Today, only a dozen CREATE computers at the Cameron Public Library, and a few “adopted” by host agencies can provide Internet access to Cameron and Milam County residents who do not have home computer systems.
CREATE originated in 2002 as a collaborative effort between the Cameron school district, city and Cameron Chamber of Commerce, with the goal of providing free computer access, high-speed Internet capabilities, printers and programs for word processing, accounting and other options. The project was funded with a $25,000 planning grant and Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund or TIF, grant.
The TIF funds were established by the Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1995 and mandated to award $1.5 billion in grants over 10 years. As of April 2000, it had awarded $341 million in grants to its four constituent groups: Public schools, higher education, libraries and not-for-profit health care facilities.
TIF also had a special mandate to reach rural, remote and economically disadvantaged populations. Although TIF funds both competitive and noncompetitive grants, library grants are noncompetitive and concentrate on Internet connectivity, technology advancement and distance learning.
James Thompson, director of the Cameron Housing Authority, said the two public computers assigned to his West Cameron office abruptly went off line a year ago, but a few patrons still use the word processor programs for school assignments and other projects.
The Cameron Public Library registers as many as 50 patrons a day using CREATE computers, which are still operating with Internet access, assistant librarian Linda Grothe said.
The library’s computers were networked with the Cameron school district’s T1 wireless system, not the same system as other CREATE computers, and the school maintained the equipment over the years, Mrs. Grothe said.
The library computers continue to operate though their counterparts in Milam County offices, City Hall, the Cameron Police Department, St. Monica’s Catholic Church, Williams Civic Center and other sites no longer have Internet access.
Dr. Frank Summers, Milam County judge, said he is “not sure why” CREATE faded away, but at some time in the future he plans to “put the public CREATE computers in county locations on the county network.”
The fiber loop downtown that serves county offices was part of the CREATE network when the program originated, but Internet access and computer maintenance for the public computers in the county domain were the responsibility of the Cameron school district, Summers said.
When the Milam County Law Enforcement Center was built in 2006, a fiber-optic line was installed at the new jail from the downtown loop so the county network would be on a T1 by itself, and not have to depend on the school district’s access, Summers said.
“Good thing for us seeing the current state of affairs,” Summers said.
The county judge said Rockdale’s GREAT public computer project is still operating. Rockdale school officials said GREAT was able to maintain itself through local support, after the TIF grants dried up. A new grant program financed replacement of the original infrastructure in Rockdale’s GREAT program, officials said.
Former Cameron superintendent Maxie Morgan could not be reached for comment, but Cameron’s new administrator Rodney Fausett, who joined the district last year, said the demise of CREATE pre-dated his arrival to Cameron.
Fausett said until recently he was unaware that a public computer system existed in Cameron. Researching the program, Fausett said the original grant bought 122 computers, with 63 used on Cameron campuses and the remainder set up in public access centers.
“The grant expired in December 2006,” Fausett said. “I hate to speak because not being a member of the CREATE board, and not being superintendent during that time, I don’t know if there were any plans ever made for this time period. The way the grant was set up, the equipment is property of the school district.”
Recently, Kyle Deal, Cameron school’s new technology director, checked out the CREATE infrastructure - a fiber backbone and a wireless system - and declared “both are dead.”
A quick fix has been for some CREATE entities to voluntarily tie in public computers into their wireless networks, but ultimately some decisions will have to be made by the school district, Fausett said.
The question is whether to upgrade and re-establish a public network with alternative resources, or junk the equipment.
“These computers are five years old at least and they were bought mainly for Internet access,” Deal said. “You don’t have super computers, you had a very basic - how-much-equipment-can-you-buy-for-the-money. If these computers are still running, it’s a miracle, and they won’t last long.”
One way to keep the CREATE system operating would be if all entities would “adopt” the public computers, Deal said. “We could clean them up and get them going and then it becomes theirs and they can assist the community.”
Meanwhile, Deal has initiated a plan to open the C.H. Yoe High School Library to students’ parents, who will be invited to use school computers after classes have been dismissed for the day. The program will correspond with the debut of the school district’s new Web site on Dec. 6, Deal said.
“I have lived here six years and I didn’t know there was a CREATE network,” Deal said. “Once we knew its original purpose, and now that it’s not there, we will fill that gap.”
Fausett said the Cameron district is trying to make its library a community center, with training for parents to use its new Web site.
“Parents can keep up with their child’s grades and access other information items. This is something our community would benefit from,” Fausett said.
