Monday, June 05, 2000
Some counties still lack 911
State, federal funds may be used to get service
By
The Associated Press
CARROLLTON, Ohio — When someone in Carroll County in eastern Ohio calls 911, a phone rings 100 miles away in Erie, Pa. Calls from Washington County in extreme southeastern Ohio are answered 90 miles away in Columbus.
Washington and Carroll are among nine of Ohio's 88 counties that the state is trying to help establish their own 911 service to eliminate any delay in getting help.
The Governor's Office of Appalachia is working with county officials to provide 911 services using state and federal money so those counties won't have to reroute their calls into other counties' 911 centers. Currently, dispatchers must call back to the sheriff where the call came from to get emergency services to the scene.
Officials in Carroll, Harrison, Meigs and Noble counties plan to establish 911 service this year. That would leave Columbiana, Monroe, Morgan, Vinton and Washington counties without emergency call centers, 13 years after they were introduced in the state.
Ohio legislators are considering a bill to implement 911 service for cell phones, but the state still has counties without the basic service, Joy Padgett, director of the Governor's Office of Appalachia, told The Columbus Dispatch for a Sunday story.
One hurdle is funding, said William Stanton, a consultant who has helped organize 911 service throughout the state.
Rural counties often can't afford the $70,000 to $200,000 needed to buy equipment. Operating the system is a continuing cost some cannot afford without tax increases.
Ms. Padgett said counties that don't have 911 might be missing out on economic development because company executives expect the service for their employees and their families.
More important, she said, is the issue of life and death. Emergency 911 service provides a street address to the dispatcher as soon as the call comes in.
“You've got that golden hour to get to a hospital and you don't want to use up 15 minutes on the phone getting to the right place,” she said.
She said she wants 911 service in every county by 2002.
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