Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 28, 1994 TAG: 9407280095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Communication is vital to our technological and economic growth," said Rusty Riley of Shawsville, who spoke during the first of two public hearings held in Christiansburg by the State Corporation Commission. Almost 100 people attended the two hearings Wednesday, and half of them spoke.
Riley and others stressed the importance of making the Blacksburg Electronic Village available to all Montgomery County residents at equal cost. Under the current telephone plan, customers in the Shawsville exchange are billed long-distance rates for calls - or computer modem transmissions - to Blacksburg.
"It would be a great benefit to our schools if we could have better contact with the Blacksburg community and with Tech," said Melinda Smith of Shawsville, a teacher in that community's middle and high schools. Long-distance charges have limited Shawsville students' use of Tech computer resources, she said.
Extending local calling to all of Montgomery County also would help unify an area that has been divided by long-distance rates, said Charlie Elgin of Ironto.
Not everyone attending the hearings was in favor of the expansion, however. Several Blacksburg residents opposed the plan on the grounds that the monthly rate increase it would require would buy them nothing they needed.
"The people of Blacksburg will be paying for this service and not getting anything in return," said Arthur Walrath of Blacksburg.
Blacksburg resident Gene Wilson agreed.
"The bulk of the customers in Blacksburg simply have no reason to be calling Shawsville or Salem," he said. "There is no reason that residents of Blacksburg should share in the costs of these calls."
The hearings were prompted by letters the SCC received from Blacksburg residents who were upset by the proposed expansion. The commission is required to hold such hearings whenever more than 20 customers write letters opposing a change.
Residential rates for both Blacksburg and Shawsville would increase by 73 cents a month, while business rates would go up $3.74 a month.
Salem customers, who also would be included in the calling area, would see no rate increase because the expansion would not force their exchange into a higher rate category, said Don Reid, regional manager for Bell Atlantic-Virginia.
Several Salem residents who attended the hearings expressed support for the proposal, and the Salem City Council passed a resolution Monday night in favor of the expansion.
The expansion would, however, bump both the Blacksburg and Shawsville exchanges into higher rate categories, which are based on the exchange area's base population, Reid said.
Howard Anderson, the SCC examiner who presided over the two hearings, will compile the statements made at the two Christiansburg hearings and will report his observations to the full commission. The public will have 15 days to submit written comments to the commission once the report has been filed.
Anderson could not give a definite timetable for a final decision but said it should come within several months.
by CNB