Chris Miller

Wednesday, January 18, 1995

‘Legalize Crack’ no laughing matter to police

Attleboro ‘hotline’ ordered to clean up act

By Susan LaHoud

Attleboro – A city man says he has been ordered by police to change the name of his telephone “hotline” known as “Legalize Crack,” or they will get a court order to have it permanently disconnected.

Chris Miller, 21, said he received a telephone call from police saying he had to report to the station Tuesday “or essentially, they would have a judge come after me.”

He said upon going to the Attleboro station, he was “ordered” by Detective Sgt. Kenneth Collins “to stop using the name “Legalize Crack” on his answering machine, which Miller described as a hotline that he set up “for fun” for teenagers and college students.

Miller, of Emory Street, said he was told “to stop using obscenities” on the messages.

Collins this morning said he did not order Miller to change the name, but did appeal to Miller’s sense of common decency to stop using obscenities and vulgarities. “I don’t remember the blow by blow account. Basically, I called him in here and chewed him out and told him to knock off the vulgarities,” Collins said.

Collins said his main objection is the voice mail messages Miller is using. He said anyone who obtains the flier can call but may not be prepared for what they hear.

“I don’t know that if somebody calls that that’s what they expect to hear. You don’t know who is calling that line,” Collins said.

Collins said that he is looking into whether Miller is in violation of any laws.

Miller said he started the telephone forum several months ago and publisized it with stickers, fliers and business cards.

Miller said people call the number and have a choice of four types of messages.

A call made to the number Tuesday yielded a recorded message that stated the caller had reached the “Legalize Crack Information Line,” and that there were quite a few calls last week.

“The more information you drop off, the more you can spread,” Miller’s voice is heard saying.

“Do you want to hear more about stealing stuff, shoplifting, techno crimes?”

He asks callers “not to leave any more credit card numbers. I don’t like that.”

The message ends with a profanity about sexual intercourse with a cat.

Miller said Tuesday that as a result of Collins’ warnings, he will change the name and stop using obscenities until he finds out his rights under the law.

“It’s my own phone with four (voice) mail lines,” he said.

Miller, a former student of Attleboro High School who is unemployed, said his hotline is not about legalizing crack, “but a lot of people leave crack messages.”

He said he considered the phone line “radical” and meant it “with a sense of humor.”

Miller said his venture was meant as much as a talk line for people his age. “It’s a forum for youths to get together and say what they want with the anonymity of a phone line.”

“I think people should be able to do whatever,” Miller said. “Everyone else doesn’t agree with it.”

His mother was one of them, he said.

“My family got a different phone line” after he started the “Legalize Crack” line. Miller said his mother’s boyfriend refused to call his home because of of the content of his messages.