A ‘Talkline’ Twosome : Love Blossoms for Couple Behind the Anonymity of New Telephone Service

Aphone company slogan that urges callers to “reach out and touch someone” was really taken to heart by Daniel Karnes and Velesta Hawkins.

The couple, both of Fullerton, owe their engagement to Pacific Bell. The pair met while talking on the company’s “Talkline” service, a 15-person party line that gives people a chance to talk, flirt and--in at least one case--find a mate.

The experimental service, which has been in effect since Dec. 1 for residents in Fullerton, Anaheim and Garden Grove, is described by company spokesman Steve Gould as “an electronic singles bar,” a chance for lonely adults and teen-agers to meet.

For Karnes, 29, and Hawkins, 27, it was a perfect match.

“We hit it off right away,” Karnes said. “What I told her about myself appealed to her, and what she told about herself appealed to me. She likes camping and fishing--the things I like. She’s into wine tasting, too, which I also enjoy.”

The telephone company charges Talkline users, of course. During evenings before 11 p.m., it costs 20 cents for the first minute and 12 cents for every minute thereafter. Karnes and Hawkins together spent $400 in two months, but both said it was worth every cent.

“It’s great,” he said. “I’m really glad I met her.”

She was equally ecstatic. “I never dreamed I’d meet someone like him,” she said.

The marriage is set for Nov. 22, Karnes’ birthday.

Both said Talkline is much different from singles bars: no creeps with gold chains around their necks or cheap one-liners. “There are no false externals. Most people are real open,” Hawkins said.

“In singles bars, everybody tries to judge you by your looks or what kind of clothes you wear or what kind of car you drive,” she said. “On the phone, you get to know what’s behind the clothes, what’s behind the wheel.”

The communication is usually anonymous. Like cross-country truckers armed with CB radios, Talkline callers use their own “handles.” Hawkins used the initial “V”; Karnes went by “IBM,” since he works as a computer programmer. Both said the anonymity worked in their favor.

“You’re more open,” Hawkins said. “The anonymity protects you. If you don’t like someone you can say ‘Hey, I don’t want to meet you’ and hang up.”

But Karnes, who said he’s “basically shy,” wasn’t looking for a date when he first called Talkline.

“It was the furthest thing from my mind,” he said. “I had this telephone company flyer that I found, and I just called out of curiosity.”

But Karnes said Hawkins, who works as an ambulance driver 60 to 70 hours a week, fascinated him. And the more he talked to her, the more he liked her, he said.

According to Gould, the spokesman for Pacific Bell, Karnes and Hawkins are the first to be married as a result of the Talkline experiment in Orange County.

Gould said the service has “really caught on,” but said there have been some complaints, mostly from parents who disapprove of their children using the service.

The service, available to 173,000 people in Orange County, is scheduled to continue until June, but it may be extended indefinitely if it continues to be a success, Gould said.