Going to the Movies and Other Things EDITORIAL

LIVINGSTON, November 23, 2007 – I like a good movie as much as the next man but I’ve not gone to see a movie in a theater in many years. I’m lucky because where I live I have high speed Internet access available to me and enjoy its use very much.

I downloaded the Academy Award winning film the Queen and enjoyed watching it this weekend. It’s high-speed Internet access that makes it all possible and more affordable. Going to a theater to see a movie is no longer a pleasant experience. First there’s the cost of driving to Houston or Humble to see it. The cost of transportation is expensive and it wastes two hours of your precious time to travel there and back.

The other very annoying thing about seeing movies in theaters is that you’re forced to watch 25 minutes of commercials for coming attractions before the movie you actually paid to see starts. I don’t have time for that.

Computers and high-speed networks are tools that can be used for a lot of things. One of the most explosive areas of use of the Internet these days is education and it will continue to grow at even more rapid rates.

People today are earning college degrees online and earning a degree online will be the answer for many of the kids graduating from our local high schools.

In round numbers only about 10 percent of graduating high school seniors in many rural Texas Counties even bother to take the SAT test to prepare for college. Most know that the high cost of a college education is beyond their reach. It is for these people that higher education attained over the Internet will be the answer. But it will take high spend internet access to make this possible and give students the opportunity they need to better there lot in life.

With globalization the American worker is in a head to head competition with the Asian worker, the Latin American Worker and the Indian Worker.  This is NOT going to change. We are losing American manufacturing jobs that have been the mainstay of the middle class in America to foreign competition. The only people that will fair better in the future will be those with an education. Education has always been important but it is more important now than ever before.

Unfortunately for our area in Rural Texas, many do not have access to a high-speed Internet network and the necessary opportunities for our children and families are not available.

The high speed Internet service providers operating have carved up Rural Texas into small monopolistic service areas and largely do not compete with one another and service is only available to those who are lucky enough to live in one of the small areas where high-speed service is available. Many in Rural Texas are not served and something needs to be done about it.

Many politicians say they don’t hear any complaints from citizens regarding this issue and aren’t thinking about high-speed Internet service and the lack there of as a problem. The reason they are not hearing anything is because people don’t know who to complain to. When the road in front of your house has potholes, you know who to call. When your garbage is not being pickup up, you know who to call and when your water is cut off, you know who to call. But who do you call when you don't have high speed Internet service at your home and nobody seems to be doing anything about it? High-speed Internet service is just as important a piece of infrastructure as a sewer system, water system, roads, electrical service, etc. And for those who seek economic development infrastructure comes first and then development follows. Widespread high-speed Internet networks are the single most feasible economic development project that can be done that will bring economic benefit for years to come.

It’s time our cities look into establishing municipal high speed networks both within there cities and neighboring cities and communities and make high speed internet access a reality for everyone living in Rural Texas. You should contact your City Councilmen and activists in your communities to make this a reality so our citizens have the same advantages that those living in the big cities have and enjoy. You should not be penalized just because you chose to live in a rural environment and should be able to enjoy an improved quality of life that high-speed Internet access brings. It’s time to make yourself heard.

To paraphrase Mark Twain concerning our current state of affairs, “I hope I’m in Rural Texas when the end of the world comes, because they’re at least 30 years behind everybody else.”

By Allen Youngblood

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