Chasing the Wind

The cookie grinches still don’t get it.

I wrote about the problems facing Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Jo Zellitti here and how a radio station came to their aid here. According to an Associated Press story, the girls will pick up a check today from Denver radio station KOA to pay their legal costs.

Wanda and Herb Young are not pleased:

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

Are the Youngs apologetic, repentant about dragging two teenage girls to court to pay their medical bills? Of course not; the Youngs blame the girls for not keeping their mouth shut about being sued in public court:

“It’s horrible, nobody has heard our side,” said Herb Young, adding the couple has had to hire a lawyer. “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.”

The Youngs say they enlisted clergy to help settle the dispute before dragging the girls to court, something I find difficult to believe. The girls say they offered to pay the medical expenses, which the Youngs refused, then sued and simply got the medical expenses anyway.

Here’s some unsolicited advice for Herb and Wanita Young:

1. Find new clergy, the kind that tell you to forgive and forget. What kind of church advised you to sue two teenage girls trying to give you a cookie?
2. If you felt strongly that the girls should pay the medical expenses, you should have accepted their settlement offer instead of trying to sue for more.
3. Ever hear of “picking on somebody your own size?” You’re not gaining any national sympathy because you sued two teenage girls delivering cookies decorated with a big pink heart.
4. The girls are not “caught in something they can’t control.” You are. The girls are being rewarded for their kindness.
5. When you say, “But they could have prevented it from happening if they had just shut their mouths when they came out of (small claims) court,” you’re not going to win any brownie points, either. You sued them in public court, available for the public to see. You could have prevented it by accepting their kind offer to repay your medical expenses, something most people don’t feel the girls are responsible for.
6. Calling one of the girls’ father and threatening that the gloves are coming off ain’t gonna win you any points, either. That’s why there is a restraining order against you.