National Night Out

There were 15 neighborhood meetings here in Texarkana last night in conjunction with National Night Out. I hit a few of them, as did members of the Texarkana Arkansas Fire and Police Departments. Also yesterday, Domestic Violence Prevention, Inc. held its annual awareness luncheon, where several brave victims of domestic violence stood up and shared their stories. Here's Texarkana, Arkansas Mayor Horace Shipp reading a joint proclamation by both Texarkanas (right).

Also last night, members of the Arkansas Public Service Commission came down to hold a public hearing on the proposed new area code in this area (and everywhere else in the 870). Here's a fuzzy iPhone picture of PSC Chairman Paul Suskie (right) explaining the six proposals. The most likely appears to be an overlay, which is what the Texas-side recently did with the 430 area code. The upside to an overlay is that no one would have to change signage, letterhead, etc. The downside? You'd have to dial 10 digits, even for local calls. This is already done for many numbers here in Texarkana. You can still call Arkansas-side numbers using seven digits, but calling across State Line Avenue requires 10 digits, even though it's a local call. Texas-side phones require 10 digit dialing regardless if it's a local call to Texas or Arkansas.