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Engineer restores pay phones for free public use

In a rural Vermont county, spotty cellphone coverage is the norm. But a local tinkerer is using old technology to help his community stay connected free of charge.

Vermont Rep. Philip Jay Hooper, who represents Orange County, makes a call using one of Patrick Schlott's payphones. Schlott has taken old pay phones, modified them to make free calls, and set them up in three different towns across the county. And at a public library in Thetford Center — the most used installation by far — kids have been able to call their parents for rides home or simply to check in.

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