Thursday March 29, 2018 Vol. 6, No. 5 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
The Weekly Post “We Cover The News of West-Central Illinois With A Passion” Serving the fine communities of Brimfield, Dahinda, Douglas, Duncan, Edwards, Elmore, Elmwood, Farmington, Kickapoo, Laura, Monica, Oak Hill, Princeville, Williamsfield and Yates City
Mid Century bringing fiber to rural communities
Workers place a handhold vault in place. Fiber-optic cables inside the vault run to homes to provide broadband service, cable TV and phone service. Photo by Mid Century Communications.
service to rural areas in west-central Illinois. Originally using funds from the Rural Electrification Administration, Mid Century began to acquire small telephone companies, culminating with a 2007 purchase of Yates City Telephone. What was once a goal of replacing the old party-line phone systems with individual service has evolved into a goal of replacing less reliable internet with the speed of fiber optic. Broemmer explains that fiber-optic connections – made through hair-width strands of glass – take away “distance limitations” and eliminate the “line
loss” common with copper cable. One thin strand can bring internet, cable TV and phone service into a home. In layman’s terms, fiber optic internet is faster and allows you to use more devices at the same time without bogging down service and causing your kids to hound you about “lagging.” But there’s more to fiber optic than super-fast PS4 gaming. “These are economic development issues for our communities,” Broemmer said. “It allows you to work in places you could not have before. You don’t have to leave these communities to have an impact on a global busiContinued on Page 13
Brimfield asked to keep parents better informed BRIMFIELD – The Brimfield School Board is looking into additional ways of keeping parents informed in the event of an emergency on either of its two campuses. At its March 21 regular meeting, audience members asked the board to consider a form of texting, emailing or calling parents should there be a danger-
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As allegations of Cambridge Analytica nabbing information about 50 million Facebook users in efforts to either influence the 2016 election or con some campaign into forking over big bucks, voters (and FB users) might wonder if a deeper dive into Illinois’ March primary is interesting, or if such digital-data mining is new. Interesting, maybe; relevant, not so much. It might be interesting that the challenger for Republicans’ nomination for governor, State Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, won 35 Inside Illinois counties, including Knox • Here’s a chance to reshape Illinois (where Chicago businessman Chris politics. Page 5. • Low turnout in the Kennedy was runprimary was not a ner-up to billionaire surprise. Page 9. J.B. Pritzker and former Gov. Pat Quinn won in the Attorney General race, both examples repeated in Peoria County). However: So? The state’s total popular vote is what counts, not the counties that candidates rack up. We don’t have some sort of a Prairie State Electoral College giving greater weight to counties based on their number of State Representatives. County boundaries don’t matter, really. It’s about who registers to vote, and which ones show up to cast ballots. Generally, voting patterns “downstate” or in a Congressional District or a zip code may be marginally meaningful to political consultants planning ways to persuade voters in neighborhoods that previously showed a party preference to stick with it or change. Election results aren’t census data on households’ ages, sizes, incomes, etc. VotFor The Weekly Post
By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
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Carrier Route Presort RURAL BOXHOLDER LOCAL P.O. BOXHOLDER
By BILL KNIGHT
Weekly Post Staff Writer
By TERRY TOWERY
PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Elmwood, Illinois Permit No. 13
Analyzing the Illinois primary
FAST INTERNET
The technology is fancier. The costs are greater. And the reach is greater. But the mission remains basically the same for Mid Century Communications, a Fairview-based company that is bringing fiber-optic internet connections to much of The Weekly Post area. And as it turns out, making fast internet available to rural areas is just the latest communication innovation for this member-owned company. “This is the next evolution of our business,” said Jim Broemmer Jr., Chief Broemmer Executive Officer of Mid Century. “Fiber is a major investment, but as a technology it takes us into the future.” Incorporated in 1950 as the Mid Century Telephone Co-operative, the goal then was to bring modern telephone
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ous situation on campus. The remarks came in the wake of a threat made on social media a month ago that turned out to be a false alarm but, in the aftermath of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., caused parents great concern. Superintendent Robert Richardson said the threatening remark was made by an eighth-grade student. Police investigated the incident and the student was identified and punished accordingly. The stu-
dent wasn’t identified due to his age, nor were additional details of the incident released since the student is a juvenile. “There has to be a way to let us know when something like this happens,” Dan Kelch told the board during the public comments portion of the meeting. “I wasn’t aware of it until my daughter told me about it.” Board President Dan Heinz said inforContinued on Page 7
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