VAIDEN -- Telecommunications in Carroll County, depending on the service provider, can be nonexistent. But, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors is working to see if it can get things changes and give some relief to residents.
The board of supervisors approved to send a resolution to Public Service Commissioner- Northern District Brandon Presley to improve telecommunications in Carroll County.
Beat 1 Supervisor Jim Neill said he's reached out to Presley and sent a letter about service in Carroll County. He said AT&T called him 20 times after he contacted Presley's office to see if his service was working.
Neill said he wrote to Presley that service in Carrollton and North Carrollton needed to be improved.
"What about Vaiden?" Board President Rickie Corley asked. "You said Carrollton and North Carrollton, but service here in Vaiden is horrible, too."
"Well, I knew about Carrollton and North Carrollton, but I didn't know about Vaiden. Well, all over the county service is bad then."
"Can't hardly get any service in the trees. I've had a cable line down for two years, and I'm still waiting on AT&T to put it back up. It's still down," Supervisor Dill Tucker said.
Supervisors Terry Brown and Claude Fluker and Chancery Clerk Sugar Mullins said they all have trouble with service.
Resident Charles Humphrey said AT &T, who carries DirecTV, dropped the local television stations, and he can't get any weather updates to know when storms are coming.
Carroll County E911 Director George Gillespie told Humphrey that the county has Code Red, where any phone number he has associated with his home can get an alert when bad weather is imminent.
"It's on North Carrollton's website. If you scroll down to the bottom you can sign up, and an alert will be sent to you," Gillespie said.
"We've been promoting it everywhere. It's free of charge, and it sends it to landlines and cellphones. It'll wake your whole house up," Carroll County Emergency Management and Civil Defense Director Ken Strachan told Humphrey.
Also, the board heard from Vaiden Beautification Committee members Domonique Curry-McKinney, Greta Purnell, and Laura Curry. Curry-McKinney, who's also a member of the Vaiden Library Board, said the Vaiden Public Library needs maintenance.
"When you walk in, the carpet has an odor to it, like an old smell, and they've had the same carpet since the last library director, and that may have 10 to 15 years ago," she said.
Curry-McKinney said the carpet was almost down to the concrete it was so worn.
Laura Curry asked the board to look into replacing it or giving it a deep cleaning. She said their goal was to make the library more inviting.
Purnell said a yearly cleaning of the carpet would do it some good.
The ladies also addressed the computers at Vaiden Public Library. Curry-McKinney said she observed a man, who she estimated to be six feet tall, sit down at a station.
"His knees were also to his chest," she said. "And that can't be comfortable."
She said she also observed a man, who she estimated to be at 5'8, sit down at the station and his knees were in his chest too.
"We need to look into getting a computer station that's comfortable for all heights, and of course, all sizes as well," Laura Curry told the board.
Corley said his main concern was the rotting window facings.
"This is going to be a big project, and we want to take step-by-step," Curry said.
The supervisors asked the ladies to come up with several quotes and present them at the next board meeting.
