A letter from a Proctorville resident has prompted the County Commissioners to contact officials about phone service in the eastern end of the county.

Holace Workman wrote the commissioners recently about long distance charges levied on residents of Chesapeake, Proctorville and Athalia when they call Ironton.

“Yet it is just a local call for people in Ironton, Coal Grove and South Point to call Chesapeake, Proctorville and Athalia,” the letter stated. “Something needs to be fixed. It should be the same for the people of eastern Lawrence County to make calls to the county seat.”

At the regular Thursday meeting Commissioner Jason Stephens asked that the commission contact Frontier Communications, which recently acquired Verizon local wireline assets from 14 states, Armstrong Cable Services and AT&T.

It’s an issue that the commission has faced before when in the 1990s residents questioned comparable long distance charges.

At that time, the residents were unwilling to give up the free phone service between the eastern end and parts of West Virginia, the commissioners were told.

In a letter to the commission County Engineer David Lynd requested that the following surplus equipment be either sold at auction or in direct sale to a public agency. The equipment includes two 1992 dump trucks; 1996 three-quarter ton pickup truck, a 2000 half-ton pickup truck; parts from a Massey Ferguson tractor/mower; a Gledhill snowplow with quick hitch and a walk-behind traffic line painter.

The commissioners voted to send the list to county agencies to see if any had interest in any of the pieces of equipment.

In other business the commission:

Received the weekly dog warden report where 53 animals were destroyed and four were redeemed. Currently there are 20 dogs at the pound.

Received notice for a public hearing Sept. 16 on the rezoning of about 13 acres off State Route 141 to a health service district.

Heard a report from Ironton Fire Chief Tom Runyon on the progress of the Lawrence County 911 board that is expected to have a cost estimate by Sept. 9, on bringing the city police and sheriff’s office into the 911 system.