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BENSON -- It took thousands of unsolicited phone calls to make it happen, an irony not lost on the legislator who got his way because of them.

On Nov. 1, phone customers can begin placing their names and phone numbers on Minnesota's "Do Not Call" list. It will keep most telemarketers from calling those who sign up, according to Rep. Matt Entenza, DFL of St. Paul, the chief author of the legislation.

The law itself takes effect on Jan. 1, 2003, Entenza told a crowd of senior citizens at Meadow Lane Health Care Center in Benson on Wednesday.

Entenza purposely sought out the senior citizens to get the word out about the new law. People ages 60 and over are the primary "targets" of unscrupulous telemarketers, who buy lists with the phone numbers and birth dates of seniors, he said.

He's had lots of opportunity to learn how it all works, starting very close to home. Telemarketing fraud struck his family when his 95-year-old grandmother started to receive a steady parade of magazines like Teen, Glamour, 17 and Teen Beat in her mailbox.

An unscrupulous telemarketer had taken advantage of her and charged her credit card $1,500 for five-year subscriptions to 19 different magazines.

Entenza said it took him three months to have the charge removed from her credit card.

That's despite his own experience as a Hennepin County prosecutor and role as House minority leader in the state Legislature. He's also served in the Minnesota Attorney General's office as an investigator and prosecutor of telemarketing fraud.

Entenza was joined by co-author Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, and DFL candidate Aaron Peterson in Benson. He told his audience that it took four years to get the bill approved.

The House Republican leadership blocked his bill by preventing it from getting committee hearings, according to Entenza. Once the logjam was broken, the bill was approved by a strong, bi-partisan vote, he said.

The legislator credited the American Association of Retired People with making it possible by going to the phones on the bill's behalf. Senior citizens deluged committee chairs with phone calls demanding hearings for the bill.

After 2,000 calls from senior citizens, one committee chair in effect cried uncle, according to Entenza. "These calls are so annoying," Entenza said the chair told him.

For many, calls from unscrupulous telemarketers are not only annoying but costly. When he was with the attorney general's office, Entenza said he successfully prosecuted one unscrupulous telemarketer who solicited donations from senior citizens on the promise of distributing Bibles to the homeless.

The now-convicted felon diverted 95 percent of the donations- over $200,000- to his telemarketing company. The remaining five percent went to his girl friend for administrative costs, said Entenza.

Most of the funds could not be recovered, he added. They had already been spent to support the defendant's lavish lifestyle.

Phone customers who prefer a lifestyle uninterrupted by phone calls from telemarketers need only place their names and phone numbers on the state's new list.

The Department of Commerce will announce an 800-number on Nov. 1 to call to get on the list, said Entenza.

Being on the list won't block all unsolicited calls. The law allows calls from businesses that have a prior relationship with the customer, and from businesses that do not complete the sale over the phone. Also, non-profit and political organizations can continue to call.

Entenza said that telemarketers who violate the law by calling people on the list can be fined up to $1,000 per call.

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