Roxanne Tuesing asks Tucker County Commissioners to look into the phone situation near St. George. Tuesing said residents continue to be without phone service, and for some, that is their only way of communication because cell phones have no service.
By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – Tucker County Senior Center Executive Director Roxanne Tuesing asked Tucker County Commission members for help with an issue of concern.
“People in the St. George and Leadmine area have been experiencing extreme difficulties with their phone system,” Tuesing said. “They have been without more than they have been with. There are a lot of senior citizens who live in that area and when they called on Monday, they let them report the outage for some of the seniors. When service went out again Tuesday, the company would not let anybody report the outage except those who called.”
Tuesing said she was told the Commission has more pull than anyone to get Frontier to do something about this issue.
“(Phone service) comes on for a while and people don’t know their phones are or are not working,” she said. “St. George Clinic was completely without phone all Monday morning and that is their busiest time for people who have had medical emergencies all weekend.”
Tuesing said she has written letters to the local Delegates and Senators asking them to approach Frontier to see if something can be done to get the much needed repairs that keep getting pushed to the back burner in Tucker County.
Commissioner Diane Hinkle said the problem is not only in Tucker County.
“I spoke with Peggy Hawse this morning,” she said. “Grant County Commission hosted a public meeting. It was a pretty heated meeting. Some of their residents have been out for as long as two weeks. It’s totally unacceptable.”
Hinkle said it is one thing to be without cell service once in a while, but to be without a land line is a matter of safety.
“We have many senior citizens who live at the top of Leadmine all the way back to St. George and up through Sugarlands that have no other way of getting 911 help. They don’t have cell service and they don’t have internet service. The people who have this outage reported it through their internet.”
Tuesing said some of the folks are in their 80s and 90s and they do not have cell phones or computers. She said folks had the same issue of no phone service a couple weeks ago as well.
Commission members agreed to make phone calls and send letters to help get the situation solved.
Tucker County Commission also agreed to send a letter of support to place a bike lane on the road from Thomas to Davis as the road is widened.
Tucker County Commission Administrator Joel Goughnour said the next grant for updates of the Tucker County Courthouse will be for fire suppression equipment in the tower of the building. He said the last grant would finish the outside of the courthouse and they were moving into the building and fire suppression is needed and is a safety concern.
The next Tucker County Commission meeting is slated for 9 a.m. Oct. 12 in the Tucker County Courthouse Courtroom.
