Kudos to Avista
It seems to me that it is only right to give Avista kudos for how they handled the recent natural gas outage.
Based on what was in the newspaper, the severing of the gas line was not at all the fault of Avista but, despite that, they dug right in and took care of the problem.
Of course, it was inconvenient being without heat and hot water, but we were lucky. It wasn’t that cold outside and we were able to use some portable electric heaters to keep things livable. Compared to what people are going through elsewhere in the world, it was really nothing.
Thank you again, Avista, for a job well done.
Danny J. Radakovich
Lewiston
Phone memories
The Edge in the Nov. 2 Tribune said this:
“On this day in 1952, Lewiston residents woke up with the ability to ‘let their fingers do the walking’ with the institution of the dial telephone system.”
This brought “to completion a two-year project which cost $1.5 million ($28 million today).” With the changeover, Lewiston Mayor Dr. D.K. Worden made the first call to Chamber of Commerce President Gordon Fairley. Clarkston Mayor Dr. Leroy A. Weeks then made the first long-distance call to Seattle.
Anyone born after 1955 or so have no memory of having to answer a lady who asked, “Number please?” when you picked up the phone. The lady who asked, “Number please?” was a telephone operator at the building in downtown Lewiston at Third and C streets.
There were many, many operators like Jean Ruddell, Grace Nathe (Church) or Jeanine Gibbs working round-the-clock shifts. Operators were very businesslike, but a couple of times they said to me, “Calling Mary again, Dick?”
There were party lines where you might lift your phone and hear part of someone else’s conversation. The phones in many — or most — houses were black and bolted to the wall. On Nov. 2, 1952, all area phone numbers changed for the new system. All Lewiston area numbers became Sherwood 3, which meant 743, but for a while callers only needed to dial 3, not 743. In 1952, I was 19 and our home phone changed from 819-M to Sherwood 3-3020.
Ah, memories.
Dick Riggs
Lewiston
