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
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