Miskin was suspended from UND for sending innocuous email to John Wagner. Not only did Wagner return the email, but he admitted to phoning her nights for up two hours a night on at least ten occasions "just to be polite." Wagner also admitted to the UND police after he complained to having a "personal relationship with Miskin that 'went far beyond the bounds' of Teacher Student". Dr. Jon Lindgren, the President of the ACLU of the Dakotas defended Miskin. Dr. Lindgren's letter of support of Miskin from last July can be found
HEREN.D. ANTI-STALKING LAW PRODUCES
SOME UNEXPECTED REQUESTS Bonnie Palacek of the North Dakota Council on Abused Women's Services, said
an overwhelming number of the civil restraining others orders obtained under the
law have nothing to do with the law's original intent.
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IT'S BEING USED BY PICKED-ON HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS, DEBTORS
North Dakota's year-old
anti-stalking law is having some results that officials never expected. High
school students have used it to keep others from picking on them, and people who
owe money have tried to use it to keep creditors away.
Date: Thu, 28 May, 1994 22:21:18 CDT From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@mindvox.phantom.com> Subject: File 6--Michigan Man charged with Stalking by E-Mail According to an article in The Chicago Tribune ("Stalking in the '90s: By Computer," May 27, 1994: Sect 1, p. 15) and a corresponding CNN news story this past week, a Michigan man was arrested for "Stalking" via computer. The basic facts in which Andy Archambeau, a 31-year old graphic artist in Dearborn Heights, Michigan (near Detroit), was charged with breaking Michigan's anti-stalking law are these: 1) An on-line flirtation led to phone conversations and a F2F meeting at a "dating service party." Not sure what the on-line service was, but CNN had aol.com in their background graphic 2) Archambeau claimed that the woman initially was pushing to get "close." He reciprocated, but (according the woman): "I knew him for five days before I told him to get lost." 3) Archambeau left a mesage on her answering machine indicating that he had watched her leave work and that "you looked good." She filed a police report. 4) The police told him to leave her alone, electronically and otherwise. 5) He subsequently sent her an e-mail message (it's not clear how many or what it said) and she again called the police 6) The police arrested him on May 4 under the stalking law The Mich stalking law is broad, and in this case, there seem to be three violations: 1) Appearing at her place of work; 2) Telephoning (and answering machine message(s); 3) E-mail, which is covered explicitly in the Michigan law. The wording of the Mich law, including history and provisions, indicates that no court order or previous police contact is necessary for one to press charges. The law is sufficiently broad, it seems, to allow for a range of normal actions such as those that might occur when a couple is feuding and one attempts to communicate with the other. In discussing the case on CNN, the woman did not indicate that there were any threats, and from the gist of her complaint, it seems that the guy did nothing more than unwise, and perhaps obnoxous, contact. The key seems to be the e-mail message after the police advised him to stop. According to the Chicago Tribune coverage, the Michigan chapter of the ACLU is involved because, according to Howard Simon, director of the ACLU Michigan chapter, "If these charges aren't thrown out, then there's something for e-mail users to worry about." CNN reported that the ACLU was involved primarily because they judged that this case was a misuse of the stalking law and would ultimately weaken it.
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