Are you noticing the "YES on S" signs all around the county?  We certainly hope so — our county libraries operate on this 1/8 cent tax. This small tax provides 89 percent of our public libraries budget.  We have been paying this since 1995; the tax is a designated tax and can only be used for the libraries.  We need to renew it this election, and 2/3 of all votes are needed.

If you haven't been to a library recently you may think they are obsolete. Not so.  Our libraries have joined the digital age.   While the library continues to provide the services it always has; a free library card will connect you to the world.  Now you can electronically check out books, take a class in computers, have free access to a computer (about 30 percent of our population cannot afford computers), read newspapers, hunt for jobs, homework, etc.

As Isaac Asimov once said. "When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself."   

Vote "Yes" on Measure "S" in November — support your library!   

— Pat Hickman