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1999 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 640
Memorializing the Congress of the United States to direct the Federal Communications Commission to study the feasibility of including all of Buchanan County, Virginia, and all of Dickenson County, Virginia, into the Southwest Virginia Network.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 9, 1999
Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, areas are now capable of having more than two cellular service providers in a single area; and

WHEREAS, the northern sections of Buchanan County and the section of Dickenson County that includes the Breaks Interstate Park are not currently included in the local cellular calling area administered by ALLTEL Corporation; and

WHEREAS, the communication system must be considered as highways that separate those parts of Buchanan County and Dickenson County from the Cumberland Plateau Planning District, the Virginia Coalfield Coalition, the Coalfield Economic Development Authority, and the Coalfield Regional Tourism Authority; and

WHEREAS, the current local cellular calling area divides Buchanan County and removes it from the planning and growth activities of surrounding localities in regional Southwest Virginia; and

WHEREAS, significant efforts to bolster the lifestyle and prosperity of this region are underway and depend on the availability of reliable and affordable telecommunications, with such service especially needed for the Appalachian School of Law, which is beginning its second year of training attorneys, and the Breaks Interstate Park, which attracted over 420,000 visitors last year; and

WHEREAS, these and other developments require telecommunications service that will enable the region to continue to grow; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Congress of the United States be urged to direct the Federal Communications Commission to study the feasibility of including all of Buchanan County, Virginia, and all of Dickenson County, Virginia, into the Southwest Virginia Network; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of Labor, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and the members of the Congressional Delegation of Virginia in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.