Musings of a chick: Maybe she just doesn't like chocolate chip?

(Sudiegirl disclaimer: I suffer from anxiety and a myriad of other problems, but you know, how sad is it when two teenage girls are penalized in civil court for good deeds? I'd be thrilled to have people think of me in this way. Granted, knocking on a person's door at 10:30 PM on a Saturday night isn't the best idea, but this old bag was pretty mean for taking them to court! This is why people don't do nice things for other people anymore, and it makes me cranky. Comments are interspersed...)

Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
Fri Feb 4,10:49 PM ET

Oddly Enough - Reuters
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.
(This is why I couldn't be the judge...I would tell the old lady to buzz off and use her insurance instead of destroying the psyches of two teenage girls...)

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.
(Ya know, they make Xanax and Valium for a reason...maybe Ms. Young needs to "take a pill", so to speak.)

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.
(That judge should be ashamed of himself...)

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."
(Aww...that's sweet!)

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.
(See! It wasn't in vain!)

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.
(That is a bit late, but still, once she saw the cookies, she should have put two and two together.)

She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
(Why did she wait until the next day? Aren't heart attacks serious? )

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.
(You know, if I were one of those girl's mothers, I would sue that judge for malpractice...why should these girls have to pay medical costs for some broad who was scared at 10:30 on Saturday evening but didn't go to the emergency room for her symptoms until the next day?)