Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 15

A16 Tht Arizona Republic Saturday, December 19, 1998 LCSL nsws $1 million Amy Grant packs arena (in fkEW AKEA CCwE OE32 i23crKS rU3 523 I Joy Ranch Rd. to expand preserve Ramsey Canyon -TO to add 76 acres 1 Mil for development By Graciela Sevilla The Arizona Republic A $1 million eift fronV a -v- 23 cr ESS I 1 4:3 I 1 i 1 V. 1 turn i lit-. Scottsdale couple is helping expand the Nature Conservancy's Ramsey Canyon Preserve, one "of Arizona's prime wildlife and an internationally known watching spot. To save 76 acres at the gateway from encroaching velopment, retired publishers Joha- than and Maxine Marshall the grant to the Nature C6nser-( vancy through their private charitable1 foundation, the Marsh'alf Fund of Arizona.

"At the entry way for Canyon, there are plans for several hundred homes. If that will cut off access for a wildlife," Jonathan" Marshall Ramsey Canyon lies within1 tHe Huachuca Mountains, about '200' miles southeast of Phoenix attd'" adjacent to the growing nity of Sierra Vista. As part of, San Pedro River ecosystem, preserve has been identified by flic1 conservancy as one of 12 Earth's "Last Great Places." 1 The riparian forest along sey Creek is an oasis for flora' fauna, including white-tailed defer, Montezuma quail, wild turkeys and unique species like' lemon lily and the Ramsey Canyqnk leopard frog, according to Chris- tine Conte, spokeswoman for, Hie- conservancy. "Ramsey Canyon preserve 602, mm Al Proponents of the geographic split called the overlay confusing and argued it would undermine the traditional association between an area code and a specific geographic region. The overlay proposal was approved by the commission Nov.

19 with Jim Irvin and Carl Kunasek voting in favor of the plan. But before the measure was signed, Irvin recanted and sided with Renz Jennings to defeat the plan Dec. 10, when a second vote on the issue was taken. Jennings and Irvin acknowledged that the Valley will eventually have to embrace 10-digit dialing, along with the rest of the nation, and that the 602 area code will have to be split again as soon as -2006. But they said the split gives the commission time to plan for that eventuality and reflects a feeling among the general public to postpone 10-digit dialing as long as possible.

"Going to a split today gives us more options and time to study eventual implementation of 10-digit dialing," Irvin said. "And it reflects the will of the people who don't want to do it now." Kunasek said that he could live with the geographic split, but that the overlay plan would have caused much less economic pain. He also noted that approximately half of the calls made in the Valley, under the geographic split, will still require 10-digit dialing. "The three-way split seems to have created more of the problems it was supposed to solve," Kunasek said. Beginning March 1, callers will be reminded of the need to use an area code when calling a number.

After Sept. the caller will be told to hang up and try the call again with the area code. There will be no charge for calling between the three Valley area codes, but Kunasek and others have expressed concern that US West may try to initiate a charge for the Valley calls. A representative from US West who attended Friday's meeting said the company had no such plans. The new area code to be assigned the West Valley has not been officially named by Lockheed Martin, which oversees issuance of phone numbers for the Federal Communications I Commission.

Mark DiNunzio, an aide to commission chairman Irvin, said that it will either be 623 or 556 and that the commission is leaning toward 623. I hi Rob SchumacherThe Arizona Republic Christian-music superstar Amy Grant brought her yuletide tour to America West Arena on Friday, playing to a sold-out house. To hear Randy Cordova's review, call PressLino at 271-5656 and press 1148. Van Buren St. Implementation of the new area codes does not coincide with the printing of new phone directories.

US West spokesman Jim Roof said the residential book, scheduled for distribution in March, is closed to changes. While the business listings in the Yellow Pages also are closed to changes, Roof said he thought some changes could still be made to display advertising. The next new directories won't be out until March 2000, six months after the new area codes take effect. Besides implementing the three-way geographic area code split, the commission also grandfathered all existing cellular telephones in the 602 area code. But cellular phone numbers issued after Nov.

1, 1999, will be assigned the area code of the switching center through which the calls are placed. Most of the switching centers are in the 602 area code. The plan also requires wireline and wireless telephone providers' to develop a numbering pooling plan for Arizona. Part of the reason the Valley's 602 phone numbers are being so rapidly depleted is that telecommunications providers are issued new numbers in prefix blocks of 10,000 numbers. The companies then sit on the numbers, issuing them to cus 523 N.

Judge threatens plea in police Web site case best known for birds. It's so VlclT 'V in wildlife because it's biological crossroads. It's a place where southern species meet up 1 -i with northern said. The Arizona Republic A judge threatened to reject the plea agreement of a pawnshop who set up a Web site to monitor police, saying he has violated the terms of the deal by reserving three similar Web sites. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan Bolton reprimanded Mark Harlan Brooks on Thursday.

The original Web site contained the home addresses, phone numbers and photos of Phoenix police officers. Police complained that they started receiving harassing phone calls and break-ins after their ad- dressed were published. Brooks reserved three sites that mentioned Phoenix police in the sites' names, prompting the judge's statements. Brooks, 35, was indicted last year on 14 felony counts, including fraudulent schemes, trafficking in stolen property, racketeering, theft, forgery and criminal damage. He agreed to plead guilty to four felonies, including stealing watches and jewelry from a former partner and.

slashing the tires of a truck; owned by someone he thought had stolen from him. The preserve was created iii tne 1970s and is one of 13 owned arid' managed in Arizona by the confer1-vancy. This year, the acted with urgency to purchase1 the buffer to protect the area from" being used for new housing. "The beauty and economy Arizona is dependent on protecting large tracts of unique examples'bf ''u nature," Jonathan Marshall "Ramsey must be safeguarded', an example of how our 1 special gifts of nature can be preserved 1 Sis 'JhU Blvd. tomers as needed.

As a result, more than half of the 7.5 million numbers in the 602 area code are unassigned. Yet there are only 50 prefixes, or about 500,000 numbers, still available, according to Lockheed Martin. Beginning in January, the firm plans to ration the numbers to six new prefixes a month, Requests above that will be awarded via a lottery. A number pooling, or conservation, plan would encourage companies to return unused numbers to a pool to be shared by other providers and reduce the size of new number blocks to 1,000 numbers. The plan approved by the commission also directs the Corporation Commission staff to work with the industry to minimize financial hardships caused by the plan, and requires service providers to pay for a customer education program.

Denver, Miami and Baltimore have recently approved overlays and Los Angeles has approved using a combination of geographic splits and overlays. The Houston area is reversing an earlier geographic split and going to an overlay and Seattle and Minneapolis have recently approved geographic splits. Max Jarman can be reached at 444-7351 or at max.jarmanpni.com via e-mail. i- v'i 1 WiP 7 1 Serving The Valley Since 1946 THE FRESHEST TREES sninrca trcsc sii- Tre HI. SMiMo Fir cut i Ui Fracioir Fir Fie 4 W- jr I i zir.

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