<VV> April commuique -- Libraries--no Corvair content

[Lonny Clark]

That's typical government thinking. When the budget cuts come, they don't
get rid of the things that should go first. They get rid of the things that
they think the public want, so the tax increase they want in the next
election passes. In Portland they try to scare the public into a budget
increase by letting criminals out of jail. No room for them with the current
budget, they say. And yet there is a brand new jail (it's called Wapato, if
you want to look it up) finished in 2004 at a cost of 58 million dollars
that has never held a prisoner. Multnomah county says they can't afford to
open it, they already have hundreds of cells closed that they can't afford
to put prisoners into. Whose flim-flam job was that?

Jackson county is suffering the same fate as the rest of the southern Oregon
counties, they thought that the federal government was just going to keep
paying them a stipend for the loss of free and cheap access to the logs in
federal forest land.  Did they think the free money was bottomless? They
never planned for the possibility that  they would stop getting that money,
even though there was an end date on it when they started getting it. And
don't expect any new tax levies to pass, there are too many people on fixed
income down there. Retirees from California have completely taken over my
hometown, and for the most part they don't need schools and libraries. They
need Wal-Mart though...

Lonny

On 4/16/07, Chris & Bill Strickland <lechevrier at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > > 3. I know people who don't have computers either. They can go to
> the library, put in their ID and member number and download a copy if
> they don't want a computer in the house, or just don't want to fiddle
> with them. < <
>
> And then there are those enlightened places like Jackson County, Oregon
> (home of the popular Oregon Shakespearean Festival), where one would
> expect a high degree of literacy -- these are the recent headlines (loss
> of funding options):
>
>
>       Library staffs, users and supporters solemnly prepare for Friday's
>       closing of the entire 15-branch system
>
>
> http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2007/0401/local/stories/libraryfinaldays.htm
>
> It is less than wise to assume folks have computers, libraries, and
> better-than-dial-up service. It might work as an opt-in option for those
> that would want an online Communiqué, but are there really enough of
> those folks to warrant the effort? Twelve noisy people don't a CORSA
> make.  Raise your hands ...
>
> Personally, I like having those old glossy high end Communiqués from
> thirty years ago, if just to reminisce over -- probably wouldn't have
> those if they were online back then.
>
> Bill Strickland
> _
>