By Sue Vorenberg
Tribune reporter

     May has not been a good month for Suellen Bowersock.
     Last May, during the Cerro Grande Fire, her Los Alamos home and business went up in smoke and flames. She escaped with only two bikes and a trailer.
     A year later, she's learned she may lose her business materials again -- this time to the state Public Regulation Commission's decision to shift the state's urban centers from the 505 area code to 957.
     "A year ago to the date I realized somebody's bad decision impacted my life and my business," Bowersock said. "Then I'm reading in the paper on May 10, 2001, that the area code's going to change and it's happening again. I'm thinking, 'No!' Somebody out of my control is making these decisions, and I'm thinking I don't have a voice."
     Bowersock has been rebuilding her business, Enchanted Lands Enterprise Inc., during the past year. The outdoor adventure company sells itself through catalogs and its Web site at www.enchantedlands.com.
     All the catalogs burned last year. This month Bowersock had a batch reprinted to last for the next two to three years. She did this out of pocket, because her Federal Emergency Management Agency claims haven't gone through yet. But now phone numbers on every page may be wrong.
     "From December to last Wednesday I was working on my tour catalog," Bowersock said. "Then on Thursday I had this horrible realization. We lost our business and we lost our home because of the Cerro Grande. The whole year has been trying to regain information and data, replace and resupply.
     "One of the commissioners is saying businesses can just run through the rest of their stationery. That's wrong. People in Los Alamos who had their businesses burn have just restocked. I made my decision because I know the next two years won't be any smoother than last year, so I thought I'd make my efforts last longer. Now I'm thinking people in New Mexico just shouldn't make decisions in May."
     Bowersock's plight runs to the severe side of the anticipated problems the area code switch will cause businesses in urban New Mexico, but she's not alone. Other small businesses in the area are also expecting to have to pay thousands of dollars to switch over materials, money that can make or break such operations.
     "I'm just a little guy," said Steve Schultheis, owner of Dimensional Stone Inc. in Albuquerque. "It's basically just me and a part-time employee. I've just gotten over $2,000 worth of printing done. If this changes, I'll have to get that done all over again. That may not sound like all that much, but it's significant for a business this size. One consequence might be if I wanted to take my part-time employee to full time, I wouldn't be able to afford it."
     Another Albuquerque small business, CLASServices Inc., is preparing for a similar hit. Reprinting brochures and other materials will likely cost the company, which promotes and trains authors and speakers, $5,000.
     "We just updated our logo, printed new business cards, new stationery," said President Marita Littauer. "As a small business it's more economical to print thousands of copies to last several years. This will cost us not just in reprinted materials, but in customers. People trying to call us won't be able to get through. And I'm concerned about our fax number. When people call in to fax responses to our seminars, having a message that says they have the wrong number won't do much good."
     Littauer said the cost will likely mean she won't be able to pay herself, and she's already had do go without pay several times during the past year.
     Larger businesses are also expecting to feel the crunch. Frank's Supply Co. Inc., which has offices in Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Farmington and El Paso, is expecting to shell out $260,000 for the switch.
     "We have notepads that we give out; we have a catalog, which is probably the biggest item," said CEO Danny Deaver. "We just completed handing those out, and we have no idea who picked them up, so we can't tell them if the number changes. Those cost us $75,000, and our number is on every page. We also have decals on all of our rental equipment, which is worth about $6.5 million. And we have things like thermometers, to measure concrete temperatures, and calendars we give out -- all of those have our number on them, too."
     The company will have to notify all its vendors, reprint its materials, re-do its advertisements and re-print business cards for most of its 100 employees if the change occurs, Deaver said.
     "It won't be the end of the world, but it will be very expensive," Deaver said. "We would still have to make allowances at our Farmington store if it were the other way around, but that wouldn't be nearly as severe. I don't think people realize how many things are involved with this. I'm sure the PRC didn't get the turnout that would have been possible at their hearings because it didn't hit home for people."
     Albuquerque-based First State Bank is anticipating a hit of $40,000 to $50,000 to reprint materials and update its customer database.
     "We're taking a look at all the different ways this will affect us," said Executive Vice President Pat Dee. "Obviously, we have a lot of stationery and brochures that will need to be changed. We have phone numbers on our Web site that will have to change. We also have a pretty extensive customer database in both the rural and urban areas, and we'll have to find a way programmatically to change the updated ones and leave the others alone. The database is really too large to do it manually."
     Other companies may be saved by technology and 800 numbers. Intel Corp. uses an internal high-tech telephone system that runs over the Internet. Its use will save the company most of the costs for a switchover.
     "All our long-distance calls site to site and fab to fab are made via the Internet," said Intel spokesman Terry McDermott. "What happens is if somebody calls me from another Intel site they just dial a prefix, and the software automatically dials the area code. We'll need to make a software change, but that won't cost much at all. Where this would be a real concern is if we had a sales office here, but we don't. This is a manufacturing plant, so there's minimal impact."
     The state Tourism Department is also anticipating a minimal impact, as it uses an 800 number on most of its printed materials.
     "Obviously our number in the in-state books will have to change," said Tourism Secretary Janet Green. "But as far as visitors needing to get ahold of us, there shouldn't be a problem. There will be some impacts from reprinting letterhead, but that will probably be the only change that will take place."
     The department said it would cost $1,979 to reprint its letterhead.
     Yet another problem looms in the nonprofit area. Elena Giacci, coordinator of violence prevention against women at the Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center says the change will have a significant affect on her organization's outreach efforts.
     "One of the key aspects of domestic violence is that these women tend to be very isolated and cut out from the general public," Giacci said. "It's not like they have a real information flow. If they pick up one of our cards, it would be tragic if they reached out for support, we said we'd be there and then they couldn't reach us."
     The organization is printing a new 85-page book called "My Neighbor is a Battered Woman." It will have to print stickers if the code changes and place them in the book's 30 page directory of phone numbers and resources.
     "A lot of our abilities to print these materials come from one-time grants," Giacci said. "That money may not be available again to reproduce the materials if we need them. In the meantime if we hold back, the information doesn't get out. This information says, 'You're not alone. This is not your fault. Whatever you did, you did the right things so far.' Beyond the cost and the numbers, it would be tragic if this information can't get out there."
     And while the decision may look like a boon to local printing companies, many of them have said that the influx of business could be too much for them, and that the economic problems the switch will cause the state may ultimately slow their business.
     "It's great for us now, but when it hurts the economy, I don't think that's great for us," said Nanette Ely-Davies, president of High Desert Business Forms. "I'd rather have people coming to us because they want to, not because they have to. I'd like to see them print extra things, rather than printing the things they already have."