What prompted Martin was the 12-letter expletive in the cover headline that introduced an article about a toll-free phone number that invites callers to swear into a voice mailbox.
At the meeting, Martin was also castigated for his letter in the September 3 Arlington Heights Daily Herald in which he criticized Library Director Fred Byergo’s “permissive attitude” and cautioned parents to “watch the library materials” in Butterfield School, where trustee Linda Lucke, who had opposed his actions, serves as librarian.
“Your actions went far beyond what any trustee can or should do,” board President Ed Abderholden told Martin. “We are a board. We cannot act as one individual.” The board pointed out that Martin’s talking to trustees about the newspaper outside a public meeting may have been in violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
About 100 people attended the meeting at the Libertyville village hall. The 5–2 vote to censure Martin followed about an hour of comments from 23 audience members who were split about evenly on the issue, according to the September 17 Daily Herald. “I don’t need him to monitor what I, my children, or my grandchildren can read,” said library user Elizabeth Phillips.
Martin told American Libraries that he was planning to raise the issue of whether the library should be a distribution point for the paper, rather than subscribing to it and keeping one copy available in the periodicals area.
Posted September 22, 2003.