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Show Davis County Has The Right To Stand Up For Improved Long Distance Calling By GARY R. BLODGETT Why does everyone point the finger at Davis County as being the "culprit" in this controversial proposal for extended area telephone service? AS I SEE it, Davis County has the right in fact, the obligation to stand up and fight for improved long-distance calling, something that has been lacking in this small, but densely populated, county for a long time. For years, Ma Bell service has been restricted in Davis County. WHILE NEIGHBORING counties have been enjoying nearly county-wide and inter-county service for years, Davis County subscribers have been restricted to very limited long-distance toll-free calling, except through METROPAC. And now that Davis County legislators, city and county officials, and subscribers in general plea for extended area service, at least one Public Service Commission member. Mountain Bell officials and the Utah Division of Public Utilities are objecting. ob-jecting. ALSO, STATE legislators from neighboring neigh-boring counties of Weber and Salt Lake (and even Sen. Earnest Dean of Utah County) are already screaming that "they want equal rights." Equal rights to what? DAVIS COUNTY was granted approval by the Public Service Commission to county-wide toll-free calling as well as permitting Kaysville-Layton (376 customers) cus-tomers) to call Ogden and Salt Lake City without toll charge. - Now, Mountain Bell and the Division of Public Utilities are opposing the PSC decision and have filed a petition for a rehearing. MOUNTAIN BELL officials maintain that costs for extended area service from Kaysville-Layton to Salt Lake City will be "substantially, almost double, the cost figures presented to the PSC at recent hearings." Mountain Bell also alleges "wrongdoings "wrongdo-ings and irregularities" on the part of Davis County legislators for their contact with the PSC which resulted in the final PSC decision as being "considerably more liberal" than the original order. ASSISTANT ATTORNEY General James Barker, arguing the case for Davis County, says "poppycock" and has filed a response to the Ma Bell re-hearing petition. peti-tion. Attorney Barker argues that allegations that state legislators had an influence on the PSC's final decision "are made with no accompanying proof or that the alleged contacts had influenced the ultimate decision. "CERTAINLY, THE commission (PSC) has no way of prohibiting anyone from writing or calling its individual members." Attorney Barker, in his response, also cited specific contentions for extended area service in Davis County. They include: 1. CITY AND county officials in all cities ci-ties of concern had council approval for the extended telephone service and letters of support were written to the PSC. 1 Backing the official letters were petitions pe-titions signed by 4,545 persons, 2,518 of whom gave their addresses and telephone numbers as being in the 376 and 776 prefix area. 3. IN THE full day of hearing in Farmington Far-mington many residents of the area appeared ap-peared and prevented evidence in support, of their need and desires for toll-freej calling from Kaysville-Layton into Saltt Lake City. 4 That METROPAC had been a help to long-distance calling but when it was installed in-stalled in 1969 it was unlimited timing. This system was found to be used so much that the company (Mountain Bell) set a time limit on the service instead of extending ex-tending facilities. 5. IN THE June 7 hearing in Farming-ton, Farming-ton, 18 of the 25 witnesses expressed a need and desire for county-wide toll-free calling. Outsiders maintain that if Davis County is allowed to call from its 376 prefix numbers (Kaysville-Layton area) to Ogden Og-den and to Salt Lake City, it would be the only area in the Mountain Bell system to call toll-free two metropolitan cities. AND IF THE Public Service Commission Commis-sion allows county-wide calling, Davis County would be the only county in Utah with complete county-wide service. Not even Salt Lake, Weber and Utah counties have complete county-wide service ser-vice but almost. IF DAVIS County is allowed to call north and south to metropolitan cities of Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah County Senator Dean is going to seek the same service for Provo area subscribers. Likewise. Weber County's Rep. LaMont Judd has voiced his concern and says he, too, will ask for county-wide toll-free service ser-vice for Weber County. It's a similar story in Salt Lake County, according to Mountain Moun-tain Bell officials. SO EVERYONE points the finger at Davis County for fighting a cause it feels justified. The funny thing is, Davis County didn't actually bargain for toll-free service into Ogden and Salt Lake City from the county's 376 area just one direction or the other. IT WAS AN afterthought that resulted in the PSC's ruling for service to both , metropolitan areas. Original arguments before the PSC asked only that Kaysville-Layton subscribers be allowed to call either to Ogden or to Salt Lake City without toll. It also asked for county-wide service. THE THREE member PSC first handed down a verbal order which permitted 376 prefix subscribers to call Ogden toll-free and allowed county-wide toll-free calling. However, before the order was finalized and signed, Davis County legislators approached the PSC with the proposition that Kaysville-Layton (376 subscribers) be allowed to call Salt Lake City as well because many family and business associations as-sociations were in Salt Lake City. THIS WAS agreed to by two PSC members, with Comm. Kenneth Rigtrup dissenting. He said he objected to county-wide service and disapproved of Kaysville-Layton subscribers calling toll-free toll-free to Salt Lake City. Mountain Bell officials then filed a protest and appealed to the Public Service Commission for a rehearing. Division of Public Utilities, too, filed a similar protest pro-test and supported Mountain Bell in a request for a rehearing. SO A REHEARING has been set by the PSC. There will be four hearings beginning begin-ning Monday at 10a.m. at Kaysville City Hall. Hearings will also be held Tuesday at 10a.m. at Layton City Hall; Wednesday in Salt Lake City at the Public Service Commission hearing room; and Thursday in Ogden. THE HEARINGS will pertain only to matters including proposed county-wide toll-free service and whether or not 376 prefix customers should be allowed to call toll-free to Salt Lake City |