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Delivery Of Telephone Directories In Maryland Will Soon Stop

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- The end of an era is coming to Maryland.

Soon, the delivery of the White Pages telephone directories will stop and, as Mike Schuh reports, many won't miss them at all.

Within a year of the telephone's invention, the first telephone books came out.  For most of those 133 years, the White Pages were indispensable. 

But now, many people we spoke with can't even remember when they last used a telephone book.

"I don't remember," said Nicholas Davenport.

"More than five years ago," said Tiffany Hall.

"I hate these books.  They're heavy; they show up on the porch and I say, `Oh no, not again,'" said Jeannie Marcov.

That's why Verizon asked the state to stop delivering them.  The state said no, but then the legislature stepped in.  The House and Senate voted to kill mandatory delivery of the White Pages. 

But some do still use them.  Troy Sedgewick says he opened one just Tuesday morning.

"I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy," Sedgewick said.

Both the Senate and House bills allowing the phone company to stop distribution have passed nearly unanimously.  Now their action goes to the governor for his signature.  A spokesman says the governor will sign that legislation into law.

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