THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994                 TAG: 9407190355
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: MANTEO                             LENGTH: Medium:   54 lines

TOLL-FREE CALLING IN DARE MAY COME TO OUTER BANKS IT WOULD COST AN ADDITIONAL 12 CENTS TO $3 PER MONTH.

Within two years, Outer Banks residents may be able to call anywhere in Dare County toll free.

Carolina Telephone will mail ballots to all Roanoke Island and Hatteras Island customers Sept. 7, asking them whether they would like to become part of extended-area service, County Commissioner Doug Langford said Monday.

If a majority of the people support the plan, all calls in communities from Hatteras Village to Sanderling - including the Dare County mainland - will be toll free.

Under the plan, residents would pay from 12 cents to $3 per month more in charges, depending which area they live in. Businesses would pay 30 cents to $7.22 more per month. Those rates would hold unless the state's utilities commission votes to raise them.

Calls from Hatteras Island to other areas of the Outer Banks currently carry long-distance charges.

``This is a tremendous opportunity for the county to realize a huge jump in our ability to communicate with businesses, friends and relatives throughout the county,'' Langford said Monday at the commission's bimonthly meeting.

``This kind of toll-free telephone service will bring the whole county a lot closer together.

``The average call to Hatteras Island - or from Hatteras Island to other parts of the county - costs about $1.50,'' said Langford, who has spent the past year working with the utilities commission to get extended-area service. ``The monthly charges would be realized for most people in two calls or fewer.''

Although extended-area service would benefit all county residents, only those whose rates would be ``substantially affected'' will vote on the change. Roanoke and Hatteras Island residents will receive direct mail ballots on the issue in early September. Ballots are due back to Carolina Telephone Sept. 30.

In other business, the board:

Unanimously voted to route all public requests for information through County Manager Terry Wheeler. Anyone asking for access to any public records must make their request to Wheeler.

Adopted a unified version of the county's Code of Ordinances. Most laws remain the same, but the rules now are contained in one comprehensive book. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

PHONE RATES

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

by CNB