If Phones Ring, Obama Is Here, With Cell Power

[onehandle]

CHILMARK, Mass. — To the slamming screen door, happy vacation chatter and other noises at the Chilmark General Store, add a less expected one this month: ringing cellphones. Chilmark, a town of gentle hills and wandering stone walls in the outer reaches of Martha’s Vineyard, has spotty cellular service, at best, for most of the year. But when President Obama and his family arrive for what has become a yearly August vacation, something magical happens.

“Suddenly my phone starts ringing,” said Rachel Fox, an entertainment lawyer from Manhattan whose family has a home here. “There are people for whom this is a very big deal — not just that the president comes, but that their cellphones work while he’s here.” The better reception is due to two temporary cell towers (known as cell on wheels) that Verizon puts up here and in neighboring West Tisbury, said Timothy R. Carroll, the executive secretary in Chilmark. He said the White House Communications Agency, which handles phone systems for the president and other federal officials, had requested the towers.

They went up in early August and will stay until the end of the month, Mr. Carroll said, adding, “I would have been happy if they came in July.” Not everyone benefits from the better signal. James Ford, an AT&T customer from Saranac Lake, N.Y., had no service at the general store on Thursday. But his friend Stefan Martin, a Verizon customer, did. “I have four bars right now,” Mr. Martin said, waving his iPhone triumphantly.

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Barbara Baldwin, a teacher from Philadelphia and an Obama fan, said she would not mind if taxpayers were footing the bill. “I wouldn’t care even if it was Bush, who I hate,” said Ms. Baldwin, who was at the beach in Menemsha. “I mean, come on. They’re leading a country. They have to be in contact with people.”

[rug]

1. .

http://myplay.com/videos/michael-jackson/billie-jean

[LiberalFighter]

2. If it were a real vacation those temporary cell towers wouldn't likely be there.