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wbtchorchstouffklle poduc library the tribune is pleased to announce our first summer fiction contest open to all adults in the area the contest is for works of prose on any subject but no longer than 2500 words well print as many stories as we can in the coming weeks and from all entries a panel of judges will select the best of the bunch entries must be typed and submitted to our office by august 15 write on vdi 303 no 30 ametmhccmtnnmitynewspaper wednesday july 241991 claremont library gets reprieve from board maxine sharestrom correspondent on saturday july 13 the picker ing library board shut down the library in claremont for the sum mer budget cuts they said blame pickering council according to some residents of the tiny hamlet a predictable out cry ensued after all this is aplace that has fought for and lost both its post office and via rail service in the past 18 months both were important social meeting places in addition to their business functions claremont resident kathy glover scott told the tribune tuesday everyone met at the post office to chit chat this town has had some hard knocks she said we need to keep our library last thursday four days after an emotional public meetingchaired by the board and attended by 100 of claremonts 650 residents the board changed its position and opted to restore limited service in claremont while cutting hours in the two other northern library branches one in greenwood and the other in whitevale following thursdays decision claremonts summer hours will drop to seven from 13 greenwoods will drop five hours to eight per week and whitevale to five hours from six heeded concerns the board has heeded the con cerns of the claremont residents library ceo sandy cameron told the tribune thursday night fol lowing the decision but some residents of the tiny hamlet feel the apparent aboutface was a carefully calculated political move aimed at pickering council for not approving its budget this year library board representative gwen mowbray told the tribune her boards initial decision was strictly financial council looks at the bottom line she said when the board went to pickering council for approval of their 1991 budget they were told to cut back cameron told the tribune coun cil advised the board to cut 50000 fromsalaries and wages and 150000 from operating costs of a total budget of just over 26 mil- lion falling steadily initially claremont was selected for closure because its circulation has been falling steadily over the past 10 years he said however resident michael klatt said in an interview the board asked council to approve an 115 per cent increase over 1990 about twice the average increase in the munici pality he said in actual dollars they got a 311000 increase but they came into the meeting and said oh we got such a budget cut by closing the claremont branch for the summer the board would save 2700 he said glover scott said the board was trying to make claremont the scapegoat for their systematic problems she said council told the library board not to cut services in picker ings new central library in the civic centre a 2 million opera tion the board then zeroed in on circulation in the northern branches and singled out claremont she said while circulation in the other two northern libraries whitevale and greenwood dropped about 50 per cent in the first six months of 1991 compared to the same time last year claremonts circulation fell only five per cent she said dis agreeing with camerons interpre tation of declining circulation resident grant baker said these figures show were the ones most dependent on the library most loyal after the board reversed its deci sion thursday cameron said library budget cuts cannot be con sidered strictly in terms of dollars and cents there is more to libraries than just what output mea sures he said unless council comes to realize that well always have a problem where libraries play a spectacularly important social role as in claremont he conceded the loss of library service touched an emotional chord with residents it seemed to them another sub stantial loss of their communitys focal points while baker is pleased some lim ited service will be restored starting tuesday hes convinced the drama has been strictly politicaii think the library board may have wanted to get back at council for cutting their budget he said in an inter view thursday klatt agrees this is the most dramatic gesture you could do to close one of the little libraries for the summer as a result of the decision you get everyone in claremont steamed up in a hot room and you go back to council and you say look what you made us do he said hes not convinced the library will be safe from encroach ing centralization in the future we will simply never be efficient in downtown terms he said vow ing to fight tqmaintain library ser vice in a way it is good this has happened theyve cut the hours in whitevale now i know there are a lot of people there who wont be happy with this and i know they can do someyelling fawmm l8 iin ggaepglgden protect enhance your paving stone with on sale- io off save1500 on 18 l nul of sealer we deliver vtopjoil triple mix farmer jaclcs own l2 nl2 mix rarmacon paving stones sand gravel and much mora store hours impritowed 9jam to 7 pm thurs fri 9 am to 9 pm sat 9 am 6 pm tlllne omtmttmtm