{"id":2615,"date":"2016-10-31T08:02:34","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T12:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2016-10-31T09:26:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T13:26:34","slug":"morgan-county-public-library-up-against-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2615","title":{"rendered":"Morgan County Public Library Up Against the Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Berkeley Springs, the Morgan County Public Library is up against the wall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aBk5Ek0NS_c\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s yearly budget is a mere $115,000. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But there is a shortfall of about $40,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connie Perry is the President of the Morgan County Public Library.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen we originally built the library, the library received $33,000 a year from the school levy and $18,000 a year from the County Commission, \u201d Perry told Russell Mokhiber of This Week in Morgan County. \u201cWe got a grant from the state library commission for $57,000. You have to match that grant with public funds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRight now we are in a financial crisis because in the last school levy, the library was not included. We lost $33,000 a year. The County Commission had agreed to fund us with $28,000. But they notified us just recently that we were only going to get $18,000.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why did the County Commission renege on its agreement?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI assume it had to do with the funds available,\u201d Perry said. \u201cWe just got that notification. Now, we have to match the $57,000, which means we have to raise $39,000 to match the state grant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The funds need to be raised to keep the doors of the library open.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/library-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"library\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/library-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/library-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/library-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/library.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To raise funds, the library <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2577\">will be holding a benefit USO Show<\/a> featuring music and stars from the 1940s. It will be Sunday November 13 at 3 pm at the American Legion in Berkeley Springs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perry said that the County Commission should \u201cmake a larger commitment to support the library.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe County Commissioners should support the library more because the people want and support the library and they have shown that time and time again,\u201d Perry said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perry runs a real estate company in town and says that retirees and people looking for second homes are driving the residential market in Morgan County. She was also involved in the deal that brought the new Tractor Supply store to Morgan County.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What about a Wal-Mart?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perry says in the past, she has been involved in talks with Wal-Mart.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey want so many people going by their front door an hour before they open a store,\u201d Perry said. \u201cWhat they have determined is that the Wal-Mart stores in Hagerstown, Martinsburg and Winchester serve this area. That\u2019s the reason some of the bigger stores haven\u2019t come here. They have to have so much money come in their door every hour to justify them having a store here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI worked with Tractor Supply. I sold them the land. They looked at how many cars go by the location. Our two lane highway \u2013 US 522 \u2013 is the second most traveled two lane highway in the United States. A lot of smaller companies are looking for that. If so many cars go by their store, a certain percentage of cars will stop. Wal-Mart wants so many people in the door an hour. Tractor Supply doesn\u2019t need that many people in the door an hour. And that\u2019s the size of store we are going to get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perry said her understanding is that when the new Sheetz opens on Rt. 13 and US 522, the old Sheetz on Route 9 and US 522 will remain open.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Berkeley Springs, the Morgan County Public Library is up against the wall. It\u2019s yearly budget is a mere $115,000. But there is a shortfall of about $40,000. Connie Perry is the President of the Morgan County Public Library. \u201cWhen &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2615\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}