Wanna read a rant? Well, read on.

As you may or may not know, I live in Waco, Texas. I grew up here as a result of my family's move from Dallas so that my father could pursue his career goals through technical training. Although I have spent time away from Waco, I manage to wind up back here before long. Waco has much going for it. It also has some factors at work that serve a dual purpose: to promote Waco's growth by sucking out its life blood. During this fit, I'll briefly describe a few of the actions of Waco's largest employer: Baylor University. As Waco's largest employer, Baylor's governing body attempts to do what it can to enhance life in Waco for those who are willing to commit to Baylor's strict doctrines that include mandatory church attendance for faculty members. Iam not certain if he has abandoned his goal of requiring all faculty to be members of the unique Baylor Baptist Denomination, but for a while at least, that was a goal of Baylor's Chancellor. While Baylor University's presence in Waco may have been a mostly positive influence during Waco's infancy,in recent years BU's role in the life of Waco has grown to more closely resemble that of a parasite, like a tapeworm. You know how a tapeworm propsers: it channels the food that its host consumes to fortify itself,allowing just enough sustinence to pass on to the host's digestive system so that the host survives to give the tapeworm a cozy place to dwell. In most cases, BU's caustic influence results in a tolerable amount of discomfort for residents of Waco. Many here do not realize that the popular outlet mall that is located in Hillsboro, about thirty miles north of Waco on Interstate-35 wanted to locate in Waco. Who nixed that plan? Baylor. Why? Who knows? Having BU call so many shots for Waco is like a thirty year-old man having his octagenarian grandmother decide what's best for him. Now, I am not trying to slight grannies out there. Most are very sweet, but I would not want grandma deciding when and where I could spend my leisure time, or which movies I could watch, would you? If you don't think that it would be so bad, try watching a Lawrence Welk Show marathon sometime. The local PBS station, whose broadcast license is owned by BU, has just such a marathon at least once a year. I used to work for the local PBS affiliate. Back then, it was mostly a production facility for our mother station, KNCT-46. When the powers-that-were decided to shut down dear old KCTF-34 (now KWBU), our staff took immediate action to discover how to keep from "going dark". Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows, and the only entity that our people could find with the will and the wherewithal to purchase the broadcast license (with a sticker price of about $100,000.00, plus a few fees sprinkled in for good measure) was BU. Initially, my fears were not confirmed by anything that BU did with a PBS station under its control. Now, you will say that KWBU's mission and operation are dictated by the [independent] governing board, but let's be real about it. KWBU is housed in the bowels of BU, and if you think for a moment that anything happens at KWBU without prior approval from BU, then you are a fool. When I worked for KCTF, our small, ill-equipped but highly motivated crew produced numerous community-oriented programs. We shot with busted cameras and VTRs that made more noise than they were designed to record. We shot programs in a studio that was smaller than most people's garages -- all in the name of fulfilling our mission to service the community that provided our membership base. One would think that with BU's support, we would see a proliferation of community-oriented programming from KWBU. Not so. KWBU's production staff are busy at work, alright. They produce material for BU's own internal consumption. This must change, and the PBS affiliate must be unfettered and allowed to service the PUBLIC. BU is a PRIVATE school. Who can't see what's wrong with a private institution having control over a public broadcasting facility? Let's imagine putting something that is normally public and putting it in the hands of a private interest. It is very likely that you operate a motor vehicle on public thoroughfares, like the roads and highways that get you to work and to the grocery. Let's say that tomorrow the public roads will become the property of a large, private interest. What if that private interest were you? If you owned the public roads, wouldn't you want to use them to service your own desires? You could do with them as you pleased. Feeling a little cash-strapped? Make a few more of the roads into toll roads. Heck, why not make them all toll roads? You could close the roads that went to places that didn't interest you. The road to the public library could be permanently under construction, and traffic detoured to the shopping center. To close this fit, Baylor has a tremendous responsibility. That responsibilty is no longer simply dictated by its Board of Regents. Now that they control a PBS station, they should be held accountable to the public in public television.