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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2018)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, November 7, 2018 A3 Walden visits with digital network leaders ing bullets” and asked their team in Portland to send the application. Local outage coincides with visit Local outages By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle A CenturyLink internet outage that impacted much of Grant County for at least 12 hours coincided with Rep. Greg Walden’s meeting with Grant County Digital Net- work Coalition board at the John Day Fire Hall on Oct. 31. Walden was there to dis- cuss his efforts as chairman of the House Committee on En- ergy and Commerce to bridge the digital divide between ru- Eagle photos/Richard Hanners ral and urban areas. The coali- tion hopes to leverage a state Rep. Greg Walden, left, meets with Grant County Education Service District appropriation and a federal Superintendent Robert Waltenburg, center, and John Day Mayor Ron Lundbom to grant to expand broadband discuss broadband issues in the John Day Fire Hall Oct. 31. service in Grant County. cal programs that modernized over the next decade. speakerphone. Digital divide rural economies as models Less than 20 of the 124 Walden’s committee over- Just 55 percent of rural for improving internet access sees the FCC, and he invited grant applicants will be of- residents in the United States — rural electrification, rural FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to fered funding, Parker said. have access to internet speeds telephone service and the in- visit Eastern Oregon in June Notices of awards should be that qualify as broadband, terstate highway system. to discuss efforts to improve released in November or De- Perdue’s task force identi- connectivity in rural commu- cember, he said. compared to 94 percent of Comparing the compet- urban residents, according to fied five objectives and rec- nities. John Day City Manag- itiveness of the grant to the Brian Whitacre, an economist ommendations — executive at Oklahoma State University. leadership in Washington, er Nick Green met with Pai “Hunger Games,” Green Improving internet access a detailed infrastructure as- and told him that John Day explained that the coalition for rural communities “is not sessment, a reduction in bu- had received a $1.8 million spent $93,000 developing its simply an amenity — it has reaucratic regulatory barri- appropriation from the leg- application. Completing such become essential,” Agricul- ers, an assessment of current islature to expand broadband a complex application with- ture Secretary Sonny Perdue grant and subsidy programs in Grant County and had ap- out the state appropriation noted in a January report by and encouraging private cap- plied for a $2.9 million feder- would have been impossible, al Community Connect grant he said. the Interagency Task Force on ital investment. to implement the program. Agriculture and Rural Pros- Government Due diligence perity, which he heads. The goal of the first phase Rural America encom- While the benefits of the is to run a fiber cable back- action bone from John Day to Sen- engineering and planning passes 72 percent of U.S. land The Rural Prosperity eca, with laterals to homes will extend beyond the due and 46 million people, with abundant natural resources, report made an impact on and businesses along High- diligence needed for the scenic landscapes and cultur- Congress, Walden told the way 395 and fiber-to-home Community Connect appli- al amenities that attract new coalition board — Congress connections in Seneca. Con- cation, not winning the grant residents. But low popula- provided $600 million in ad- struction plans have been “would suck,” Green said. tion density and geographical ditional funding to help small developed, and all that is Grant County belongs to challenges pose hurdles for rural communities improve needed is funding, Green told a subset of rural communi- ties called frontier, Green the development of broad- internet access. That’s on top Walden. band networks needed to en- of the Federal Communica- The review process for the told Walden and Parker. The able innovative technologies tions Commission’s Connect Community Connect grant low population density and such as precision agriculture, America Fund Phase II auc- was nearly complete, Chad sprawling federal lands make teleworking, digital learning tion, which allocated $1.4 Parker, an assistant adminis- it impossible to recover con- and telemedicine, the report billion to support broadband trator for Telecommunication struction costs from custom- expansion in underserved Programs at USDA Rural ers. Internet providers can’t said. Planners point to histori- communities in 45 states Development, replied over bill cattle, he said. Frontier Seneca Public Works Director Josh Walker listens to a discussion about broadband issues in the John Day Fire Hall Oct. 31. communities must rely on grants, not loans, he said. Green went on to describe the importance of the coali- tion’s partnership with Ore- gon Telephone Corp., which already has an extensive fiber network in Grant County but could not afford to expand it more without outside fund- ing. Without the Ortelco sys- tem, the coalition would have to build a broadband network from scratch, Green said. On the other hand, it didn’t make sense to just hand over public funding and hope a private company would do what the coalition thought was neces- sary, Green added. Parker said he agreed with Green about frontier com- munities needing to rely on grants and said he expected his agency would accept a public-private partnership as described by Green. Green also described the difficulty his staff faced in uploading the complex Com- munity Connect application at the slow internet speeds in Grant County. With four hours left before the deadline, Green said they were “sweat- The CenturyLink outage seemed to drive home the need for improved internet service in Grant County. Co- alition board member Denise Porter said 28 homes in the small town of Long Creek lost service, while outages were reported across John Day. But the situation was worse in Seneca, where ser- vice problems had continued over the past six weeks, co- alition board member Josh Walker said. While service continued at his home, oth- er residents reported throt- tled-down internet speeds or no service at all. The Sene- ca city manager conducted much of the city’s online business at her home in Can- yon City, he said. Walker said he receives calls frequently from Seneca residents about the poor inter- net service and heard different stories from CenturyLink of- ficials. According to Walker, a CenturyLink technician at one point said the problem had been identified, but the company wouldn’t send the needed replacement part and it had to be ordered on eBay. Green characterized the situation as a rolling brown- out and called the unwilling- ness of CenturyLink to invest in the local infrastructure “baffling.” “Why aren’t they increas- ing capacity?” Walden asked. People should be talking about improving the local economy, not this sort of thing, Green said, comparing the coalition’s relationship with CenturyLink to “David and Goliath.” Walden’s chief of staff, Lorissa Bounds, who was present at the local meeting, immediately began contacting people about the problem. As the meeting wound down, she told the Eagle she was speak- ing to CenturyLink’s top lob- byist in Washington, D.C. fe revere the men and women who serve and have served to protect the freedoms of our country. Veterans Day Remembering those who served We give our thanks to you for keeping us safe . Grant County Chamber of Commerce 301 f Main St., John Day, OR 97845 541.575.0547 • gcoregonlive.com John Day Elks Lodge #1824 • 140 NE Dayton St., John Day • 541.575.1824 Prairie City invites you to a Blue Mountain Christmas Christmas on the Prairie Saturday, Nov. 17 9 a.m. Whether you’re planning for next year’s working capital, expansion, or equipment… now is the time to come visit BEO. Term Loans Make a Gingerbread House • Bazaars • Baked Goods • • Handmade Craſts • • Holiday Shopping • In-store Specials • Ornament Hunt • Santa • FFA Dinner & Auction • • Hay Rides Lines of Credit Ag & Commercial Real Estate John Day & Prairie City Branches beobank.com Member FDIC
