To the editor:

I read with interest the story in the Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, issue of The Sentinel concerning the residential internet survey and the very poor response of about 6 percent. That is unacceptable in a rural community that has been losing people, businesses, jobs and vibrancy.

Communities that invest in themselves do a much better job keeping and attracting the people who energize communities and create new businesses. Successful processes of community development involve not just funding, attracting new employers, or new infrastructure. It involves passion, enthusiasm, commitment, small visible successes, inventiveness and cooperation that collectively drive self-directed development.

Ultimately the path to success is change. People generally want things to be the same or the way they were. Small communities, often populated with older residents, are especially resistant to change. It’s these attitudes that decimates a community. Small towns do not need to be a thing of the past. It needs only to change its attitude!

Healthcare is the significant leader in providing new jobs, but for rural communities that is not enough. Think about this, the Lewistown Hospital is the largest employer in Mifflin County. Can we continue our local way of life with healthcare employment being such a large part in our economic base. No, we need to look at everything. Nothing is carved in stone.

When rural communities did not recognize the retail-shopping trend toward urban malls, they were devastated when change left them without customers and not enough time to fight back. Communities must be proactive, not reactive to the community’s needs. Encourage input from the community and local officials. Be prepared to handle criticism. Listen, and if the input indicates the need for change, then be willing to change.

The Mifflin County Internet Advisory Committee is looking at 21st generation communications technology as a means of igniting the spark of economic development in Mifflin County. They understand that fiber optic broadband infrastructure is an important step in playing a part in the digital revolution. Hopefully, a municipal partnership can find its way to fruition and keep TV, internet and telephone revenue in Mifflin County which benefits government, education, healthcare, commercial and industrial endeavors, small businesses and you the local resident.

In Mifflin County the suppliers of video, telephone and text have no plans to upgrade to broadband technology. I know because on April 6, 2014, I personally wrote the 19 Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) asking if they had short term or long term plans to provide broadband services in Mifflin County. Only 5 providers responded. Four of those said they have no plans to upgrade the existing technology, with one provider planning to offer DOCSIS 3.1 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) over existing hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) infrastructure.

I’m reminded of an August 2, 2004 article by Bill Sulon in The Harrisburg Patriot News titled “It’s almost as if Lewistown has been outsourced.” He talks about the shutting of Lear Corporation leaving 308 employees out of work. That same month Standard Steel closed its ring mill and put 109 workers in the unemployment line. In September, of that year Mann Edge Tool closed its Water Street plant, idling 49 workers. At one time Mann Edge Tool employed as many as 350 people. In November of 2003 Guardian Industries, a glass manufacturer, closed its Lewistown plant laying off 69 workers and sent the jobs to Mexico. New Holland Machine announced in October 2006 that it would be shutting down in the next 18 months with 350 workers losing their jobs. More recently GE Inspection Technologies announced it would be closing and 250 people would be losing their jobs. Scotty’s Fashions followed with closing their Lewistown plant idling more than 100 workers. In a county of approximately 45,000 people, how do you replace more than 1,300 jobs?

What can we do? Investing in a 21st century technology is really at the heart of building a strong and lasting economy. Continuing to fuel technological innovation and creative application of technologies is the most important thing for future growth and sustainability.

Ken Schucht

Lewistown