DOMENICI HELPS INAUGURATE
TAOS PUBLIC LIBRARY NEW INTERNET ACCESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                 CONTACT: AGNES CECILE OCZON
July 2, 1996                                         202-224-7073



                    DOMENICI HELPS INAUGURATE
             TAOS PUBLIC LIBRARY NEW INTERNET ACCESS


  Taos Citizens Now Have Access to New Informational Resources


TAOS -- Senator Pete Domenici today "flipped the switch" at
the Taos Public Library, and thereby opened for the citizens of
Taos a new world of global information resources right in their own
library.


Domenici helped to inaugurate the Taos Library's new wireless
hook-up to the internet access at the La Plaza Telecommunity
Center.


"While I may not be as big a computer whiz as some of my
grandkids, I do know that the internet offers a world of knowledge. 
With this new uplink, everyone from young students to grandparents
can take advantage of this global information to learn more about
the world," Domenici said.


"As the American economy is increasingly becoming an
information-based economy, sharpening our skills in retrieving and
using information become more and more available.  Only by
developing such skills can we make sure to put new information
technologies to use in a way that benefits ourselves, our families,
our businesses and our society," he said.


Domenici said that the internet can be used to disseminate
constant, up-to-date information about the drought in New Mexico,
about health care, and other issues.


Domenici commended La Plaza Telecommunity Center and TAL, a
provider of wireless telecommunications services, for their efforts
in bringing the internet services to the citizens of Taos.


The new access was the result of a collaboration between the
Taos Library, TAL (a wireless products and services company
responsible for donating and setting-up the internet hook-up at the
Taos Public Library), and the La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation.


The La Plaza Telecommunity Foundation is a locally-owned and
operated foundation.  It provides internet access through local
phone dial-in, as well as through public access computer terminals
at the Telecommunity Center.  La Plaza produces and collects
information relevant to the citizens of northern New Mexico, and
makes it available to them on the internet.  Since December 1994,
2,500 residents of Taos have accessed the Information Superhighway
through La Plaza.