Cookie MONSTERS!

Two Durango (Colorado) teens, whose late-night delivery of cookies to a frightened neighbor resulted in a $930 court judgment against them this week, won't have to dig into their own pockets to pay the fine.
Wanita Renea Young won a $930 judgment against two girls who left cookies on her front porch July 31. Young says the incident gave her an anxiety attack, which required hospital care. "Fifteen years ago, I was assaulted by one of my neighbors as I was taking my children to meet the school bus, and I wondered if somehow the incident was connected to that," she said.
Taylor Ostergaard, left, and Lindsey Zellitti display cookies on Thursday similar to ones the two made last summer for their neighbors near Durango. Ostergaard says " ... we were only trying to do something nice. There was no malicious intent whatsoever."
Denver radio station KOA-AM raised more than $1,900 from listeners Friday to pay the girls' $930.78 fine. The remaining sum will go to a charity dedicated to victims of the Columbine High School massacre.

As the radio station raised the money, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, both 18, flew to New York City to tape a segment about the cookie caper for ABC's "Good Morning America." But not before the father of one of the girls filed a restraining order against the husband of the litigious neighbor.
On Thursday, Ostergaard and Zellitti found themselves in small claims court and on the losing side of a decision by La Plata County Magistrate Doug Walker.
Ostergaard, a senior at Durango High School, and Zellitti, a freshman at Colby College in Kansas, were ordered to pay $930.78 to Wanita Renea Young. The judgment stems from a July 31 incident that began when the two girls decided to skip a local teen dance and bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which they then left - together with anonymous notes - on the doorsteps of nine of their rural neighbors.
"An innocent gesture by two young ladies to be kind to their neighbors has turned into a real circus," said Richard Ostergaard, Taylor's father.

Richard Ostergaard successfully filed a restraining order against Young's husband, Herb, on Friday afternoon in county court, claiming he continues to make harassing telephone calls to the Ostergaard residence.

Wanita Young, 49, is a cashier at Wal-Mart and has been director of the Durango Food Bank since 1990. She lives off of County Road 214 in a rural area on the mesa south of Durango and was in the basement of her house watching television with her 86-year-old mother and 19-year-old daughter about 10:20 p.m. when the incident took place.

"We heard this horrible banging on the door, like someone was trying to break it down," Young said Friday. "I ran upstairs and called out 'Who's there?' three or four times. But no one answered me and when I looked out the window, there weren't any vehicles in sight. But I could see the silhouette of someone on the other side of the window. I got really scared and called the sheriff's department."

According to documents filed with the court, the girls had parked about 500 feet away from Young's home, shielding their car behind a grove of trees.

A statement by Taylor Ostergaard included in court documents said the girls "knocked on the door three times loudly, left the plate of cookies on the step and ran away. (We) wanted someone to hear the door and find the cookies so an animal wouldn't eat them before morning."

Three La Plata County sheriff's deputies, who arrived at Young's home shortly before 11 p.m., discovered the cookies and a note scribbled on red, heart-shaped construction paper reading: "Have a great night. Love, The T and L Club."

The initials, unbeknownst to Young, stood for Taylor and Lindsey.

"I had no idea what the note meant," Young said. "Fifteen years ago, I was assaulted by one of my neighbors as I was taking my children to meet the school bus, and I wondered if somehow the incident was connected to that.

"After the deputies looked around, they weren't sure what had gone on and said that it might be a good idea if I took my mother and daughter and stayed in a motel that night," Young said. "My husband was out of town, so I decided to spend the night in Farmington at my sister's house. Driving down there, I was throwing up and feeling a lot of pressure in my chest. I thought I might be having a heart attack."

The next morning, Young went to the emergency room at Mercy Medical Center, incurring more than $1,400 in hospital bills for what doctors eventually diagnosed as an anxiety attack.