Special for residents of Pierce County
I am a proud resident of Pierce County, having moved here 27 years ago. My partner was born here and has been a lifelong resident. There is much to love about Pierce County. The people are friendly, kind, and always willing to lend a helping hand. My political bent differs from the vast majority, but I have never felt persecuted.
Pierce
County Public Schools are fantastic, and they are one of the best systems in
the state. Our son attended from pre-K to Graduation and received a
first-rate education. It laid the foundation for him to graduate with honors
from college, and he is now employed as a computer programmer.
In addition to
the best parts of Pierce County, there is an added benefit of being close to
Waycross. Many of us have friends, family, and jobs in Waycross. I worked at a
Waycross CPA firm for more than two decades. As an inveterate community theatre
hamwich, I have performed many Plays with the Waycross Area Community Theatre.
We go to a church in Waycross. We often shop and occasionally eat a meal there.
We also use
the Waycross/Ware County Library. They have specific programs, including book
clubs, Crafternoons, and Eating Well with Chef Andy. But that only supplements
our use of the Pierce County Library. We also use their services, and I often
read for story time with Caboose Express.
All it takes
is one library card to use at both libraries. Their services are closely
related, and getting books from one or the other is easy. You can enjoy such
services as Libby (ebooks and audiobooks), Kanopy (streaming service), Glass
(for the hearing and sight impaired), and Mango ( learning foreign languages).
All this and more comes from Pierce County’s affiliation with the Okefenokee Regional
Library.
There is a
fast-moving effort to move the Pierce County Library to the Three Rivers
Library System based in Jesup. There may be legitimate business and patron
reasons to consider this move. However, the decision is not being made
methodically or with careful analysis.
Why? Because
some local politicians and members of different boards operate from lies,
rumors, and innuendo. And they are trying to force the local board into the
move.
They are
willing to destroy the local library because they falsely believe that the Ware
County Commission has given a list of specific demands for the Waycross/Ware
County Library to give in to or risk being defunded at the end of June. Simply,
there is no actual written list of demands. There can’t be.
Why? Because
at the root of what they want is sheer discrimination against the lgbtq+ community,
and they don’t want to run the risk of being blatant about their demands. This
could engender exposure to lawsuits. So, they are trying to pass forward the
risk to the Waycross/Ware County Library Board and, failing that, the
Okefenokee Regional Library Board. This may be moot one way or another because of the regional meeting on May 6th.
Again, it’s hard to say what will come from it since the demands are not
concrete.
Interestingly,
the same County Board that withholds funding also approved using an almost million-dollar
grant to improve the physical facility of the Waycross/Ware County Library.
This makes me believe withholding funding for the library is all storm and thunder,
signifying nothing. It is just a tremendous bluff to see how far they can push
the library to be discriminatory.
The Pierce
County Library Board meets on Thursday, May 9th, to decide whether
to switch library systems. I am very sympathetic to what they are dealing with.
Political blackmail is never a pleasant thing to see.
Clearly, I
don’t want to see the library move to a more distant system that will have incompatibilities
with our sister community, Waycross. However, if worse comes to worse and the
Pierce Library moves to the Three Rivers System, I will continue to support and
love our local library.
But this
will not solve all the problems. There are groups in our community who want to
exclude the lgbtq+ community from being welcomed or supported. They will be
inspired by this move, inspired to come after the library even harder. Nothing
will solve this until Pierce County stands firm against the forces that would destroy
and diminish our public library. Otherwise, if they sense weakness, they will
demand more and more.
Please support
your public library and the fundamental ideal that libraries are for everyone. Make
sure you communicate this to your local representative. Right now, a loud
minority is dictating things while most of us remain silent.
I love our
public library. I want to see it grow and thrive and serve everybody. I pray
you do, too.
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