Act of kindness will cost girls $900

Associated Press ^ | February 4, 2004

[Dog Gone]

Shaun Stanley / Associated Press

Taylor Ostergaard, 17, left , and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18, display a plate of cookies similar to ones that the two made for neighbors last summer near Durango, Colo., startling one neighbor so badly she had to be hospitalized.

DURANGO, Colo. — Two teenage girls who surprised their neighbors with homemade cookies late one night were ordered to pay nearly $900 in medical bills for a woman who says she was so startled that she had to go to the hospital.

Judge Doug Walker declined Thursday to award punitive damages, saying he did not believe the girls acted maliciously.

Taylor Ostergaard, 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18, baked the chocolate chip and sugar cookies one night last July. They made packages with a half-dozen cookies each and added 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." Then they set off to make their deliveries.

Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she was at her rural home south of Durango around 10:30 p.m. when she said saw "shadowy figures" outside the house banging repeatedly on her door. She yelled, "Who's there?" but no one answered, and the figures ran away.

Frightened, 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 teenagers' families offered to pay Young's medical bills, but she declined and sued, saying their apologies were not sincere and were not offered in person.

The girls declined comment after the ruling. Taylor's mother said the girl "cried and cried."

"She felt she was being punished for doing something nice," Jill Ostergaard said.

Young said the teenagers showed "very poor judgment"

"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."

The teens said they did not answer when the woman called out because they wanted the treats to be a surprise.

[rit]

All the girls had to do was stand on the porch and answer when the woman asked According to the father, the girls went to each house, rang the bell (or knocked), placed the cookies in front of the door, and left to go to the next house. That was why they did not answer the woman... they were already leaving for the next house.

[af_vet_1981]

There was that case in Lousiana with the asian kid that got shot. Home owner wasn't prosecuted.

He was prosecuted, for manslaughter. There was also a civil trial where the parents of one of the victims won $653,000 in compensatory damages.

[avg_freeper]

"And I'm able to make my own sensible conclusion."

Oh, I'm with you here. These parts

"Court records contain half a dozen letters from neighbors who said that they enjoyed the unexpected treats."

- and -

"But Taylor had asked her father's permission to bake cookies for the neighbors after livestock-tending chores were done. "I said, 'Go ahead, as long as I get some cookies,"' Richard Ostergaard said Thursday."

are obviously a distraction created by the Illuminati. Mind control from satellites in space of course. I feel sorry for all these suckers going along with the story. They just don't have all the insight that we have. Of course the voices are a big help.

[Rca2000]

The Illumaniti, !! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

[bigdblogman]

So, let me make sure I understand this.... She hears a knock at the door, and is so frightened that she immediately rushes to the door (just like any frightened person would do). Note, she is at the door/adjoining window in time to 1. ask who's there, and 2. see "shadowy figures" running away. She is so upset by the shadowy figures that have run away that she spends the night at her sister's house before needing medical attention. Sorry, but this whole story sounds smacks of opportunitism - You can see it, can't you? She's sitting up late at night with her sister in front of the tv...ever see the commercials that are on that time of night? (Hint: guy in a suit saying "have you been hurt/taken [insert med]/been a victim" etc.). Hooray! It's the litigation lottery!! Just another reason to support tort reform.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I found this looking for a good Hall Monitor jpg:

http://www.lollipoplingerie.com/stat/GA2-66-8960.html

[af_vet_1981]

I don't see any criminal mischief or trespass that would allow those nice young ladies to be killed in Texas and I'm a reasonable person.

[cyncooper]

My, you (and others) are so personally invested in the story you feel the need to attack another poster for not believing these darling angels?

Just who is the one with a little cognitive ringing in their heads going on?

LOL

[TheBigB]

You found a black box that says visit LollipopLingerie.com? Well, whatever floats yer boat...:^)

[APFel]

And I'm able to make my own sensible conclusion.

Hm... I wasn't aware that "cynical" and "sensible" were interchangeable. Ya learn something new every day.

If this woman was the sole recipient of the cookies, maybe there would be some foundation to your suspicions. She wasn't the sole recipient, and the others who did receive the cookies said they were quite edible. Maybe this woman was just last on the delivery list (speculation on my part, but no more out of whole cloth than your speculations).

I think the only foolish thing these girls did is that they haven't taken the time to learn the vileness that the human condition is capable of. Or how stand-offish, paranoid, vindictive and just plain mean people who live in their area are. I would put them in the naive category.

My wife and I discussed this article for a while. I used to do "nice" things as well. I used to stop for troubled motorists, let people know when they dropped things (wallets, coins, gloves, cash, ETC) and honestly believed that I lived in a society that valued community and thoughtfulness.

I then encountered people like you. They questioned my motives for doing nice things. They acted as though I were a brain-eating zombie if I offered to help change a tire, treated me like a thief if I pointed out the valuable that they had dropped, looked at me as though I was a murderer if I offered a jump start and looked insulted when I held open a door. I soon came to realize that doing something thanklessly just wasn't worth my time and trouble anymore. I learned this "valuable" lesson at twenty.

The true tragedy is that these girls had a chunk of their innocence chopped away with a battleaxe by a battleaxe. So condemn and damn them all you wish; I for one feel truly sorry for them on behalf of our society. Childhood comes to a noisy, screeching halt sometimes, it is a shame the brakes for these girls was done with malicious litigation and punitive "justice".

APf

[Fierce Allegiance]

Durn, it worked for me before. Unngh. Oh well.

[HamiltonJay]

"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."

And what lesson would that be? That you are an ass?

[Slings and Arrows]

Delivering the cookies at night wasn't the brightest idea, of course. "Have a great day!" being discovered on the porch cookie in the morning would have been a wiser plan, I think.

< nitpick> At least in my part of the country, if they left the cookies there all night it would have been the neighborhood raccoons that had a great day. < /nitpick>

[streetpreacher]

I used to travel through the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia and my fear was that I would have a breakdown in those mountains late at night and have to go approach a house and knock on a door. Them folks are armed.

I think I would start having flashbacks of "Deliverance" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre".

[af_vet_1981]

I suppose there enough criminals in Texas who would do it.

[Minn]

I made it clear I don't believe them. That you do shows who the smart one here is (me) and who isn't (guess).

I'm not sure it's been established who is the smarter one is. I think it's definitely been established which of you two is more likely to die alone and rot for three weeks before a neighbor smells something.

[LaBradford22]

Too bad the girls' names weren't, say, Taylor and Ashley. Then it could have been the "T and A Club". That would have really startled this lady.

In seriousness, what we have a case of here is dumb but good-hearted versus dumb and cold-hearted. I'll take someone who's dumb but good-hearted over the latter any day.

[streetpreacher]

What kind of hall monitors have you been dreaming about at night?

[silent_jonny]

HA!

[fullchroma]

If I was alone at home in a rural area, as was the "victim" and someone banged on my door at 10:30 pm, as did the little bakers, I'd either get my shotgun, if I had one, or risk heart palpitations too.