The Antioch Public Library District Board of Trustees assembled for their monthly meeting on Tuesday, October 30. The summary of this meeting was recently released to the public, causing anger in the community. Page 7 of the meeting minutes reveal some disturbing comments made by the board’s president, Thomas Hausman. It quotes, “Thomas Hausman commented he is running for the Board again and if re-elected by the community he would bomb (your) homes if the Board did not re-elect him as president. Thomas went on to say he would shoot members if not re-elected president.”

This record can be found on the APLD website, under the “Board Members” tab.

According to the library policy, harassment of any kind is prohibited. One could assume Hausman’s words are harassment and, to an extent, a threat. Hausman has been a trustee of the board for the past 11 years, giving him enough experience to know the rules and regulations of the library district. He requested that his comments be removed from the minutes, claiming that the board members know him well enough to realize that he would not “actually do that.”

Brent Bluthardt, a politically and civically involved citizen of Antioch, heard of the rumors regarding the president’s comments and investigated the APLD website himself.

“In this instance I believe that the statements were more than likely an attempt at a bad joke,” Bluthardt said. “That being said, these were 100 percent unacceptable and the fact that he tried to cover up his statements by demanding they not be reported in the minutes shows a total lack of respect toward the library board and public in attendance.”

As of right now, Hausman will be participating in the board re-elections in the spring.  

“The community will have a chance to say whether this should disqualify him from holding office,” Bluthardt said.