Just curious. There’s a hookah bar located at 1223 Main St., at the corner of Roosevelt and Main Street in Lombard. It appears when you look in the window there are ashtrays all over the place and hookah pipes all over the place. Last I checked, the state of Illinois disallowed any kind of smoking in public places. So, how do they stay open for business, for one, are they smoking in there, does anybody know this?

Director of Community Development William Heniff responded: “The Smoke Free Illinois Act (Public Act 95-0017) established provisions for limiting or prohibiting smoking in public places. The act does provide for certain exemptions if a business establishment derives more than 80 percent of their gross revenue from the sale of tobacco. The act also limits the location of such businesses to freestanding buildings unless the business occupied the premises prior to Jan. 1, 2008. Businesses that fall under this provision cannot have a food handler's license. The proprietor will also be seeking additional actions from the village to provide for the use of the property for his business.” –JAC

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Hey, Barack Obama promised us change and politics that will be different. Let’s review: his Cabinet consists of multiple alleged tax cheats, people who have allegedly hired illegal aliens to work in their homes, lobbyists, full-time Washington insiders, people who have their own personal limousines and chauffeurs. Yeah, that’s change and that’s certainly new politics. Oh, by the way, I figured out why liberals don’t mind raising taxes. Look at some of Barack Obama’s Cabinet. They apparently just don’t pay them.

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To the person with the barking dog, I have neighbors whose dogs bark excessively for no reason at all. They’re tied up with no fenced- in yard, in the rain, below zero and extreme heat. The dogs bark so much that my children must sleep with ear plugs. They are tied outside with no water available and often become loose and run through the neighborhood. I do not feel I should have to listen to dogs barking day and night. People need to become more responsible with their pets and become familiar with the laws regarding dogs. Maybe when you’re fined for neglect of your dogs enough times you’ll learn how to take care of your animals.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I was reading the Lombard police blotter and it looks like Glenbard East students are in full swing—no pun intended. Seven kids were charged with battery and one in possession of a bullet. I’d like to know what the heck is going on over at Glenbard East. In the Villa Park police blotter, I never read anything about Willowbrook students being charged with battery. I’d like to know what is being done? That is very scary that seven kids are being charged with battery, and one them actually hitting a teacher.

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Lombard calling. What a shame. The Glenbard Township District 87 Board of Education election that’s coming up has four seats open and only two candidates, and no one from Lombard. Anyone from Lombard who wants to run would certainly get in. I hate to hear anybody complain about how the district is run when nobody from the hometown is interested in serving on their board.

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The government stimulus package of $887 billion, with an additional interest of $347 billion, is a spending package. Our legislators are spending us into oblivion. In the past few months, layoffs numbered close to 100,000 people, but no CEOs or legislators. They don’t understand. What should be done? Give the money to small business and us as citizens, or make it truly a stimulus package, not a spending package.

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Hi, just calling about the streetlights on Main Street. A person called them an atrocity; I have to agree. They are an atrocity. They just look ridiculous—they’re not even hung the right way. The lower lamps are pointing in the wrong direction. They should be over the sidewalk, not the street. I think they’re all hung way too high, and the brightness is bizarre. It looks like a runway at O’Hare. What a disaster.

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We are very grateful and appreciative for the service of the hard-working, conscientious crews and staff of the York Township Highway Commissioners. They have always corrected any problem that occurs. This, in addition to their ongoing, year-round services of plowing, salting, debris removal and roadway maintenance and brush pick-up. They do all this with safety, efficiency—a minimum of manpower and at all hours and holidays. Thank you. Best wishes for a safe and easier work load for 2009. This is a Flowerfield resident.

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In the face of economic crisis, perhaps Lombard should be alleviating the budget by cutting some dead weight. As is obvious, our town is over-policed and especially in the wrong areas. Time after time I’ve seen Lombard’s finest harassing children skateboarding. I read about misdemeanor offenses in the blotter and I wonder how much we taxpayers are paying these mobile ticket-writers. A single drive past the police station serves as evidence of our tax dollars being wasted. The amount of police cars is astounding and are obvious symbols of overspending. The money could have been diverted to actually plowing our streets this winter—what a joke that was. Private sector jobs are being cut due to budget constraints; why not local government police positions? Instead, hours get shifted and changed, and they still earn their cushy government benefits. The taxpayer should not be responsible for wasteful and bloated vocational placements. No one forced these people to become police officers and we the taxpayers should not bear the burden of wasteful job placement.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. If your dog is outside in your own yard and it barks at anything that moves outside of the yard, it’s a dumb dog. The dog should be able to sit in the yard and know when somebody’s trespassing, and be perfectly quiet. It doesn’t need to bark at everything.

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Hi, I’m calling about the person who called about barking dogs. I highly disagree with the mention over the person who has two dogs and that we should be happy that they’re barking. I totally disagree. I don’t have a dog; if I did, I’d be a responsible dog owner. My next-door neighbor has three barking dogs that drive me crazy. I go in my yard to clean or garden, or visit with someone, and the dogs bark constantly. One time I timed one of the dogs for 45 minutes. I think that’s rude and it impairs my pleasure of my own property. I can’t even bring friends out on the back patio because of this barking dog. Everybody says its annoying.

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This is Lombard calling. I’m just wondering, now that our property values have decreased in the last two years, is DuPage County going to lower our taxes? Does anybody have an answer for this?

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This is Lombard calling. In response to the person who lost his or her job on Barack Obama’s third day and would like to blame him for that, you have nobody else but George Bush to blame for your layoff. Barack Obama never promised that everything was going to be Nirvana as soon as he took office. As a matter of fact, in his latest interview he said that this is going to take a year or two to at least turn the ship around. You can’t have eight years of Republicans taking every dime from this country and expect the Democrats to turn it around in three days. Maybe that’s the problem with this voting public. If that’s the intelligence they have, where they think in three days a guy can turn the whole country around, that’s what gets us George Bush. That’s what got us George Bush, that kind of thinking.

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This is Lombard calling for the caller who talking about the dogs barking because someone’s in the neighborhood, etc. Some dogs bark just to bark. That’s why we don’t leave ours outside very long.