DiCola: 'Ask the Council Not to Appoint Art Jaros -- Who Attempted to Ban Books'

Letter written and submitted by Kathleen DiCola.

Dear Fellow Residents of Downers Grove,

After nearly 20 years as a trustee on the Downers Grove Library Board, I am stepping down. I have truly enjoyed serving the community, and playing a part in keeping our library the respected and vibrant community resource that it is. Thank you to the dedicated staff and administration, past and present, who work every day to serve 495,000 visitors, and circulate around 1,000,000 items a year. Thank you to my fellow board members, past and present, whose dedicated, unpaid, unsung service, have guided the library from the card catalog to the online catalog, and to the beautiful state-of-the-art library of today. And, thank you to the patrons, the citizens who have supported the library since the first library referendum passed in 1911.

Unfortunately, Mayor Tully personally recruited for library trustee a nominee that I believe is the wrong choice for our library. Art Jaros, who some of you may remember as a member of the Park Board from 2003-2009, is that nominee. In 1999, Mr. Jaros was a leader in an effort to ban a particular book from a reading list at District 99, and to require the teachers to “expurgate” from instructional materials anything considered to be anti-Christian or indecent. (Chicago Tribune, Aug. 20, and Sept. 22, 1999.)

For over a hundred years, the Downers Grove Public Library Board has operated as an impartial civic body. Library trustees grounded in our First Amendment Rights have protected the freedom to read for all the citizens of Downers Grove. Ask the council not to appoint Art Jaros — who attempted to ban books, putting his personal ideology above others’ first amendments rights — to an irrevocable, 6-year term on our library board. The vote is this Tuesday, August 18, you can email the Mayor and Council here: http://www.downers.us/forms/mayor-council-directors-request.

Kathleen DiCola