September 8Cochran County Love Memorial LibraryMORTON, Texas - After about a 30-mile drive, we entered the city limits of Morton with a population of around 2,000 citizens, at 7 a.m. to visit with Darla Hightower, a one-woman library. The Cochran County Love Memorial Library’s building was formerly a bank with a drive thru teller booth still attached that now serves as Darla’s covered parking space. Her city was mentioned in a USAToday article called Rural Americans Long to be Linked.
Upon first entering Morton we were passed by farmers on huge farming equipment. We noticed a few closed shops and stores and could tell that the town had seen bustling and busier times, but in the middle of this town, the lights were on at the library and Darla was open for business. Despite telling us of how sick and ill she was the night before, Darla was on the job, and it makes you wonder, if Darla gets sick, if the library would be open. Darla assured us that she has a back up person who is on call if she can’t make it in.
Darla told us about the need for more broadband speed at her library. At first, local kids would come in just to play games over the Internet, but then they learned to use the other resources in the library for school. She stated that college students come in to further their education at nearby colleges and at Texas Tech, which saves them about a 90 to 120 mile round trip to the campus in Lubbock. She said that people also come in and check the job markets and apply for jobs online and update their resumes.
A farmer named Donnie who raises cotton, maze, and wheat for a living told us about how he uses the library’s Internet services to read farming news, farming magazines, and check commodity prices - which he stated are a little bit delayed. He also checks with the seed companies and their representatives online. A mother told us of her kids using the library to do research for jobs, apply to colleges and for financial aid.
We met Ruste, a Texas boy who had to feed his animals and pet goat before he heads off to school every morning. But don’t be fooled by this small kid with a grin and laugh as big as Texas. Ruste is Internet savvy by using MySpace to chat with his friends outside the area. He also uses it to do his homework and just recently for a school project on the Alamo.
After the interview, Darla darts off to drop Ruste at school, which was just around the corner. You can tell she does more for the community than just open and close the library and that she deserves that covered parking spot.
Next we were off to Denver City, about 54 miles south of Morton down Texas highway 214.
Cecil Bickley Library 
DENVER CITY, Texas – Along the route were miles of farmland, which is nothing unusual in that area, except that scattered in the middle of the crops seemed to be miniature oil well pumps. The closer we got to Denver City the denser the pumps became. Then the pumps started to get bigger and bigger and after a while you started to feel like they were watching you.
We met Pat McNabb at the Cecil Bickley Library in Denver City. Denver City has a population of about 4,000. Pat is head of the two Yoakum County public libraries, with the second library located 15 miles away in Plains. She greeted us with zucchini muffins, and the two live-in orange and white cats that are the resident mascots of the library welcomed us to the facility.
Pat told us that patrons bring food and treats for the cats and that the library has an entire section dedicated to cats for children to read. You will notice little cat nooks and crannies all round the library that were built just for them and also the live displays of tarantulas and turtles in the children’s section.
I would describe Denver City as a hard working mechanical and oil industry town. Everything closes at around 4 p.m., even some of the restaurants that cater to the big lunch crowds from the local industries, which explains why the public library opens at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays to serve its patrons’ needs.
Pat told us of how citizens print out their IRS forms, perform unemployment check-ins, and how many companies don’t hire walk-ins or people who hand carry their resumes to the company. Companies only accept online applications now. She said that harvesters who come in the fall for grains, watermelons, and peanuts will have their trucks lined up in the library parking lot, utilizing the Wi-Fi to send e-mails home and to check grain prices along with the weather to determine if they should harvest or not. She also stated that every once and while they will watch the Dallas Cowboys football game over the Internet since they have no other means of viewing the team while on the road.
We also talked to a gentleman who started a business as a U.S. wholesale distributor with a company in China. He said that it was because of the Internet access at the library that he was able to develop a relationship to get his business started.
A librarian told us about how people in the county come to the library to submit workforce information instead of having to drive 35 miles to Brownfield in hopes of getting a job. At Denver City’s public library faster broadband service is wanted and needed by the citizens and patrons. It is also a place to pet a friendly cat or two.
We are off to make the long 5-hour drive to the mountains of west Texas, to Fort Davis located in Jeff Davis County.
More to come tomorrow.