Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mit-eddie!killer!vector!nobody From: judy@moray.UUCP (Judy Scheltema) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Houston vs SW Bell Message-ID: <616@vector.UUCP> Date: 27 Oct 88 15:37:54 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 243 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp Below are letters/messages from Opus/FidoNet --------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Westbrook Merrilyn Vaughan You're invited 13 Oct 88 13:07:00 Merrilyn, This is an invitation for you, your net, and ANY interested sysops in your area to attend the November 10th meeting of the Central Texas Sysops Assn. in Austin, TX. The topic of the evening will be the current "re-interpretation" of phone billing rates taking place in Houston and soon to be other locations served(?) by South Western Bell. Representative(s) of SW Bell will be the guest speakers and accept questions from the floor. Other organizations which are receiving invitations include: the Public Utilities Commission, the Austin Zoning Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Federal Communications Commission, and various elected representatives in State and Federal government. Please forward a copy of this message to each node in your net with a request that they in turn pass on the information to any non-net boards which they frequent. Location: Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center Auditorium 4800 N. Lamar Austin, TX Date: November 10, 1988 Time: 7:30pm - ??? As a strong showing of BBS operators may influence the outcome of the SW Bell actions, attendance by sysops from your area is to our mutual benefit. I, for one, resent SW Bell's reclassification of ANY hobby BBS to business class phone rates. Particularly in the absence of public hearings and approval by the PUC. Looking forward to seeing you on Nov. 10th, Jim Westbrook - President, Central Texas Sysop Assn. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- David Drexler June Parchman Re: swbell.arc 13 Oct 88 12:44:10 Hello, June! I am already in the process of distributing the info that Justin sent around, to all the local people in net 147, and there is a fair amount of interest. I called Bob Rudolph (IFNA Prez) yesterday and requested that he distribute a netwide alert via Dodell (to all RCs to all NCs to all leaf nodes) about this to raise the net public's conciousness in case any more baby bells want to try something foolish. The Oklahoma City affair is the one that John Summers was referring to, and Mark Grennan (147/0 and former R19C) was involved in that; Mark says that all they did was bombard the Ok PUC which finally turned the telco around. The individual who sued/(was sued- not sure which it was, before my time) is Robert Braver of Norman, who may be listed in the phone book, unsure. He runs a mini-CompuServe-type operation called Microlink and is a blind programmer; he is one who can well appreciate the value of telecom. (Another individual who helped out in that was Steve Blasingame, who currently lives in Chicago and is a manager for AT&T. Steve has strong feelings about SWB and might be a resource. He can be reached via Usenet at att!gorgo!bsteve) I'm sure that helped a little. On that subject, I gave a talk to the South Community Hospital PC Users Group here a few months back on the subject of Talking Dog, a FidoNet-compat emailer under development that works with a talker card for the blind. The presentation was taped, and that tape is available to anyone who wants it. In tooting old Fido's horn this way, we show the world what wonderful things are being accomplished with "bulletin boards" that are well beyond the mere fun and games of downloading files. The talk was not specifically about bbs's, but the connection is quite clear. It may also be worth noting that I'm working with some other people to try to eventually set up a state-wide point net for the deaf, with the intention of replacing or augmenting TDD service. This one is kind of on the back burner at the moment, as we are getting no cooperation out of a key individual, the Director of Deaf Services at the state Dept of Human Services. (He says- and I quote- "Deaf people are too ignorant to use computers." Bletch! Ignorance everywhere!) There's also the KIDS echo, which you may already be aware of, as it was started by one of your fellow Texans, Paul Witherspoon. It connects children together around the world. And the international PENPALS echo, along the same lines, for adults. Or VIETNAM_VETS which is being used for vets to find their war buddies all over the country, or SCIENCE, or ABLED for the handicapped, or... Etc. Real public services provided by our "toy" bbs network that are offered nowhere else. My point is that bbs'ing is far, far more than just "hobbiest fun", and this is a point that needs to be made much more public than it is. It's about time we laid to rest the misdefinition of "hacker" that has been perpetuated by the popular media. Perhaps you've noticed that I have very strong feelings about this subject! I don't mean to use your plight as an opportunity to stand on my soapbox. I do hope that this kind of info will energize at least a small segment of the general public into opposing the Bell foolishness, and keeping it down forever. Loring Chien (I think it was) made the point in that letter to the Houstin Post that bbs's provide a very important forum for freedom of speech. Through FidoNet, they also provide a great deal more than that, in ways that affect the non-bbs-using public in a demonstrably valuable way. One other notable is that the Sept 88 issue of the Smithsonian magazine devoted a feature article to bulletin boards. The article is quite interesting and informative, and goes a long way towards dispelling the "hacker" image of bbs's. You might take a look at that one in your local library. I still want to talk to you, to get the latest updates on where you currently stand, and to fill in any gaps in my knowledge. I know I'm a long ways away and in another state, but I know darn good and well that if SWB topples the Houston bbs society, the rest of Texas will go, and they'll be knocking on Oklahoma's door next. We defeated them once, but there is nothing to keep them from trying to reactivate the issue here. So we all have a vested interest in this, and you better believe that some of us here are mobilized and ready to do battle! I hope to be able to come to Michael's party in Austin. Unclear yet whether I can, but I'm working on it. Looking forward to talking to you! --david R19 IFNA Representative IFNA Director of Public Affairs Founder of Amateur BOC Bashers of America :-) --------------I do not know what I can do to help, but am willing to do whatever you feel might be useful - FidoNews articles, well placed phone calls, letters, or just saying "I'm in your corner, folks". I do not have legal background (wish I did) but understand that a similar move was fought off in Oklahoma, and that David Drexler and Mark Grennan could have the particulars. IFNA is concerned, or anyhow I can tell you for sure that its president is concerned - he doesn't have a large budget to pay for the hobby, and sure cannot afford business rates for what is being paid out of beer money (I haven't had a beer in two years....). How can we assist, who can we yell at, what would you have us to do? I will be bringing the issue to the attention of the board, and asking the regional (district) reps to have their folks make noises in appropriate places. I am concerned, for I can foresee similar things happening here (I have 3 lines at home and need a fourth [two children over 10 and under 20....] since I have one line that has only a modem on it and another that routes mail at night but is used for voice during the day - I cannot afford to have these lines charged at business rates. I also have the READTHIS Archive, and will be circulating it to the nodes in net 261 (of which I am NC) as well as over in AlterNet via Net 521 (of which I am NC). I will get it as widely distributed as I can through the efforts of anyone that I can coerce into passing it along. Please let me know how IFNA can help, or how I can help. If you should want to reach me voice, the following numbers will reach me at the listed hours: (301) 597-9040 Work 0830-1700 EST) (301) 526-7229 Home (0630-0730 EST, 1800-2300 EST) my phone (301) 833-8661 Home (0630-0730 EST, 1800-2300 EST) family phone Bob Rudolph President, IFNA FidoNet 261/0, 261/628, 261/900, 261/998, 261/999 AlterNet 521/0, 521/1 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Area 76 [167] 177 < Highest read: 177 From: Susan King 106/504 To: Merrilyn Vaughn 106/889 Msg #167, 14 Oct 88 00:04:36 Subject: SWBELL Issue Merrilyn: Some other ideas here! My best friend is Marvin Zindler's producer...as I type this message I am on the phone with her explaining the situation...her comment is someone needs to challenge this. Please get a letter to her...via courier if time is of the essence: Lori Reingold Action 13 Producer 3310 Bissonnet She will look at it and see if Marvin wants to take it on or get it to the assignments editor. Another thought...if you will, is to contact Tom Kennedy at the Houston Post...tell him Ms. Kingdom told you to call...or I can place a call direct. I also have contacts at the Chronicle...like the City Desk Editor...send copy of information to Vickie Ellis...use my name there as well. Another suggestion is to send something to Sue Davis, Vince Ryan's offfice. Sue was with KTRH until she ran Vince's campaign for Councilman District C. Oh yes, Lana Hughes, KTRH radio...morning drive time...all "friends" at least at this time. Maybe we can ward this off at the head! I got the contacts! ---Susan --- * Origin: Kingdom Productions BBS * Houston, TX * (713)630-0553 (Opus 1:106/270) --------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Judy Scheltema | uunet!nuchat!moray!judy Houston, Texas | bellcore!texbell!moray!judy