COUNTY 911 MAY GO ON LINE NEXT WEEK

JACKSON -- If final tests of the system go as expected, residents of Cape Girardeau County will likely have 911 emergency telephone service in place by next week.

"The system is essentially in place. We have been doing extensive testing the last 30 days to check routing and to make sure everything is working the way it should," said Brian Miller, the county's emergency operations coordinator and the chairman of the committee appointed to implement the system.

On Nov. 5, 1991, voters in Cape Girardeau County approved a surcharge on their telephone bills to pay for the 911 system, and during the campaign citizens were told it would take two years to implement it. Miller said the committee is pleased that it is right on target for meeting that goal.

"We want to do everything like we said we would do," said Miller. "We have been up front with the people throughout this effort and will continue to operate that way."

Miller explained that the committee will meet Friday morning and decide at that time when to make the switch to the system. A special ceremony will be held to signify the occasion involving officials from Cape Girardeau, Jackson and the county.

Cape Girardeau has had a 911 emergency system for a number of years, but citizens of Jackson and the outcounty area have not. The new system, however, is improved since it provides the name, address and a routing map for where the call is coming from on a screen.

Callers using the new system do not have to speak to alert emergency officials. The call can immediately be traced to where it is being made.

Miller explained that calls in the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson will go to the central dispatching facilities in those towns, while calls from outside the two cities will go to the sheriff's department. The push of a button will connect the caller directly to the ambulance service.

Although it is a secondary answering point, Miller noted that the ambulance service has the same kind of equipment that the two cities and county has.

Miller added that the system has some back up provisions built in to deal with situations that might occur if phone lines are damaged or one of the answering points is out of service for some reason.

As part of the implementation process, all residences in the county have city-style street addresses. The addressing process was completed this summer.

Miller said that signs identifying the roads that were named as part of the process will start going up Friday. It will take about 60 days to have them all in place.

Miller also asked the county commission Monday to consider drafting an ordinance for citizens to have their address numbers prominently displayed on mailboxes or the front of their homes.

He also suggested that the commission make it clear to subdivisions and small municipalities in the county that once street signs are installed initially, it will be up to them to maintain them.

Miller stressed the importance of all citizens having their addresses properly displayed to make it easy for emergency vehicles to find them if necessary. "For the system to work the way it should, these numbers have to be clearly visible," he said.

As a guideline, Miller suggested people think like they were driving an emergency vehicle, trying to find their house, and think about what they would want the driver of the vehicle to see.