Summary
October 1, 2009: A criminal attorney in Oak Brook, Illinois named Constantine "Connie" Xinos has made it his personal mission to stop the local public library. He has unsuccessfully voted against the opening of the new library in 2002, but he has been president of the local home association and now has managed to fire three employees of the library, including the head librarian.
After an 11 year old girl said at a public meeting that she was going to miss the people Xinos fired and that the library would never be the same, Xions was quoted as following:
"Those who come up here with tears in their eyes talking about the library, put your money where your mouth is," Xinos shot back. He told Sydney and others who spoke against the layoffs of the three full-time staffers (including the head librarian and children's librarian) and two part-timers to stop "whining" and raise the money themselves.
"I don't care that you guys miss the librarian, and she was nice, and she helped you find books," Xinos told them.
"Don't cry crocodile tears about people who are making $100,000 a year wiping tables and putting the books back on the shelves," Xinos smirked, apparently referencing the fired head librarian, who has advanced degrees and made $98,676 a year. He said Oak Brook had to "stop indulging people in their hobbies" and "their little, personal, private wants."
"I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night," a grinning Xinos says Wednesday, as he invites me for a nearly two-hour interview in his Mercedes-Benz in the gated Oak Brook community where he lives. "This is the real world and the lesson, you folks who brought your kids here, is if you want something, pay for it."
Xinos also successfully campaigned against subsidized housing for seniors, stating:
"I don't want to live next to poor people. I don't want poor people in my town."
Currently, the library is contemplating asking for the assistance of the Teamsters.
Source
Game and Story Use
- Xinos makes a great example for a real world villain - not the usual criminal mastermind, but someone who uses the letter of the law to hurt other people.
- Opposing people like Xinos makes for a rather different challenge than usual for most role-playing campaigns, as this one can't be solved via violence.