Congratulations are in order for the Laurens County Library Board, the Capital Projects Sales Tax Committee, Laurens County, and the City of Clinton on one of the most forward-looking investments in the city’s history.
The new Public Library that will take shape on West Pitts Street supports a legacy in this country that goes back to the Founding Fathers, when libraries first became a staple of American communities. It is a very much needed addition to the City of Clinton and even more important, it supports the city’s core.
The city will continue working on mobility issues - how to get people from “the other side of the tracks” over to the Uptown Square to participate in festivals, restaurants, shopping and the city government. Among these are the students of Presbyterian College, and the college made a significant investment in that goal when it bought the City of Laurens trolley, and re-branded it.
Now, the library’s move from Jacobs Highway to West Pitts Street could give the trolley an additional destination.
Plus, it opens a retail space in the strip-shopping center anchored by Ace Hardware.
It is especially noteworthy that in the midst of culture wars when libraries have become a lightning rod for offended people - York County just reduced its library board by 3 members because of a cancel-culture war on books -- what does Laurens County do?
INVESTS in a library, the most important tool in communities and schools in developing an open-minded generation of young people. Fight as they might to maintain and revert to “the good old days,” the nay-sayers of open-mindedness are going to be swept away by Gen Z and subsequent generations.
Who are going to WANT TO go to the library - for books, for activities, for a window out into the world. And for jobs, library computers offer a public way to search and apply for work - an important economic driver for Laurens County.
So good on you, CPST “yes” voters - you’re paying an extra penny, we all are in fact, and making a great investment.
Vic MacDonald is Editor of The Clinton Chronicle. In June, 2025, he will observe his 50th year in community journalism. Reach him at 864-833-1900.
