MAIN-FM 103.5 LP

Dear Friends -- We just received disturbing news that funding for the e-NC
Authority is at-risk!  This comes at absolutely the worst time as North
Carolina competes for its fair share of federal broadband stimulus funds.

The e-NC Authority (formerly the N.C. Rural Internet Access Authority) has
been extremely effective in representing the interests of underserved
areas, both in our state legislature and in Washington.

In fact, its effectiveness, not surprisingly, aroused a pushback
earlier this year from the big telephone and cable carriers, whose
lobbyists may be behind this effort to take down the e-NC Authority by
gutting its budget.

The federal broadband stimulus funding is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
for our rural communities to escape the feudal constraints of
absentee-owned telecom networks, as I noted in this Feb. 4 op-ed in the
Raleigh News & Observer:

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1397931.html

Please take a moment to review this article from WRAL in Raleigh:

http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/opinion/blogpost/4928710/

Then call or email your Senate and House representatives in the N.C.
General Assembly and tell them to "Save e-NC!"  You can find your reps and
their contact info here:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/GIS/RandR07/Home.html

Thanks for helping save our greatest ally in Raleigh!!

Wally Bowen
Executive Director
Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN)
http://www.main.nc.us