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• Wine festival succeeds in bringing out the Zinners

• Celebration on Central keeps bringing Lodi's diverse cultures together

• Roadside call boxes: Obsolete or a lifeline?

• Trustees to consider raise proposal for LUSD supervisors

• Regional Roundup

• Logbook

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 7th, 2009

• Lodi High graduate was at Fort Hood

• Lining up for flu shots in Lodi

• Tour packs buses as birdwatchers admire Sandhill cranes

• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks

• Daytime thieves targeting Lodi homes

• Lodi High School rally featured on 'Good Day Sacramento'

• Out of control

• Homicide suspect Anthony Hubbard arraigned

• Regional Roundup

• New Lodi Memorial rule to combat spread of H1N1: Visitors must be older than 16

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

November 4th, 2009

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

November 3rd, 2009

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• Clarification

November 2nd, 2009

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (73)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (70)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (60)
• Universal health care solves big problems (54)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (35)
• Stuck in neutral? Hardly! (35)
• Words from our forefathers (27)
• City of Lodi staff looking into possibility of limiting number of taco trucks (24)
• Majority cannot deprive the minority (24)

ADVERTISEMENT

Roadside call boxes: Obsolete or a lifeline?

Freeway call-box programs in California are preparing to spend millions of dollars on technology improvements, despite declining demand as more motorists take their cell phones on the road.

With more than 15,000 call boxes statewide, operators are scrambling to meet a 2007 deadline for new telecommunications requirements. In addition, a federal lawsuit filed last month, which seeks class-action status, could require all call boxes to add TTY devices for motorists with hearing disabilities.

Meanwhile, usage of the roadside yellow boxes has plummeted, a trend widely attributed to proliferating cell phones. In Los Angeles County, monthly calls fell from a peak of 80,000 in the early 1990s to 10,000 recently.

Nevertheless, supporters said, call boxes remain a vital service for travelers who have no other link to assistance, especially on isolated rural roads. In addition, funding for the program helps support other transportation improvements, officials said.

With 4,000 call boxes, the Los Angeles County Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways operates the biggest call-box system in the state. The program costs $2 million annually.

"We're providing at the minimum a lifeline service for those who don't have a cell phone," said Byron Lee of the Los Angeles County SAFE.

"Ten thousand calls a month is a lot of calls."

Spaced a quarter-mile to two miles apart, call boxes line about 6,300 miles of highways in more than half of California's 58 counties.

The solar-powered phones are maintained by local SAFEs with funding from a $1 fee on vehicle registrations.

Calls are answered by the California Highway Patrol or privately contracted dispatchers. Some SAFEs also help fund freeway service patrols, which roam local highways during commute hours to help stalled motorists.

SAFEs face new funding issues as they upgrade call boxes from analog to digital signals within two years to meet new standards in the telecommunications industry. In Los Angeles County, the conversion cost is estimated at $8 million, Lee said.

Local operators are studying ways to balance the cost of service with declining call-box usage, said Kenneth Kao of CalSAFE, a statewide group.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission last year removed 900 call boxes by increasing spacing on some freeways from a quarter-mile to three-quarters of a mile.

Other ideas include beefing up freeway service patrols.

The MTC will spend $5.6 million to convert its remaining 2,650 call boxes to digital technology and TTY devices, Kao said.

By agreeing to install equipment for deaf callers, the agency avoided being sued in a federal case alleging call boxes in nine areas violate anti-discrimination laws because they lack text telecommunication devices for hard-of-hearing motorists.

One of the defendants, Capitol Valley Regional SAFE, operates 1,500 call boxes in El Dorado, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. The Sacramento Area Council of Governments, or SACOG, which manages SAFE, plans to add TTY and convert the phones to digital signals at the same time.

The total estimated cost is $3.3 million.

Calls on Capitol Valley's system have dropped steadily from about 72,000 annually in 1995, the first full year of operation, to 25,600 last year.

The operating cost is $1.3 million annually.

Despite declining usage, "upward of 20,000 people a year still using the service is significant," said SACOG Executive Director Mike McKeever. In addition, he said, call-box funding also supports freeway service patrols and attracts matching federal dollars for SACOG's Intelligent Transportation Systems program, which provides freeway ramp meters, reader boards on highways and traffic-control systems that optimize traffic signals in the capital and Sacramento County.

"Because of the way this funding is structured, we would lose access to other important transportation related program funds if we decided to shut down the call boxes," McKeever said.

He said that only the Legislature can change funding for call boxes.

Meanwhile, call boxes remain essential security tools for travelers who don't have cell phones. Ken Kresse of the California Center for Law and the Deaf, which filed the federal lawsuit, noted that deaf motorists don't use cell phones.

Many rely on e-mail pagers, he said, although signal coverage is spotty in isolated areas.

Sacramento County resident Lyle Hinks, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, was driving with two young sons when a flat tire stranded them on Highway 99 near Fresno.

Unable to use a call box without TTY equipment and concerned about walking with his children, they waited in 100-degree weather for four hours before a motorist stopped to help.

"As I look at it, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if the call boxes are available to the general public, then they should be made available to me and to other deaf and hard-of-hearing people," Hinks said.

"Not only because it is my right, but also because it's for my safety and for the safety of whoever rides with me."