I must take issue with Steve Baer, a Beaufort County Council member from south of the Broad River, about the library spending for St. Helena Island. His figures do not take into consideration the fact that St. Helena, which is larger in area than Hilton Head Island, does not have a free-standing library. We use part of the school library at St. Helena Elementary School.

Plans for a library here have been on and off the table for decades. Now with a free site on the grounds of Penn Center (but sadly also on a back road) and an approved plan, we are building. Yes, the plan includes a computer center and a meeting place. Where in Beaufort County is there more need for the public to have access to such facilities? Where are there more residents who do not have computers in their homes or a public meeting area?

Money for a library on St. Helena for the areas that include Lands End, Seaside Road, Coffin Point, Fripp Point, Dulamo, Eddings Point, Oaks and Frogmore, as well as Harbor, Fripp, Dataw, Polowana and Warsaw islands, will be well spent and justly spent. It will help to improve the lives of residents in our county who need this benefit. It will help to raise the level of education in our county.

The Sheldon-Dale-Seabrook area should be next.

Anne C. Pollitzer

St. Helena Island