Warwick Valley Telephone investor says four, not three, directors fail to invest in company's stock

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., April 5 - Warwick Valley Telephone Co. shareholder Lawrence J. Goldstein, affiliated with Santa Monica Partners, LP, apologized for a mistake in its March 30 letter to the company's board stating that three directors do not own any Warwick stock. Four is the actual number of directors who have not purchased Warwick stock and do not own stock in the company, according to a letter included in a schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the letter, Goldstein wrote that 44.44% of Warwick's directors own no shares and "have no idea of the pain shareholders have suffered."

Goldstein added that a fifth director, former chief executive officer Herb Gareiss, does not directly own any shares, "despite being with the company for 28 years."

Over half of the board never invested any of their own hard-earned money in the stock of the company they control, Goldstein added.

Over the past few weeks, Goldstein has taken Warwick's board to task for "management's absolute inability to develop and execute a strategic plan to revive the company's direction" and for seeking to increase directors' compensation to $25,000 each.

Goldstein has also criticized the board for the decline of the company's stock to $15.00, its lowest since 2003, has urged the company to sell and has likened the board's current course to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

The reporting persons beneficially own 130,889 shares, or 2.4%, of the Warwick, N.Y., communication services company's stock.

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