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Yes, you read that right... During the discussion at tonight's City Council meeting, both council members and citizens were told that "Exhibit A" (the Purchase Agreement which was supposed to be attached to the ordinance) would not be available to view until after the council voted to sell City Cable for $17.5M Jim Chrisman, seemingly exasperated, stood at the podium and said that he would never have imagined Nancy Pelosi coming to Poplar Bluff but here we are being told we have to pass the bill before we can know what is in the bill. Many citizens asked the council to wait until the next session to vote. Greg West asked "Why the hurry?" He requested to know what was

After six weeks of assuring city employees that City Cable wasn't selling as previously blogged in January, City Manager Bagby finally announced in Sunday's paper they've been working on selling City Cable since November. On the agenda for Monday night's City Council is both a workshop and voting session item to sell City Cable. But Bagby gives no explanation as to why the sale of this asset is being fast-tracked on Monday night, why the details of the sale are being kept from the public, or why the city lied to their employees for six weeks. I asked Fred Goldstein from InterIsle Consulting about the value of a cable subscriber in today’s market and he responded with, "Last year, TDS

THE FOLLOWING IS THE OPINION OF BRIAN BECKER: Our three candidates for City Council (Jack Rushin, David Johnson and Peter Tinsley) need donations to aid them in this last month of the campaign. Please consider helping with a credit card or paypal donation (links are below). This email is going to almost 2000 people. If each were to give a couple of dollars we'd have all we need. Now's the time to get involved and help us make a difference. Don't live in Poplar Bluff? Then your donation is even more important since you cannot vote on election day, you can at least help get the message out. BACKGROUND Many people can attest that Poplar Bluff has always been controlled

As of 5pm last night (Feb 18), all documents have been submitted to the Southern District Court of Appeals regarding Poplar Bluff Internet (who used to own SEMO.net*) and the City of Poplar Bluff. On January 3, Poplar Bluff Internet filed their Appellant Brief; on February 3, the City filed their Respondent Brief; and on February 18, PBII filed the final submission: Reply Brief. Unless they call for oral argument, it is now in the hands of a three judge panel. We are hoping that the court will take the issue up during their October session in Poplar Bluff. To my knowledge the judges have not been named. Our appeal appears to contain a "case of first impression" on two

Back in June, 2010, when I sat down to discuss Open Access with the Municipal Utilities Advisory Board, I sat across the table from three Board members of Southern Bank, one executive officer of First Midwest Bank, and one executive officer of Commerce Bank. It made me wonder why this board was dominated by one industry. One friend told me it was because of how much cash flows through MU/City Cable. Another source told me that at least one local bank paid a bonus to their executive officers if appointed to Municipal Utilities Advisory Board (MUAB). Let me make a couple of things extremely clear: I'm not accusing any banks or bankers of wrong-doing I believe banks are extremely important