Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280073
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
``We're not pushing this,'' insisted Don Reid, Bell Atlantic regional manager from Roanoke. ``We're neutral.''
Reid made his comments in conversation following two State Corporation Commission hearings on the matter Tuesday afternoon and evening in Pulaski.
Twenty-four of the speakers opposed the change, which would bring with it an additional $1.02 per month in the flat rate for residential customers and $7.05 for businesses in Pulaski, and 68 cents and $3.72, respectively, in Dublin.
Four speakers favored the change, all of them with relatives or associations with Giles County. But most of the speakers said there is no community of interests between Pulaski and Giles counties.
``If these people want Pearisburg, let them pay for it,'' said Margaret Ritter of Pulaski, a senior citizen on a fixed income. ``I need my telephone, and I'd hate to have my telephone taken out because I can't afford it.''
``I've lived here for 51 years, and I've never in my life called Pearisburg,'' said Betty King of Pulaski. ``I do object to being forced to pay for a service I will never need.''
``It's out of our bailiwick," said Bill Wagoner of Dublin. ``It might as well be in Egypt.''
Business people objected because many of them have more than one line, and each line would be subject to that extra flat business rate per month.
John Stone, manager of the Dublin Comfort Inn, had kept records of the number of calls made from his business to Pearisburg during the past 90 days. Based on what he would have to pay extra on his phone lines and the number of Pearisburg calls made, he said, the price tag for him would be about $100 per call.
``There's no reason for it, I can't afford it, and I hope the commission will understand that we don't need it,'' he told hearing officer Howard P. Anderson Jr.
Anderson assured participants at both hearings that the text of their remarks would be read and taken into account ``not only by me but by the full commission also.''
Several speakers said the plan was just a way for the telephone company to increase its revenue.
Reid said after the hearings that Bell Atlantic made the offer to expand toll-free service for all localities bordering on one another in its service areas throughout the state. Radford calls from the Pulaski and Giles exchanges would also be toll-free in this area.
He said the company assumed there would be communities of interest among adjacent localities. ``Obviously there may be exceptions,'' he said. ``Certainly from the testimony that has been given [in Pulaski], that is not the case.''
If telephone customers want the expanded toll-free service, he said, Bell Atlantic wants them to have it. If they do not want it, the company does not want it, either.
He said Bell Atlantic estimated a $25 million statewide reduction in rates if all the expanded toll-free areas proposed went into place.
The flat rate increases in the Pearisburg exchange would be $1.79 a month for residences and $10.77 for businesses. Similar hearings will be held in Pearisburg at 3 and 7 p.m. today in the Giles County Courthouse.
Twenty-nine customers in the Pearisburg exchange had written the State Corporation Commission opposing the change. The commission schedules hearings on such matters whenever it gets 20 or more letters of opposition.
Pulaski County residents had sent in a total of 175 letters of protest.
Hearings on another toll-free region for the Blacksburg-Shawsville-Salem calling area were held Wednesday in Christiansburg.
by CNB