Cookie caper continues

DENVER – Two teenagers whose gift of cookies sent a frightened woman to the hospital – costing the girls $930 in medical claims – have gotten donations to cover the bill and vowed Thursday to “keep giving.”

“We aren’t discouraged by this,” said Taylor Ostergaard after receiving a donation.

“We felt sorry for her, and we still feel sorry,” Jo Zellitti added. “We didn’t want to cause this lady any harm at all.”

The pair, both 18, decided to bake cookies as a surprise treat for neighbors in July, placing them outside with big paper hearts stating, “Have a great night,” and signed, “Love, The T and L Club.”

Neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she heard banging on the door and saw “shadowy figures” who didn’t answer her calls. Frightened, she spent the night at her sister’s, and then went to the hospital the next day with an upset stomach, still shaking from fear.

The case wound up in court, with a judge earlier this month declining to award punitive damages but ordering the girls to pay Young’s medical bills.

In the aftermath, the girls became minor celebrities – a cookie company even created a “kindness cookie” in their honor – and received donations to cover the medical claims.

Young and her husband, Herb, say they’ve been hit by a backlash.

“We have got horrendous phone calls, tons of hate mail, threats to our life,” Herb Young said.

“I don’t believe the girls meant for this to happen. But they could have prevented it from happening if they had just shut their mouths when they came out of (small claims) court. Now they are caught in something they can’t control.”