I have a  very dear friend of mine In Portland Oregon who has a house
and the one set of Neighbors (a couple in their late thirtys)on the
one side of her are harassing her terribly! they are smart enough not
to do it when anybody else is around...typically its staring at her or
taking her picture with a camera all the time although they did start
having people call her about mortuarary arrangements etc. There are
other things they have done to her too numerous to mention. I just
want to testify that I know this elderly woman to be a very good and
sweet catholic woman and i know this couple and this woman is NOT
deserving of their craziness....But you only have my word on this. She
through the strength of her faith carrys on day in and day out with
their mean harrasment....Myself I presently live in California and to
tell the truth I have felt the desire to go up to Portland and beat
the crap out of the guy physically  for what he is doing..... However
this woman councils me and tells me rightly so that I would just wind
up in jail if i did this... MY QUESTION IS WHAT LEGAL WAYS CAN WE
PERSUE TO STOP THIS COUPLE FROM CONTINUING TO HURT MY FREIND?

Dear tom3128-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. In this
forum we cannot offer legal advice (note our disclaimer at the bottom)
but like others before you I can provide you with published
information about situations similar to yours and the pertinent laws
concerning them.

Let?s begin with published law?

In Oregon the law states:

166.065 Harassment. (1) A person commits the crime of harassment if
the person intentionally:

      (a) Harasses or annoys another person by:

      (A) Subjecting such other person to offensive physical contact; or

      (B) Publicly insulting such other person by abusive words or
gestures in a manner intended and likely to provoke a violent
response;

      (b) Subjects another to alarm by conveying a false report, known
by the conveyor to be false, concerning death or serious physical
injury to a person, which report reasonably would be expected to cause
alarm; or

      (c) Subjects another to alarm by conveying a telephonic,
electronic or written threat to inflict serious physical injury on
that person or to commit a felony involving the person or property of
that person or any member of that person?s family, which threat
reasonably would be expected to cause alarm.

      (2) A person is criminally liable for harassment if the person
knowingly permits any telephone or electronic device under the
person?s control to be used in violation of subsection (1) of this
section.

      (3) Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor.

      (4) Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, harassment
is a Class A misdemeanor if a person violates subsection (1) of this
section by subjecting another person to offensive physical contact and
the offensive physical contact consists of touching the sexual or
other intimate parts of the other person.

Chapter 166 ? Offenses Against Public Order; Firearms and Other
Weapons; Racketeering
166.065     Harassment
http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/166.html

166.090 Telephonic harassment. 

(1) A telephone caller commits the crime of telephonic harassment if
the caller intentionally harasses or annoys another person:

      (a) By causing the telephone of the other person to ring, such
caller having no communicative purpose; or

      (b) By causing such other person?s telephone to ring, knowing
that the caller has been forbidden from so doing by a person
exercising lawful authority over the receiving telephone.

      (2) Telephonic harassment is a Class B misdemeanor.

Chapter 166 ? Offenses Against Public Order; Firearms and Other
Weapons; Racketeering
166.090 Telephonic harassment. 
http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/166.html

Now let?s looks at some definitions of the law; in Oregon law [as it
applies to these statutes]?

'Alarm' means to cause apprehension or fear resulting from the
perception of danger.

'Contact' includes but is not limited to:
(a) Coming into the visual or physical presence of the other person;
(b) Following the other person;
(c) Waiting outside the home, property, place of work or school of the
other person or of a member of that person's family or household;
(d) Sending or making written or electronic communications in any form
to the other person;
(e) Speaking with the other person by any means;
(f) Communicating with the other person through a third person;
(g) Committing a crime against the other person;
(h) Communicating with a third person who has some relationship to the
other person with the intent of affecting the third person's
relationship with the other person;
(i) Communicating with business entities with the intent of affecting
some right or interest of the other person;
(j) Damaging the other person's home, property, place of work or school; or
(k) Delivering directly or through a third person any object to the
home, property, place of work or school of the other person.

STALKING RESOURCE CENTER
http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Oregon179

So, having said all that, it may be difficult (under the circumstances
you described) to prove that harassment (as defined statutorily) is
taking place. On the other hand, if your friend can convince the
authorities that she is indeed ?alarmed? by this behavior as defined
in the statute (given her advanced age and the fact that she lives
alone perhaps) there may indeed be a valid harassment complaint. This
would be a matter for local law enforcement to investigate and
determine for certain.

If not, what your friend may be experiencing is simply an annoying
neighbor, and unfortunately there is no protection against people who
insist on being irritating morons. Having been in law enforcement
myself now for more than 20 years the first thing that comes to mind
is to give up this notion of becoming physically engaged with the
people causing the problem. Your friend is correct in that this will
serve no useful purpose except to land you in jail; and it may in fact
exacerbate the problem beyond what she is experiencing as of today.

If your friend can obtain some credible evidence from one of the
callers that the neighbors put them up to calling her (i.e. gave them
her phone number or filled out some contact card with her information)
you may have a case for harassment and possibly even a restraining
order or peace bond to prevent them from doing this again. Getting
that information however might be more difficult that it appears
because, as you say, they are fairly clever about their hobby of
annoying this poor woman.

The old adage that one gets more flies with honey than vinegar is
often true. Your friend might consider sending the annoying neighbor a
nice gift basket as a peace offering and try to instill some guilt and
prey on their conscience ? and this may be especially effective during
the upcoming holidays. She might also include a card that says
something to the effect of ?I?d like us to be friends?. As it stands
however, unfortunately I don?t [in my unlicensed opinion] interpret
the actions of the annoying neighbor to be necessarily statutorily in
violation of either 166.065 (Harassment) or 166.090 (Telephonic
harassment) as they are written, rather merely annoying, unless she
can present a convincing story about having been unduly ?alarmed? by
this ?contact?, though a licensed attorney may know of another option.

For best results I recommend your friend contact the Oregon Bar
Association where she can most likely get a free lawyer referral to
one who offers a free or low cost initial consultation. During this
brief meeting (in person or via telephone) she can probably get all
the best legal advice and information the state has to offer about her
possible options in this situation.

OREGON STATE BAR ASSOCIATION
http://www.osbar.org/public/ris/ris.html#referral
ONLINE REFERRAL REQUEST FORM
http://www.osbar.org/public/ris/lrsform.html


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

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Again you nust trust me as being an accurate witness as to the
details...cause you have no other choice... thank you for the detailed
description of the law. her making up to them is not an option...again
you do not know these people i do.

Thanks for your help

She needs to keep a written log of everything she observes.  Be as
detailed as possible, and she needs to write it down as soon as she
notices it.  And she needs to contact the police and discuss the
situation.  Often, an officer will go next door and talk to the couple
and find out what the problem is.  If the officer is not cooperative,
she should speak to his or her supervisor.  Keep going up the chain
until someone listens.  It is far better to address the issue sooner
rather than let it escalate into something worse later on.

So long as you are sure this elderly lady is not beginning to exhibit
a common symptom of age-related cognitive disorder, why not get an
inexpensive security camera system? For just a few hundred dollars the
outside of the house can be fully monitored. For less, it can be
partly covered.

I suggest to friends with similar troubles to always have a recorder
on them. They are so small nowadays that carrying one isn't the
problem it once was. If the use of such a device is illegal, the user
may have to work it out in court. But by then there's probably proof
for one side or the other on the device!

There is a very good chance that this is indeed an "age-related
cognitive disorder" What motive could the "couple in their late
thirties" possibly have for this behavior? Most people that age have
better things to do than harass old women. I note that there is no
evidence whatever for this. Is there any proof that the couple are
taking pictures of her? Is there any proof that the calls from funeral
homes were initiated by this couple? The truth is that people living
alone  with nothing to do all day can very easily become paranoid. I
suggest that this "very dear friend" needs companionship more than a
security system.

And staring is illegal since when?  Also, if the pictures are taken
from outside her property of items visible from outside the property,
they are perfectly legal.