Gardnerville residents establish library in Ghana

Two Carson Valley residents who work at Carson Valley Medical Center spent a week in Ghana to open a library.

Dr. Joseph Boateng and Lenee Casey brought books to Manhyia, Boateng's village in the Ashante province. Lenee said the doctor's father, who lived in the village, died a year ago and Boateng wanted to do something to memorialize him.

"His father's desire to get his son educated was the thing that allowed him to leave the village," she said.

The effort is part of the Ghana Rural Library Project. Boateng is a director in the medical center's intensive care unit.

Lenee said schools in Africa often don't have libraries or books.

Before they arrived in Ghana, Pepperdine University student Mike Marsden went ahead of them and prepared the school for a library.

Lenee became involved when Boateng told her about the issue.

"Books have always been my passion," Leneé said. "I asked him, 'do you need books, I'll get you books.'"

Lenee ended up gathering 1,800 pounds of books.

"They were packed in nine huge Rubber Maid tubs," she said. "We took some of them with us on the airplane and shipped the rest."

Lenee has been a Gardnerville resident for eight years and has worked most of that time at the medical center. Dr. Boateng arrived about two year's ago.

"I'm going to try setting up barrels to collect books for nine more libraries," she said. "We'll take just about any kind of books, including general interest, and especially children's books."

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I've been waiting all summer to do a really big vegetable story and here it is.

Charlene and Bill Rodman came in with photos of the green Hubbard true winter squash that grew to 35 pounds this summer.

Charlene was office manager for The R-C and Bill worked circulation. Bill said the squash was supposed to only grow to be 10-12 pounds, but this thing just kept growing and growing.

I understand they cut it up, cooked it and that it was delicious.

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It never fails that when the word "spelling" appears in my writing there will be a major faux pas.

I knew when I wrote the words "I hope the curse can spell," that there would be something in the column that would convince my readers to conclude the sentence, "because this guy sure can't"

My particular weakness has always been the synonym. I have a talent of picking exactly the wrong word. So when I wrote last Friday that something "peeked my interest," I was of course referring to the second usage of the verb pique. No dictionary lawyer could get me off on that one. I was guilty as sin.

It was my co-workers who pointed out the issue to me. Not the three I had read the column before it went to press. Someone else.

Production artist Chris Olesen said her neighbor came out and asked if she saw the big typo in the paper.

"I thought it was in a headline," she said. Imagine her disappointment when it was buried in the second item of my column. I peeked at the article and then nearly went into a fit of pique, as I usually do in these circumstances. But I stopped and realized that would be the peak of stupidity. Instead I will seek solace in a picon punch and curse my insufferable illiteracy.

-- Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.