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.