Here’s a phone. Want to buy something?

It’s a nice little feel-good story: A tiny town in rural Louisiana has become one of the last places in the U.S. to receive phone service. Mink, a town of about 15 families, was hooked up Monday, and Gov. Kathleen Blanco helped celebrate by making a ceremonial call to 83-year-old Alma Louise Bolton, who has lived in Mink for nearly 50 years without phone service. But what’s a nice feel-good story if it isn’t almost derailed by the antics of some greedy marketer? “It wasn’t 15 minutes after that phone was in before a telemarketer called me,” one resident told the Associated Press. “But that wasn’t really a problem. I just told him I wasn’t interested and hung up.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

February 1, 2005 | Permalink