Lancaster Eagle-Gazette from Lancaster, Ohio • 3

1 Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Tuesday, March 4, 20033 A LocalState HAVE A NEWS TIP? Have a story idea or nem tip about Fairfield County? Contact City Editor Ed Miller at 681-4M3 or emillernncoganiiett.coni. www.LancasterEagleGazette.com iiEflJiCS By TAMARIA UDDELL The Eagle-Gazette Staff tliddellnncoggnnett.com Directors at the Fairfield County District and Pickering-ton Public libraries are expecting additional state cuts as the year progresses. "Between now and June 30, we're expecting a hit of $72,000," said Joyce Harvey, interim director for the Fairfield County District Library. "We don't know what (Gov. Taft's) biennium budget will be (in July).

This is just the beginning." The Ohio Library Council advised the state's public libraries to plan their budgets 3 percent less than what they received in 2002. Now, under a bill closing a $720 million deficit, local governments would be hit with two cuts, totaling $83 million, in the same month. Libraries, most of which receive all their money from the state, say they could receive no state dollars during July. "If there's anything, it's going to be very insignificant," said Lynda Murray, executive director of the Ohio Library Council. The Fairfield County District Library received $3.1 million last year from the Library and Local Government Support Fund of LLGSF, funds set aside for public libraries from the state income tax.

This year, the district library is expecting to receive $3 million. "We still have another $140,000 we have to cut before we get (there)," Harvey said. In 2002 through Feb. 27, a total of $320,946 was cut from the library's budget. Included in the cuts was $119,000 in library materials, $22,000 from general administration supplies, $19,000 in printing and $17,000 in marketing and advertising.

PICKERINGTON Becky Callender, library director at Pickerington Public Library said they're still working on their budget. "We're (expecting) $93,000 in cuts in 2003," Callender said. The library made $96,000 in cuts last year. "We've already cut our book and video budget and will be cut- no extra staff and we're asking (the public) to be flexible. For popular titles, the library used to purchase one copy for every five people waiting, so the wait would be less.

"Now we have to buy one copy for every eight people, so people have to wait in line longer (to get materials)," Harvey said. More changes are coming. "On Wednesday, we will start limiting DVDs and videos to 10 per person," Harvey said. "(For employees) this means less work and time to check in and shelve items." Because of budget cuts, fewer items will be bought and this will spread items out so that they will be more accessible and available to more people. ting more, including programming and newsletters, (which will be cut from six times a year to quarterly)" Callender said.

"We're looking at smaller cuts, but we have so much that is fixed income such as utilities. "At this point we're hoping not to cut any staff or hours." CUTTING BACK One of the first things noticed by the district's library users was "Dateline," the library's newsletter. "It was printed in color now it's in black and white," Harvey said. "We may also have to cut back the number of pages." The library also began locking the bookdrop during open hours. "This hasn't been popular with (some)," Harvey said.

"We have Taft's popularity plummets to lowest level Taft could hurt By CARL WEISER Gannett News Service WASHINGTON A poll out Monday showing Gov. Bob Taft's popularity nose-diving to depths not seen among Ohio leaders in 20 years will reverberate in Columbus and in Washington. According to The Ohio Poll, only 40 percent of Ohioans approve of Taft's performance, an extraordinary plunge for a governor who won the November re-election in a landslide. It's the worst approval rating for a governor since Richard Celeste's 36 percent in 1983, and the highest disapproval rating 48 percent since the poll began in 1983. "We don't need a poll to tell us Ohioans are opposed to tax increases and cuts in services," said Taft's spokesman, Orest Holubec.

The state's fiscal crisis has forced the governor to push both unpopular options, and that won't change. "We don't use polls to make any policy decisions," Holubec said. In Washington, the poll re BY LEO SHANE III Eagle-Gazette Columbus Bureau COLUMBUS A man who just 15 months ago posted a 69-percent approval rating, Gov. Bob Taft now finds more Ohioans disapprove of him than support him, according to a poll released Monday. His approval rating, now at 40 percent, sunk 26 points since the last poll taken just before the November 2002 election.

It's the lowest support for a governor since Richard Celeste's 36 percent in the summer of 1983. "We have seen large changes before," said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the Ohio Poll "But this is a pretty marked drop. This is not a common occurrence." The Ohio Poll puts Taft's disapproval rating at 48 percent, the highest for any governor since the University of Cincinnati began conducting the semi-monthly survey in 1983. Orest Holubec, spokesman for Taft, said the numbers were "not surprising" but also not overly disconcerting. "We don't need a poll to tell us that Ohioans don't like budget cuts or tax increases," he said.

"Unfortunately, the governor is in a position where he has had to propose both." The polls showed 34 percent of Taft's critics were unhappy with his budget plans, specifically blasting proposed tax hikes, budget cuts and the administration's spending priorities. Taft's budget proposal for 2004-05, designed to close an anticipated $4 billion gap, includes $3.1 billion in tax increases. He wants to broaden the sales tax, tighten business taxes and dou- Darfus Realty Gov. Bob Taft speaks during the official Ohio Statehood celebration on the steps of the Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe on Saturday. (GNS photo) Bush in 2004 sults add to White House anxiety about winning Ohio in 2004.

No Republican has won the White House in the past century without winning Ohio. After a ceremony last week honoring the Ohio State Buckeyes, the state's top Republicans, including Taft, huddled for 45 minutes with Bush's top strategist, Karl Rove, and Bush political director Ken Mehlman. "They believe it's going to be an election like 2000, not 1984," Taft told reporters, meaning another nail-biter rather than a Ronald Reagan-style romp over Democrat Walter Mon-dale. "They think Ohio is going to be a key battleground state." Conservatives call Bush and Taft "fellow travelers," saying they both are trying to increase spending rather than making the tough decisions about what to cut. A Democrat with a message of fiscal discipline could win Ohio, especially if the economy fails to improve, said state Rep.

Tom Brinkman a conservative Republican from Cincinnati. im I Enterprises, Inc. mat Vi'J II OSU helmet probably heading for storage COLUMBUS (AP) The Ohio State football helmet President Bush received last week probably is headed to the White House equivalent of a giant hall closet Bush received the helmet from the national champion Buckeyes and similar gifts from this year's NCAA volleyball and men's and women's soccer championship teams during an East Room ceremony. A White House spokesman said the gifts are likely to be sent nine blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue to the federal government's storehouse for such items. "The majority of gifts are transferred to the National Archives and are stored there until a presidential library is built," spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Presidents are inundated with gifts. They pour in from heads of state, championship teams, communities that the president visits and ordinary citizens. "The bulk of the items are unsolicited gifts that people, for whatever reason, mail to the president," said Don Holloway, collections manager for the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. Among presidential gifts the National Archives has processed are a walking cane with a peanut-shaped handle sent to President Carter, customized cowboy boots sent to President Eisenhower and a Desert Storm chess set sent to the first President Bush. Fingerhut files to run for Senate CLEVELAND (AP) State Sen.

Eric Fingerhut filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission to run for the U.S. Senate next year. Fingerhut, a Cleveland Democrat, was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1990 and was elected to Congress in 1992. He was defeated for re-election in 1994 by Republican Steve LaTourette and in 1998 was elected to return to the Ohio Senate. If nominated, he could end up running against Republican Sen.

George Voinovich, a former governor and former Cleveland mayor, who is now serving his first term in the Senate. Fingerhut, an attorney, works at the Cleveland-based Federation for Community Planning, an independent, nonprofit think tank specializing in research, planning, community education and advocacy. He managed the successful Cleveland mayoral campaign of Democrat Michael R. White in 1989. Alabama escapee captured in Ohio WEST ALEXANDRIA (AP) A man accused of murder who escaped from an Alabama jail in November was apprehended after a traffic stop in the western Ohio village of West Alexandria, authorities said Monday.

Clistopher Thomas, 21, was apprehended Friday night when a West Alexandria policeman stopped the car in which he was riding after noticing the tail lights were out, said Lt. Tim Hedges. Hedges said Thomas put up no resistance and that no weapons were found in the vehicle. He said Thomas is being held in the Preble County Jail in nearby Eaton pending extradition to Alabama. Thomas escaped from the Greene County Jail in Eu-taw, on Nov.

21, digging a hole into a wall and wriggling through it. It was the third time Thomas escaped from the aging jail since he was charged in April 2000. Lancaster Eagle-Gaze'tte's vourse i ble the tax on alcohol, as well as cut Medicaid by $1 billion and give little growth for agencies outside of education. Rademacher said the state's continued economic slowdown along with the national slowdown also likely contributed to Taft's low numbers. His popularity had been around 60 percent in the poll since May 1999.

Another poll conducted by the University of Cincinnati last week showed little support for either tax increases or department cuts to balance the state's budget. Carlos "Cork" Taylor Realtor v. Holubec said the poll won't prompt Taft to review his budget plans, and won't affect his ability to work with legislators on getting it passed. The Our All you need to do is fill out the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette uo-ii Enter to Mantis Tiiier STOMEDURNER Gift Certificate Gift Certificate Gift Certificate Help Contest BUYING OR SELLING REAL ESTATE? Call Me! wStand compliments of ENTERPRISES. INC.

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