Newspapers / West Craven Highlights (Vanceboro, … / Oct. 18, 1984, edition 1 / Page 14
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Page 14, West Craven Highlights, October 18, 1934 The New Long-Distance Competitors You’ve probably seen the television ads with companies like GTE Sprint and MCI telling you that you can save money on iong-distance calls by subscribing to their service. These "new competitors” are part of the growing choice consumers now have in telephone services and equipment. In the past, almost all long distance service was provided by AT&T, its subsidiary local telephone companies and jointly by many hundreds of “Independent" telephone companies such as Carolina Telephone. Today, AT&T is still the largest long-distance com pany, but deregulation in the telephone industry has opened the doors for competition. More than 400 long-distance companies are now actively vying for shares of the market once totally controlled by AT&T. At present, you may have service from only one long-distance company, but availability is spreading. In North Carolina, comp anies can only compete to provide long-distance service between North Carolina and other states, which is called interstate service. However, the state’s General Assembly has passed legislation which would allow the N.C. Utilities Commission to permit in-state, or intrastate long-distance competition, if that competi tion is in the consumers’ best interest. Basically, there are two types of competing long distance firms—common carriers and resellers. Common carriers include AT&T as well as new companies like MCI and GTE Sprint. Common carriers build their own long-distance facilities to transmit telephone calls and data. These carriers generaliy must tie in with the locai telephone company to gain access to their customers, and are required to pay locai telephone companies access charges for use of their faciiities. Reseliers, on the other hand, lease both AT&T’s and other carriers’ services in buik and resell their use to customers. Your local phone company also may have long-distance facilities and carry long distance traffic within its operating area. If so, it is called an exchange or connecting carrrier. In time, you will most likely have to choose which long distance carrier you want to serve you as your primary long-distance carrier. How should you choose between long-distance carriers? The primary appeal of competitors is their pitch to save you money. Whether or not you will personally benefit by using a different carrier depends on where you live, where you call, and how often you make long-distance calls. Factors you should consider in making your decision include price, features and convenience of each carrier. Compare the rates between carriers for the various types of calls you make. Are there start up fees or minimum monthly charges? Are discount rates available for calling during certain hours? Does the carrier serve all the places you normally call ? Is the transmission quality satis factory? The various long-distance carriers will be glad to answer your questions. Most have toll- free numbers for information. The choice will be yours. Make it on the basis of your needs. YMCA Registration The New Bern-Craven County YMCA will be conducting registration for its next 6-weeks of programs from October 8-October 19, 1984. Programs will operate from October 22 - November 30. Classes for youths, such as. Mother’s Morning Out, Gymnastics (3-14 yrs.), Jazzercise, Computer training, After-School Program, and Break-Dancing instruction are some of the programs to be offered. Programs for adults, such as CAM II Fitness Classes, utilizing the YMCA’s new weight training machines, Jazzercise, Computer training and 3-on-3 basketbail are just some of the classes offered during this 6-week session. For any additional informa tion call the YMCA at 638-8799. Bicycle Safety Campaign Area News Bit The Craven County Tourism Development Authority will meet in Special Session on Wednesday, October 31, 1984 at 12:00 Noon in the Trent Room of the Holiday Inn in New Bern. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss a request for funding from the New Bern/Craven County' Chamber of Commerce and to discuss the proposed by-laws. Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. and the North Carolina Bicycie Committee have announced the appointment of a 20- member Board of Directors for an educational campaign aimed at reducing the number of bicycie accidents around the state. In making the board appointments. Governor Hunt stated, “Our children are our future. With the help of this Board of Directors, more of our children will live to see that future." Judi Wallace, chairperson of the bicycle committee, explained that bicyclists operating on North Carolina’s streets and highways have essentially the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle operators. "As more and more North Carolinians, plus an increasing number of out-of-town state tourists have taken to bicycling, we have seen a steady rise in the number of conflicts between bicyclists and motor vehicles.” Members of the campaign’s Board of Directors will represent all sections of the state and various companies and organizations concerned with the bicycle safety problems statewide. These board membres, along with the bicycle committee, are to work with communities throughout the state as they plan ways to resolve safety problems in their areas. "The board of directors has been selected to act as a board-based suport group for the committee. Community involvment is essential to the success of this campaign," Ms. Wailace stated. The committee’s safety campaign, which was launch ed last spring and is scheduled as a three-year project, has multiple goals; to encourage local groups to establish qality, on-going bicycle education programs in their areas; to make cyclists aware of their responsibilities as well as thjg^ rights: to inform motorists tmr bicycles are vehicles that should be treated accordingly; and to reduce the number of accidents and injuries involving bicyclists. YOU DO FOR A LIViNG-AFTER 2000? >c ten foftcst 0rowin0 (*) and the un most dtollfllij M oecuiMtions, 1^-1995. "And what do you do?” may still be the favorite question at 21st-century cocktail parties, but the answers will add up to something new. Most Americans will be working in information-related fields, futurists say. Hardly anyone will work in factories, and even fewer on farms. There will be more biologists than there are today, and, because of the older population, more paramedics and geriatric social workers. The number of restaurateurs and travel agents will increase to help us fill our expanding leisure time. The cocktail party may include a genetic- engineering specialist or a robot technician. And sometime next century, we may travel in social circles with a space-fiight attendant or a space pharmacist. But telephone operators, postal clerks, meter readers, and aircrart structure assemblers may be hard to find. New technologies could make many of their jobs unnecessa^ry. New Choices The view of the 21st century remains a bit murky in 1984, but technological breakthroughs occurring today—especially the development of industrial robots, telecommuniciations, and biotechnology—guarantee that the worker of 2000 and beyond will face a choice of occupations different from today’s. There will still be doctors, lawyers, and merchants, but automation will send the bank teller, the supermarket checkout clerk, the metal worker, and the machinist the way of the elevator operator, the milkman, and the bowling pinset^g^ A bulletin board of job openings might contt^P' these descriptions: —Biomedical engineer—Makes bionic arms, legs, hands, and feet as well as instruments to let the blind see and the deaf hear. —Laser inspection technician—Installs and maintains laser devices used everywhere from grocery checkouts to factories. —Hazardous waste technician—Monitors, collects, transports, and disposes of hazardous wastes. —High-skilled paramedic—Under the eye of a portabie TV camera, performs emergency procedures on accident victims, supervised by doctors watching monitors at a hospital. Continued noxt wiok S|
West Craven Highlights (Vanceboro, N.C.)
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Oct. 18, 1984, edition 1
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