20040922Vol I Oral Argument.pdf

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QWEST CORPORATION
BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILIT ~itsr~~S~~25
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Slg~R - T - 04 - 2CITIZENS OF SOLDIERS MEADOW
COMPLAINANTS /
vs.
ORAL ARGUMENT
RESPONDENT.
HEARING BEFORE
COMMISSIONER PAUL KJELLANDER (Presiding)
COMMISSIONER MARSHA H. SMITH
COMMISSIONER DENNIS S. HANSEN
PL1.\CE :Commission Hearing Room
472 West Washington Street
Boise / Idaho
DATE:September 13/ 2004
VOLUME I - Pages 1 - 23
P08T OFFICE BOX 578
BOl8E, IDAHO 83701
208-336-9208
COURT REPORTING
cfmcf1f tk MWM'((,fIlf c1f.tu 1978
For the Staf f :WELDON STUTZMAN , Esq.
Deputy Attorney General
472 West WashingtonBoise, Idaho 83702
For Qwest:ADAM L. SHERR , Esq.
Qwe s
1600 Seventh Avenue , Room 3206Seattle, Washington 98191
- and-
STOEL RIVES
by CURTIS D. McKENZIE , Esq.
101 South Capitol Boulevard,
Suite 1900Boise, Idaho 83702 - 5958
For Soldiers Meadow:VIVIAN MARAS (Pro Se)
Post Office Box 280
25314 Soldiers Meadow Road
Winchester , Idaho 83555
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O. BOX 578 , BOISE , ID
AP PEARANCE S
83701
BOISE, IDAHO, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2004, 3: 00
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay, good afternoon.
We'll call this hearing to order in Case No. GNR-T- 04 -2 .It'
the Notice of Oral Argument and Motion to Dismiss , and it's in
reference to Citizens of Soldiers Meadow area , the
Complainants, versus Qwest Corporation , Respondent.The sole
purpose of today' s hearing is for an Oral Argument.
My name is Paul Kj ellander.I'll be the chairman
of today' s proceedings.To my right is Commissioner Dennis
Hansen.To my left is Commissioner Marsha Smi th.
The order of events today will be that Qwest will
present its argument first , and then we'll allow the residents
of Soldiers Meadow to have an opportuni ty to respond.
And why don't we begin with the appearances of
the parties, and we'll begin with Qwest.
Thank you , Commissioners.MR . SHERR:Good
afternoon.This is Adam Sherr , spelled S-, with Qwest.
Are the folks on the phone able to hear me?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:If your mike's on.
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Barely.It's not a very
loud --
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Move a it tIe closer.
Let's try it agaln.
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, let me try that again.MR . SHERR:This is
Adam Sherr , spelled S-R-R , of Qwest.
With me at counsel table is Curtis McKenzie with
the law firm of Stoel Rives.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Was that better?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes, it is.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Okay, good.
Let's move now to the Staff representing the
Public Utilities Commission.
MR. STUTZMAN Thank you, Mr. Cha i rman .While
technically not a party in the case, Staff is present today.
My name is Weldon Stut zman.m a Deputy At torney General.
And I'm joined today by Mr. Doug Cooley, who's been involved
somewhat in the case.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.And if we
could move now to the citizens of Soldiers Meadow, and if we
could identify the individuals who will be speaking on that
end?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes.My name is Vivian Maras,
A- S, and I will be speaking as the representative of the
Soldiers Meadow residents.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Okay.Thank you.
MR. VLADO MARAS:My name is VI a do Maras,
O M-S, and I also have a few things to say.
MR. CHRI S CAVANAUGH:My name is Chris Cavanaugh
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R- 1- S C-A- V -N -A- U -I have property at Soldiers
Meadow.
MS. CONNI E CAVANAUGH:m Chr is's wi fe
Connie Cavanaugh.
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:And also in attendance here
Representative Mike Naccarato , and from the Lewiston Tribune
Andrea Heisinger.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Okay.Thank you.
All right.We're ready to begin and we will
begin with Qwest Corporation , and if you'd like to go ahead and
proceed wi th the Oral Argument.
MR . SHERR:I will.Thank you.Again
Adam Sherr on behal f of Qwest.
I appreciate the opportunity to address the
Commission today regarding Qwest' s Motion to Dismiss.I will
endeavor to be very brief , as the Commissioners have already
read Qwest' s Motion and Memorandum that we filed in this case
in early August.Also, I note that the Notice that the
Commission sent out encouraged the parties to focus on
clarifying the issues, and so I will do my best to be brief.
Simply put , what's at issue in this case is the
Complainants demand that Qwest extend service to Soldiers
Meadow for free , despi te that Soldiers Meadow is not wi thin
Qwest 's service terri tory, despi te the tremendous cost that
would be involved , and despite the provisions of Qwest' s
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tariff.
Qwest 's Motion to Dismiss should be granted.The
Complainants who have responded to the Motion to Dismiss have
not raised any factual or legal bases for denying the Motion.
As a matter of law , as a matter of fact , and a matter of
policy, dismissal is the appropriate action at this time.
Starting first wi th the law , this case was
brought by the Complainants , specifically ci ting Idaho Code
Section 61-508.That Section provides that Utilities can be
compelled to build facilities only if it's reasonable to do so.
The Supreme Court of the State has clarified that under that
Section , it is, per se , unreasonable to order a Utility to
extend service if it's outside the Company's service territory.
So the Supreme Court has already spoken to that.It's also
unreasonable if the Utility would be unable to recover costs
said the Supreme Court.And I'm referring to , there, the
Murray Decision that's ci ted in Qwest' s Motion.
Also, Qwest' s tariff provides that Qwest only
offer service wi thin its service terri tory.So as a matter of
law , the Motion to Dismiss is appropriate because Soldiers
Meadow is, uncontroverted, is outside of Qwest' s service
terri tory.
As a matter of fact, even if the Commission
not inclined to reach the question of whether it can compel
Qwest to serve outside the service territory, as a matter of
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fact , dismissal is still appropriate because the facts
presented so far show that service still won't reach Soldiers
Meadow because it would be cost prohibi ti ve for Qwest to
install service and for the residents of Soldiers Meadow to pay
for the line extension.
As the Commission well knows , Staff conducted a
survey, sent out 50 surveys to individuals in Soldiers Meadow
in the Soldiers Meadow area.Twenty-two, is my understanding,
responded , and I'm basing this on the July 26 Memorandum of
Mr. Cooley.Of the 22 , only 19 wanted service from Qwest.
None were willing to pay more than a thousand dollars for the
servlce, six were willing to pay no more than $200 , and seven
were not wi 11 ing to pay anything.
Last year at the request , I believe , of Staff
Qwest put together a very rough estimate , which we believe
probably greatly understated, but a rough estimate of how much
it would cost, and the cost to serve was
- -
the approximated
cost to serve to build to reach Soldiers Meadow was $180,000.
Again , that is a very rough estimate.Qwest is relying on that
for purposes of this Motion , but if this case were to go to
hearing, Qwest believes that it would be, after a detailed
engineering analysis was done , that it would be probably far
more than $180,000.
In the Response to
- -
on July 29 , the folks in
Soldiers Meadow provided a Response to Mr. Cooley's Memorandum
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regarding the survey, and they indicated there that it wasn'
simply 19 potential customers but 30 potential customers.
don't know whether
- -
I don't know whether that number has been
confirmed by survey responses , but even assuming 30 customers
and assuming $180,000 - - again, we believe that number
probably low -- it's still $6 000 per location.Even if the
Commission believed it could force Qwest to serve under
- -
serve folks in Soldiers Meadow , under Qwest' s line extension
tariff each customer would have to pay far more than a thousand
dollars that a few
- -
six --said they would be willing to pay.
Finally, I feel compelled to emphasize that the
$180 000 is very low and that the survey results were also
interesting in that they showed 21 of the 22 respondents have
cellular service in Soldiers Meadow.
And so I told you at the beginning that I would
focus on the facts , on the law , and on policy, and as to the
matters of policy, Qwest believes that it is not in the public
interest to compel a Utility to change its boundaries.
Utilities design their network based on fixed boundaries.
There is more capacity installed near the central office and
tapers off as you reach the boundary of the exchange.Were
to place too many facilities at the end of the boundary near
the boundaries of the exchange, such would be inefficient and
would be a waste of resources.If Qwest were compelled to
if Qwest were compelled to serve, to extend the service to
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Soldiers Meadow, that great cost which the residents of
Soldiers Meadow have indicated they are not willing to pay
would likely siphon finite construction dollars from Qwest' s
infrastructure proj ects.So as a matter of policy, Qwest
believes that, again, that dismissal is appropriate.
Let me conclude by saying that Qwest submits that
the Statute at issue in this case, Idaho Code 61-508, does not
require Qwest to extend service for free to Soldiers Meadow.
Such a resul t would be unreasonable.It would be highly
prejudicial to Qwest.Qwest's Motion to Dismiss should be
granted.
And I would be happy to answer any of your
questions.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
Are there any questions from members of the
Commi s s ion?
No questions.Okay, thank you very much.
And let's move forward now with the citizens of
Soldiers Meadow, and , Vivian , if you would like to go?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:If you could, just for
the record, before you speak , just again state your name so
that we're clear as far as the transcript record is concerned.
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes.
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
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MS. VIVIAN MARAS:My name is Vivian Maras,
I would like to thank the Commission for the
opportunity to speak directly to them.I have to ask for your
indulgence in listening to us, as the residents of the Soldiers
Meadow area are ordinary citizens living in the North Central
part of Idaho, and we do not have legal counsel to speak on our
behal f
We respectfully ask the Commission to rej ect
Qwest 's Motion to Dismiss.We are here to present argument on
Qwest 's Motion to Dismiss.
We pet it ioned for serVlce in 2001 wi th the
residents of Forest, Idaho.My conversations with Staff
Doug Cooley -- began in late 1999 or early 2000 when U S WEST
waS the carrler.
I had contacted U S WEST directly for serVlce
just to our home and was gl ven an estimate.The U S WEST
engineer suggested I contact the PUC to see if there was any
financial relief available.
Mr. Cooley and I had numerous discussions, and he
contacted me to advise me of the Petition being circulated in
Forest, as I was temporarily in Seattle and not aware of this
Petition for service.
Over the period from 2001 when the Petition was
submitted until the installation was made to Forest , Mr. Cooley
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and I spoke many times.He assured me repeatedly that the
Petition was being treated in its entirety:All of you, or
none 0 f you.
I asked Mr. Cooley at least twice if we should
request a publ ic hearing on behal f of the Soldiers Meadow
residents and was told both times it was not necessary.The
consideration by the PUC was going to be all of you or none of
you.
This leads us to our situation today.
Qwest has made a Motion to dismiss the Soldiers
Meadow Request, because by their own statements, quote, Qwest
eventually agreed with Staff to extend facilities in order to
avoid litigation over an ambiguity concerning its former line
extension tariff.End quote.
Qwest was allowed by the PUC to install , quote,
facilities to -- sufficient to -- meet the customer needs of
the - - that sparsely-populated remote area , end quote, which is
only Forest.
We at Soldiers Meadow were asking for service at
the same time.But again, by their own statements, Qwest
states that the, quote, boundaries have been in place since
prior to 1913, end quote, and Soldiers Meadow is outside that
boundary.
We ask the Commission's consideration that this
is the 21st century.Boundaries can be changed.Our Petition
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for service was one of the issues being discussed, numerous
accords were being reached, and back-room deals were being
made.The residents of Soldiers Meadow were the losers in all
of this manipulating.
We ask the Commission's consideration on why
Qwest was allowed to change their tariff, which now provides
for only a $1 600 credit instead of the one-half -mile credit
which was in place for the expansion to serve Forest.Why
didn't the PUC reach an accord with Qwest that to allow the
tariff change, Qwest would have to serve Soldiers Meadow.
Qwest states , quote:Certainly Qwest would have
opposed the boundary change then as it does now, and Qwest
would not have agreed with the Staff to serve the customers of
Forest had the agreement also involved an additional four miles
of facilities to reach Soldiers Meadow.End quote.
Wi thout legal counsel to act on our behal f , we
are unable to pursue a discovery process and ask what costs
Qwest incurred in bringing service to Forest and how many
connections were made.We were told in 2003 that the cost s
come to Soldiers Meadow was approximately $70,000.Because
Qwest was allowed by the PUC to bring only the facilities to
serve Forest, the Soldiers Meadow residents are being asked to
pay the additional $110 000, plus upgrade to the inadequate
system.
How did thi s happen?Why was Qwest allowed to
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bring limited service?A guaranteeAnother back-room deal?
that they would never have to serve Forest
- -
serve Soldiers
Meadow?To avoid litigation.
Should the residents of Soldiers Meadow consider
a class action lawsuit?The PUC has the power to exerc i se that
power and has a duty to establish a service area for the
Soldiers Meadow area.
Qwest is wrong in their Motion to Dismiss our
Complaint.Under Sect ion 62 - 610 (A) of the I daho Code, the
Telecommunications Act of 1988 established the fund so all
consumers of the state of Idaho can have telephone service.
The PUC has had that fund for 16 years.The Soldiers Meadow
residents have asked for service since 2001 with the residents
of Forest.
In conclusion , the remedy that the Commission can
offer is:
First, to rej ect Qwest' s Motion to Dismiss.
Second, acknowledge that the PUC Staff reached an
unwise accord with Qwest at the exclusion of the Soldiers
Meadow residents.
Third, pursue establishing a service area for
land line communications in Soldiers Meadow.
And, fourth , order service to Soldiers Meadow by
Qwest or another carrier.
Thank you.
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COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.Let I S see.
I believe you mentioned you had several others who wanted to
provide a statement to the Commission during this Oral
I f we could have the next one come up to theArgumen t .
telephone and state their name?
MR. CHR IS CAVANAUGH:This is Chris Cavanaugh
A- V -N -A- U -We concur wi th the statement just read to
the Commissioners.
A short statement is that I feel that this Motion
to Dismiss amounts to cutting off our relationship with the
We understand there's no service district.We feel thatPUC.
needs to be established, and then go from there.
That's all I have to say.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you for your
statement , Mr. Cavanaugh.
And I bel ieve we have several others.If we
could have the next commenter come to the telephone and also
state their name for the record?
MR. VLADO MARAS:My name is Vlado Maras,
O M-S, and I regret we have to meet for this kind
of conference.
As most everybody concerned is aware , we have
petitioned for telephone service since 2001.The PUC and the
Qwest have, in my opinion , evoked the trade decisions of
Soldiers Meadow and they ve grossly let them down.If we were
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pursued in good fai th , we would not have this mess.
I believe the PUC has an obligation and duty to
ensure serVlce to all the residents of Idaho and not allow for
companies such as Qwest to exclude any citizens from utilities
that are necessary.It's bad for Idaho for any corporation to
come here and extort their inflated costs of doing business
from the consumer.
Just as an example, I have participated in
construction all of my working life and I have participated
with several oil refineries, and I have never seen customers
paying the cost of the refinery with the customer at the gas
pump.
Makes me wonder if this is, of course, their
policy for a corporation move to Idaho just to collect a profit
wi thout doing any improvement or make any new investments.The
first 30 or so customers of the company have to pay the cost of
the company doing business?If so , this practice seems very
bad for Idaho.
And, further , how can the PUC allow the change in
Qwest tariffs from half a mile credit to at this time the same
half mile to cost tens of thousands of dollars?How can the
PUC allow the change to take place knowing that citizens of
Soldiers Meadow were petitioning for telephone service and were
along wi th the members and residents of Forest?
This is one area has been referred to by the
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Qwest and everybody.It can be easier reached and faster from
Lewiston than it takes most days to cross Boise.How are
private entities able to provide -- realize a profit without
getting an increase of several tens of thousand fold in their
cost of doing business?And if that I s not very clear , prior to
PUC allowing Qwest to change their tariff , the consumer cost
was zero dollars a half mile.Now the consumer cost is tens of
thousand dollars for the same half mile.This inflated cost
from only a pool of contractors?My question calls that.
And, further , we were included once and now are
golng to be dismissed.What is the duty of the PUC?Will they
allow this discriminatory action by Qwest to remain?The PUC
should use this one as an example so no utility provider in the
state of Idaho would even consider discriminating any Idaho
citizen.
Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.And I
bel ieve we may have another presenter.
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:No, that would be all.Thank
you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Is that it?Okay,
t hank you.
At this point are there any questions?And I
believe we may have a couple of questions.Commissioner Smi
and then Commissioner Hansen.
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COMMISSIONER SMITH:Thank you , Mr. Cha i rman .
m Marsha Smith, one of the Commissioners, and
my question is for Mrs. Maras and Mr. Cavanaugh , and it is how
many year-round residents are there in the Soldiers Meadow
area , do you know?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yeah , probably six or seven.
m not certain.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Okay.That's close enough.
And then I was curious also, cell phone service
was mentioned earlier.Do either of you have cell phone
service?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes, we do have cell phone
service but it is absolutely sporadic, and on a whole, you have
It is provided by Inland Cellular , and mostto say very poor.
of us, in order to use it, have to drive from our propert ies to
reach an area where the service is able to be received.
And I'd like to explain a little bit more on your
question about the year-round residents.Even the residents
who are having summer cabins or weekend places in Soldiers
Meadow, they would still be willing to pay for the monthly cost
of the phone.So our question is really what difference does
it make whether you live there year-round or whether you only
are there for the weekend or a vacation cabin?You're still
going to be paying your monthly service costs for your
telephone.
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COMMISSIONER SMITH:Okay.Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Commissioner Hansen.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:I believe Commissioner
Smi th asked the questions I was going to ask.Let me just see.
Oh, I believe I do have one other question:
As it's been brought out, it is very costly
bringing a service in there to Soldiers Meadow , and I was just
kind of curlOUS how much are the people of Soldiers Meadow
wi 11 ing to pay?I see it's in the record some are willing to
pay $200 and there were a few , I guess, a maximum of a
thousand , but I was just kind of curlOUS , let's say just for a
number , let's say it costs $100,000 to bring it in.How much
are the people there willing to pay?Would you have an idea?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:This is Vivian Maras.
wouldn t be able to speak for everyone, but my idea
basically in the form of a question and that is why is
necessary for us to incur any of that cost when in 2003, the
extension to Forest was provided under an old tariff where
those residents did not lncur any cost?So why are we be ing
discriminated against and treated differently, just because we
were outside of that boundary which is the County line , which
was established prior to 1913?I real i ze we may be sort of
hung up on this issue, but I feel we are justified in bringing
it up, because the entire conversation concerning our Petition
reiterated the fact that the Petition was going to be
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considered in its entirety:All of you or none of you.
As it turned out , Forest was wi thin an existing
servlce area which was established prior to 1913.My question
to the Commissioners was, since this is 2001 , couldn't we
change the boundaries.And we we It is the 21st century.
out there asking for service at the same time as the
peti tioners in Forest.
So those of us that are involved in this do have
a stumbling block on the cost, and I would have to say that
whatever was submitted on the questionnaire is probably what
the resident is willing to pay.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:So if I'm to come to a
consensus or
- -
come to a consensus here, do I understand
correctly then you're saying you don't think the residents
there should have to pay any extra cost whatsoever to bring the
telephone serVlce there?Is that right?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Whatever was used for the
Forest extension we feel is appropriate for us, and it's our
understanding - - as I said earlier , we have no way of knowing
what the cost was to Qwest to bring that service to Forest and
we have no way of knowing except talking individually to each
person and asking them what they paid, so we feel we can be
considered in the same realm as the extension to Forest.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Okay, one last question:
I thought I heard you say earlier you were in
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Seattle or something at one time.Are you year-round residents
there?
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes.Yes, we are year-round.
And I initially contacted U S WEST for phone
service when they were still the carrier.And my contact wi
the PUC began as a suggestion of the U S WEST engineer who
talked wi th about service just to our home.
COMMISSIONER HANSEN:Thank you.That's a 11 I
have.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you, Commissioner
Hansen.
Why don't we move now , Slnce Qwest brought the
Motion , Qwest is allowed for any closing comments it wants to
make.
MR . SHERR:Thank you, Commissioner.Several of
the points raised by the Complainants were addressed to Staff
or concerns regarding Staff that I can't really respond to.
don't know if Staff is to be given an opportuni ty to respond to
that, but there are only a few points that I'd like to respond
to from Qwest' s perspective.
I'd like to start off by saying I certainly hear
that the residents of Soldiers Meadow are frustrated , and Qwest
certainly understands that and has sympathy for that
frustration.However , it's Qwest' s posi tion that that
frustration is not a basis for denying Qwest I s Motion or
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rewri ting Idaho Statute or Idaho case law.It's not a basis
for compelling Qwest in these times of well-understood turmoil
In the industry, and in Qwest specifically, to expend hundreds
of thousands of dollars to extend service beyond its service
terri tory.So I do hear
- -
on a personal level , I do hear the
frustration and we recognize it, and I hope that nothing
said today too greatly dismisses that.I just wanted to make
that point.I wanted to have that opportuni ty to say that.
A couple times Mrs. - - Ms. Maras pointed out that
it's the 21st century and that the boundaries were set long,
long ago , and that because it's the 21st century, those
boundaries should change.I want to just very quickly tell the
Commission what I think it already knows , which is changing the
boundary is not as simple as drawing the line on the map.
obviously need to
- -
we:Qwest , or any Utility -- needs to
expend significant dollars to do that.Plant has to be
extended beyond the boundaries not only from the last point in
the boundary
- -
in this instance, Forest - - but it also has to
be reinforced back from the last point of the boundary back to
the central office.It would not have been reasonable for
Qwest to have many more facilities extended to Forest because
Forest was the end of the line.And so I just want to make
that point one more time that we're not simply talking about
redrawing the ine It I S a lot of money, and nothing that the
folks in Soldiers Meadow have said today or at any earlier
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point controverts the fact that they are unwilling to pay
anything.
And so that's where we are.Qwest , agaln , asks
that the Commission dismiss this Complaint.I would be happy
to respond to any questions you might have.Thank you.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:Thank you.
Are there any questions from members of the
Commi s s ion?
If not, at this point then I'd like to thank all
the participants who provided information to the Commission
today in the form of this Oral Argument, and would just like to
apprise all of those present that it's the Commission's intent
to deliberate on this matter privately now that we've heard the
Oral Argument and at tempt to raise --
Excuse me.Do you have a question , Commissioner
Smi th?
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Yes, Mr. Chairman.
apologize , I know it's out of order , but I had one more
question for the residents of the Soldiers Meadow if you would
allow me.
COMMISSIONER KJELLANDER:I would allow you , yes.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Ms. Maras and Mr. Cavanaugh
I guess what I was curious about is the development of the
Soldiers Meadow area and when your houses were constructed, and
whether you knew at that time there was phone service or wasn't
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phone servlce.
MS. VIVIAN MARAS:Yes, this is Vivian Maras.
Our home has been there 20 years.It was
originally constructed in the early ' 80s as a mountaintop
establishment called Andy Marvin's rest stop, which has qui te a
bi t of history here in North Central Idaho.And when we
purchased it in 1999, we were aware that there was not a phone
there.
MR . CHR I S CAVANAUGH:This is Chris Cavanaugh.
m presently in the middle of building my place, and my wife
and I' s intentions are to move up there.As soon as she
retires, we will be full-time residents.And, yes , I knew
there weren't phones at the time.
And, by the way, back to someone' s asking about
cell phones.ve had a fairly powerful bag cell phone for
since I started building up there and it appears the signals
have been getting steadily worse.I actually had pretty good
signal right at the construction site.Sometimes I'd have to
go to my gate.Very seldom I had to go clear to the top of the
ridge to make the call.But nQw , the signal is bouncing in and
out so bad that it's really hit and miss.
COMMISSIONER SMITH:Okay.Thank you very much.
Thank you , Mr. Cha i rman .
COMMI S S lONER KJELLANDER:Okay.Well , agaln
then , I think at this point then we're going to bring these
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
O. BOX 578 , BOISE , ID
ARGUMENT
83701
proceedings to a close and I want to thank all the
participants, and the Commission will begin its deliberation
and attempt to render a Decision as soon as possible.So we
are adj ourned .
(The hearing adj ourned at 3: 41 p. m. )
HEDRICK COURT REPORTING
O. BOX 578, BOISE , ID
ARGUMENT
83701
AUTHENT I CAT I ON
This is to certify that the foregoing is a
true and correct transcript to the best of my abili ty of the
proceedings held in the matter of Citizens of Soldiers Meadow
Area , Complainants, vs. Qwest Corporation , Respondent , Case No.
GNR-04-, commencing on Monday, September 13, 2004 , at the
Commission Hearing Room , 472 West Washington , Boise, Idaho, and
the original thereof for the file of the Commission.
Ur
.,
WENDY J. MUR otar Public
in and for t State of Idaho
residing at Meridian , Idaho.
My Commission expires 2 -2008.
Idaho CSR No. 475
HEDRI CK COURT REPORTING
O. BOX 578, BOISE , ID
AUTHENTICATION
83701