EDITORIAL: Kudos to the county

Gainesville Daily Register, Texas
·2 min read

Apr. 12—Register readers are familiar with this publication's persistent, unwavering support for expanding Cooke County's broadband access. With that in mind, We at the Register want to congratulate the Cooke County Court's vote Monday to contract with Nortex to expand fiber optic access to Callisburg, Oakridge and Woodbine.

Well done, sirs.

The expansion will provide much needed high-speed internet to the east side of the county, especially along the U.S. 82 corridor between Gainesville and the Grayson County line. Residents over that way deserve the same kind of affordable online access that much of the rest of us enjoy now.

And it's important for another reason. Texas Instruments is developing a $35 billion manufacturing operation near Sherman that will draw hundreds of new businesses and thousands of new residents to Texoma. The fiber expansion, which should be done by the end of 2025, makes eastern Cooke County a much more attractive place for all of those newcomers to live and do business — which means better property tax revenues and lower property tax bills for everyone.

It's also heartening to see how the court relied on local residents to study how best to expand access, accepted their recommendations and worked out a deal with a local vendor — the aforementioned and Muenster-based Nortex — to do the work.

All told, the work will cost around $2.6 million. The good news is that Cooke County's share (not quite $1.3 million) will be covered with federal stimulus money, rather than locally-raised tax revenues. Nortex will pick up the rest of the cost and operate the fiber network.

There are areas of the county that will still need high-speed help. Moss Lake and areas along the Red River aren't served at this time and won't be affected by this expansion. We've been assured by court members that they intend to keep pursuing state and federal grants dollars to address these needs.

We trust they will keep their words, just as they have so far. Fingers crossed.

The Gainesville Daily Register