The Lewis C. Murphy-Wilmot Branch Library

Well, I decided to cancel the whole Facebook thing. As nearly as I could tell, the cousin who contacted me, is the ringleader. She seems to spend most of her time sending silly messages to her relatives. I actually read this on my cousin's Facebook page. "Carol sent a cute puppy to Janet, using Cute Pets." Need I say more? Anyway, let's talk libraries. We live about a half mile from our neighborhood branch library, the Lewis C. Murphy-Wilmot Branch Library. I'm not kidding, that's the name. It was simply the Wilmot Library for about 35 years. It was named Wilmot because it is on Wilmot Rd. Mr. Wilmot was a WWII military hero of some sort. The leaders of Hooteville love to name stuff after on another, so they just couldn't leave Wilmot alone. Lewis C. Murphy was the mayor of Hooterville for 16 years, ending in 1987. He could have remained mayor for life, but he gave it up after four terms. In Hooterville, Murphy is the clear leader as the people's favorite mayor of all time. Murphy was a Republican in a city full of Democrats. The fact that he was elected once and reelected three time, is a tribute to his skill and his personal appeal. Mayor Murphy died in 2005 and in the finest Hooterville tradition, the folks running our government looked around for something to name after him. They decided on the Wilmot branch library, apparently forgetting that they had already named a bridge after him, Murphy Overpass. The name Wilmot was kept as part of the new moniker to avoid a nasty fight with the public over removing it. The public doesn't always share the city official's penchant for changing the names of things in tribute to themselves. Years ago, our city's largest park, Randolph Park, a one-square mile facility in the center of town, was renamed Reid ParThe renaming was in honor of Gene Reid, the retired, long-time Parks and Rec. Director. This caused a furor among the citizenry and any Hootervillian worth his salt still refuses to call it Reid Park. Newcomers to town, who don't know any better, believe that it is really called Reid Park, legitimizing the atrocity. The Wilmot Branch Library is kind of an eyesore, the truth be told. It was designed by a crazy person, as near as I can tell. One story, glass and concrete and way too small. Plus the floor plan makes inefficent use of the space available. It was added ontoin the 1990s and another expansion was supposed to be underway, but hasn't yet begun. But we love it anyway. The City had grand plans to tear down the Wilmot Branch Library and build a new one, but public outcry nixed that idea. A couple of years go Hooterville made an agreement with Pima County to take over the whole library system. The County has done a good job of expanding the hours of operation and modernizing the system. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky