Tim Arango writes: “Bright and spacious, [the library in McFarland] fills with schoolchildren on weekday afternoons, providing safety until their parents return from harvesting grapes and almonds in the heart of California’s richest agricultural region. On the other side of the avenue is the police department. Two dozen employees share a bathroom; four sergeants pack into one small office. Kenny Williams, who serves as McFarland’s police chief and its city manager, looks across the street with envy. In a move that has sharply divided the mostly poor farming community, he has been pushing to take over the library, owned and operated by Kern County, and convert the building into a new police station.”