Our Whacked Priorities

What a mess --- Salem's got millions and millions to give to consultants to prepare a draft environmental impact statement for the third bridge boondoggle, but we can't keep the buses running on weekends or keep the library collections up to snuff, to the point where we're even turning away offers to DONATE subscriptions.

Thank you for your offer to purchase a gift subscription of "Chess Life" for the library. Normally, we process all subscriptions in August of every year, as we submit our requests to a supplier that manages all subscriptions in one order. Unfortunately, however, this year budget cuts forced us to refrain from adding any new subscriptions (including gifts) as the costs for maintaining and processing magazines is the primary expense we have in periodicals. Regrettably, we were also forced to cut nearly one-third of our current subscriptions (including gifts) in order to meet our budget this year, due to constraints in the city budget.

Thank you for your offer, however, and we will keep your email and offer on file for some time when we have more flexibility in our magazine subscriptions.