Letter Of The Day

By John Groninga, Mason City

The barrage of attack advertising from a group called Project Taxpayer Protection (PTP) has been interesting to observe and study.

... Long ago I learned that if the left hand is waving vigorously in the air, trying to attract my attention, the best thing I can do is check to see what the right hand is up to.

In this case the group PTP is headed by three guys from Mediacom and located in Des Moines, not Mason City. So these guys are looking out for my best financial interests? I don’t think so. With little competition, they’re about as concerned about the cable rates we pay as Exxon is about the price we pay at the gasoline pump. ...

One of their ads asks “Got Money to Burn?” So far I’ve received four slick ads from this group, and I’ve also seen a slick ad on TV. I can only conclude that they are the folks with money to burn — our money we rate-payers send them

A “yes” vote on Nov. 8 will allow our community to consider creating a public utility, a venture that has been highly successful in many other communities.

The next step after the yes vote would be a feasibility study which would examine the viability of such a creation. Following the results of that study, we taxpayers could vote to decide whether actually creating a public utility is a good idea.

Our ballot question really is quite simple: Who do we trust more, officials we elect in Mason City or executives of Great Big Cable Inc., located in Des Moines?

As both a utility rate payer and as a taxpayer, I intend to vote “yes” on Nov. 8. I encourage the rest of you informed voters to do the same.

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