BY WILLIAM MEAD
Los Alamos

Residents of Los Alamos County had a wake-up call Sunday. We’ve learned that all our communication modes depend on a single fiber-optic link. Even local phone calls were impossible, and access to emergency services was greatly limited. I suspect the community alert system was down as well. Without a local radio station, we were completely uninformed about the extent or likely duration of the black-out.

The County should improve communication services in two ways: 1) individual and mass communications within the county should be independent of trunk services and 2) redundant trunk services are necessary.