Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 11

ARGUSLEADER.COM Sunday, May 1,2011 STATE WORLD 11A toadband: Better service could boost rural economy For more information about these events, or to make an appointment, call Healthformation at (605) 333-4444 or 1-800-445-5788 or visit www.sanfordhealth.orgevents General Melanoma Monday Monday, May 2, 5:30 p.m. Lewis Drug, 41st and Minnesota (605) 367-2000 Doable Healthy Meal Planning Tuesday, May 3, 6 p.m. Mutch Women's Center for Health Enrichment (605) 333-0698 or (800) 235-5923 After Breast Cancer Support Group Thursday, May 5, 7 p.m. Sanford Breast Health Institute, Sanford Cancer Center (605) 328-2891 Look Feel Better Monday, May 16, 4 p.m. Sanford Breast Health Institute, Sanford Cancer Center (605) 328-2891 Surgical Solutions to Obesity Information Seminar Monday, May 16, 6 p.m.

Schroeder Auditorium, Vv -XH 'C'i JC AAV- S-j Midcontinent technician Jon Hofstad fuses a new fiber-optic line into an existing line. Some of Midcontinent1 competitors have received federal subsidies, elisha page argus leader Continued from Page 1 A that companies which received grants and loans were establishing service in communities where high-speed Internet already existed. "They were successful in getting Uncle Sam to subsidize them and make it cheaper to compete against their cable company competitors" said Jeffrey Eisenach, an author of the study who is an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law. Rep. Greg Walden, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, has made oversight of broadband grants one of his top priorities.

Walden says he's concerned by the potential for fraud and abuse in the program, and he thinks Congress allocated more money than necessary to reach unserved areas. The money came as stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the $787 billion spending measure intended to prop up an ailing economy. The funding went to the Rural Utilities Service part of the Department of Agriculture and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where SDN received its grant. The final round of funding for broadband grants went out in September. Most of the $7.2 billion has not actually been spent, leading some to question its value as a stimulus.

The money also was awarded before a National Broadband Map was published earlier this year a map that charts where broadband service exists and where it doesn't. Once the stimulus bill passed in 2009, there was enormous pressure to get the money into communities, Eisenach said. "The desire to get this done quickly was directly in conflict with the desire to get it done wisely," he said. "There's a real question of, is this the best use of federal dollars especially in this economy," said Tom Simmons, the senior vice president of public policy at Midcontinent Communications. New competition Midcontinent did not apply for federal money, and it's one of many broadband companies now competing against companies that did receive federal dollars.

Besides competing against SDN, Midcontinent also is competing against an entity in Lake County, that used federal dollars to establish broadband service in two towns, Ely and Babbitt, in neighboring St. Louis County. Sanford USD Medical Center (605) 328-3840 Why Does My Child Act this Way Tuesday, May 17, 7 p.m. Mutch Women's Center for Health Enrichment (605) 333-0698 or (800) 235-5923 Cancer Nutrition Class Wednesday, May 18, Noon Oncology Conference Room, Sanford Cancer Center (605) 328-8000 Cancer Kickers Support Group Thursday, May 19, 4 p.m. Oncology Conference Room, Sanford Cancer Center (605) 328-8000 I Know I Can! I Know I Can! Motivation and Encouragement Thursday, May 19, 6 p.m.

Mutch Women's Center for Health Enrichment (605) 333-0698 or (800) 235-5923 Youth Heart Screen Sanford Children's Specialty Clinic Call (605) 328-2946 for appointment The Heart Vascular Screens at Sanford Sanford Screening Center, Sanford USD Medical Center Call 33-HEART for appointment Women's "Are customers getting a better deal?" asked Simmons. "Is their ability to have a choice of providers worth the money the government spent?" The federal subsidies, Simmons argues, could actually limit broadband development. Private com-panies might be less inclined to invest in expanding or upgrading their networks if they have to compete with companies receiving government subsidies. "While the government might have the best of intentions, in the long run they could be doing harm." Better connection But supporters of the program say it will bring broadband to communities that either don't have it or have inadequate service. That, they say, will aid those communities in economic, development.

In a statement, Jonathan Adelstein, the administrator for Rural Utilities Service, said the stimulus awards were fair and open, and they were for projects that lacked broadband for rural economic development. The projects were vetted by RUS staff and received strong support from local communities. "The Obama Administration supports providing access to broadband services in rural America because it will increase economic development and improve the quality of life for all Americans," Adelstein said. Mark Shlanta, SDN's CEO, said the company identified more than 300 institutions that needed a fiber connection. Some of them maybe had existing' service, but it's not as good as what SDN will provide.

As an example, schools that were wired more than 10 years ago don't have the capacity to handle today's needs. A fiber connection the company had access to a customer pool that will enable it to pay back its loans and serve as a springboard to reach communities without service. "It allowed us to get out to 4,600 square miles of remote area that doesn't have broadband today," Sevier said. Ultimately, he added, high-speed Internet will enable young people to stay in rural areas. "They have to be able to telecommute." Retaining youth Case in point is Dan Strevey.

Strevey and his wife are preparing to move from Colorado back to Nor-catur, where he will take over parts of a family farm operation that have been in his family for 100 years. He also will be able to keep his job as a high-tech engineer, which requires him to transfer enormous amounts of data via the Internet. Before highspeed broadband became available, his only options were dial-up or satellite, both of which didn't work with his job. Strevey says he's a "poster boy" for the program. He will keep his career while also farming.

And as he prepared for spring planting next week, he pointed out that his father, who is retiring from farming, didn't have electricity until he was 10, the last time the government embarked on a mission to wire rural communities. And if the government is willing to bail out banks, it also should be willing to help rural areas with economic development by subsidizing broadband, he said. "Where did the first stimulus go? It went into a square mile on Wall Street, and that didn't help anybody." Reach reporter Jonathan Ellis at 5753629. will give them that, enabling schools to participate in video conferencing. Rural health clinics will be connected, and other businesses and consumers will benefit.

"The ability for other providers to bring fiber to them in the past was available," he said. Besides bringing higher-speed Internet, the project also is creating jobs, investing in communities and accelerating the development of SDN's network. "We brought in $20 million of outside capital to build infrastructure in our state," Shlanta said. Faster service The national broadband program has been popular in communities where highspeed Internet has been expanded. Jim McGuire, the technology officer for the Vermillion School District, said SDN's fiber connection has been a vast improvement.

Though the district has had high-speed Internet for at least 10 years, it now has more capacity and faster service. Larry Sevier, the CEO of Rural Telephone Service in Kansas, says the federal government was smart in allowing award recipients to create networks in more populated areas that already have service. The law allows the Rural Utilities Service to fund projects as long as 75 percent of the area lacks sufficient access to high-speed broadband to support rural economic development. The company received more than $100 million in grants and loans to bring broadband to unserved communities in northwestern Kansas. The company used some of that money to expand in Hays, which already had service providers.

By establishing a presence in Hays, Sevier said Petraeus: Would be hard to admit failure Attack on church halted Birthing with Confidence: 5 Week Series Monday, May 9, 7 9 p.m. Childbirth Resource Center, Ann Berdahl Hall, Sanford USD Medical Center To register, call (605) 328-7140 Grandparenting Monday, May 9, 7 9 p.m. Childbirth Resource Center, Ann Berdahl Hall, Sanford USD Medical Center To register, call (605) 328-7140 Birthing with Confidence: 5 Week Series Tuesday, May 10, 7 9 p.m. Childbirth Resource Center, Ann Berdahl Hall, Sanford USD Medical Center To register, call (605) 328-7140 Breastfeeding Preparation Wednesday, May 11 or 25, 7 9 p.m. Childbirth Resource Center, Ann Berdahl Hall, Sanford USD Medical Center To register, call (605) 328-7140 B4 Baby Thursday, May 12, 7:30 9:30 p.m.

Sanford Women's Health Plaza To register, call (605) 328-7140 My Closet Shrunk My Clothes Thursday, May 12, 7:30 p.m. Mutch Women's Center for Health Enrichment Sanford Women's Health Plaza To register, call (605) 328-7155 Training Camp for Dads Saturday, May 21, 9:30 a.m. p.m. Childbirth Resource Center, Ann Berdahl Hall, Sanford USD Medical Center To register, call (605) 328-7140 Spring Organizing Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 p.m. Mutch Women's Center for Health Enrichment Sanford Women's Health Plaza To register, call (605) 328-7155 testers, said Saeed Wahla, the top administrator in the city.

The protesters blocked a street with barricades of burning tires. A burned Quran was found Saturday, and two weeks earlier several burned pages from the holy book turned up, said Nabil Awan, another local official. Pakistan's Christians, who make up 1 .6 percent of the country's population of 180 million, live in fear of being persecuted or arrested under the country's harsh laws against blasphemy, which often are mis- used to settle personal scores or family feuds. LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) Police broke up a mob of people armed with sticks that was threatening to attack a church Saturday afterword spread that two copies of the Quran had been burned in eastern Pakistan, officials said. The tiny Christian minority in predominantly Muslim Pakistan is often intimidated and subjected to mob violence.

The crowds marching toward the church in the city of Gujranwala blamed Christians for the burning of the Qurans. Police charged the crowd of 300 people marching toward the church, lightly injuring several pro- Continued from Page 1 A A week earlier, Gen. Ronald Burgess, chief of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, had painted a far less rosy picture. He said intelligence analysts could see "no apparent degradation" in the Taliban's capacity to fight. For its part, the CIA has warned that the Taliban still fields a capable fighting force and that tactical gains by U.S.

forces since Obama approved the deployment of 30,000 additional troops has not added up to strategic progress in winning the war. "That's going to be a serious issue," said Mark Lowenthal, former assistant director of central intelligence for analysis and production. The CIA analysts assessing the war "may have a different view" than that of Petraeus, "an that's his war." Petraeus "tends to be pretty sober" about the prospects for defeating the Taliban, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst and Petraeus fan at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "But you can't imagine he would ever admit that we have failed in a mission that he was given to succeed in." "He's going to be able to second-guess a lot of the intelligence that comes up, and that may be a good thing," said Andrew Exum, a former Army officer who advised Petraeus in Afghanistan. "I actually think that his ability to the Petraeus strategy is working, it could support an argument for keeping more troops in Afghanistan for a longer period to sustain and build on that improvement.

If Obama and his war council conclude, however, that 100,000 U.S. troops and highly sophisticated weapons weren't enough to beat the poorly armed and largely untrained Taliban forces, it could create momentum for a faster drawdown and a shift to a less ambitious strategy. The CIA director presumably will play a key role in those White House deliberations. ask tough questions of his analysts will be a strength." Josh Rovner, assistant professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College, wonders whether Petraeus "will offer candid conclusions" and protect CIA analysts "even if that means tacitly criticizing his own previous public statements." "If I was a senator, this is a question I would be asking Petraeus" at his confirmation hearing, Rovner said. "Can he objectively represent the views of his analysts?" The stakes are huge.

If the Pentagon convinces the White House that SANFORD" ALTH.