Rose Valley : Company to Remove Last 2 Telephones

Pacific Bell officials said Monday that they will remove the last two public telephones from outside the closed Rose Valley Work Camp, disconnecting the only phones in the isolated mountain community of Rose Valley.

The telephone company will remove the phones from their site on California 33 on Nov. 30, Pacific Bell officials said.

They are the only phones on a 25-mile stretch of the highway in Rose Valley, which has about five families who live without electricity, running water, television or radio reception.

The phones are powered by a U. S. Forest Service generator on a farm across the highway.

But Pacific Bell officials said they are concerned that the generator is unreliable, which could cause problems with the phones and lead to high repair expenses.

Pacific Bell took out 10 public telephones and disconnected all of the business telephone lines at Rose Valley Work Camp when the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department closed the camp in September.

Some Rose Valley residents and officials from the Forest Service, which owns the campsite and is seeking another tenant, had said they wanted to keep the last two public phones in place.

None of the 20 telephone companies operating in California, including Pacific Bell, have sought regulatory approval to serve Rose Valley residents, Pacific Bell officials said.