Greenfield News

Jayanti Addleman, director of Monterey County Free Libraries, rides Clementine, a mule from Happy Trails Wagon Tour of Carmel Valley, to a reception celebrating 100 years of Monterey County Free Libraries at Marina Library on Saturday.

When Anne Hadden saddled up her burro in 1913 as Monterey County's first librarian, she carried the power of the written word to the remotest corners of the Salinas Valley and the Monterey Peninsula. Within six months, Hadden had opened six Monterey County Free Libraries, beginning in Greenfield. By 1923, Hadden and her burgeoning staff had opened County Free Libraries in 105 locations. The Monterey County Free Libraries will pause and reflect on its 100-year history at a centennial celebration Saturday at the Marina Branch. The day's activities include a cake cutting, music and crafts, as well as a visit with a librarian in period costume riding on a burro. 'They traveled, transported a lot of books all over the county to all over those areas,' said Mona Gudgel, executive director of the Monterey County Historical Society. 'They truly worked hard to bring books to people throughout the county.' Though they have traded burros and satchels for bookmobiles and computer servers, the 70 employees of the Monterey County Free Libraries still work at 18 branches and travel to nearly every hill and dale in their service area to provide materials for their patrons. In locations too sparse or remote for a permanent branch, the Free Libraries bookmobiles fill the niche. "We feel, especially in some of these small communities, it's al they have," said Jayanti Addleman, County Librarian. "We provide community centers, where democracy occurs. We serve rural, urban, rich and poor communities, English- and foreign-language speakers — the entire spectrum." The Free Libraries bookmobiles still make weekly trips to the furthest reaches of Monterey County, like Parkfield, a 131-mile drive from their headquarters in Marina. 'We go places that are very far away,' Addleman said. 'It would be impossible for someone to travel to all of our locations in a day.' Monterey County's four city libraries in Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove and Salinas have each been serving residents for more than 100 years. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors passed the County Library Act of 1911 and created the Monterey County Free Libraries on August 6, 1912, to serve the needs of county residents outside those cities' boundaries, said Addleman. It took days, not minutes, to reach the Big Sur area when Hadden and her colleagues established county library branches on the breathtaking California coast. In a letter written June 14, 1916 to State Librarian J.L. Gillis, Hadden recounts traveling to King City by train, 20 miles to Jolon in a car, and 30 miles on horseback to Gorda, a small community 30 miles south of Big Sur. She was dedicated to getting library services to even the remotest areas and personally delivered library materials around the county travelling by train, car, on foot and by burro. 'Just before the fog came upon us near the 3,000 foot summit, we looked down on a canyon full of the rare and beautiful Santa Lucia fir or `Incencia' as our guide called it,' Hadden wrote. 'The trail led very steeply down from the fog covered summit to sea level and a clear sky. We sent our horses back from Gorda and walked the rest of the way, about seventy miles in all, to the Big Sur.' County Free Libraries employees don't cross mountain ranges on horseback anymore, but they do breach a digital divide for their patrons who don't have access to the wealth of information available online. 'There are so many people in this digital age who don't have access to computers, and the libraries are far away,' Addleman said. 'They can only get what they need at the library. Monterey County Free Libraries receives about 1 percent of property taxes to the areas it serves, but depends largely on donations and grants to maintain its service levels. The Foundation for Monterey County Free Libraries was established in 1991 and has contributed more than $2.5 million since its inception. Ten Friends of the Library groups support individual branches and the library system at large through fundraising, volunteer hours and advocacy. 'We've become nimble, flexible so we can meet their needs of our patrons,' Addleman said.

As Philly's public school budget cuts threatened to cut away at Greenfield Elementary School 's art program, parents of the students found a way to get funding for the program and keep it off the chopping block, according to the Weekly Press .

Larry Greenfield, a Los Angeles area native, has been named national executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington, D.C., JINSA president David Ganz announced Thursday.

Cuts continue to hit the School District of Philadelphia. In the latest round, the district decided to eliminate 90-school police officers to fill its $61 million shortfall.

A 19-year-old Greenfield man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of possessing marijuana and violating his probation following a traffic stop, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said.

A shallow magnitude 3.0 earthquake was reported Saturday afternoon one mile from Pinnacles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Time to visit the charming wineries on the River Road Wine Trail for the annual Valentine's Passport day, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. next Saturday.

Date of Report: 1/26/2012 Time of Report: 19:49 Deputy Name: Mendoza, Matt Report Number: 00530-12 Charges: M-17 Suspect Arrested Y/N: No Arrestee: None Location: Carmel Synopsis: Reporting party reported an unknown subject contacted her via telephone advising she had won a $500 Wal Mart gift card but needed to pay the shipping & handling.

Alvaro Atlagco Gonzales, 19, of Salinas, was convicted by a jury of first degree murder for the slaying of Cresendo Garcia in Greenfield, the Monterey County District Attorney said Monday.

An argument at a home in Greenfield Thursday turned violent when a man threatened to kill his girlfriend by allegedly holding a gun to her head, Monterey County sheriff's officials said.