carpent@SRC.Honeywell.COM (Todd Carpenter) (01/05/90)
A few of us here in the Twin Cities run Amiga BBSs. We have fun doing it. However, one of the had some terrible trouble with phones and the bane of civilization: lawyers. Here is his story. He would like any help you can provide - you can call his BBS, or send me email, and I can forward it to him. This isn't pure Amiga, but it certianly does affect us. Oh, Images is down due to a disk crash, but that should change shortly. In the mean time, if you *must* call, try Kryl @ (612) 699-3106, and go to the Justice room, or leave mail to Sy Borg @ Avalon, or Sy Borg @ Images. We do not yet have a direct UUCP to Citadel link. The BBS is the Public Domain Citadel 68k, version 3.27+ His story: ############################################################################ 89Dec29 10:18 pm from Sy Borg Post what you like, however, I must admit what I wrote before in that initial few frantic postings was out of a sense of "I don't believe this is happening", and thus, my articulateness went out the window. In essence, this is what you should post: During the first week or two of December, both voice and data lines at Images at Twilight HQ (612-884-7951 300/1200/2400) were plagued by an annoying static. This is also comfirmed by our neighbors. In fact, they still have problems, cannot use their telephone when it rains, and the telco has said that there is nothing they can do in their case. But I digress. I had attempted to re-establish networking with Rainbow Bridge, a Citadel of some note at the phone number of 612-776-4138. But apparently, the line noise that had occurred was causing telco equipment to misinterpret the digits, and it consistently dialed a residence in Maplewood, Minnesota, repeatedly [confirmed with US West annoyance bureau today, Dec29]. There were 10 calls in all, over December 7 and 8 [3:05am, 3:14am, 3:22am, 10:47pm, Dec 8 3:12am, 3:25 am, 3:34am, 7:59 am, 6:45pm, and the last call was 7:57pm]. US West came out and repaired the lines that week and then everything was fine again. Networking in Citadels is straightforward and simple. When Citadel attempts to dial another system, it usually does it in a series of "round-robin" dials to various systems on the list. Due to the telco malfunction, this person in Maplewood was dialed 10 times over two days, and thus, on the 15th I received a letter dated the 13th of December from the City of Maplewood, citing me for "Harassing and Obscene Telephone Calls". I have retained the services of an attorney who confirms that the actions by the prosecution are quite serious, and the maximum fine is $700 and 90 days in jail. I wrote a letter of apology [that the officer said he would pass on to the individual], along with a letter to the officer, as well as a copy for his records. All of these documents were notarized. I also have a notarized document stating that the person at my workplace [who works in the mailroom] mailed it. It also helps when ones' boss is a notary. I also have the "we were here" standard 'fixed your line' form that the telco hung on the door after they repaired our phone line. At any rate, a pretrial hearing is coming up. Evidently I do not have to be there to deal with that, however, the actual trial will be in February sometime. The annoying thing about this is that it appears that the party involved is out for blood. I understand the prosecuting attorney is also quite vicious about this, since he is writing a book on criminal prosecution in the Minneapolis area, and also wants to "make his mark". I would like to see some sort of reaction from Usenet denizens, or anyone with some comment. Images at Twilight ran for nearly 5 years without so much as a problem with anyone. So far, I've paid a horrendous amount of money into my legal defense. And it appears that I may have to also pay for (1) court costs and (2) a fine of some sort, since the called party had their telephone number changed. According to the annoyance bureau and the officer who cited the complaint, the person had "a history of receiving annoying calls". Comments? I'd like to see some. If you have the time, calling Images at Twilight at 612-884-7951 300/1200/2400 has the full story in the "Maplewood Dilemma" room.