LONG-DISTANCE DIAL MEANS 3 MORE DIGITS

Starting today, callers making long-distance telephone calls within their own area codes will be dialing more numbers.

What callers used to reach in seven digits now takes 10.

In eastern Missouri, callers will have to dial 1 or 0, plus the 314 area code for all calls beyond the local calling area.

If people dialing long distance receive an annoying tone and a recording saying the number they dialed can't be completed as dialed, it may be they left off the area code.

This is something new.

People living in the Cape Girardeau area will have to dial 1-314 and the number to reach friends in St. Louis, Jefferson City or Hayti.

Callers here wanting to reach friends in McClure, or East Cape Girardeau, Ill., will have to dial 1-618 plus the number.

People in East Cape Girardeau and McClure will also have to dial 1-618, plus the number, to reach people in Anna, Cairo or Carbondale, or the 314 area code to call across the river.

The telephone industry is requiring customers to dial all 10 digits for toll, or long-distance calls, to relieve a shortage of numbers and area codes.

Telephone officials cite the growth of pagers, mobile phones and other devices that are threatening to exhaust available numbers and area codes.

But officials are quick to say that although customers will be pressing more buttons, they won't pay more. The change doesn't affect local telephone rates.

Meanwhile, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. have extended their "Project ReDirectory" to Nov. 11.

The recycling of old directories has been slow this year, but there's a reason for that.

Craig Felzien, area manager of external affairs for Southwestern Bell, explains:

"Because of flood conditions in Texas, the delivery of some of our new directories for this area were four days late. It's understandable that people don't want to give up their old directories until they have the new ones."

The delivery of new directories started more than a week ago.

More than 55,000 books will be distributed in the Cape Girardeau area, which includes Jackson, Scott City, Kelso, Commerce, New Wells, Pocahontas, Oak Ridge, Altenburg, Farrar and Frohna.

The goal for collecting old directories this year is 25,000. The recycling program is in its third year in the Cape Girardeau area.

During the past two years, 50,000 directories have been collected. That translates into 20 tons of directories, about 36 trees saved and 70 cubic yards of landfill space saved.