Judge Calls for Telephone Service for Desert Residents

For nearly 30 years, residents of the rugged eastern Mojave Desert have fought to obtain something just about everybody else takes for granted--basic telephone service. On Friday, they moved a big step closer to their goal.

After a hearing in San Francisco, an administrative law judge for the state Public Utilities Commission concluded that the desert dwellers desperately need telephones and that a Fresno County company’s plan to provide the service appears economically viable.

Although winning the judge’s blessing was viewed as a significant hurdle, the Ponderosa Telephone Co.--like any utility seeking to introduce new service--must win formal approval from the full commission. The company also must obtain a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

“Every resident--for safety, comfort and the enjoyment of life--needs telephone service,” the judge, George Amaroli, said in an interview after the hearing. “But in the desert there’s also another element, and that is the traveling public. If you swerve to avoid a . . . sheep and roll your car, you expect there will be a telephone nearby. The need out there is urgent.”

Ponderosa proposes to provide telephones for up to 200 people scattered across a 1,000-square-mile area between Interstate 15 and California 40 and east of the town of Kelso. Other utilities have declined to serve the remote region, citing the high cost of installing conventional equipment for such a small number of customers.

Ponderosa, however, says it can hook its subscribers up with Pacific Bell for only $17.85 a month. The secret is a relatively new technology that, much like a radio or television system, sends communications via transmission towers on local mountaintops. Manufactured by International Mobile Machines Corp. of Philadelphia, the technology is being used in an isolated portion of Lassen County.

John C. Brown, a leader in the desert’s fight for telephones, said he was “overjoyed, just super excited” when he learned of Amaroli’s decision.

“This is extremely important,” said Brown, who divides his time between a home in Sunland and a 240-acre ranch in the eastern Mojave. “It’s not only a matter of convenience for us. Now, when someone gets in an accident and comes to our door in the middle of the night we can help them instead of sending them on a wild-goose chase to find the nearest public phone.”

Asked how he would inform his desert neighbors of the good news, Brown said, “I’ll be sending off letters tonight. They should get word by Monday.”

Maurice Crommie, a regulatory specialist with the PUC, said the new technology will benefit other California communities that do not have telephone service because of their remoteness and sparse populations.

“They’re part of the U.S. too, so they deserve it,” he said.

The Ponderosa system will end years of anxiety and inconvenience for residents of the eastern Mojave, who now must drive for up to 40 miles across bumpy dirt roads to a pay telephone along the interstate--a phone they frequently find out of order when they get there.

“We all have frightening stories about waiting and worrying about someone who’s overdue,” Brown said. “I’ve sat on my porch at 2 a.m. and looked out over the valley, hoping to see a pair of headlights coming across. Now there will be an end to that. This is really a godsend.”

Unless he receives significant protests during the next month, Amaroli will write an order clearing the way for Ponderosa next month. Assuming the commission adopts it, a move Crommie considers all but assured, Ponderosa could begin installing equipment by the end of 1991.