Tiny Town Feels Disconnected - Left Out Of Directory

Tensed, Idaho, is home to nearly 90 people. It has two city parks, a tavern, a city hall and is planning a library. More than 70 area businesses have been identified by a local association.

But just try to find them.

The folks in southwest Benewah County are not listed in the Benewah County telephone book. They’re not in any Idaho directory and you can’t find them through AT&T.

About the only people who have the 274-prefix numbers of people in Tensed are those in Tensed. And in neighboring Tekoa, Wash.

Since the days of party lines and cranks, Tensed has been a part of the Tekoa exchange, the switching office where the calls are processed, about 13 miles away.

As such, they are listed in a small Tekoa telephone directory - the only Idaho residents found solely in a Washington phone book, the commission says.

“It’s probably cost me thousands of dollars over the years,” said Christina Crawford, who has operated Seven Springs Farm, a bed and breakfast near Tensed, for five years. “For years people have complained they cannot find me in the phone book.”

To add static to the situation, the folks in Tensed can’t call their schools or county officials without paying a long-distance charge. They can call Tekoa.

“Times have changed but the phone system hasn’t,” said Dave Johnson, Benewah County commissioner who represents the area.

Buoyed by a new business association, telephone customers have finally begun complaining to GTE, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and Sen. Larry Craig.

“I don’t think including 90 Idahoans in an Idaho phone book is asking too much,” said David Scott, spokesman for the utilities commission. “You can make a transatlantic call with very little difficulty. Why is this so hard?”

It’s not, said a surprised manager for GTE Directories, Greg Ness. Ness said this is the first his division has ever heard of the problem and is more than willing to work with the community.

GTE Directories routinely looks at coverage areas and makes changes to accommodate shopping patterns and consumers, he said. Such changes can take two years because of publishing requirements and deadlines.

Businesses, however, could get in next year’s Benewah County (St. Maries) directory - or any directory - simply by buying a listing.

Even that rankles residents.

“I shouldn’t have to be charged anything to be listed in the county I live in,” Crawford said.

“They belong to Benewah and that’s the county directory they should be in,” said Commissioner Johnson.

Incorporated 50 years ago, Tensed is DeSmet, its nearest neighbor, spelled backwards, Johnson said. Misspelled, that is.

The “n” should have been an “m.”

Years ago, folks went to the once-lively railroad town of Tekoa to trade and shop at the Piggly Wiggly. But times changed. Tensed children go to school in Plummer or Potlatch. The county seat is in St. Maries, the shopping is in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

Only the mail still comes from Tekoa.

“It’s frustrating especially for the new people,” Johnson said. “Tensed has changed, a younger generation is moving in, and this has been passed on.”

GTE says since residents began raising the issue, operators in Idaho have been trained to find Tensed listings and give out correct numbers.

But even staff at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission say they’ve tried calling Tensed numbers with “mixed results.”

Outside Idaho, it’s nearly impossible to find the Tensed listings. In Washington, Tekoa appears in the US West Spokane directory - with no Tensed numbers.

Because it’s not in the local GTE directory, national directories such as AT&T or local ones such as the Hagadone telephone directory which assemble data for “all Benewah County” - also miss Tensed.

“I try to do publicity or promotions but unless I physically hand (customers) a brochure with the telephone number I have no assurance they’ll ever be able to make the connection,” Crawford said.

Johnson also is working to get an expanded toll-free area so that Tensed telephone calls for basic services such as schools and government are considered local.

The community would have to petition the state for such a change, which requires a lengthy process. And, there are already several Idaho communities in line to have their petitions heard first.

“We do recognize communities change and we’re certainly willing to look at what we can to accommodate them,” said GTE spokesman Bob Wayt.

In the meantime, it’s a long-distance call for Tensed, a town with so little clout that the local grocer has to drive to Plummer to get bread because delivery trucks consider it “the end of the road.”

“Other towns don’t seem to have this problem,” said Diane Jensen, who owns the grocery store and serves on the Tensed City Council.

Not even cellular phones work in the area. Which may explain the billboard that for years has called Tensed:

“A Quiet Place to Settle.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Map of Tensed area