Bakk: Keep print legal ads because my Internet speed is giving me a heart attack

DFL Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk has an interesting reason for being skeptical about dumping the requirement that local governments run legal advertisements in the newspaper.

Thanks to MinnPost's David Brauer for his post on discussion over whether to do away with the print requirement. He quotes Bakk from the video of a presentation to the Minnesota Newspaper Association:

I can tell you where I live, on Lake Vermillion, my Internet Service is more than bad; it's horrible. I almost never turn my computer on at home. I can't get Qwest to put DSL out there, and my satellite Internet is so slow, it's going to give me a heart attack some day.

Not a bad argument to keep the newspaper vibrant, but also a pretty damning assessment of the availability of highspeed Internet access.

A huge chunk of Bakk's sprawling District 6 in northeastern Minnesota falls within the service area proposed for two federally financed fiber network projects aimed at giving blazing speed to everybody in Cook, Lake and part of St. Louis County.

Unfortunately for Bakk, Lake Vermillion isn't included.

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