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Open Letter to the Times

I take great exception to Eric Benjamin's column in last week's Times.  Frankly, I found it outrageous, insulting and an unacceptable slam to those in our community seeking future growth and prosperity for our people.  In his piece, Mr. Benjamin personally insults Joey Durel and Terry Huval as well as State Representative Joel Robideaux, for recognizing the economic benefits to Lafayette of the proposed broadband telecommunications network as the equivalent of a digital “deep water port."  As an attorney, when I see someone making personal attacks it always means the attacker has no substantive arguments to support his point of view.

Mr. Benjamin has not only failed to show us why he objects to this project, but he has succeeded in insulting us all as well.  Joel, Joey and Terry are expressing a point of view about the civic history of this City and vision for our future that the majority of Lafayette shares, including myself, the Lafayette Administration and City Council, Lafayette's Republican and Democratic Parties, the Chamber of Commerce, the Daily Advertiser and the Independent (where are you Times?) all of whom have endorsed this project.  In fact, if Mr. Benjamin had bothered to look he would have found that very argument, among others, for the fiber optic network at the Lafayette Yes! website on our page “Why It's Important" (lafayetteyes.org). 

I assume that Mr. Benjamin is new to this area, maybe he doesn't understand that every major progress that has happened to this City has been because we weren't afraid to do important things for ourselves to “put Lafayette on the map".  Instead of writing silly articles ridiculing our city's vision, he should investigate how we got our own municipal electric utility in the first place more than a hundred years ago, and do the same for how we got our university, the railroad, our airport, our interstates, and the Oil Center, to name a few of our “big ditches".  These things happened because people here went out and did them, we didn't wait for some outsider to do if for us or tell us we can't.  If so, we would still be waiting. 

If Mr. Benjamin wants to stir up trouble on behalf of big out of state companies that is his business, but he should be fair and say that out front.  But he needs to know that when he insults and questions the integrity of those supporting the Fiber optic network without any factual basis, he is also insulting your readers, including me, and our participation in determining our own future.

Perhaps it would be better if Mr. Benjamin would spend more time learning about the history of the community he is insulting, and less time making fun of the people who care about it's future. 

Sincerely,

Kaliste Saloom III

Chairman

Lafayette Yes!

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