2009 15 May

Fifty Cents is a Bargain for Safety

Last year, Muskogee County residents voted to add a 50-cent fee to each cell phone to support a county-wide enhanced 911 system. As of today, only Muskogee has a 911 system and it only works with land-line phones. Cell phones will be routed to the front desk, not a dispatcher, wasting valuable time. Also, whereas land-line phones provide the address of the caller, cell phones are not able to be located with the existing system. The 50-cent fee, along with raising the land-line fee, is helping Muskogee County provide the highest level of emergency service to its residents. This will create a county-wide 911 center with multiple agencies involved, it will allow for the replacement of equipment that is over 10 years old – ancient by technology standards, and will allow for GPS location of calls made from cell phones, which will tell dispatchers where you are in case you can’t. This is all a good thing and Muskogee County voters did the right thing.

Well, now comes along the state legislature and they decide that 50 cents is just too much, it should be around 17 cents. State Representative George Faught is one who reportedly supports this decrease. If this decrease is passed, Muskogee County will probably not be able to go ahead with the county-wide 911.

Please contact your representatives on this issue and urge them to keep the fees at 50-cents. For safety’s sake.