My husband made an interesting observation I’d like to share. We were watching a commercial for an organization that solicits monthly donations to feed starving children around the world. When I commented that while their forlorn faces are haunting, we have starving children in our own country, he said, “We are the world’s baby-sitter,” and as an afterthought, said, “And they hate us.” He’s right. It appears many countries loathe us, yet we are there to offer help, support and dollars. I say it’s time to focus more on our own country’s needs.

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This is to the caller who says that if his or her dog is barking and it irritates you, come and knock on the door and tell him or her. You have it all wrong. Barking dogs do irritate most people. You should not have to be told by a neighbor that it bothers them. You should have the decency that if it bothers most, if not all of your neighbors, you need to take steps to be a good neighbor and keep your dog quiet.

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Hi, it’s Thursday afternoon, about 5:45. I saw on the news that oil prices dropped to about $34 a barrel, so how come gas prices have gone up 25 cents to over $2 a gallon in the last week, all over DuPage, Will and Kane counties? They can’t blame it on the economy, they can’t blame it on the war. They did that a few years ago when oil was over $100 a barrel. What’s going on? Why? Price gouging, perhaps?

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Villa Park here. In the case of the Brian Anderson mix-up on Brandywine not being Villa Park, I think mistakes can be made. I don’t think any electoral board should be made up of politicians as we’ve had so many Stupegia/Illian votes, two against four, for years.

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This is in response to all those who keep stating President Bush may not have been the best president, but at least he kept us safe. How can you proclaim that when the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil happened on his watch?

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. To the person who called in about the post office delivery in Lombard, I agree with you. They have the worst service ever, and don’t let anyone park in front of your mailbox. I received mail today that was so overpacked in my mailbox. I hadn’t gotten mail for three days because someone was parked in front of the mailbox. This was not the first time.

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This is Lombard calling. To the line jumper at the post office, didn’t we learn our manners in kindergarten and first grade?

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Congratulations to Willowbrook High School for your excellent performance of “Sweeney Todd.” Your acting, singing and set design told the tale brilliantly. We are privileged to have seen your talented performance. Kudos to everyone involved. Thanks so much.

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Hi, I just wanted to give my appreciation to the public works of Lombard. They do get a lot of criticism for the potholes and I just wanted to say thank you—I called in a request and the pothole was fixed the next day, so great job, public works. I just wanted to say thank you.

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I have a question. Cook County has higher taxes than DuPage County, yet how come Cook County’s gas, at least close to the western border of DuPage County, is cheaper than in DuPage County? I drive for a living and live in DuPage County, and along the Roosevelt Road corridor you can pretty much see all the gas stations in Villa Park and Lombard. Once one goes up, they all go up; when one goes down, they all go down, but they’re all pretty much the same. Yet, if you cruise up Mannheim Road in Hillside, Bellwood, Franklin Park, the gas is regularly 10 to 15 cents cheaper. I just don’t get it. Looks like price gouging to me, because Cook County has higher taxes than we do, higher sales taxes, yet their gas is cheaper. Hmm, something’s going on here.

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I recommend the water park be named Bill Moran’s Paradise Bay and satisfy everyone. Second of all, dogs that bark all the time are a nuisance and disturb the peace. You must prohibit that behavior or be fined. Third, Enron and Arthur Anderson started the economic crisis when they lied to us about that corporation. It was the tip of the iceberg. This wasn’t done by George Bush. This happened way back before then.

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This is Lombard calling regarding all the problems they’re having at Glenbard East High School that is printed every week in the police blotter, about all the fights. Why don’t they do something about it? It’s nothing to be proud of to print in the newspaper, so do something about it.

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I read the Lombardian all the time and I love it. I was reading in SPEAK OUT where someone said Clinton started the Iraq War. Even the kindergarteners know Bush started the Iraq War all by himself. Bush is the only person, not anybody else in Bush’s cabinet. Bush by himself started the Iraq War. Clinton didn’t have anything to do with it.

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The post office trying to get a price increase in effect, but wasn’t it not too long ago that one of the price increases was because the price of gasoline was over $4? Was that price rescinded when the price of gas went down to less than $2? No, it was not. So, why not take that increase, instead of this increase, and replace it with what you shoved down our throats because of the high price of gas? Don’t play games with us. We people understand what’s going on, post office, and you’d better get on the ball.

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Lombard calling. You politicians say what a great town Lombard is. I don’t know about that. We don’t even have a bookstore. Another thing, police should ticket the people driving and talking on their cell phone.

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Hello, this is Lombard. I was wondering what is going on with District 44. The focus used to be on the students, but now it seems to be on the almighty dollar. As parents and taxpayers, we want our board of education and administrators to be fiscally responsible, but not at the expense of the students and their needs.

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Someone in Lombard needs to think a little about the ordinances that they have on the books, example being there is a restaurant in downtown Lombard that would love to have live jazz music to draw more patrons but the village tells them that it would be disturbing to their neighbors, who by the way, are 1,000 feet away and the doors to the restaurant would be closed. So, how is the noise going to affect someone 1,000 feet away; go figure. This is a prime example of trying to drive the business away from the downtown area rather than trying to attract it. Perhaps Lombard needs to visit the thriving downtown area of Naperville to see how a real town is run instead of causing grief for anyone who would like to open a business in downtown Lombard but cannot get past all the rules and regulations that have been put in place. Just look at the old theater—that’s a prime example. Wake up Lombard.

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This is a big congratulations to the Lombard Police Department for achieving accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. It’s awesome that our police department is following the accreditation requirements set by a national organization. Thank you very much.

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This is to the wife of the man with the three dogs. I see that you said the dogs are around children and the grandmother. That’s great; I’m sure they are great dogs; I’m sure they get along well with the family. But, my neighbors and I who have children and walk them in the Madison Meadow park don’t appreciate a strange dog not on a leash running up to us and startling us. What if something happens and the dog gets spooked? We don’t know that. What if I’m with my dog and my dog decides he doesn’t like your dog? It’s a law in Lombard for a reason that dogs need to be on leashes and it’s very unfortunate that there’s nobody patrolling the parks and giving out tickets for it. I’m happy for the dogs that they get walked all the time. That’s great, but the fact they’re not on leashes and are sent just to roam around wherever is not right, and that needs to be changed.