Since I discovered the open viewing of pornography at the Orland Park Public Library (OPPL) in the Chicago area, many strange things have occurred including assaults on my credibility and character. It began with the bizarre claim that my children weren’t with me in the library and has now progressed to the malicious use of the police to silence me. In this installment I will show how an elected board and public library district is abusing its power to intimidate and quiet all criticism while at the same time refusing to use their authority to go after the real criminals who have committed sex acts in the library.
1. October 8th, 2013: Mary Weimar sends an email to Tim McCarthy, Chief of Police of Orland Park, asking him to investigate two videos on my YouTube channel. One of them is a song I wrote about the 2nd amendment.
Contrast this effort to involve the police for no cause, to the reluctance to call police on October 23, 2008 when a patron reported a man masturbating in the library. Police were not involved on that occasion and in fact, the person who complained was moved to another computer station.
2. October 23, 2013 James Fessler called the police and claimed he was being harassed by phone calls and “annoying emails.”
In order to tie his critics to the phony phone calls and “annoying” emails and bulk up the false reports against library critics with the police, Fessler named Kevin DuJan and me as “subjects” of his concern despite there being no link to either of us and any of the “annoying” things happening to him. One of his complaints detailed that someone had sent this satirical picture to him.
This picture so upset Fessler he felt the need to call the police to report that someone had sent it to him. In the investigation that Fessler insisted the police conduct at considerable cost to the taxpayers over “annoying emails” and amateur prank calls, they found that “John Jenkins” was sending missives from somewhere in Crown Point, Indiana and that other emails were coming from another unnamed man unconnected to DuJan or myself. The “harassing” phone calls were not traced to anyone. Fessler was not charged with making a nuisance call to police.
3. November 4th, 2013 Kevin DuJan and I went to the library to hand out flyers alerting patrons to the dangers of unfiltered computers and the number of sex crimes that occurred in the library over the last decade.
While we were there, news crews showed up to find out what the fuss was all about (and they all proceeded to butcher the story until it was unrecognizable.) While handing out flyers, Weimar and Bridget Bittman, library spokesperson, demanded we leave the premises “immediately” because practicing actual free speech is against library policy. When we refused to leave, they called the police for help.
People handing out flyers were threatening enough to call 911 but on October 28, 2010 a teenager rubbing his genitals in front of a child was not enough of a threatening situation to call the police.4. November 14, 2013 I wrote a letter that needed to be delivered to Nancy Healy, Board President, before the next board meeting on the following Monday.
I sent the letter by email on the 14th only to have it bounce back as “undeliverable.” After attempting two more times and failing I realized the library had blocked my email address and my channels of communication with the board members. This happened (suspiciously) after I had has sent an email to all library employees informing them of their rights under Illinois law to contact the EEOC with complaints about a hostile work environment.
Through FOIA requests, I have evidence that the library director was not beneath squirreling away my messages from board members so taking the letter to the library was not an option. Healy’s home address is public record (since she is a public official and all) and it had been published in no less than two local papers. I found it easily and dropped off the letter at her door that afternoon on my way to the grocery store. When I got home it was revealed that Healy had once again summoned police to target and intimidate me, acting in her official capacity as the Board President.
She even admitted to the officer during the call that what she really wants is for there to be a “record” on me. This is a gross abuse of power against a private citizen by an elected official. The written police report of this incident reveals that after this call the police put a security detail on her house for “several days” at great cost to the taxpayers. Healy, like Fessler, was not charged with making a nuisance call and to my knowledge was not sent a bill for that needless private security detail.
5. November 15th, 2013 I posted the video and transcript of the call I received from police to my Facebook page containing the public address of Healy’s house (because it was in the transcript as spoken by the police officer.)
At 4pm, Healy called the police again to report that I had posted her address on Facebook attempting to get the police to harass me again. She was informed by the police that her address is public record and my transcript was not “malicious.” The police declined to take any action. However, another record was added to the growing stack under my name at the police station.
An invitation to tea from a patron warranted police involvement but on March 9, 2011 a man viewing child pornography was allowed to go about his business unmolested by police. It’s quite clear now that not only is the Orland Park Library District and one of its attorneys willing to engage in illegal, abusive behavior but it would rather spend its time and the people’s money coming after a mom who hasn’t broken the law instead of using the police to apprehend sex offenders in the library near children.
This week, the OPPL put out a new statement accusing me of being “irresponsible”:
“The Internet is a wonderful thing, but it often empowers irresponsible people to make claims and accusations that have very little to do with the truth…About six weeks ago, two non-residents made false and very unfair characterizations about the library and its employees.”
Considering the actions of the OPPL over the last month, it’s hard to claim irresponsibility on any front other than the library itself.
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