Press Release July 28th, 2006

Alan Cain -- Declaration of intent to run for Commissioner for the 1^st district position for Grant County Public Utility District

Today, I am announcing my intention to run for District 1 Commissioner of the Grant County PUD Commission. I believe that it is far past time that the outlying reaches of Grant County are represented, and that someone with more experience in telecommunications is on the Commission than has been the case in the past. The PUD is an important part of the fabric of our day-to-day lives in Grant County, and we need to make good decisions about its role in the 21st century. The people of northern and eastern Grant County deserve qualified representation in the complex issues facing the Commission. Our local economies deserve attention, and that attention will only come with qualified representation. That representation should come from people who have a commitment to all areas of the county.

I will work hard to help bring the benefits of a continued, but controlled, build-out of the Zipp project to the outlying reaches of Grant County, so that our children can benefit as much as those of the more developed parts of the county. I believe that the moratorium on the build out of the Zipp project was a wise decision that required courage to implement. We have had a moment to see where the project has strengths and weaknesses, and we can move forward, tailoring the program to best meet the needs of the county as a whole - not just in the central part of the county. The project must not penalize the farmers and small businesses of Grant County by creating an unfair financial burden on the power system that destroys the very reasons for our prosperity; make no mistake about how important farming is to us here in our county.

We can take advantage of other sophisticated technologies in our great goal of bringing the benefits of broadband to all parts of our county; we must not let blinders keep us from using our technologies in appropriate ways, to bring together the small businesses, and the small communities, and the beautiful remote areas with our scattered rural population with appropriate technology.

The time has come for responsible fiscal management of the fiber resources of Grant County to return a good investment to let the Zipp project grow as a result of its own strengths; it is important that this valuable, and limited resource not be sold, leased or given away too cheaply. A careful and clear headed look at the costs and benefits of proposed projects is called for, and has the potential to generate great paybacks for our children's lifetimes and their children's lifetimes. As many have noted, fiber has the potential to bring greater wealth to the county, to bring better educational benefits, and to enrich our lives by bringing the world closer to us.

I believe that greater transparency in decision making about our Public Utility District, and in communicating with the public about the current condition of the PUD is critical to its long term success, and to being sure that the public is not forgotten in the directions the PUD Commission chooses. I believe that the PUD and the Commission needs to listen carefully to the people of our county, and to remember this: "Public" is the first word in Public Utility District. Only by remembering that and by listening will we have a strong PUD for the 21st Century. Our strength is in each other and in clear discourse amongst ourselves. That can only occur if we insist on transparency in our PUD and its dealings. There is rarely a justification for secret dealings, and secrecy is a sure way for the few to misdirect the many.

We must look carefully at the decisions of the past and how they were made, so that we can move forward to make good, solid commitments to our future and to the excellence we all deserve. We must be honest in our dealings with investors, and with our citizens; when we make mistakes, we need to admit them and confront them to correct them. We do not need representation that hides decisions from the citizens of our county.

I believe that our nation as a whole is facing serious and potentially dangerous problems over energy, and we in Grant county are blessed with resources to develop and to steward for this century to come. We need to anticipate the potential problems and opportunities of the future and to position our PUD so that we continue to be able to have inexpensive, clean and renewable energy. As with our fiber resources, our energy resources need careful husbandry and wise decision making. We are incredibly lucky to have this resource available for our use; we must care for it carefully and actively. We must show the rest of the nation how it should be done.

We must explore the potential for investing in solar and wind energy, both in our outlying communities and in our citizens' homes, and we must act with careful investment and by helping households move towards greater self-sufficiency and away from waste. We should encourage programs that allow individual customers to generate their own power, to use for themselves and to sell back to the PUD, as well as to increase their energy efficiency to lower all of our power bills. Programs such as insulation assistance, and energy efficient appliance usage and selection programs are as important as generating new power, and can be implemented now. I believe that conservation will be a critically important goal in our immediate future, and we need to move actively in that direction. Every day we waste is energy lost.

I believe that economic development is important to all parts of our county, and not just to the urban areas; proactive efforts to develop our parts of the county are just as important as in the more urbanized parts of Grant county, and will not happen unless we make it happen. Please vote for me, and help me make it happen for all of us. Thank you.

About Alan Cain

Alan Cain has been an Internet Service Provider on the Zipp network for 5 years, and was the first to bring broadband Internet to the Grand Coulee area of Grant County, prior to the Zipp project. He has had a computer repair business in the area for 9 years.

He is a Registered Nurse, with a degree in Nursing from Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Missouri, and with critical care experience in Joplin and in Walla Walla. He was the operating room supervisor in Grand Coulee at the Coulee Community Hospital.

He has worked in community development and planning at the city and regional levels in central Oklahoma and in Springfield, Missouri, with a degree in Geography from the University of Oklahoma, and Masters level work in resource planning at Southwest Missouri State University.

He has worked for oil and mining companies, and has spent summers cutting wheat back in Oklahoma. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He has been a president of the local Rotary Club.

He has served as chairman of the Planning Commission in Grand Coulee, where his wife is a health care provider at the local hospital. He has lived in Grand Coulee for 12 years, and likes it just fine. He says it is "the most beautiful place on earth."