Texsox Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Forbes Link Isolated La. Town Now Has Phone Service 01.31.2005, 09:43 PM After living almost 50 years without a telephone, 83-year-old Alma Louise Bolton can now plan on spending a little less time on the road. "If we needed to borrow something, like a cup of sugar, we walked to see if we could get it," Bolton, whose nearest neighbor is 1 1/2 miles away, said Monday as she described life without telephones. "If we wanted to talk to anyone we walked there, or drove if it was too far." Bolton's town in rural Louisiana had been one of the last places in the nation without telephone service, but that all changed Monday when phones were finally hooked up in Mink, a settlement of about 15 families. Gov. Kathleen Blanco ushered in the town's new era in communications with a ceremonial phone call to Bolton. The community celebrated with a fish fry Monday - gathering at a church and dishing out catfish, okra, hushpuppies and slaw to about 100 residents, friends, public officials and others. BellSouth Corp. spent $700,000 - or about $47,000 per phone - to extend about 30 miles of cable through thick forests to Mink, about 100 miles south of Shreveport. Phone customers around the state will cover the cost by paying a small monthly charge on their bills. Cell phones had operated in Mink, but only in a few locations. Some residents had the old style, bulky portable phones. Called "sack phones," they were more powerful than most cell phones and would work at the crossroads store - next to the trash bin. "You use to see people gathered around there making calls," said Julian Ray, 57. "But they were analog phones and that service is done with Feb. 1. So we got the new phones just in time. We're going to get together there on Saturday and dump those old phones into that Dumpster." But it didn't take resident Elaine Edwards long to find out that not all calls were fun. "It wasn't 15 minutes after that phone was in before a telemarketer called me," Edwards said. "But that wasn't really a problem. I just told him I wasn't interested and hung up." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 LOL @ the last line of the article. Why am I not surprised? It would also seem to say the phone company is selling our numbers as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 They should never be allowed to use the Do Not Call list, not for the first year. That way, they'll go back to the way things were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Gleason Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Man, I'd love to live in a town like that!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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