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If you were not at the Waycross-Ware County Library Board Meeting yesterday, you can watch the video of the entire meeting on our YouTube channel. There is a link at the bottom of our homepage. The absolute highlight of the meeting was Chairman Tawanna Harris giving her opinion on why the mural is so important to our community. If you haven't seen it, watch it below. If you agree with Tawanna that the mural is important to our community and should remain where it is, take a minute and email the members of the Okefenokee Regional Library Board. They will be voting on this issue in May. I'll post the names and email addresses below. Okefenokee Regional Library Board
Evelyn Denton – Chair - Ware County Email: [email protected] Mike Dyal – Vice Chair – Appling County Email: [email protected] Sandra Parrish – Secretary – Pierce County Email: [email protected] Daryl Edwards – Treasurer - Appling County Email: [email protected] Santina Fryer – Appling County Email: [email protected] Amber Smith – Bacon County Email: [email protected] Pam Deen – Bacon County Email: [email protected] Wendy Mikell – Bacon County Email: [email protected] Kaye Riley – Clinch County Email: [email protected] Melissa Day – Clinch County Email: [email protected] Jo Ann Tomlinson – Clinch County Email: [email protected] Tawanna Harris – Ware County Email: [email protected] Cheryl Jacobs- Ware County Email: [email protected] Vacancy - Pierce County Vacancy - Pierce County To email this entire group, copy/paste the addresses below onto the "To" line of your email program: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Today is the day that the Waycross Library board will vote on the mural. If they vote to leave the mural in place, it will then go to the Regional Library board for a vote.
What do you think? Should the mural stay or go? Feel free to comment below. Now that the Ware County Commission and the Ware County Board of Education have contributed their portion of library funding, the only hold outs are from Pierce County. The Pierce County Board of Commissioners decided they would just cut their amount in half. Well, that doesn't work. According to the grant requirements of the Georgia Public Library Service, the local funding must be equal to (or more than) last year's funding. So if the Pierce County Commission does not cough up the entire amount, 5 local libraries will close after June 30, 2024. Then we have the Pierce County Board of Education. They have withheld their entire amount. Please contact them and let them know that they need to contribute their portion of library funding as well. Because here's the thing- it won't just be the Pierce County Library that closes if they don't pay. It will also be the Appling County Library, the Bacon County Library, the Clinch County Library, and the Ware County Library. Our children and our citizens should not be deprived of this public service because of a few people from Pierce County!
Why is that important?The table below illustrates the correlation between education and poverty rates in Ware County, underscoring that higher education attainment is associated with a lower likelihood of living in poverty (world Population Review, 2024). The children in Ware County (and surrounding counties) who are living in poverty are not likely to be going on vacations or visiting educational museums this summer. For many of these children, attending free programs at their local public library is the only thing they have to look forward to this summer. Participating in the summer reading program may be the only educational thing they do while school is out.
Why are our local officials withholding funding from the Okefenokee Regional Library System? It is not their job to use OUR tax money to further their PERSONAL AGENDAS. If you agree, please call or email the members of the Ware County Board of Education, and the Pierce County Board of Education and let them know that you, the taxpayer, want them to fully fund our local libraries. If they do not submit the funds in the next 90 days, all 5 local libraries will CLOSE after June 30, 2024. (Appling, Bacon, Clinch, Pierce, and Ware County library) |
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