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Baffled by the Board's Library Decision
Dear Editor:
Jack London once wrote, "the Oakland Free Public Library, in all my childhood dreams and fantasies I never imagined that such a place existed. My spiritual birth was the moment I stood in the doorway of that wooden building, cap in hand, eyes bulging in wonder, never believing that as many books as I saw before actually existed. It was the world of books, now accessible, that practically gave me the basis of my education."
Forced to leave school at the age of thirteen to help support his family, Jack fell into a life of drinking, brawling and crime. His life was on a downward spiral. It was at that time that he wandering into the Oakland Free Public Library. Jack went on to write twenty-two novels, over four hundred short stories and countless pieces of nonfiction.
The free public library is the great leveler of our society. Whether you live in the biggest house on the hill or the smallest studio in town, we are all the same at the library. A driver's licence allows you to drive. A library card allows you to explore.
I have nothing but respect for the Philipstown Town Board. However, I am baffled by their decision to ignore the November referendum granting the Butterfield Library a new budget. I implore the Board to reverse their decision.
Philipstown may not have another Jack out there, but it may have a Jackie.
Ray Fitzgerald
Cold Spring
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