Rutherford talks about future

By Chuck Gysi/Editor

June 07, 2006

The Macomb Journal

MACOMB - State Sen. Dan Rutherford knows that if he defeats incumbent Democrat Jesse White in November, he'll not only gain the title of secretary of state, he'll also serve as state librarian. The two jobs are intertwined.

It is for that reason that the Pontiac Republican made a campaign stop in Macomb on Tuesday and visited the Carnegie-style Macomb Public Library.

"The idea of the facility structure is important for me to know," Rutherford said as he was lead through the library's various rooms by library staff and board members and given descriptions of services provided to library patrons. "I'm very interested in what you're doing here."

George Wanamaker, president of the library's Board of Trustees, served as Rutherford's host because library director Dennis Danowski was attending meetings in Springfield.

"For the size that we are, we have a lot," Wanamaker told Rutherford. The senator also was told that 2,000 people visit the library in any given month.

Rutherford talked to library staff and board members about where libraries should be in the future so that he could oversee them better as state librarian, if he is elected.

"I think we need to be thinking of where we are going ... and accessibility to the public," the candidate said. "We need to be thinking creatively what the library of tomorrow will be."

While standing in the library's reading room, Rutherford was told that the library's last grant came in 1999, when the elevator was added between the first and second floors to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Rutherford noted that the macro issue for him was to figure out how a facility like Macomb's Carnegie library will continue to serve the public in the future.

"The ultimate question is where are going to be tomorrow - that is the key," he said.