From San Antonio to Amarillo, Tyler to Beaumont, Fort Worth to Lubbock, no community is safe from copper thieves. Across Texas, Boys and Girls Clubs, Meals on Wheels, oil fields, neighborhoods, churches, schools, and construction sites have all been affected by copper theft. Every Texan can do their part to stop copper thieves. Read on.
The Gilmer Mirror Copper Theft Op-ed
July 7, 2008
By Robert Howden, Texans for Economic Progress
Senior citizens’ health is at risk. Hospitals are hamstrung. Children are left in the dark. At least one man even died. No natural disaster is to blame, but instead a national epidemic of copper theft. In cities across Texas and indeed the nation, copper thieves are pulling down utility lines, gutting air conditioning units, raiding homes under construction and ultimately threatening lives. The spike in copper theft nationwide is a response to the rising price of copper worldwide. With copper selling for more than $3 a pound, thieves are taking the extraordinary risk of shimming utility poles and literally ripping down phone and electrical lines for the copper inside. Read on to learn what you can do to stop copper thieves.
KXXM Mix 96.1 San Antonio
June 17, 2008
City to Crack Down on Copper Sales
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
June 13, 2008
Copper thieves on a spree in NE Tarrant
KTRE News Channel 9, Lufkin
June 13, 2008
High Prices Tempts Thieves
The Conroe Courier
June 12, 2008
Phone company offers reward in copper thefts
Tyler Morning Telegraph
June 12, 2008
Alleged Thieves Fail in Attempt to Steal Copper From Company, Then Sell it Back
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
June 12, 2008
Copper thieves strike 10 times in Richland Hills
CBS 11 News, Fort Worth
June 11, 2008
Copper Thieves Strike FW Boys And Girls Club
KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
June 11, 2008
Dallas Church Hit By Thieves, Again
Channel 2 News, Houston
June 11, 2008
Copper Thieves Cut Phone Lines
CBS 19, Tyler
June 11, 2008
Oil Field Copper Thefts Copper Thief Arrested
CBS 11 TV Dallas/Fort Worth
June 1, 2008
Dallas Church Left With No A/C After Copper Theft
The Dallas Morning News
May 30, 2008
Dallas detectives battle metal thieves
CBS 11 News, Dallas/Fort Worth
May 30, 2008
Copper Theft Closes Dallas Elementary School
KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston
May 30, 2008
Houston activist stops accused copper thief
KTRK News Channel 13, Houston
May 28, 2008
Theft knocks out area’s phone service
KFDA News Channel 10, Amarillo
May 28, 2008
As Price Of Copper Goes Up, So Do Thefts
KRLD 1080 News Radio
May 27, 2008
City and Recyclers try to Strike a Balance on Metal Theft Law?
KCBD News Channel 11, Lubbock
May 16, 2008
Meals On Wheels Vandalized
So-called ‘net neutrality’ an excuse for federal regulation
May 22, 2008
If you head down to the post office and drop a letter in the slot with a — wait while we check our calendar, here — 42-cent stamp on it, the post office will generally deliver that “first class” letter anywhere in the country in less than a week.
If you’re willing to pay considerably more for “Priority” or “Express” delivery, you can get your missive there considerably faster. Does this “discriminate” against the lowly first-class or bulk-mailed letter? Sure. The carriers treat the different classes of letter differently, as instructed.
Do we need a new government bureaucracy to stop this from happening? Um … no. In fact, the current postal rate structure was developed by a quasi-government body in the first place, though in response to free-market competitors such as FedEx and UPS.
Now, as the Internet matures, it has occurred to some Internet Service Providers that they, too, could finance the provision of faster delivery for some services by offering special “express” connections to Web sites whose hosts are willing to pay extra to have customers “delivered to their door” without the time delays common in today’s lower-capacity networks.
We don’t need to ask how congressional nanny-staters — who believe anything that’s not mandatory should be regulated or banned — have responded. Once the catchy phrase — “net neutrality” — was found, the rest was second nature.
Several bills — described as “good net neutrality bills” by The New York Times — now circulate in Congress. “One in the House … would give the job of preserving net neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission,” the Timesmen enthused in an editorial Monday. “A Senate bill … takes a similar approach. This month, John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, and Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California, introduced a bill that would allow the Justice Department to bring antitrust actions against ISPs that violate net neutrality.”
Wow! Not enough criminals? Make up new crimes!
In fact, such “net neutrality” regulation would be both unnecessary and harmful, warns James L. Gattuso of the Heritage Foundation. Read More.
The third Power of Connectivity event was a great success. Texans for Economic Progress proudly partnered with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Abilene Chamber of Commerce to present The Power of Connectivity: Empowering You to Secure Your Private Information in a High-Speed World.
A full audience at McMurry University learned about new opportunities – and threats – in the online world from the nation’s technology experts.
Read the article from the Abilene Reporter News.
AG Abbott Addresses Power of Connectivity Conference
TEP Executive Director Robert Howden Opens Power of Connectivity Conference on Online Safety
Deb Berlyn Talks Online Safety at Power of Connectivity Conference
Featured speakers included:
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
Sandra Haverlah, Texas Consumer Association
Debra Berlyn, Consumer Policy Solutions
Bruce D. Christofferson, Mobile Technology Security Center, AT&T
Be sure to visit TEP’s Web site often for upcoming events!
The American Consumer Institute today released a ConsumerGram noting that the debate over the network management practices of ISPs has largely overlooked the impact of potential legislation on rural wireless consumers. The report concludes that even the best-intentioned policies produce unintended consequences, and network management prohibitions could threaten the existence of small, rural wireless ISPs, thereby harming their customers. Read more.
How Diners of Internet’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Get in Each Others’ Way Over Video, Associated Press, February 11, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) — Why are our Internet lines in danger of jamming up?
One way of looking at it is this: Internet service providers have been serving us an all-you-can-eat buffet for years. That has worked great, because they’ve had more food than they knew what to do with and we’ve enjoyed the simplicity of a flat price and our pick of the dishes.
But every year, our appetites have been growing. Some of us have turned into real gluttons, taking advantage of the pricing to eat 10 times as much as the majority of customers. The food is running out, and diners are starting to get in each other’s way at the table.
Now, Internet service providers are starting to limit the availability of dishes that are popular with the big eaters (controlling traffic). They’re also considering telling us to stick to two helpings per person (limiting monthly downloads). They might end up doing both. Read More.
Representative Aaron Pena addresses
Power of Connectivity audience
Larry Irving, co-chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance, describes the coming "Exaflood"
Dr. Edwin LeMaster, Dean of College of Science & Engineering at UT Pan Am, discusses distance learning
Larry Irving and Debra Berlyn, President of Consumer Policy Solutions answer questions
TEP Executive Director Robert Howden with Power of Connectivity featured speakers Larry Irving and Debra Berlyn
New Study Shows Required Network Expansion Could Cost $100 Billion Over Next Five Years
By: Staff-Discovery Institute, January 29, 2008
Washington, D.C. – New technologies are dramatically transforming the Internet and could boost IP traffic in the United States more than 50-fold within the next decade, according to “Estimating the Exaflood: The Impact of Video and Rich Media on the Internet,” a report released today by the Discovery Institute.
“Innovations like YouTube, IPTV, high-definition video and mobile phone cameras are driving this new wave of data—or exaflood—of Internet and IP traffic,” said Bret Swanson, an adjunct fellow at the Discovery Institute and co-author of the report. “Many of the new online opportunities we can’t even imagine today. But these exciting applications and services will only be possible if we make large new investments in broadband fiber-optic and wireless networks.”
The Power of Connectivity events were a great success!
Texans for Economic Progress proudly partnered with The Houston Chamber Alliance, the University of Texas, Pan American and the Rio Grande Valley Partnership to present The Power of Connectivity: Harnessing Broadband to Build Texas Communities, Businesses, and the Future.
Sold-out crowds in Houston and Edinburg received invaluable information from the nation’s technology experts. Nationally renowned speakers described the exponential growth of the Internet, revolutionary wireless technologies, online safety, distance learning and the power of telemedicine in modern healthcare. Texas State Representative Aaron Pena, who spoke at the Edinburg event, writes on his blog about his experience. Read his blog post.
Click here to view Power of Connectivity pictures.
Featured speakers included:
Larry Irving, Co-Chairman, Internet Innovation Alliance (The Exaflood is Coming – The Internet’s Incredible Growth)
Mark Desautels, Vice President of Wireless Internet Development, CTIA-The Wireless Association (The Wonders of Wireless)
Debra Berlyn, President, Consumer Policy Solutions (Staying Safe in the Online World)
Dr. Alexander Vo, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (Broadband Changing Lives: The Power of Telemedicine )
Dr. Edwin LeMaster, Dean of College of Science & Engineering (The Power of Distance Learning)
Be sure to visit TEP’s Web site often for upcoming events!
Advancing Healthcare Through Broadband: Opening Up a World of Possibilities by Neal Neuberger, Health Tech Strategies LLC, Internet Innovation Alliance, October 2007
The spread of broadband can help improve the quality of health care in America, as well as reduce the cost of care through a number of advanced health technology applications. The paper notes the range of medical uses for broadband is very broad, adding that “at the most basic level, broadband enables enhanced information sharing among medical facilities, practitioners and patients.” IIA urges Congress to establish a National Commission on Telemedicine to help “accelerate the deployment of telemedicine; provide financial incentives … and remove regulatory or statutory barriers to telemedicine programs.” IIA also stresses the importance of expanding the reach of affordable broadband services across the country to spread cost-effective health care. Read More
Source: US Distance Learning Association, August 2007
