PHONE LISTING HAS SHERIFF'S CALLERS IRATE

There's a whole lot of ringing going on when callers try to contact the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, but there's no answer, not even a busy signal.

Some people have called the 911 emergency number just to get through. Others have made a special trip to the sheriff's office in Jackson just to get the right telephone number. Still others have called the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments to get the right number.

That's because the telephone number in the new Southwestern Bell telephone book for the Cape Girardeau region is wrong, sheriff's Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson said Friday. The listed number is from a backup line to the sheriff's department, one not intended for publication.

Until recently, the sheriff's staff could still answer calls that came through on that line, but Cape Girardeau County government recently went to a new telephone system, eliminating that option.

"It just rings and rings and rings, nothing happens," Dickerson said callers have told her. "We have had a lot of complaints."

In addition to the wrong number for the sheriff's department, the White Pages have left out 10 telephone numbers for Cape Girardeau County offices as well as the phone numbers of all the schools in the Cape Girardeau School District.

Southwestern Bell's St. Louis spokeswoman Michelle Johnson initially attributed the problem to a computer software "glitch," but later said it was unclear what had led to the errors.

"We did switch to a new software this year that holds all the listings," she said Friday. The computer records provide the telephone listings printed in the phone book.

Directory assistance

Johnson asked a Southeast Missourian reporter to provide the correct telephone numbers for county offices so the phone company could further investigate the situation

She said Southwestern Bell won't charge anyone who calls directory assistance for the telephone numbers of Cape Girardeau School District or county offices that aren't listed in the new phone book.

The latest edition of the phone book came out in December and won't be replaced until 2001.

Telephone numbers for the Cape Girardeau public schools appeared in last year's telephone directory in the White Pages, right between Cape Girardeau Printing Company and Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Some, but not all of the schools, also were listed in the Yellow Pages.

This year, the only reference to the Cape Girardeau School District is in the Yellow Pages, where the phone number for the board of education office is listed.

"I just threw this year's phone book away because it is no good for me," said Laverne Smith, administrative assistant to the school superintendent.

Missing telephone numbers for county offices include those of the assessor, collector, voter registration, county commission, data processing, treasurer and the highway department.

"It's a real mess," said Auditor H. Weldon Macke, who wishes Southwestern Bell would print a corrected phone book. "They should have to do the book over."

Staff in some county offices said they had reported the problem to the phone company. But Southwestern Bell's Johnson said she and other staffers with the phone company weren't aware of the problem with county government listings until Friday.

Collector Diane Diebold said taxpayers won't be happy when they reach for their phone book next fall and don't find the numbers for the collector's offices in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Diebold said she hopes to solve the problem by placing her Jackson office number and possibly the Cape Girardeau phone number on the envelopes and tax bills that will be mailed to taxpayers next fall.

WERE YOU LEFT OUT?

If your number was omitted or printed incorrectly in the latest Yellow Pages, call staff writer Mark Bliss at 335-6611, extension 123. Correct numbers will be printed in an upcoming edition of the Southeast Missourian.

MISSING PHONE NUMBERS

The following numbers were omitted from the new Southwestern Bell telephone directory:

Cape Girardeau School District

* Board of Education, 335-1867

* Central High School, 335-8228

* Central Junior High School, 334-2923

* Career and Technology Center, 334-0826

* Alma Schrader Elementary School, 335-5310

* Blanchard Elementary School, 335-3030

* Clippard Elementary School, 334-5720

* Franklin Elementary School, 335-5456

* Jefferson Elementary School, 334-2030

* Alternative Education Center, 335-5939

Cape Girardeau County government

Common Pleas Courthouse

Annex offices in Cape Girardeau

* Assessor, 334-8876

* Collector, 335-2606

* Voter registration, 335-9060

Administrative Building offices in Jackson

* Assessor, 243-2468

* Auditor, 243-2184

* County Commission, 243-1052

* Data processing, 243-5303

* Highway Department, 243-5270

* Treasurer, 243-3720

Wrong number

* The wrong number was listed for the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department in the new Southwestern Bell telephone book. The correct number is 243-3551.