Millers win harrassment injunction against Ann Retzlaff

A Marathon County judge has ordered the owner of a Shawano County campground to cease harassment of a county supervisor and his wife.

Ann Retzlaff is prohibited under restraining orders issued April 27 from contact with Joe and Jackie Miller and must stop what the judge called “false claims and/or allegations of criminal or violent behavior.”

Judge Suzanne O’Neill’s injunctions, which followed a hearing via Zoom from both Marathon and Shawano county locations, will be in force for four years.

Retzlaff and the Millers are residents of north central Shawano County. Joe Miller is a member of the Shawano County Board of Supervisors and a member of Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council, as well as the Bowler School Board.

The Millers individually filed a request for the restraining orders April 14. The hearing was moved to Marathon County after the Shawano County circuit court judges recused themseves, citing Joe Miller's role on the county board.

Among the items submitted as evidence of harassment was a March 26 email sent to Shawano County Sheriff Adam Bieber, Shawano County Supervisor Jerry Erdmann and Shawano School Board member Mart Grams. In it, Retzlaff said that Joe Miller and the other county board members who voted in March against a resolution establishing Shawano County as a Second Amendment sanctuary “need to be removed, fined, tried, jailed.”

Retzlaff claimed in the email that the Millers “openly promote hatred” toward her and her business, Annie’s Campground, but have not spoken or written to her about their concerns. She claimed the Millers started a petition against her a year ago that caused “haters” to threaten and harass her.

At the hearing, the Millers denied circulating the petition.

Retzlaff claimed that the Millers “are drug traffickers in our area and I suspect know or are a part of the child/sex trafficking at our two casinos/tribal lands,” referring to the Mohican North Star Casino Resort, which is operated by the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe, and the Menominee Casino Resort operated by the Menominee Tribe.

During the hearing, Jackie Miller said that the allegations had an impact on her role as a guardian ad litem (a court representative of children’s interests) for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians tribal court. She said she received a copy of the email from the parent of one of her clients and had to remove herself from the case.

Jackie Miller added that Retzlaff alleged that she had committed violence against Bieber at a county board meeting where the sheriff had not been present.

During the proceeding, the judge allowed the Millers, individually, and Retzlaff to ask questions about each other’s testimony.

Retzlaff asked Jackie Miller if the allegations of drug and sex trafficking were true, to which she responded, “No.” She then asked, “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Retzlaff explained that when dealing with satanic sex and drug trafficking, “there are good witches and bad witches. I am a good witch.”

O’Neill cut off the questioning, saying it was not relevant to the testimony provided by Jackie Miller.

In her letter, Retzlaff also claimed that Joe Miller “is despicable and needs to be charged with numerous crimes, treason, defamation of character, verbal assault against our sheriff and more … This needs federal attention and resolution.”

Joe Miller denied the sex trafficking and drug allegations and said that Retzlaff’s allegations of treason, based on the riot of Jan. 6 at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., were words that “take on new meaning to anyone.”

“The respondent speaks to her rights. I ask the court, what about our rights? We beg the court for protection against these libelous and defamatory allegations,” Joe Miller said.

The judge issued the injunctions at the end of the hearing.

Retzlaff said she would comply with the order to avoid contacting the Millers, because she felt she had already been avoiding contact.

“As far as exercising free speech — she’s (O’Neill) in trouble with what she ordered me to do,” Retzlaff said.

Jackie and Joe Miller said they were pleased with the court’s decision.