going to be especially unpopular in the neighborhood. Looks like she was going for the Super Lotto, and got just 4 out of 6 - no mega number.
Posted by:BigEd

#14  I put about 20 red highway flares on sticks on a friend's parent's house on Halloween. We lined them up on the porch, driveway, and curb on their property at the end of a cul-de-sac. My friend and I each lit a flare, then lit 10 ea with the pilot flare. We were wearing black clothing and hats. We went back about 200' and admired our handiwork. The whole end of the street glowed red, but instead of christmas lights, we had red flares and smoke rising up. It was Hell Lite. Very satisfying. Nobody hurt, everyone freaked. A terrible beauty.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-02-04 11:25:58 PM  

#13  
Posted by: .com   2005-02-04 8:57:32 PM  

#12  Well what ever you spell in motor oil will be nice and dead and there for a long time.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2005-02-04 8:52:12 PM  

#11  I never did that one. What does it do, besides make the grass greasy?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-02-04 6:57:56 PM  

#10  Motor oil on the lawn doesn't leave fingerprints
Posted by: Mark E.   2005-02-04 5:59:32 PM  

#9  flaming bags o'dog poop every couple nights
Posted by: Frank G   2005-02-04 5:08:16 PM  

#8  I do think the judge did what he had to, but Wanita sure looks like a witch. I still say we TP her tomorrow night. See you at 9:30
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-02-04 5:05:19 PM  

#7  The sad thing is, if they would have been TP'ing the house, they probably would have gotten off with a smaller fine.
10:30 isn't so late if they started making cookies that evening. (You need time for the batches to cool, ya know.) It's not like they were out at 3 in the morning blasting gangsta rap.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2005-02-04 4:55:39 PM  

#6  Ohmygod! Next, teens will be leaving freshly baked pies on neighboorhood doors.
Posted by: ed   2005-02-04 4:39:52 PM  

#5  I'm gonna play devil's advocate here, 'cause I could go both ways on this.

First, 10:30 is ridiculously late to be out delivering cookies. They banged on the door and when the women asked who was there, they ran off. al-Reuters doesn't mention it, but the Denver Post article mentions that there were "neighbors she had tangled with in the past". Doesn't say what it was about, but it was on her mind. And I don't know about you, but if I find anonymously-left food on my doorstep it goes straight to the trash. If you don't know who it's from, it could just as easily be some lesser child playing a "prank" -- or worse.

Finally, and this is just my opinion, but teen-age girls are the single most annoying form of life on the planet. It sounds like these two got so caught up with their own cuteness that they didn't stop to think that maybe delivering anonymous food at night in a rural area to people they obviously don't know very well might not go over very well. Maybe $900 is excessive, but perhaps this is a person with health problems and no insurance who would have had to eat the cost just so these girls could have a lark.
Posted by: BH   2005-02-04 4:39:10 PM  

#4  Free cookies, oh the horror!

La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker should be tossed out on his ass next election cycle, the wanking moron.

If I had my way, Wanita Young would be heavily sedated, wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in a big basket, taken to a Blue State, set on the front step of a large Psychiatric Hospital late at night... then ring the doorbell and run. She'd fit right in. She doesn't deserve neighbors who do such nice things - and neither does the "judge". Take the cost of the shuffle out of Walker's salary.

Unfreakingbelievable.
Posted by: .com   2005-02-04 4:27:09 PM  

#3  Wanita betteer be on the look out every night, now. Her trees would be growing toilet paper at a prodigious rate if I were still 14.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-02-04 4:12:32 PM  

#2  Giving cookies to an old woman? Is there no shame anymore? At least the little delinquents didn't say "Ni!".

Maybe instead of paying the nine bills, they just could buy her a shrubbery.
Posted by: SteveS   2005-02-04 4:09:07 PM  

#1  The version I read mentioned that Wanita was afraid it might have been one of several neighbors she had been having problems with. What a surprise.

The girls will be OK - they refused to talk to reporters after the verdict because they were afraid they might say something unkind. We'll cover that for them here.
Posted by: VAMark   2005-02-04 4:06:26 PM  

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