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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990                   TAG: 9003142933
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

BLACKSBURG DELAYS NEW 911 CALL SYSTEM

Council voted to extend the completion date for E-911 - and continue levying a 36-cent tax on phone bills - until the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department is ready to install the county's system.

Blacksburg Police Chief Donald Carey said simultaneous switch-over would be more effective and avoid doubling the installation costs. The county got behind schedule because it had to map the entire county and name all the roads, he said.

Enhanced 911 systems automatically give dispatchers a computer screen full of information about the caller, including street address, name, possible hazardous materials on-site and any previous medical conditions.

An 18-month timetable for getting the system ended this month. Carey said the county should be ready in November.

Once the system is installed, Blacksburg residents would pay 28 cents each month, added to their phone bills, for maintaining the system.

Some council members thought the new system would create confusion, particularly for county residents with Blacksburg telephone exchanges. Their calls are currently routed through town dispatchers to county emergency crews.

"It may not sound like it, but it will be more refined and make things easier," said Town Manager Ron Secrist.

Once the system is up, anyone calling 911 in the county will get to the correct dispatcher for the quickest response time, Carey said.

Except those calling from Virginia Tech phones.

The university recently switched to a private telephone service and is not included in the E-911 system.

Instead, students, faculty, staff and others on campus must dial 888. That gets them Tech security, who in turn call the Blacksburg dispatcher, who puts out the call to either fire or rescue squads.

Carey said that if a caller dials 911 from a campus phone, he'd get an operator in Richmond who would then have to find out how to contact local dispatchers.

"I'm a faculty member at Tech," said council member Al Leighton, "and I didn't even realize 888 was the number."

Carey said Tech security will likely get the appropriate dispatch frequency in August to handle the university's rescue calls. "It cuts out the middleman. It cuts us out," he said.

Town crews will still respond to fire calls because Tech does not have its own firefighters.