CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- On March 16, members from several organizations gathered outside the West Virginia Pubic Service Commission's office to deliver a tall stack of petitions containing the signatures of more than 5,000 West Virginians opposed to the sale of Verizon's land-based phone lines to Frontier Communications. If you have a hard-wired phone in your house or business, this sale could have a big impact on your service.

Verizon spends tons of money advertising and not nearly enough maintaining its landlines. I get a flyer from them in the mail two or three times a month, and one can't watch TV without viewing their wireless commercials. That's the point - they're promoting their wireless while letting their land lines rot, and they can't wait to shed them like a snake shedding its old worthless skin.

Verizon has already dumped their wired service in New England and Hawaii by selling to smaller companies in a complicated deal that left these smaller outfits holding millions in debt while Verizon walked away with tax-free millions through an obscure tax loophole. This is all well and good as corporations are in the business of making money. Except, in these other deals the smaller company had lots of problems integrating all their new customers and ultimately went bankrupt under the debt load while Verizon laughed all the way to the bank.

I know that Verizon has lots of problems with its land service, and I think it's totally intentional. They think wireless is the future and don't want to put good money into old technology. But customers who clamor for the company to be sold to anybody else in hopes of getting better service - beware! If you think your phone service is bad now, what will it be like if Frontier buys it then and goes belly-up?

And what about your phone bill? When Frontier needs more cash (remember all their debt?) to service all the old neglected Verizon equipment, they'll go to the PSC hat in hand and get a big rate increase.

Back to those petitions, the organizations represented at their delivery were Communications Workers of America Local 2001; AARP, the largest senior organization in the country: and West Virginia Citizen Action, the state's oldest consumer watchdog organization. These diverse groups came together to protect the workers, consumers and especially seniors who would be adversely affected by any disruption in their telephone service or spikes in cost.

Much of our rural population has no other access to telephone service besides that old wire connected to their home. It is more than a convenience; it's a lifeline to the outside in case of fire, flood, health trauma or other disaster. The elderly are particularly at risk without a dependable communications outlet. We all depend on the timely help offered by dialing 911 when an emergency erupts, but even this essential service was disrupted for a time in New England after Verizon sold its lines. For more information on the dangers of this sale see wvcag.org.

Even the PSC's own staff and their Consumer Advocate's office have called for the sale to be rejected as proposed because of the financial uncertainty and the undue risks to the citizens of our state. The commission is now going over the testimony from their public hearings and the filings from both sides. They will make a decision in April or May. Now is time for all West Virginians to weigh in and contact the Public Service Commission to let their opinion count. Give them a call (while your phone still works) at 1 (800) 344-5113.

Zuckett is executive director of West Virginia Citizen Action Group.