Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us GUEST FORUM October 27, 2005 Be a local patriot: Join AFN By Rivers Brown Ashland It was very natural for me to sign onto the Ashland Fiber Network when our family moved to Ashland. My only hesitation was which provider to use, so I researched a bit and asked around before choosing ours. I heard the prices for Charter were artificially low here because of the city network. It makes sense, as that is what Wal-Mart and other large chains do to shut-out competition and then go ahead and raise prices after the little players are squeezed out. There is something to be said about not shipping our wealth off to somewhere else, like Iraq, or Bentonville, Ark., or whatever corporate headquarters Internet and cable channel shareholders occupy. We are all shareholders in this Ashland network, and it could do wonders for our chances of survival through this as yet unseen (by most) extreme transition we find ourselves on the brink of. Some say our fiber network is not what they consider a public utility to be. Our national government built the Internet in the first place, so to say “government has no place” doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Besides a few commercial accounts, our city government, our school district, SOU, OSF and Ashland Hospital are using this system. Looking into the future, our fiber optic network utility could be wired into every household so that we could have unfettered information about what is happening in our community (and region and state, too) and communicate with each other and our elected officials and civil servants at a moment’s notice. All of our public meetings could be seen live over the Internet. It’s virtually up to us what we want to do with this great asset in our hands today. Approximately $7 of this $7.50 surcharge on the electric bill is past debt, which we all must pay regardless of the financial situation of AFN. Besides bringing high-speed Internet to Ashland, AFN has helped anyone using television or Internet through AFN or Charter save money. Currently, we have about 3,600 families using this system, so, averaging, say, 3.5 folks in each family, that would come to 12,600 of us 20,000. Ashland’s already hooked up. No doubt, keeping AFN afloat will benefit the entire city and local economy through attracting new business and families, and helping local profitability that in turn cycles back to us all as better jobs and better pay. It’s not the network that is the burden, it’s the debt. We can only sell the network, not the debt. Let’s keep it and do wonders with it in the future, especially since now, for the first time, it is operating at a break-even point. Be a local patriot by joining the Ashland Fiber Network now! DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Free Music Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Online Casinos FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products best online casino teleconferencing High-End Gaming Computers Diamonds Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Discounted Website Hostings Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Myspace Layouts Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Canadian Pharmacy Casino Gambling Sites Backpacks Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams