Library measure fails.
Sad to see the Douglas County Library measure fail. The county has historically funded the
libraries but with ever decreasing timber revenues from the State, library
support has suffered cut after cut for many years.
Drain
and Yoncalla have 33 weekly operating hours between them, spread over
six days. Residents can check out books, movies, use the
internet for a few hours at whichever location is open.
The current county budget eliminates funding for library
services at the end of their fiscal year, June 30, 2017. There will be further cuts to service hours
beginning January 1, 2017.
There is no Plan B.
Closures will follow.
While I appreciate the need for police and fire protection, not
supporting library services is a step back in time, a further blow to
the education of our children in this poverty stricken community. We’ve
lost sight of the value of education in fighting that poverty and providing our
children a chance at leading a better life.
Just so you know, public libraries freely offer programs, books, and
many other services to get children exposed to reading and learning, a vital
skill in setting kids on the path to graduating high school. If
you’ve ever sat in on a story time with preschoolers and
witnessed their rapt attention while the story surrounds them, it's a
delightful testament to the inherent human desire to learn.
Statistics predict the
number of high-school dropouts based on 3rd grade reading
levels. If the kids can’t keep up then, it
only gets harder and harder to catch up.
Most will fail.
Reading opens our minds to the wonders of this physical
world and its peoples, the precision of math and science, the glory of prose
and the arts. It stimulates our minds to
imagine and empathize and explore.
I am so disheartened tonight.
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