
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 16, 1993                   TAG: 9310160144
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONTVALE                                LENGTH: Medium

NO ANSWER MEANS CALL STILL COSTS

Too few residents responded to a C&P survey gauging whether toll-free calling between Montvale and Bedford should be initiated - so for now, it will remain a long-distance call.

State law mandates that a majority of residents must favor the change, but only 45 percent of Montvale's population of 1,315 mailed their cards back, according to a C&P news release.

Of those who responded, 72 percent favored the idea.

Janice Luck, a Montvale resident who favored toll-free calling, expressed her disappointment.

"I think people should've sent in their cards, whether they favored it or not," she said. "[The phone company] should've gone through with it anyway. Bedford is the county seat, but we have free calling to Buchanan. Why should we call free to Buchanan and not our own county seat?"

But residents may have another chance to rally support for toll-free calling next year, said C&P spokesman Paul Miller.

Robert Crouch, president of the group that sparked the original petition drive that prompted C&P to survey Montvale residents, said Friday's announcement is a temporary setback.

"I'm not accepting this as a defeat," he said. "I'm sorry it didn't go, but we'll try again."

The plan called for toll-free calling between Montvale's 947 exchange and Bedford's 586 and 587 numbers. Montvale already has toll-free calling to Roanoke.

Telephone bills would have increased by $2.58 a month for homes and $9.73 for businesses.

Crouch thinks the additional costs could have deterred responses. "Right now, with the economy the way it is, people just don't want to spend any more money," he said.

by CNB