Hello, this is Lombard calling. In case you haven’t noticed, gasoline prices are really jumping up. Here are a couple of suggestions on how to save some gas: First, stop using drive-up windows. Park the car and walk in. Why wait in line burning gas? It’s just a waste of money. The second thing, at shopping malls, don’t drive around and around looking for the closest space. Take the first convenient one, park it and walk. That way you’ll be saving a little money and getting a little exercise. Not a bad idea.

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This is Lombard calling. I want to comment on one caller about why Madison, and not an alternative. I think the caller forgets that Wilson does not go all the way through between Route 53 and Main Street. There are houses in between. Second, at one point, there was an alternative being discussed and that was Harrison. The solution they came up with is they put the pork chop in so that you cannot make left-hand turns onto 53, only right-hand. Madison is the best choice at this point. I was part of a group that was working with IDOT when they wanted to expand 53 and that was one of the solutions we came up with.

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Lombard calling. Having lived under a dozen presidents, I have never seen a president in a public speech publicly ridicule a member of Congress who is trying to correct serious spending problems. Obama’s response to mock instead of serious debate is an absolute disgrace. Is this the kind of change American’s want? I hope not.

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To the caller about redistribution of wealth, it is socialism; look it up. Redistribution is not only from the rich, who develop jobs, redistribution is from those earning $100,000, $75,000, $50,000. I’m worried about the USA. Get your facts straight.

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Lombard. I cannot wait until the Lilac Parade. I have lived in Lombard for 22 years and recently moved to Texas and will visit May 15. I always loved the parade, mainly beginning with the fire, paramedics and police. I heard last year they were not there. They'd better be there this year. I'm driving 1,000 miles just to see them.

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Lombard. Someone told me the theme of this year’s Lilac Parade may be "The Grinch That Stole the Fire Trucks." Is this true? I know last year, they didn’t have any. Talk about carrying tradition; what else can we do to disappoint our main audience and future generation, the children of Lombard?

Not to worry, I have it on good authority that there will be fire trucks in this year’s Lilac Parade, “Cause for Celebration,” which is scheduled to step off from Main and Wilson streets at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 15. According to Lombard Fire Chief Mike Torrence, he has volunteers, so parade goers can look forward to the return of fire trucks, fire engines, medic units and a chief’s vehicle making their way down Main Street with sirens and lights activated.—blm

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There is a person defending teacher salaries while blasting CEOs and their exorbitant salaries. Remember, CEOs work for private companies. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to purchase their products. If they are incompetent they are ousted. It’s not so much that teachers can make a good salary, it’s the fact that they and most “public” servants will retire and we’ll still be paying them forever. Just like the politicians. When we finally get rid of Obama, do you know how much he will get from different pensions for his “service” to our country? Gag. It is time for pension reform. By the way, do you want to complain about waste? You missed your chance. Ask District 87 how much they paid the superintendent when he was let a few years ago—over $300,000.

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Lombard calling. Is there something the village can do to curb the number of garbage pickers who are swarming our neighborhoods like vultures? While yes, we are throwing out items, the main problem is these people are going through the garbage and just dumping the remainder onto our lawns. It’s getting to be a major issue in our neighborhood.

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Well, I see that Lombard is going to raise our water and sewer rates—to offset a smaller amount remaining in rebate funding from the DuPage Water Commission. Another article says the DuPage Water Commission is approving a 10-percent rate hike, and that increase will continue to help pay down the debt. I guess it’s easier to take it from the taxpayers than to tighten their belts and make sacrifices like we have to do in this economy. Sounds to me like they are following in the footsteps of the big boys in Illinois and Washington, D.C. So much for having faith in local government to represent the people. Sounds like we need a municipal or county tea party to have our voices heard.

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This is to the person who called SPEAK OUT and said it’s not fair to just single out P.E. teachers. I agree; we should single out all teachers. If you go on the Web site and look at the salaries of Glenbard East High School, sorry, folks, not worth one penny of it. If you look at the pensions that they get and health care that they get, sorry, folks, it’s just not worth it. So let’s not single out P.E. teachers—they’re all overpaid. And to the person who says we shouldn’t complain about what teachers get paid, that we shouldn’t try lowering them to our poverty level, sorry, but I pay the teachers’ salary. I work in the private sector. There are doctors who go to school longer than teachers and don’t make that kind of money. That’s why you are not worth $125,000 a year to roll a basketball out on a court and say, “Play basketball, boys.” Sorry, we pay your salary and the gravy train is over. You don’t even work all year. Give me a break.

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This is Lombard calling. To the person with the fantastic education who called SPEAK OUT, ouch. Those comments are about as condescending as I have read. I sure hope you’re not educating my kids.

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This is Lombard. I’d just like to ask the village to please do something about Finley Road from Roosevelt up to the gas company. It’s in terrible shape.

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This is to the person who called about Lombard needing poop bags on the Prairie Path and around Terrace View Pond so people pick up the dog poop. It is not the village’s responsibility to provide bags for dog poop. I have a dog that gets walked every day and I bring two or three bags of my own with me every day. It is a dog owner’s responsibility to carry a bag and pick it up. The village shouldn’t have to pay for bags. Be a responsible pet own and carry your own bags and pick up your dog’s poop.

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Lombard. I would like to know why at Lincoln and Ash, there’s a big sign that says no skateboarders allowed, but there is constantly a group of them right on the stairs and why the police don’t tell them, you wanted that skate park, we finally built it for you, why are you not over there and not getting citations.

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I agree. There are too many administrative assistants at the administration center in Lombard School District 44. There’s a superintendent and an assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. The teachers are the ones who are doing all the work and have the hard jobs. That assistant superintendent probably makes in the mid-six figures, and that could be worth three or four new teachers’ salaries to service the kids. Let’s trim the fat.

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This is Lombard calling with a rebuttal to the SPEAK OUT from April 13. To the person who walks his or her dog at Terrace View park and wants the village to provide poop bags, I wonder why the person thinks his or her fellow citizens should help pay for the poop bags. I don’t have a dog; I don’t need a poop bag; I don’t live near Terrace View Pond. To the person who thinks he or she is paying twice as much as the neighbor in real estate taxes because he or she lives in a two-story house, I don’t think the person knows how to measure square footage. You have to pay for each floor separately. To the person who was talking about cell phones in the school zones, he or she is absolutely right. But, check in front of Glenbard East. In the morning, almost every person who goes past there is on a cell phone. Maybe they need to erect a sign or maybe they ought to have police on foot like they do downtown and on Finley Road.

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Hey, Villa Park. I’m wondering about Park Avenue, which was previously in very poor shape. With the construction going on at Park and Villa, we have construction trucks that begin to run up and down Park starting about 7 a.m. The streets are in worse condition than they had previously been, and that was pretty bad. Is there financing available to correct the damage done to Park Avenue after the construction on Villa and Park is completed?

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I’d like to let everyone know what Park Avenue Cleaners did for my son recently. He brought in 11 of his various navy uniforms to be cleaned and pressed before he set sail. When he came to pick them up he was told it was on the house. What a wonderful gesture to make, considering the current economic crisis. Thank you again, Park Avenue Cleaners. I hope as many of you as possible out there will give Park Avenue Cleaners a try.

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It’s 6 p.m. on Friday evening. I’m at Main Street and Roosevelt Road. I just passed Roosevelt and Finley. Why are people allowed to stand in the intersection and collect money? What is it going to take before this is stopped? I guess it’s going to take someone being hit and killed before we can stop this. This is asinine. If I stood out in the intersection, I’d be arrested. But these people collecting money can do it? It doesn’t make sense.

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Front page, Wednesday, April 20. What’s with the plastic around the flowers? Typical Lombard, tacky. And Steve is such a good photographer—he’s never made a mistake in all his years of being the photographer, couldn’t he see that through the lens? Girls, ladies, take that plastic off the flowers. Ugly, ugly, that looks so not natural at all. Nobody walks around with plastic around the flowers. Terrible.

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I am so happy that Lombardians are getting involved and we filled a full page in SPEAK OUT on April 13. People must be waking up and smelling the lilacs.

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Hey, Lombard. Remember Forrest Gump saying, “Stupid is as stupid does?” The village says, We don’t want resale shops; we want vacant stores. Wake up, Lombard. Your community development department, which regulates these situations, doesn’t have a clue on what is going on. They hire more surveys, don’t pay attention to suggestions of the property owners, the business owners or the Lombard Town Centre executive director, for that matter. The powers that be have had over 10 years to correct the situation of vacant businesses and vacant lots. They could have changed things long before our present economy. We need a change of power. Wake up, Lombard board of trustees.

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OK, I’m really confused, Lombard. Obama said the oil speculators are driving up the price of gas and if I remember correctly, the Republicans said this back in 2008. Obama said that was wrong. I’m a little confused. Are the oil speculators driving up the price of gas? Because if they are, then that’s who drove it up when Bush was in office. The other thing is, we cut our bond rating for the first time in 70 years under President Obama, we’re going to be in a world of hurt. I hope all of you people who voted for Obama understand the words, “I told you so.” This guy is ruining our country.

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Lombard calling. All these people complaining about teachers making six-figure salaries, what about the administrators? They’re not with the kids. I just looked at two school Web sites; on one of them the principal hasn’t even updated her newsletter since September. And another one talks about winter coming up. Come on; let’s keep the money where people deserve it.

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This is in response to all the people in the Lombardian who hate P.E. teachers. If you think teaching P.E. is so much easier than your job and P.E. teachers make too much money, etc., why don’t you go back to school and become a P.E. teacher and stop attacking us? If you don’t like your career and your income, do something to change it, but please stop the hate. It’s not good for your health and well-being.

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Villa Park calling. I’m sitting in my garage thinking, bad time management doesn’t make you busy. I think the women on the Weather Channel should wear bathing suits. I think they should grow tomatoes instead of flowers in the front of the village hall. I think life would be simpler if everyone would avoid the avoidable. I think after they fill a pot hole they should put some carpet over it—at least it would stay in the hole. I think the winner of the next reality show should be the person who gets rid of all the rest of the reality shows. I think this column needs more sarcasm and less complaining. I think I’ll be my own psychiatrist, so don’t send me one. I think I’m tired now. Take care.

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This is to the person who believes that teachers with master’s degrees and doctorates make over $100,000 a year. I have a question for you. I’ve been in a business in the corporate environment for over 25 years; I have a master’s degree and college education and I still don’t make $100,000 a year. I work my tail off five days a week, I only get raises based on my performance, I may not get a raise if the company doesn’t do well, I do not have the benefits, I do not have tenure like teachers do. Taking that all into consideration, why is it fair for a teacher who has a doctorate or a master’s degree to make $100,000 a year because they’re educated and have experience, when I don’t make $100,000 a year and have a master’s degree and experience?