[ Business World...]

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Sep 28, 1999

For longtime church member Betty Pratt, the debate over the cell tower boils down to common sense. "All the people who came up here the other day and were upset about this had cell phones," Pratt said. "I don't know where they think those signals are going to bounce off of. They have got to bounce off something. You know the tower has to go someplace and we might as well get the benefit of it."

E-commerce gets high-octane push

NEW YORK (NYT) -- Talk about self-serve. Tokheim, the United States' largest maker of gasoline pumps, is about to introduce a new line of cyberpumps that would let customers get traffic updates, check the weather and shop online while waiting for their tanks to fill. BP Amoco, a longtime Tokheim customer, will be the first to test the new pumps early next year, most likely in metropolitan Chicago and other parts of the Midwest, said Jacques St. Denis, Tokheim's executive vice president for worldwide operations.

The new pumps, each with a 10-inch liquid-crystal-display touch- screen, are to be connected to the Web through a variety of Internet access providers, arranged by individual gasoline companies and content providers, which would be able to tailor the services to different markets. In some cases, for example, the pumps might promote merchandise for sale in the station's convenience store; in others, customers might be able to print coupons or shop online for mail-order delivery, using the same credit-card information they have provided to pay for their gas. At some stations that are adjacent to fast-food restaurants, customers might be able to place food orders and have them delivered to their cars while they are still parked at the pump.

St. Denis said he expected that gas pumps would be able to let customers check their e-mail and, eventually, to transmit data like maps and traffic information directly to in-car receivers."Anything you can do on the PC, you'll be able to do at the gas pump," he said. Except crash, one hopes.

Phones are coming!

CARLTON, Wash. (AP) -- Just in time for the new millennium, telephone service is coming to Libby Creek. "When the rest of the world is looking at speed and quantity, we're looking for a dial tone," said resident Joyce Campbell. "It's just so exciting, we're ready to break out the champagne."

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission has approved a proposal from CenturyTel to install phone lines to serve about 20 residents near Carlton in northcentral Washington's Methow Valley. The area was in a rare "unclaimed territory," meaning that no telephone company had responsibility for providing service. CenturyTel is proposing charging Libby Creek residents double its $12 per month basic rate for two years to cover the cost of setting up lines. If weather permits, phones could be ringing along Libby Creek as soon as this fall, the utility told the commission.

A few people along the rural dirt road now have cellular telephones, but service is expensive and unreliable. One person gave up a cell phone after receiving a $600 bill, Campbell said.