Bell Atlantic Names NYC Corporation Counsel Paul Crotty Senior Vice President for New York and Connecticut

Bell Atlantic Mobile Arms Neighborhood Watch Groups With Cellular Phones

October 2, 1997

DOVER, DE -- Armed with cellular phones, two neighborhood watch

groups in Dover have a new tool in fighting crime due to a donation by

Bell Atlantic Mobile. The phones will play a vital role in the

activities of both watch groups by providing direct communication with

the police, making it possible to alert officers of suspicious

criminal activity immediately.

"These phones will enable us to alert officers fast and efficiently in

case of an emergency," said David Dickey, a spokesman for the Capitol

Park Community Watch, a crime watch group consisting of 45 people.

Kelly Dare, spokesman for the Canterbury Neighborhood Watch Group,

accepted a cellular phone on behalf of his 12-member group. "We're so

grateful for this donation. It's comforting to know that our

neighborhood will now be safer."

The donation is part of Bell Atlantic Mobile's "Wireless at Work"

initiative which makes cellular phone donations to charitable

organizations. According to Stephen Giffen, manager of Bell Atlantic

Mobile's Dover communications store, "reaching out to the community

and playing an active role in promoting safety is very important to

us. We're happy to make a difference and to make it easier for the

watch groups to do their jobs."

Bell Atlantic Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the

East Coast and the second largest in the United States. The company

owns and operates the most extensive network in the East, covering

111,000 square miles, and the largest chain of wireless retail outlets

offering a full range of wireless personal communications service,

including voice, data and paging. Based in Bedminster, NJ, Bell

Atlantic Mobile has 5 million customers and 7,000 employees in the

Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate

subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company is the chief wireless

subsidiary of the new Bell Atlantic, formed through the merger of Bell

Atlantic and NYNEX corporations.