[RTC List] The Rob & Cherie Arkley Fiberoptic Cable

[Michael Welch]

Hey William. OK, I am appropriately chastised for appearing to mock Arkley. I let my feelings about his eagerness to file suit against somebody cloud my choice of words a bit. (Though from your choice of words to me it is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.)

That said, I still think it would be an appropriate thing for him to spend his money on--if he is interested. (He let us know he was not.) It may have appeared to have a mocking tone, but I was dead serious about the suggestion on all levels. 

We obviously have a different take on what constitutes critical service for a community, but I do understand your and your business's viewpoint. 

For the record, I did not question Arkley's right to say anything. I'm a strong proponent of the individual right to free speech.

William Van Hefner wrote at 12:19 PM 10/12/2007:
 
>Michael,
>
>Benefits private industry?!!? I don't know what planet you are living on,
>but down here on Earth I spent the entire day without any phone service.
>My Sprint Wireless service didn't allow me to make any local or long
>distance calls or even reach an operator. God only knows what would have
>happened, had I needed to dial 9-1-1. This issue is not about how to
>benefit "private industry", it is about serving the needs of the average
>Humboldt County citizen, which is what our public officials are supposedly
>elected to do. If it's important to me, then it should be important to
>them. The last time I checked, representing the voters was their job, not
>just something they did in their spare time.
>
>For that matter "private industry", consists of businesses owned and
>worked at by real human beings. The "public sector" is made up of those
>whose job it is to serve the public who pays their salaries. Our
>government was created to serve the people and protect their rights, not
>the other way around.
>
>As for your concern in regards to Mr. Arkley, I'd say that he has just as
>much right to demand that our public officials represent our interests as
>taxpayers as any other citizen. If our public officials do not have time
>to listen to the concerns of their constituents, then they should be
>promptly impeached or voted out of office as quickly as the law will
>allow.
>
>And as for your insistence that fiber redundancy would only benefit the
>"few", and your inference that the rich would benefit more than the poor,
>you might want to get out into our community a little more often in order
>to see how directly this affects all aspects of people's lives. For
>starters, the trend these days is that not everyone can afford both a
>landline and a wireless phone. Those with low incomes generally have to
>choose between one or the other, and the price drop in wireless phones has
>made them the more acceptable of the two. What happens to their ability to
>communicate with their families when they have no phone service? For that
>matter, what happens to those families who are going through hard times
>and can't afford to put dinner on the table without using a credit card?
>How long should they have to go without groceries while AT&T patches
>cables back together? What about the elderly who depend on home monitoring
>services, most of which dial numbers outside of the area? What about the
>public buildings that rely upon reliable phone service for their (fire)
>alarm systems (mine dials a 1-800 number)? What if a child got sick and
>his parents could not reach the poison control hotline, or someone who was
>mentally ill couldn't reach a suicide hotline? Perhaps you could explain
>to their families that these services weren't really important, because
>only rich people or private businesses stood much to gain by having a
>reliable and inexpensive way for 99%+ of the public to communicate with
>the outside world?
>
>Anyone putting 30 seconds or more of thought into this knows how vital it
>is to public safety that we do not allow this situation to continue.
>Wealthy businesspeople can obviously afford to get around the problem. The
>average Humboldt County citizen can't. Mr. Arkley has nothing to
>personally gain in any of this. His company can afford to bring in their
>own wireless system if they want to. It seems to me to be in poor taste to
>mock him when he is going out of his way to help support the rest of us.
>
>-- 
>
>William Van Hefner
>President
>
>Vantek Communications, Inc.
>3144 Broadway, Ste 3
>Eureka, CA 95501-3838
>707.476.0833 ph
>800.331.4638 fx
>e-mail: vantek at sonic.net
>
>> It's not the Supes job to do this. This benefits private industry, and
>> private industry should cover it.
>> What a perfect application for your huge amount of wealth. You could even
>> name it The Arkley Cable.

The above is the opinion of Michael Welch, and not that of his employer or any organization that he volunteers for.