NO CALL LIST NOT FOOLPROOF PROTECTION

The American public collectively ignores the phone at dinnertime. They know who is calling, and calling, and calling.

Increasingly, states are passing anti-telemarketing laws targeted at reducing the number of those evening calls. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's new statewide No Call list is intended to act like legal force field between the state's residents and telemarketers, levying fines of several thousand dollars against violators who phone people on the list.

Missouri followed in the footsteps of 12 other states. More than 1.6 million Americans have signed up for such lists.

But until the broad exemptions in the Missouri law and others are narrowed, it might not be much protection. Telemarketers still legally can call households on the list through one of several loopholes in the No Call law, which goes into effect on July 1.

Sam Johnson, 78, of Cape Gir ardeau was signed onto the list during the attorney general's publicity visit to the Cape Girardeau Senior Center this month.

Johnson, a retired heating and air conditioning repairman, said he hopes the list will shield him from those irritating calls that always seem to arrive at the worst possible moment.

"I wanted to get rid of the aggravation more than anything else. It's my pet peeve, the aggravation it causes," Johnson said. "Most of the time they call at night. It's after dinner, you're relaxing, and the phone rings."

But as the Missouri law currently stands, registering on the new No Call list will not block telephone solicitations from:

* Telephone companies.

* Companies that already have a business relationship with you.

* Companies that you have expressly invited or permitted to call (for example, by filling your name and number on an entry form).

* Certain not-for-profit groups, if the person calling is a member of the group.

* Persons calling on a referral.

* Persons working from their homes.

* Persons licensed in a trade or profession, who are setting or attempting to set an apment.

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said the exemptions are too broad.

"We were very much opposed them as the law was taking shape last year," he said. "We will be going back to the Legislature when it reconvenes this week and trying to get those closed off."

Missourians have leapt onto Nixon's No Call list. Over 47,000 residents signed up during the first two days of registration, Dec. 11 and 12, the attorney general's office reported. As of Thursday, a total of 176,820 households -- an estimated 442,000 residents -- had signed on, Holste reported. And the tally is still climbing.

Spotty enforcement

Some states that have already activated their do-not-call lists have been criticized for spotty enforcement of their regulations. The Wall Street Journal recently reported Alaska has not fined anyone since passing its law in 1996. Arkansas, as a matter of policy, allows telemarketers eight to 10 free violations of its do-not-call list before issuing fines and hasn't fined anybody since its law went into effect early this year.

Holste said Missouri plans to avoid this pitfall through aggressively responding to citizens' reports of violators.

"We're going to try to make it as easy as possible for people on the No Call list to report violations by sending them postage-paid cards that report when they were called and who called them," he said.

"There's not a margin of error in the Missouri law for those telemarketers that are affected by this law. If you are a telemarketer covered by this law, and you call someone who is on this list, you have violated the law and will be duly contacted. We intend to fully enforce this law."

Missouri telemarketing companies must pay $25 quarterly for four annual updates of the No Call list. Calling a phone number registered on the list can result in fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

Households that sign up for the No Call list by May 1, 2001, will be included in the first edition of the list, which will be sent to telemarketers on June 1.

HOW TO SIGN UP

Missouri and 12 other states -- Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee -- have do-not-call laws.

Missourians can register for the No Call list free at the Missouri attorney general's Web site, www.ago.state.mo.us, or by calling 1-866-NOCALL1.