Letter to the Editor by, William Ganong, Klamath Falls

It is not surprising that to Representative Eric Werner Reschke the Klamath County Museums are just good museums. Representative Werner was born in California and raised, educated, and worked most of his life in the Portland/Willamette Valley area. It wasn’t until he started his political career that he moved to Klamath County. He has no roots in Klamath County, no appreciation of the true value of our museums.

Taylor Tupper’s roots in this area are thousands of years deep; rich with a history of trials, tribulations, perseverance, successes. Janet Larson’s family was deeply involved in the establishment of our lumber industry over one hundred years ago. Luther Horsley’s family were pioneers in the development of the farm/ranch land, first in Langell Valley and then the Lower Klamath Lake area. Neal Buchanan, Jodi Kucera, Joan Balin, and thousands of other Klamath County residents share many generations in our area.

The Klamath County museums are not just good museums, they are OUR Museums. They preserve and display our history and heritage. They share their collection online with over 8,000 Facebook followers. They provide wonderful educational/entertaining events attended by over a thousand people per year.
However, there has never been adequate funding to maintain the Museum buildings. The roof of the 80+ year old Main Museum needs replacement of the roof and heating system, renovation of its restrooms, fire protection, and the list goes on. The Baldwin Hotel has a list of 11 priority projects including fire protection and brick repair/preservation, that need to be addressed now. The five-year levy will provide funds to do this work.

In addition, the levy will allow the Museums to properly document, preserve, scan, and make available online for public viewing the 55,486 historic photos and 11,835 historic documents that tell the history of Klamath County. Please support OUR Museums by voting YES on the Museum five-year levy.

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