SHAW &045;&045;

Chelsea Warren, 13, sits in the very corner of her dining room, close to the window, and talks on a cell phone to her friends. She only has two hours of talk time each night, from eight to 10 p.m., and that she has to share with 16-year-old sister. Amanda, who also wants ample time talking to friends and boyfriends.

This is not an atypical fight between sisters, both wanting to use the phone, and a phone time limit is not out of the ordinary either. And many teenagers today have cell phones or can use their parents.

&uot;They get in knock down, drag outs over that phone,&uot; said mom, Starlet Warren.

Static comes over the line and Chelsea becomes silent. Then she says, &uot;OK, it’s over,&uot; to her boyfriend on the other line. The static is so loud and sometimes so long, &uot;you just have to wait for it to get over with,&uot; Chelsea said.

And this is a good night for the Warrens as they only have to do a little juggling of the cell phone to keep enough reception to talk. The static is just one problem in a long list. Most times they cannot hear the person on the other line. Also, the phone cuts out and hangs up on the person on the receiving end. And then there are those days when the phone won’t even work. Starlet said the phone has only been working inside their house for about a year.

The Warrens live in Shaw, a small community about 35 miles south of Vidalia and lodged between lots of water &045;&045; the Mississippi River, the Red River and many smaller bodies of water.

The cell phone is the Warren’s only phone &045;&045; no phone lines run to their house. So for them and the few families that live permanently in the community, spotty cell phone service from their old, analog bag phones is all they have.

A petition now circulating in the community is a way they hope things will change and phone lines will soon run to this remote part of Concordia Parish.

The evolution of Shaw

Ray Morace grew up in the community now known as Shaw, what he grew up calling Red River because of the geographic location. Growing up, he had few modern-day conveniences, not getting electricity even until he was well into grammar school.

&uot;We didn’t need anything, we lived off the land,&uot; Morace said, hunting, fishing, gardening and bartering for food. About 1948, the community &045;&045; now called Shaw due to a plantation of the same name in the area &045;&045; received electricity. They could get television in the 1950s, but that doesn’t mean Shaw’s families owned TVs.

But Morace and Ernest &uot;Boo&uot; Lee, who grew and lives in Shaw, did not seem to mind. Then, as now, there were only about 10 families in Shaw.

Morace, like Amanda and Chelsea, took the long bus ride from Shaw to Vidalia to go to school. One sign of the shift in population from the area is that when Morace lived there, the community had a school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Now, that school is Amanda and Chelsea’s father’s workplace &045;&045; the Wildlife and Fisheries office &045;&045;

and the two teenagers have traveled the 35 or so miles to school since kindergarten. The Warren sisters are the only school-age people among

Shaw’s permanent residents.

During Morace’s school days, there was no one to make the long drive to get him after football practice. Once you missed the bus, you were in town.

Morace and other Shaw boys who played football lived in the jury room of the old courthouse during football season. Morace would begin his walk home early Saturday mornings and usually got picked up by a lone traveler heading his way.

Now, Chelsea has softball practice after school and has to call Starlet if it is canceled. By the time Chelsea would get home on the bus, about 4:30 p.m., Starlet already needs to be in Vidalia to pick her up from practice. And she can’t wait to see if Chelsea gets off the bus, because the drive to town takes 45 minutes.

For the Warrens, Shaw is not much different than Vidalia. They do not have phones or water lines, but they have electricity and a well and live like most other families, just a little further down the road.

But Vidalia was very different than Shaw when Morace was growing up.

&uot;What really got me was when I was walking the streets (in Vidalia) and saw a TV,&uot; Morace said. That was in the early 1950s. &uot;I was about 20 years behind everybody.&uot;

Some things in Shaw are different now, too.

The state came in and took most of the land in Red River, and Wildlife and Fisheries now controls it. The roads are decent along the levee, and the road runs through to Baton Rouge, making this once secluded area very accessible. But it is not families that have taken advantage of the accessibility to live there, but seasonal hunters. One portion of land in between the state-owned areas was bought by an individual and is now leased to hunters who have anything from falling-in shacks to nice, small houses there.

&uot;I guess our community is just about gone,&uot; Morace said.

Hundreds of camps now sit on property that was once the site of families’ homes and vacant land.

Small satellite dishes adorning many of the camps are among the conveniences of home. Some of the locals have satellite television as well. But one thing they have in common is the lack of a land-line phone.

Starlet Warren said the hunters pile onto the levee in front of their house during hunting season to try to use their cell phones. The hunters, however, have the smaller handheld phones, so they usually get less reception than residents who have analog bag phones with more wattage.

They walk the levee and do all kinds of antics to get their phones to work, Starlet said. &uot;Sometimes they stand on their vehicles.&uot;

Searching for answers

Everyone living in Shaw, full time or seasonally, knew there was no phone service when they came there. But that doesn’t stop them from seeking a remedy.

Boo Lee said almost everyone but him has a cell phone, but he has greater concerns than getting a phone in his house. &uot;What they need to do is fix the road out here,&uot; Lee said. But even he admitted he would get a phone if the service was not too expensive.

The Warrens have a cell phone, as does Shaw resident Jessie Lee, and they can use them in emergencies. But what if the phone does not work well one day?

&uot;A person likes to be where they can be contacted,&uot; Jessie Lee said. Lee’s largest concern is making emergency calls, and she believes having a landline would be the best option. Even so, personnel responding to the call would have a 90-minute round trip.

&uot;It takes a while to get help,&uot; said Johnny Warren, Starlet’s husband, who is the supervisor for the Wildlife and Fisheries both Red River and Three Rivers areas.

&uot;When something happens, you have to take care of it yourself,&uot; Starlet said.

Johnny sometimes drives to town if there is a car accident by their house and someone needs to get to the hospital. But meeting the ambulance halfway still cuts the time by about 20 minutes.

The Warrens want a landline, too, mostly for Internet service. To use the Internet for school assignments, Amanda and Chelsea often have to spend the night in town with a friend.

But land lines might not be the answer for Shaw.

Bill Robertson, executive assistant to Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, said his office realized the problem of no phone service in Shaw, as well as the Mink community in Natchitoches Parish, in 2002.

Those are the only two communities in Louisiana without phone service. &uot;He (Campbell) believes strongly, in the year 2004, there should not be anyone in Louisiana that desires phone service that does not have it,&uot; Robertson said.

Campbell’s office asked the people at Blackhawk, where there is a large hunting lodge, to survey people to see how many would buy phone service if it were offered. Robertson said that would not affect whether the community gets phones, however.

Residents fear phone lines could be costly to them because, in the past, the only way the people could get phones was to foot the cost. Robertson said if land lines were made available, customers would pay normal rates.

While Campbell’s office was hoping for an answer to the phone situation within a few months, Robertson said they still do not have an answer for the community.

Mink will get phone service soon, he said, but in Shaw it would be more costly because phone lines would cross so many bodies of water. &uot;Cellular may emerge as a better option,&uot; Robertson said.

&uot;If cellular becomes the answer … (we will) strive to provide a strong signal to all of those areas. We just want an answer.&uot;

And so do residents, who also fear the analog phones they now rely on will soon not be available. As it stands now, companies do not offer them, so users have to rely on the old phones they have now.

&uot;What concerns me is if they do do away with the analog phones … we will be without,&uot; Jessie Lee said. Because, she said, even spotty phone service &uot;sure beats not having one (a phone).&uot;

off the land,&uot; Morace said, hunting, fishing, gardening and some bartering for food. About 1948, the community, now called Shaw because of the plantation of the same name in the area, received electricity and it was into the 1950s before they could get television, and that doesn’t mean they had one.

But Morace and Ernest &uot;Boo&uot; Lee, who also grew up there and still resides in the area, did not seem to mind. There were only about 10 families in the Shaw area then, a rough estimate of how many permanent households there are now too.

Morace, like Amanda and Chelsea, took the long bus ride from Shaw to Vidalia to go to school. One sign there has been a shift in population in the area is the fact that when Morace lived there, the community had a school from kindergarten to eighth grade. Now, that school is Amanda and Chelsea’s father’s workplace &045;&045; the Wildlife and Fisheries office &045;&045;

and the two teenagers have traveled the 35 or so miles to school since kindergarten. The Warren sisters are the only school-age people left in Shaw, as permanent residents anyway.

But for Morace, who played football for Vidalia his last three years in school, there was no one to make the long drive to get him after practice. Once you missed the bus, you were in town. Morace and other Shaw boys who played football, lived in the jury room of the old courthouse during football season. Morace would begin his walk home early Saturday mornings and usually get picked up by one of the lone travelers headed his way. Now, Chelsea has softball practice after school and has to call Starlet if it is canceled. By the time Chelsea would get home on the bus, about 4:30 p.m., Starlet already needs to be in Vidalia to pick her up from practice; she can’t wait to see if she gets off the bus or not because the drive is 45 minutes to town.

For the Warrens, Shaw is not much different than Vidalia. They do not have phones or city water but they have electricity and a well and live like most other families, just a little further down the road, Town (Vidalia) was different from Shaw when Morace was growing up.

&uot;What really got me was when I was walking the streets (in Vidalia) and saw a TV,&uot; Morace said. That was in the early 1950s. &uot;I was about 20 years behind everybody.&uot;

And some things are different in Shaw now than when Morace lived there.

The state came in and took most of the land in Red River and the Wildlife and Fisheries now controls it. The roads are decent along the levee to the community and the road runs through to Baton Rouge, making this once secluded area very accessible. But it is not families that have taken advantage of the accessibility to live there but hunters who mostly stay there seasonally. One portion of land in between all the state-owned area was bought by an individual and is now leased to hunters who have anything from fallen-in shacks to trailers to nice, small houses on the property.

&uot;I guess our community is just about gone,&uot; Morace said.

Hundreds of camps not sit on the property that was once the site of Morace and other families’ homes and vacant land.

Small satellite dishes adorn many of the camps making these home away from homes adorned with many of the conveniences of home. Not only them, but also some of the locals have satellite television as well. But one thing they do not have, like the Warrens, is a landline phone.

During hunting season, Starlet Warren said the hunters pile onto the levee in front of their house to try to use their cell phones. The hunters, however, have the smaller, handheld phones so they usually get less reception than the residents, who almost all have analog bag phones, which have more wattage.

They walk the levee and do all kinds of antics to get their phones to work, Starlet said. &uot;Sometimes they stand on their vehicles.&uot;

Searching for answers

Everyone involved in the equation, the campers and the residents of Shaw, chose to live there or spend time there and knew there was no phone service. That is not stopping them from wanting to remedy that.

Although, Boo Lee said most everyone has cell phones, except for him and he has greater concerns than getting a phone in his house.

&uot;What they need to do is fix the road out here,&uot; Lee said. But, even he admitted he would get a phone if the service were not too expensive.

The Warrens have a cell phone, as does Jessie Lee who lives there too, and they can use them to make emergency phone calls. But what if the phone does not work well one day, what then?

&uot;A person likes to be where they can be contacted,&uot; Jessie Lee said. Lee’s largest concern is emergencies and having a landline would be the best option, she believes.

But, even if the community had landlines to call in emergencies, the reality is, the community is still 45 minutes away from an ambulance and that is only one way. Roundtrip, the amount of time to get someone to a hospital would take approximately an hour and a half.

&uot;It takes a while to get help,&uot; said Johnny Warren, Starlet’s husband, who is the supervisor for the Wildlife and Fisheries both Red River and Three Rivers areas.

&uot;When something happens, you have to take care of it yourself,&uot; Starlet said.

Johnny sometimes drives toward town if there is a car accident by their house and someone needs to get to the hospital. But meeting the ambulance halfway still only decreases the time by about 20 minutes.

The Warrens want a landline too. Their top reason is for Internet service. Amanda and Chelsea have numerous assignments they need to use the Internet for and as it stands right now, they have to spend the night in town, with a friend many times just to get homework done.

But landlines might not be the answer for Shaw.

Bill Robertson, executive assistant to Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell said their office realized the problem of no phone service in Shaw as well as the Mink community in Natchitoches Parish in 2002 &045;&045; the only two communities in Louisiana without phone service.

&uot;He (Campbell) believes strongly, in the year 2004, there should not be anyone in Louisiana that desires phone service that does not have it,&uot; Robertson said.

Campbell’s office asked the people at Blackhawk, where there is a large hunting lodge, to do a survey of how many people would buy into phone service if it were offered. Robertson said the number of people would not affect whether the community gets phones, however.

The residents fear the phone lines could be costly to them because, in past experiences, the only way the people could get phones was to foot the cost. Robertson said if landlines were made available, they would pay normal rates.

While Campbell’s office was hoping for an answer to the phone situation within a few months, Robertson said they still do not have an answer for the community.

The Mink community will be getting phone service soon, he said, but Shaw is a harder situation because it is more costly because the phone lines would have to cross so many bodies of water. Therefore, &uot;cellular may emerge as a better option,&uot; Robertson said.

&uot;If cellular becomes the answer … (we will) strive to provide a strong signal to all of those areas,&uot; Robertson said. &uot;We just want an answer.&uot;

And so do the residents, who not only want phone lines for emergencies but also out of fear the analog phones they now rely on will no longer be available. As it stands now, companies do not offer them, they have to rely on the old ones they have now. If the phones the residents now have stop working, they do not know what they will do.

&uot;What concerns me is if they do do away with the analog phones … we will be without,&uot; Jessie Lee said. Because, even spotty phone service &uot;sure beats not having one (a phone).&uot;