Chapter 35 - TELEPHONES#

Footnotes:#

(1) ---

Cross reference— Posting advertising matter on telephone poles, § 3-2; fraudulent use of pay telephones, § 25-28; obtaining telephone service without payment, § 25-29; license tax for telephone companies, § 20-118; tax on purchasers of telephone service, § 34-96 et seq.

Sec. 35-1. - Duty of telephone company to furnish information relative to violations of chapter.#

It shall be the duty, on pain of contempt of court, of each telephone company in this city to furnish immediately, in response to a subpoena issued by a circuit court, such information as it, its officers and employees, may possess which, in the opinion of the court, may aid in the apprehension of persons suspected of violating the provisions of this chapter.

(Code 1963, § 38-1)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-431.

Sec. 35-2. - Profanity, threats, etc., over telephone.#

If any person shall use obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent language, or make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, or threaten any illegal or immoral act with the intent to coerce, intimidate or harass any person, over any telephone in this city, he shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(Code 1963, § 38-1)

Cross reference— Obscenity, Ch. 24; public profanity, § 25-18.

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-427.

Sec. 35-3. - Giving certain false information to another.#

If any person maliciously advises or informs another over any telephone in this city of the death of, accident to, injury to, illness of or disappearance of some third party, knowing the same to be false, he shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(Code 1963, § 38-2)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-428.

Sec. 35-4. - Causing telephone to ring with intent to annoy.#

Any person, who without intent to converse but with intent to annoy any other person, causes any telephone not of his own to ring and, any person who permits or condones the use of any telephone under his control for such purpose, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

(Code 1963, § 38-3)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, § 18.2-429.

Sec. 35-5. - Emergency calls on party lines.#

(a) Any person who fails to relinquish a telephone party line, after he has been requested to do so, to permit another to place an emergency call, shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor; provided, that this subsection shall not apply to any person who is, himself, using the telephone party line for an emergency call.

(b) Any person who requests another to relinquish a telephone party line on the pretext that he must place an emergency call, knowing such pretext to be false, shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

(c) As used in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, the term "telephone party line" means a subscribers' line circuit consisting of two (2) or more main telephone stations connected therewith, each station with a distinctive ring or telephone number, and the term "emergency call" means a call to report a fire or summon police, or for medical aid or ambulance service, in a situation where human life or property is in jeopardy and the prompt summoning of aid is essential.

(Code 1963, §§ 38-4—38-6)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, §§ 18.2-424—18.2-426.

Sec. 35-51. - Public rights-of-way use fee for providers of telecommunications services.#

For the purposes of this section:

Access lines are defined to include residence and business telephone lines and other switched common lines connecting the customer premises to the end office switch. Access lines do not include local, state, and federal government lines; access lines used to provide service to users as part of the Virginia Universal Service Plan; interstate and intrastate dedicated WATS lines; special access lines; off-premises extensions; official lines used by providers of telecommunications service for administrative, testing, intercept, and verification purposes; and commercial mobile radio service lines.

Certificated provider of telecommunications service means a public service corporation holding a certificate issued by the state corporation commission to provide local exchange or interexchange telephone service.

New installation of telecommunications facilities or new installation includes the construction of new pole lines and new conduit systems, and the burying of new cables in existing public rights-of-way. New installation does not include adding new cables to existing pole lines and conduit systems.

(Ord. No. 2003-01, 1-28-2003)