Commissioners neglecting libraries and education

Stunning, and saddening, statistics in Gil Smart's front page story, "Where we stand in a shaky economy."

The article continues on page A4, where there is a graph and table showing various information about the funding and use of the library by the residents of Lancaster as compared to the region and the state. Here in Lancaster, "cardholders as a percentage of population" are about 10% higher than the region and higher than the state average.

Lancaster's "per capita circulation" is higher than the state average by about 10%.

Smart notes F&M professor Antonio Callari's observation that "Lancaster County lags significantly behind both the region and the state, as it long has," when it comes to spending for education and learning, as evidenced by it's library expenditures.

This article goes on to quote Commissioner Martin as stating that "everyone is struggling right now and having to do more with less." Perhaps I missed it, but I don't recall the commissioners cutting their own salaries.

More evidence of the wrong mentality by county officials. It's as if he is proud of Lancaster's backwards attitude on spending for education and learning, particularly as it applies to children in the city of Lancaster. But then, with his large county salary, I suppose he can afford to buy his children their own books and doesn't need to rely on the public library as a resource.