Teens Fined for giving cookies

[bazooka]

http://reuters.excite.com//article/20050205/2005-02-05T034905Z_01_N04728789_RTRIDST_0_...OOKIES-DC.html

Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
Email this Story

Feb 4, 10:49 PM (ET)

DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[ViRaL1]

Too bad it's not a death penalty state. Damn kids!

[the bomb]

What is wrong with people today? You do something nice for somebody and end up in court. Go figure!

[Grimey]

Sweet merciful crap......what the hell is happening to this world

[Ripper2860]

I guess they should have gone out partyin', drinkin' and druggin' with the friends.

The world is spiraling out of control and all I can do is just sit there, agast, wondering when in the hell the horsemen of the Apocolypse will make their grand entrance.

This is just another sign of how truly fucked up things are!!

[adam]

The full story says that she was really scared because she had been robbed not too long before that, and she saw the figures outside her door when they knocked, but they wouldn't answer her. I actually think its not necessarily unreasonable for the woman to be scared under the circumstances but......the girls themselves didn't do a damn thing wrong and there was no way they could have possibly forseen this crazy woman's reaction.

The girls' family actually wrote a letter of apology and offered to pay the woman's medical bills but she refused and sued instead.

I don't get it. Either we aren't getting the whole story or this judge is incompetant because I don't see how the woman would even have a cause of action.

[glockjs]

oh how i love my country......im movin tomorrow, so...how's europe this time of year?

[hech54]

"Caution - Cookies are Free and from Friendly Neighborhood Teenage Girls who are not out selling crack or their own bodies daily in order to support a Pimp Daddy Rap Star Wannabe"

[flaninacupboard]

That's just plain weird. and how is 10:30 late for an 18 year old, you know, AN ADULT, to be out?!

[SLICK RICK]

That's just plain weird. and how is 10:30 late for an 18 year old, you know, AN ADULT, to be out?!

Good point flan.

[gastorgrab]

Silly!

The woman is the cause of her own damage. Noone is responsible for another persons misunderstanding.

[ViRaL1]

Hey now!!! This is America, we don't have to be responsible for our own actions.

[pyrate83]

Might have been a whole different ballgame had they just dropped the cookies off in daylight.

[doppletwo]

Damn kids and dead people and Canadians are sneaky like the silent loon.

That's just plain weird. and how is 10:30 late for an 18 year old, you know, AN ADULT, to be out?!

Good point flan.

A proper young lady would not out at this time without a chaperone.

[sacajaweeda]

If they are gonna get hit with a 900 dollar fine for giving out cookies they may as well be going door to door giving out blowjobs.

[doppletwo]

If they are gonna get hit with a 900 dollar fine for giving out cookies they may as well be going door to door giving out blowjobs.

If they were out at 10:30 they probably were. I mean what kind of person would be out at 10:30.

Cookies is probably what the kids are calling it these days.

[sacajaweeda]

Code word "cookies"

Roger that.

<makes mental note>

[Ripper2860]

Perhaps next time they should ring the bell and run-off leaving a burning bag of dog shit!!

Warning to all trick or treaters and their parents -- STAY AWAY FROM THAT HOUSE !!!!

[Capmaster]

Well that'll keep everyone in the neighborhood safe now. The next time those kids get the urge to be friendly and neighborly, they'll just wait for that urge to pass :P

[sacajaweeda]

What are the odds of me getting 900 bucks outta the next person to knock on my door?

[ViRaL1]

All you need is a good lawyer.

[sacajaweeda]

Maybe I can get my lawyer to convince the jury that I was paranoid delusional and thought it was some a-hole mod that yellow carded me and is now stalking me, yes?

[sacajaweeda]

I want punitive damages your honor. Twelve million dollars, at least sir.

[sacajaweeda]

900 bucks? Ok deal.

[ViRaL1]

Just tell them that someone who showed up at your door in a suit caused you to have an anxiety attack because you thought the RIAA / MPAA had hunted you down and were coming to take you away where you'd be made to not only PAY FOR but LISTEN to ALL of Britney Spears albums BACK TO BACK for 48 hours straight.

[Capmaster]

Just tell them that someone who showed up at your door in a suit caused you to have an anxiety attack because you thought the RIAA / MPAA had hunted you down and were coming to take you away where you'd be made to not only PAY FOR but LISTEN to ALL of Britney Spears albums BACK TO BACK for 48 hours straight.

Never happen. The Constitution prevents cruel and unusual punishment

[ViRaL1]

We're talking about RIAA / MPAA. They're above The Constitution, remember?

[Capmaster]

We're talking about RIAA / MPAA. They're above The Constitution, remember?

Oh yeah ...I forgot ....

[doppletwo]

I am actually a spy for the RIAA/ MPAA.

I am taking you all in for libel.

[sacajaweeda]

They should make those detainees down in gitmo listen to Orrin Hatch records.