PHONE OUTAGE AFFECTS THREE ARE COUNTIES

Thousands of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. customers in parts of three counties -- Pemiscot, Dunklin and New Madrid -- were without telephone service for four hours Wednesday morning.

"We had a computer software malfunction," said Jackie Himmelberg of Southwestern Bell Telephone's St. Louis office. "A switch was down affecting service over a wide Southeast Missouri area."

A half-dozen prefixes at Caruthersville, Hayti, Kennett, Malden, Wardell, Deering and Braggadocio were out of order from about 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The outage occurred in Missouri's Bootheel.

Telephone service remained intact at Steele, near the Arkansas border, but service was out less than a dozen miles away at Caruthersville.

The outage area extended as far west as Kennett and Malden, and as far north as Wardell.

Telephone service also remained intact at Portageville, a half-dozen miles north of Wardell.

"Service was out for about four hours," said Himmelberg.

Immediately following the initial report Wednesday, a team of telephone technicians were sent to the scene.

"Cellular telephones were dispatched to a number of fire departments, law enforcement agencies and hospitals throughout the area," said Himmelberg.

The bulk of some 25,800 residential and business lines in the area were affected, said Himmelberg.

"The power went off here about 7:30 a.m.," said Bob Ward, communications officer at the Caruthersville Police Department. Law enforcement agencies could maintain contact with each other and with medical facilities via police communications.

"Things were quiet here," said a spokesman at Pemiscot County Hospital in Hayti. "We had some cellular telephones, but some of them were out too."

The Kennett Fire Department used a satellite system.

"We put out a page number for emergency calls," said Capt. Scott Tutor. "A number of people have scanners."

Luckily, however, no emergency numbers had to be used, said Tutor.