This is Lombard calling. I just want to know, the light at Meyers and St. Charles, why the delay is so long for the turn lane for westbound St. Charles turning left onto Meyers. It just takes so long. I realize it’s for the buses but can we get it on a timer? There are no buses going on during the summer.

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The president has failed at every “problem” that he tried to correct. For instance 13 countries offered help on day one of the oil spill and he refused their help. Instead of asking for help from the other oil companies, he played golf. Bush inherited a recession from Clinton and Kennedy inherited the Bay of Pigs fiasco from Eisenhower but Bush and Kennedy did not blame their predecessor. No country has ever spent its way out of a financial crisis. A proven way to get us out of this financial mess is to cut spending, lower taxes and balance the budget. It worked in the past, like the 1920s depression, and will work now. The November election will vote out the Democrats in the House and possibly the Senate.

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This is Lombard calling. I read in the July 21 issue about the union workers going back to work at Willowbrook High School. I think it’s almost like blackmail that this union has made District 88 commit to using only union workers for the next 10 years. What world do we live in? Everyone has the right to use non-union workers and union workers if they want—not be forced to use union workers and be seemingly blackmailed by strikes like it has been for the past 14 days.

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This is Lombard calling. Does anybody remember about a year ago President Obama and Nancy Pelosi had a giant thing on TV—Chris Matthews was all giddy and President Obama signed this bill—he said it was the end of an era. He signed a federal law that stated the federal government can only spend money it has. He stated that from now on it is pay as you go. This is what change looks like. Well, since then, we know that he has borrowed trillions of dollars that we don’t have. So, where is the pay as you go? Recently he signed a bill to extend benefits for unemployment. Do I think this should happen? Yes. But, the Republicans who opposed it opposed it for one reason: It’s another $34 billion that’s not paid for. What happened to the pay as you go?

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This is Lombard calling about the person who was surprised about the intoxicated pedestrian. Have you ever heard of public intoxication? Let’s see, that law has been on the books for, hmm, decades. Have you ever seen someone walking on the edge of the road? How would you like it if the person suddenly fell in front of your car because he or she was drunk? Or, have you ever had a drunk try to get into your house at 2 a.m. because the person thought it was his or her house? That’s why they arrest people who wander about. They can also be a menace to general society. Think about it.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I would just like to say that I truly believe that if President Obama said the sky was blue, Peter Roskam would write an article claiming he was heading up a congressional committee to prove that this was false.

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My item for SPEAK OUT is this: There’s an article in the paper talking about the $100,000-plus salaries that teachers get. The teachers don’t get as much as the supervisory personnel; the superintendent, principals, etc. and they never would come to this point if they weren’t being given so much money they can contribute to the politicians. If the politicians weren’t getting huge sums of money from the teachers union, they wouldn’t OK and tax us more and more to give them more and more money. Let’s stop letting the teachers give money to the politicians and the whole picture will change overnight.

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The comment that non-saleable compensation doesn’t cost us any money is ludicrous. Non-saleable compensation is payment for work, for taking off work. To say that is not compensation is ridiculous. When’s the last time a police officer has ever been injured at a festival? If it’s volunteer work, it’s volunteer work and you take your risks just like any other volunteer.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I just want to say thank you to Vinny, of Hair by Vince on Westmore. We’re going miss you, Vinny. Thanks, buddy.

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To all of you who enjoyed the Taste of Lombard, I would like to ask you to stop and think for a moment what those of us who live around Madison Meadow have to go through every year. Think about 10,000 to 20,000 people walking past your house, hundreds of whom have had too much to drink; think about pounding music until 11 p.m. on a work night when you have to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning and go out and work all day in the heat; think about not being able to leave your house because 100 times a day people blast firecrackers that scare your pets; think about trash all over your property. And, don’t kid yourself—the volunteers don’t clean up all of it. Abraham Lincoln said that the proof that slavery is inherently bad is that no man wants it for himself. Well, the Taste of Lombard must be inherently bad because no one wants it in their own neighborhood. The Taste of Lombard is a commercial venture and it belongs somewhere zoned commercial. That’s why we have zoning laws. It could be in the parking lot of one of the shopping centers in Lombard.

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This is Lombard calling. I think our government needs to do a better job in letting the public know how very, very important it is to pull to the right for sirens and lights. This summer already I’ve witnessed three incidents where people have no idea what to do when the police or an ambulance is trying to come through. Please let the public know to pull to the right for sirens and lights. It’s not that complicated and you won’t feel so bad about doing it if it was your loved one.

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Hi, this is Lombard here. I’m a 24-year-old citizen and I’ve been passing Park View School since I was in kindergarten. I went past the Terrace View sign on Elizabeth and it looks awful. There’s no sign; it’s just overgrown with prairie grass like the pond is. You can fix this. It’s really ugly looking.

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On July 3-4 the police received calls about illegal fireworks from concerned neighbors. According to the police blotter, there was only one ticket issued. On July 3, a woman was rushed to the emergency room after being hit in the head. Even though many homes were setting off fireworks, no one was ticketed. It can’t be hard to drive down Lombard streets and see the fireworks and ticket these lawbreakers. It appears the only time the police charge anyone with illegal fireworks is if the citizen signs a complaint. Then, otherwise, they drive right by.

According to Lombard Police Deputy Chief Dane Cuny, officers cannot use enforcement actions unless they see the event. However, if a complainant is willing to sign a complaint and appear in traffic court, officers will issue citations, he said.—blm

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To the SPEAK OUT caller blaming Congressman Roskam, the Republicans were holding back on extending unemployment benefits, not because they are heartless, but because they wanted the benefits paid for. The Dems would not release unused so-called stimulus money and preferred just to go further into debt. By the way, some of that taxpayer-owed stimulus money has been spent on things like the effects of cocaine use on monkeys or studying ants overseas. But don’t blame Fox News. For once it was picked up by the Obama media.

Check out www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/03/eveningnews/main6740768.shtml.

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The oil in the gulf certainly is a tragedy. You know, the federal government approved that; why are we drilling in the gulf? Because the federal government does not have a national energy plan. Why is that? Who are we blaming? We have no one to blame but ourselves. As far as jobs, you want to extend unemployment benefits, it’s a wonderful thing to do, but where is the jobs program the Obama administration promised? It’s simply not there. This is a big facade. What a mistake voting for that change.  You guys really got it.

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I am so fed up with that crossing on Main Street where bicyclists, runners and walkers cross. People, they have to stop for the vehicles, not the other way around. One day someone is going to stop to let someone cross and is going to get hit from behind. Traffic needs to keep moving along there. I nearly hit a jogger this morning, and being summer, she was dressed in fewer clothes, so it was hard to see her until she was already in the street. In fact, as I approached, she sped up to cross the two southbound lanes of traffic. There are stop signs in place for people using the Prairie Path. What’s it going to take to make some changes there? I sure don’t want to see an accident.