See the article at... http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070301/NEWS03/703010356/1005

Do we need improvements to our Library?  Yes.

Can the taxpayers afford a new library building project right now?  No.

It should be noted that the Friends of the Troy Public Library have proposed a building project to begin eight years from now.  However, it can’t hurt to start asking questions now about the future of the Library.

At Monday night's Council meeting, I asked these questions:

1. How will building a new library on the Civic Center campus impact the goals of the Civic Center Priority Task Force?

2. Can we find another City to partner with in this effort?

3. Can we use some of the hotel room taxes collected here in Troy that otherwise are used to subsidize Cobo Hall?

See the article at...

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110009726

Here's an excerpt...

...Most schoolchildren once knew the names of the nation's heroes in war--Ethan Allen, John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, the Swamp Fox Francis Marion, Ulysses S. Grant, Clara Barton, Billy Mitchell, Alvin York, Lee Ann Hester. Lee Ann who? She's the first woman to win a Silver Star for direct combat with the enemy. Did it in a trench in Iraq. Her story should be in schools, but it won't be.  All nations celebrate personal icons, and ours now tend to be doers of good. That's fine. But if we suppress the martial feats of a Bruce Crandall, we distance ourselves further from our military. And in time, we will change. At some risk.