Library Rally Set for April 11th to Protest Near-Shutdown

Make a sign saying: WE LOVE LIBRARIES!

The main Salem Library Photo by: Tim King

(SALEM) - As a two-term library board member, I need to alert all citizens that our Salem Public Library is facing serious budget cuts and we need your help to reach a viable compromise.

We're told that city officials will seek a 6-hour week for the W. Salem Library this year, way down from the present 31 hours.

If this happens, our main library can be next on the chopping-block.

Let's commit to attend the critical April 11 budget hearings in the council chambers at city hall.

Please be there at 6 pm to register your 3-minute comments in favor of a 16-hour compromise plan. Severely impacted are young students, senior citizens, and jobhunters of all races.

Make a sign saying: WE LOVE LIBRARIES!

The Salem mindset feeds on education. Libraries need not be that sacrificial lamb. If you cannot attend, email the mayor: ampeterson@cityofsalem.net. Be civil but direct; support a 4-day week at very least. Our future is at stake.

Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. Lee Coyne once worked for The Civil Service Leader in NY State and covered the Legislature. He has also done features on mediation and arbitration, and believes in healthy skepticism. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: luckycoyne@yahoo.com