Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
DAYTON, Wash. — The Washington State Library falls under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary of State, and because of concerns over recent attempts to ban books, staff in that office have begun drafting bills to provide librarians with more autonomy over collection development and to strengthen nondiscrimination laws.
Since a qualified petition has been submitted to the county, the state cannot intercede in the coming ballot measure (Proposition 2) asking voters to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library (CCRDL). But the Secretary of State’s office is working to make the process more equitable for rural library districts.
Deputy Secretary of State Randy Bolerjack said four other districts are at risk in addition to CCRDL, where only 10% of eligible voters were needed to put Proposition 2 on the November ballot. As applied to Columbia County, the dissolution process has an added inequity since the county’s only public library is in Dayton. The city was annexed into the district and pays taxes toward the library. But Dayton’s voters cannot vote on the dissolution proposition.
“It requires 35% of the vote to recall a state legislator and 25% to dissolve other public districts,” Bolerjack said. “So why is this one 10%?”
Bolerjack said his office would like to increase the percentage for putting a dissolution proposition on a ballot for taxpayer equity and to be more consistent with other taxing districts. “We want to do that to protect them (rural library districts) and, hopefully, if all goes well in this vote, it protects your district in the future,” he said.
Other proposed legislation would give librarians, not library boards or city councils, the authority to decide what materials should be included or removed from library collections.
“It shouldn’t be for a city council member or library board to make the decision of a single book being removed,” Bolerjack said.
His office is also looking at a broader statewide fix. Bolerjack said Washington state has some of the strongest nondiscrimination laws in the country. Adding access to public library collections under existing laws, citizens would have the right to sue based on discrimination in the event books or materials are removed outside of legal policy.
Bolerjack said Secretary of State Steve Hobbs views libraries as a communal place. And because the Office of the Secretary of State performs election oversight, libraries are an important conduit, especially for underserved eligible voters.
“It’s an incredibly important resource statewide, and every single public library matters,” said the deputy secretary.
Bolerjack hopes these policy bills can be introduced in December for the Legislature to consider during its 2024 supplemental session.
— Michele Smith, The Times (Waitsburg), Thursday
Hope springs for Orofino’s IOOF Hall
OROFINO — The future of the old IOOF building on Johnson Avenue in Orofino is looking up and so are those who have held hope for its restoration. Recently the Koontz family purchased the historical building with the intention to renovate and restore it. It is no small undertaking but, with things falling into place, it looks possible.
Alisha is a seventh-generation Idahoan, whose family has farmed in eastern Idaho since the 1800s. Although she spent time in her childhood in other parts of the U.S. and Canada, she came back to Idaho to finish her university studies and ended up staying. It was 22 years ago when she moved to the Boise area where she currently works in commercial real estate finance.
Thad, Alisha’s husband, moved to Idaho 12 years ago. He is the former medical director of State Hospital North, which is what brought them to Orofino. He really liked the Lenore area and he and Alisha purchased a house there a few years ago. They lived there for a year, and even now, though their work is in Boise, they spend as much time there as they can. They love Orofino and spend a lot of time at Dworshak Dam as well as their home in Lenore.
Alisha said, “It’s one of our favorite places to be as a family and we are very connected in the area.”
Regarding the purchase of the IOOF Hall she said, “One time there was a weekend that my husband went to Orofino with our daughter, and they always manage to get into trouble when they do that. They were walking and my husband saw the IOOF Building, located at 247 Johnson Ave. We’ve always admired its beauty, and then he saw that it was for sale. He shared with me, ‘What an amazing thing it would be to buy it and restore it to its former glory.’”
This was right up Alisha’s alley. She’s worked in the commercial real estate industry for almost 20 years, and with the company where she’s at for 11 years.
Even though they were both enthused, it took quite a little thinking and mulling it over before they decided to proceed. Both of them work full-time jobs. Their ultimate decision was to put an offer up and see how it went.
When the bid went in and they were considered, the fact that their intention was to keep it intact and restore it met with favor, and everything just fell into place.
Alisha’s comment was, “We have assembled a wonderful team there in Orofino. The city, the economic development and the historical society have been great in helping show us the way. We have a project that we might actually be able to pull off.
“I wish every city could be this accommodating and thoughtful in working with people to make projects that give benefit to the whole community. I’m thrilled.
“We are working with the State Historical Society and the Clearwater Historical Society and we are working to get it registered on the National Historical Society, which will mean that its historical integrity has to remain intact.”
— Clearwater Tribune (Orofino), Wednesday
