Only in the good old USA

[jwdiverdude]

cookie monster

Denver Bureau Chief


DENVER - A Florida Mesa woman - winner of a $930 judgment in small claims court last week against two local teens now known worldwide as the "cookie Samaritans" - said Friday she will resign as director of the Durango Food Bank, a position she's held since 1990.


"I'm very proud of the work I've done to build up the Food Bank to where it is today, but with everything that's gone on this past week, I just don't have the heart to do it anymore," Wanita Renea Young said from her attorney's office in Denver.

Vilified in scores of Internet blogs and by the national - and international - media, which has dubbed her "The Cookie Monster," Young, 49, will appear on "Good Morning America" today to tell her side of the cookie story.

Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, both 18, whose late-night, knock-and-run cookie drop last summer sent Young to the hospital with what she thought was a heart attack, appeared on the nationally televised program last week.

Now full-fledged celebrities whose court fine was paid by donations from adoring fans, the Durango teens' unrepentant vow to continue their anonymous cookie deliveries grates on Young.


"I cannot believe that the American people have made superstars out of these girls," Young said. "What a terrible lesson they have learned - that they can take half-truths and, with the assistance of the media, generate such an unwarranted outpouring of sympathy and financial support. They ought to be ashamed of themselves."

Meanwhile, Young's husband, Herb, and Richard Ostergaard, Taylor's father, will meet Thursday in the La Plata County Courthouse, where Judge Martha Minot is expected to decide if a temporary restraining order preventing Herb Young from having any contact with the Ostergaards should be made permanent.

Ostergaard requested the restraining order last week after he said Herb Young made a threatening phone call to his home following the court ruling.

Herb Young said Friday that his family is "caught up in a terrible nightmare. People who aren't aware of all of the underlying facts in this case are making unfair judgments about us and that's just wrong," he said.

Young said his family continues to receive hate mail and harassing phone calls that have included death threats - which are being recorded and passed on to the La Plata County Sheriff's Office.




On television






Wanita Renea Young will appear on "Good Morning America" today to tell her side of the cookie story.


The show appears on KOAT-TV (Durango Cable channel 7) from 5 to 6 a.m.




In the midst of all of the media coverage, Young said most people continue to overlook or ignore the fact that his wife was physically assaulted by a neighbor 15 years ago - "something that obviously influenced her reaction when, home alone with her 86-year-old mother and one of our daughters, she heard this horrible banging on our door at 10:30 at night and saw shadowy figures outside our house."

Before - and after - last week's court showdown, the Youngs, who, like the Ostergaards, are Mormons, sat down with church elders and attempted to diffuse the cookie craziness.

"On the advice of our bishop and stake president, we backed way off," Wanita Young said. "We were made to understand that the girls and their parents were committed to toning it down too. But while they have gone on national television and continue to be all over the media, we haven't been defending ourselves or putting our side of the story out there. So after praying about it, we decided to fly to New York and accept 'Good Morning America's' invitation.

"I'm sorry to say," Young added, "that I will probably never go back to our church again."

Although they considered leaving Durango, the Youngs have decided to stay put.

"We still don't feel safe in our own home," Wanita Young said. "But where would we go? We are getting these awful calls from every state in the country - even Canada and Puerto Rico. So I guess we're going to have to be big and suck it up and count on the people who know us for their continuing support - which we have been extremely grateful for."

And while she has yet to set a date, Young said she does intend to return to her job at Wal-Mart. "My supervisors have promised that they will provide me with a safe workplace, so I'm going to give it a try," she said.

"We just want to get our life back," Herb Young said. "I just don't know if that's going to be possible."

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Ohhh that is wicked and I love it!

Becky

Remember, I'm a pharmacist and a toxicology specialist. Let's just say that there are lots of ways to make food more interesting...

I found my favorite food prank by accident. We served bright blue "cookie monster" cupcakes at my son's second birthday party, and received calls from lots of parents complaining that their kids (and they themselves) were pooping bright blue after eating the icing. I told the story to a few folks at my hospital pharmacy where I was working and forgot about it until a technician friend decided to serve cookie monster cupcakes at his going away party when he got into law school.

The setup was beautiful - his girlfriend told this warm & fuzzy story about how much Wayne had loved the cookie monster as a child, then asked everybody to enjoy them in a cupcake toast, and everybody ate the greasy, blue monstrosities. Then, of course, Wayne suggested that they check their poop over the next few days...

Remind me to tell you about the flies and the "snap-n-pop" solution some time...

 

[Knight1989]

OH that poor pathetic lady, how sad that no ones listening to her side of the story. Lets see, her side is that she somehow confused 2 girls with cookies knocking on her door as the same person that assualted her over 15yrs ago? She needs to get over herself. Fine, I can live with the PTSD excuse. So someone knocked on her door and she had a heart attack, whatever. Sounds weak, but ok. The real issue why I think most people hate her is what she did later. There was no reason to sue those girls. Its not thier fault shes a coward and cant get past something that happened 15 yrs ago. I know I crouch down when I hear a car backfire or hear any kind of whistle sound(Iraq), but I dont go sueing the people that caused it. She needs to accept responsability for her own problems. And she still needs to be dragged out and beaten for being stupid. And the judge too, I mean what idiot went along with this?

 

[H2Andy]

yeah... while i am sympathetic to her being sensitive to people knocking on her
door at night, once she figured out it was the girls with cookies, she should have
dropped the whole thing and maybe ask them not to knock at her door late at night
since it freaked her out.

i'm sure they would have agreed.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Who goes around knocking on their neighbor's doors at almost 11 PM with cookies?? I get upset when people call me that late

Teen-agers ... they're not supposed to have yet developed common sense ... that's what the twenties are for.

But at least they had good intentions. That should count for something ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[jewelrox1]

that is so sad! i wish i had neighbors that baked me cookies and left them at my door...i would never consider suing them!