Getting cell phone coverage in the western end of Lawrence County is the goal of a series of petitions circulated by Ted Riedel, an Elizabeth Township resident.

Riedel presented petitions with 955 signatures from residents in Elizabeth, Decatur and Upper townships to Lawrence County Commissioners at its regular meeting on Tuesday. The commissioners meet earlier this week since their regular meeting date would be on Thanksgiving.

Riedel said there was limited and often no cell phone service on State Route 93.

“This shouldn’t happen in this day and age,” he said. “We need a tower.”

Petitions were placed at service stations and grocery stores along State Route 93 as well as Riedel collecting them door-to-door. With almost 1,000 signatures, Riedel said installing the tower would be profitable.

“They would have a customer base to offset the cost,” he said. “We all need to get together to get something done.”

Among those not having cell phone coverage are the Wayne National Forest and Rock Hill schools.

“This commission is concerned with you,” Commission President Les Boggs said.

In the past AT&T has said it had plans to install towers at six different sites in Lawrence County, Boggs said.

“But they have not acted on them,” he said.

Boggs made a motion to forward the petitions and a letter requesting a phone tower to AT&T, which was passed unanimously.

Gene Myers, director of the Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services, said that the state DJFS negotiated with the federal Food and Nutrition Service to reduce the proposed cut in food stamps to Ohio recipients of the program.

Originally the cut was to be on average $50 a month in food stamps. The new reduction will be $23 a month.

“For the most vulnerable citizens of Lawrence County, this helps them out,” Myers said after the meeting. “It is still a reduction, but a better result for our vulnerable citizens.”

Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Burcham told the commissioners that currently the county has $4.7 million in cash on hand.

“The cash position is really in decent shape,” Burcham said. “We have more than we have had in the past several years (at this time of year). That speaks good on the management on many levels.”

In other action the commission:

• Approved the contract between the county DFJS and the Lawrence County Clerk of Courts;

• Transferred a 1998 Ford Taurus to Lawrence County Vocational School for mechanics training;

• Approved the purchase of a used vehicle for DJFS from the Department of Administrative Services;

• Approved demolition agreement between Rolo Excavating to demolish a burned-out house in Burlington.