To all Broadband for Cooke County Petition signers,

Thank you.  We presented in person your 750+ signature petition for providing rural broadband for Cooke County (and all of rural Texas).  The petition continues to grow, I’ll leave it open till we hit 1,000 signatures.

I met and talked with Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar in Amarillo on Thursday the 24th and also spent “one on one” time with Greg Conte (head of Texas Broadband Development Office).  My emphasis to Comptroller Hegar was we not only need enormous improvement in high speed rural connectivity — we need 100% county coverage and quality (3 bar or more) 5G cell phone coverage (reliable mobile 911 and EMS) …which means pushing the Texas PUC (Public Utility Commission) to manage Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to move past their profits in dense urban areas and provide quality to service to all of Texas. Comptroller Hegar agreed high speed and emergency services including 5G cell coverage was in the charter of the BDO.  

Last Thursday was also a chance to spend time with members of the Ernst and Young (EY) team who have been retained to assist the BDO with extending broadband for rural Texas.  

I presented one printed copy of the petition to Mr. Conte and agreed to send two more bound copies to Mr. Hegar’s office.

This Monday, March the 28th, I’ll attend 6 zoom roundtable meetings being held by EY and the next day, Tuesday March 29th, I’ll join 5 other Cooke County citizens for our first county Broadband Advisory Group Meeting where the advisory team will begin the plan for recommendations for improving broadband to be presented to the County Judge and Commissioners.

I can’t express the gratitude and admiration I have for all those who have supported this effort.  If there had not been so much support from you I am not sure how much momentum there would be in rural Texas for critical broadband infrastructure.  I know I will work hard and move forward with confidence knowing that there is near unanimous and civic nonpartisan strong support for getting crucial broadband services for all of Texas.

Thank you,

Sherman Moore

Cell phone:  214-914-0648

Email: sherm2earth@gmail.com