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  • SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5 2005 12:31 PM

Neighborly Act Results in $900 Fine

Two Colorado teenagers have been ordered to pay $900 in medical and court costs after a gift of cookies and paper hearts caused the recipient to experience anxiety and panic attacks.

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.


Forty-nine year old Wanita Renea Young, one of the neighbors who received the cookies, filed suit after being seen in the emergency room of a local hospital the next day. She claims that the gift, left on her doorstep at 10:30 p.m., had frightened her so badly that she thought she had experienced a heart attack.

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.

 

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Comments
beaky

beaky

Miami, FL
April 2003

FEB 05, 2005 11:15 PM

demetrius_z said:
Wait, you missed a photo. They look FUCKING EVIL mad eeek eeek mad eeek eeek



See?

EDIT: Wait, I didn't mean "FUCKING EVIL", I meant "sweet and cute", but not in a shaggable way.

[Edited on Feb 05, 2005 by demetrius_z]



I would be freaked if I see them two in my doorstep at 10:30 pm, no matter how hot they are

dustigroove

dustigroove

Rochester, NY
November 2003

FEB 05, 2005 11:16 PM

Wait until this lady gets a few flaming bags of crap on her doorstep from admiring fans. She'll wish she had graciously accepted the cookies then...

I mean, what would happen if somebody had sent her one of those giant cookie cakes? Cardiac arrest??

Ayla

Ayla

Petaluma, CA
February 2004

FEB 05, 2005 11:20 PM

I read about this at a fanboard. Absolutely ridiculous.

supercrisis

supercrisis

Canada
July 2004

FEB 06, 2005 12:08 AM

The judge needs to have his head examined, the lady was looking for a way to get around the atrocious health care system and get a free ride.

AgentCdog

AgentCdog

Saint Paul, MN
October 2004

FEB 06, 2005 12:12 AM

Sorry to break this news to some of you, but "W" probably isn't the mastermind of this. Yes, is it part of the republican agenda to get rid of frivilous lawsuits; but I really can't imagine that the president would fabricate something like this. This just doesn't matter enough. Some people think that everything bad is "W"'s fault. You know what; there are other assholes in the world. He's not the only one. Get over it. There are jerks in the republican party. There are jerks in the Democratic party. There are jerks in labor unions. There are jerks who are CEOs. So stop whining.

BrunetteLestat

BrunetteLestat

Fort Lauderdale, FL
March 2004

FEB 06, 2005 12:43 AM

SIGH... This is the part where I claim I'm a Canadian. God people should just quit breeding...

Damnation_game

Damnation_game

Australia
February 2004

FEB 06, 2005 01:01 AM

its downright evill!!! cookies and no milk!!!!!!!!!! eeek

Spartacus

Spartacus

Seattle, WA
April 2003

FEB 06, 2005 01:10 AM

Its funny. I never ever in my comments said that "W" is behind anything. "W" isn't the mastermind of anything. The words "master" and "mind" shouldn't be mentioned alongside "W" as they would have no applicable meaning. I see this article as something cooked up by a low-level conservative group who may or may not have anything to do with the Republican party. Its interesting that anytime someone on the left writes an article examining and critiquing the methods and practices of the right it is considered "whining." I have no respect for the Republicans or the Democrats. They are two heads of the same corporate Hydra. Labor Unions are full of corrupt bureaucrats whose values line up with the CEO's and against the rank and file workers. There is no argument about this. But I don't see how its relevant to what I'm talking about. I'm simply stating that this piece of "news" stinks to high heaven of being a planted piece, something to stir up resentment and outrage wherever its heard. I'm skeptical when I read such things. The scenario is just so unlikely to me. It reads as a badly written piece of propaganda. It looks like amatuer hour, typed up by some right-wingers who are eager to shill for their Fearless Leader in the White House.

Hopey

Hopey

Corvallis, OR
January 2004

FEB 06, 2005 01:21 AM

I hope those girls go back and burn that woman's house down.

Spartacus

Spartacus

Seattle, WA
April 2003

FEB 06, 2005 01:33 AM

About "Getting Over It"


So "shit" is just "way fucked up" in this world. That's "just how it is." We should all just "learn to accept it" and to "stop whining."

I couldn't disagree more. Things haven't always been this way. Things don't need to be this way. I believe in activism, I believe in confronting and challenging corrupt systems and individuals, illegal wars and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. I believe that racism and sexism, homophobia and classism are not things I'm willing to just "get over" and put my head in the sand and live with. I believe that speaking out passionately against those things with which you disagree, about policies and practices that violate your values, isn't "whining" but is a healthy and necessary component of real democracy. I can't stand by passively while people are dying every day in Iraq; soldiers dying by the hundreds, Iraqi civilians by the hundreds of thousands. Its happening every day, every hour, its happening right now. As an American, its my responsiblity to do what I can to make my government stop this slaughter of civilians, to stop this theft of a nation. That's why I am an active member of an anti-war, anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, Revolutionary socialist organization dedicated to peace and economic justice. Tell those being tortured in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to "get over it" and to "stop whining." Tell the families torn apart by loved ones coming back from Iraq in body bags the same thing. Tell those without health insurance, tell those who have been downsized and outsourced the same thing too.

googused

googused

Portland, OR
OLD SKOOL

FEB 06, 2005 01:39 AM

RiffProphet said:
I always wonder about the manhood about lawyers who take these cases. I mean is money more important than their manhood and their integrity as humans? smile Same for judges. Cant they get REAL jobs?? smile smile



$900 would be a Small Claims Court decision - there most likely weren't any lawyers involved. This one can be blamed directly in the judge.

On a happier note - someone posted her address and phone number on the Yahoo message boards earlier this evening. If she thought she was having anxiety attacks before... eeek

I hope she gets about a million boxes of cookies in the mail. biggrin

Pwndcake

Pwndcake

Portland, OR
October 2004

FEB 06, 2005 01:39 AM

A week or three ago, a friend of mine spent the evening driving around Portland dropping off cookies he made for people. Poor guy. I wonder how much time they give you for serial cookie delivery these days.

Nenia

nenia

Columbus, OH
December 2002

FEB 06, 2005 01:43 AM

i just heard about this a few minutes ago...it's one of the most silly rediculous things i've ever heard. psssh!! mad

Starr

Starr

SUICIDEGIRL

Florida, USA

FEB 06, 2005 04:13 AM

So... was the 17 year old made to pay, or were her parents charged?
I would be so pissed.

figmentation

figmentation

I'm lost
December 2003

FEB 06, 2005 05:45 AM

they decided to not go to a dance where there would be drinking and cursing and the judge told them that 1030 was too late to be out?

You americans really scare me sometimes!

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