Chrissy Fowler noted, and Melody Ball responded, regarding an incident
at a dance, in which a dancer requested organizers' assistance regarding
a restraining order against another dancer.
As a preface, I am not a lawyer -- they won't even let me play one on
TV. BUT....
This is something way over the heads of organizers to deal with. Court
orders (assuming one actually exists) are full of details to which
outsiders are not privy, and should be reviewed by those with the
experience and authority to enforce them, such as the local police or
sheriff. In this case, I feel the proper course of action is to request
that the complaining woman call the local authorities, and let the
parties involved sort it all out.
The only responsibility of the organizers should be to assure the safety
of the participants at the dance (including the two disputing parties)
until competent assistance arrives.
Pitfalls to the layperson (including dance organizers):
a. Is there actually a restraining order in existence? What are its
provisions as to locations, times, conditions, responses, remedies, etc.?
b. What was the fine print in the purported restraining order about
required and/or prohibited conduct on the part of the woman?
c. What if the man had been at the dance first, claiming to not know she
was coming? What are your responsibilities to him, as a paying customer?
d. Could a woman purposefully follow a man and press charges if he was
already at the dance and she came within the restricted distance from
him? What liability could the dance organizers face if he felt they
assisted in a persecution?
The list goes sadly on and on, in our unfortunately litigious society.
Paul Marsh (never restrained in expressing uninformed opinions)
Weare, NH
Hello all,
I would handle this type of incident as I would any other disturbance at
a dance (e.g. arguments, fights, drunkenness, inappropriate behavior or
language). Ask the offending party (parties) to [1] restrain their
behavior, and if it continues [2] leave the dance, and if that is
ineffective [3] summon a law enforcement officer. I wouldn't presume to be
judge, jury, police re a restraining order, nor attempt to enforce it.
Fortunately, in 25 years of managing contradances, beyond overexuberant
dancing and an occasional interpersonal exchange with raised voices, and a
tispy person or two, I've never had the opportunity to go beyond solution
[1]. The contradance clientele in these parts are pretty mellow.
George Fowler
(1st Sat dance series - Blue Hill, Maine)
gwfowler(a)verizon.net
----- Original Message -----
From: <organizers-request(a)sharedweight.net>
To: <organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 12:00 PM
Subject: Organizers Digest, Vol 11, Issue 1
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Restraining Orders (Chrissy Fowler)
> 2. Re: Restraining Orders (Melody Ball)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:04:23 -0400
> From: Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Organizers] Restraining Orders
> To: <organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <BLU113-W5336FCCEB358AF3F5CF028DA90(a)phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"
>
>
> Hello fellow organizers,
>
> A number of years ago, when I was involved in producing a dance in New
> Hampshire, we had the following incident at one of our monthly dances:
>
> A female dancer asked one of our committee members to intervene because a
> man (with whom she had once been in a relationship) had appeared at the
> dance. Both were regular dancers in our region. She asserted that there
> was a restraining order out on this man, and that he was prohibited from
> being within a certain number of yards of her at any given time. She
> didn't have a copy of the restraining order, at least not that I remember.
> The situation got fairly tense and volatile. No physical violence, but
> many heated exchanges. As I recall, after some requests from the
> committee member, he left the dance.
>
> I was wondering if other dance organizers have had to deal with that sort
> of thing -- whether restraining orders are involved or not. And I
> particularly would like to hear what people think the role and
> responsibility of dance organizers is in this sort of situation.
>
> Thanks,
> Chrissy Fowler
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org
> home 207-338-0979 cell 603-498-3506
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> It?s easy to add contacts from Facebook and other social sites through
> Windows Live? Messenger. Learn how.
> https://www.invite2messenger.net/im/?source=TXT_EML_WLH_LearnHow
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:21:10 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Melody Ball <melodyba(a)swbell.net>
> Subject: Re: [Organizers] Restraining Orders
> To: A list for dance organizers <organizers(a)sharedweight.net>
> Message-ID: <383541.12983.qm(a)web83601.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> It seems to me that the onus is on her, to prove that
> there are orders extant: she knows that he's a
> dancer, right? So she should have a copy of the
> orders with her at any given dance, and be prepared to
> show them to the authorities (that SHE calls to
> enforce the orders).
>
> It is in no way incumbent upon organizers, IMO, to
> enforce restraining orders. That's a matter for law
> enforcement.
>
> Melody Ball
> Dallas
>
> --- Chrissy Fowler <ktaadn_me(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hello fellow organizers,
>>
>> A number of years ago, when I was involved in
>> producing a dance in New Hampshire, we had the
>> following incident at one of our monthly dances:
>>
>> A female dancer asked one of our committee members
>> to intervene because a man (with whom she had once
>> been in a relationship) had appeared at the dance.
>> Both were regular dancers in our region. She
>> asserted that there was a restraining order out on
>> this man, and that he was prohibited from being
>> within a certain number of yards of her at any given
>> time. She didn't have a copy of the restraining
>> order, at least not that I remember. The situation
>> got fairly tense and volatile. No physical
>> violence, but many heated exchanges. As I recall,
>> after some requests from the committee member, he
>> left the dance.
>>
>> I was wondering if other dance organizers have had
>> to deal with that sort of thing -- whether
>> restraining orders are involved or not. And I
>> particularly would like to hear what people think
>> the role and responsibility of dance organizers is
>> in this sort of situation.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chrissy Fowler
>>
>>
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org
>> home 207-338-0979 cell 603-498-3506
>>
>>
> _________________________________________________________________
>> It?s easy to add contacts from Facebook and other
>> social sites through Windows Live? Messenger. Learn
>> how.
>>
> https://www.invite2messenger.net/im/?source=TXT_EML_WLH_LearnHow
>> _______________________________________________
>> Organizers mailing list
>> Organizers(a)sharedweight.net
>>
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list
> Organizers(a)sharedweight.net
> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/organizers
>
>
> End of Organizers Digest, Vol 11, Issue 1
> *****************************************
>
Hello fellow organizers,
A number of years ago, when I was involved in producing a dance in New Hampshire, we had the following incident at one of our monthly dances:
A female dancer asked one of our committee members to intervene because a man (with whom she had once been in a relationship) had appeared at the dance. Both were regular dancers in our region. She asserted that there was a restraining order out on this man, and that he was prohibited from being within a certain number of yards of her at any given time. She didn't have a copy of the restraining order, at least not that I remember. The situation got fairly tense and volatile. No physical violence, but many heated exchanges. As I recall, after some requests from the committee member, he left the dance.
I was wondering if other dance organizers have had to deal with that sort of thing -- whether restraining orders are involved or not. And I particularly would like to hear what people think the role and responsibility of dance organizers is in this sort of situation.
Thanks,
Chrissy Fowler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org
home 207-338-0979 cell 603-498-3506
_________________________________________________________________
It’s easy to add contacts from Facebook and other social sites through Windows Live™ Messenger. Learn how.
https://www.invite2messenger.net/im/?source=TXT_EML_WLH_LearnHow
