In response to a recent call about the Saturday farmers market in Lombard, Lombard Town Center Executive Director Karen Stonehouse responded: “Thank you for patronizing the Downtown French Market (Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on St. Charles Road just east of Main Street)—more customers will encourage more vendors to participate. Any interested vendors for the remaining weeks of this summer or for next summer should call the market’s manager, Leslie Cahill, at Bensidoun USA—phone 312-575-0286 or e-mail Ccbcec@sbcglobal.net.  The Village of Lombard is not directly involved in managing the market.”—JAC

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Villa Park calling. Several weeks ago, I found in my front yard a smashed white plastic swan with well-cared-for purple/blue petunias planted in it. I successfully mended the swan planter with white duct tape and placed it in full sight in my front yard hoping the owner would see it. No one has claimed the plastic swan planter with beautiful petunias. If this is your swan planter that was vandalized, please call SPEAK OUT stating the swan planter belongs to you so we can figure out how to get it back to you.

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In response to last week’s speak out when a caller asked if anyone still believes in climate change, my response is yes, and most people do believe in it because they have what’s called common sense. To that caller—did you also believe the tobacco industry when they told you cigarettes were not bad for you? These alleged polluters apparently spend lots of money to dispute climate change, so don’t be fooled.

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Education is the most important asset this country has. Are we so lost and off kilter that we are vilifying the only hope for our future generations? Parents are so concerned about their children’s college education, already saving up for it, thousands and thousands of dollars in some cases. And yet the young mind we send off to kindergarten and grammar school is where we will make the future leaders who they are. How teachers became the focal point of such anger and contempt is puzzling and terrifying. Too many of us are listening to our huge televisions and not our common sense.

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There are some complaining that we should not “speak out” on political issues that are not local. Really? Poor decisions by presidents, especially Bush and Obama, and an entrenched spendaholic Congress, have negatively affected not only us but future generations. Quinn and Democrats raised the state income tax, affecting those of us with a job. DuPage County again raised our property taxes even though our housing values have plummeted. Locally, all of these issues have affected everyone adversely, except maybe those living directly off the government, or more precisely, living indirectly off their taxpaying neighbors.

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Yes, I, too, would like to thank the unions out there. My company went out of business because they are going overseas. I’ve been a union employee for 15 years. Well, thank the union for sending everybody overseas. Thank you for nothing; 15 years of service.

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Lombard calling to add something that was mentioned in SPEAK OUT suggesting that those citizens who didn’t maintain anonymity were on the receiving end of the village. I, too, have seen this firsthand. If a Lombard citizen forgoes anonymity while speaking out against village officials or verbally opposes village policies or events, or exercises his or her constitutional right to speak their mind by expressing displeasure with elected officials in this village, they are seemingly labeled complainers, troublemakers and malcontents and are apparently treated as such. For all those in the past who have left a question in SPEAK OUT, “What are you afraid of?” The answer is, like the caller said, “being on the receiving end of the village.” It seems whether its anonymous or not, not much gets done around here in response, anyway. My grandmother lived here for over 50 years. It was a nice place to live at one time. I remember how vibrant Lombard used to be. Now it’s just a shell of its former self, and I believe the village management allowed that to happen.

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Pat Quinn, our governor, seems to be a real hypocrite. He’s going on vacation to another country to help one of our big companies make jobs in another foreign country. He should stay home, spend the money in this country, especially in the state of Illinois, and get those jobs to stay in Illinois, not out of the country. This is wrong and should be stopped or we should think about recalling him from office. My opinion is he doesn’t belong in office operating like this.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. Just curious why people don’t think that parking spaces pertain to them; that they think it’s OK just to pull up in front of an establishment, and just pull up in front and do their transactions. They don't feel the need to use a parking spot like everybody else. I was just wondering.

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Can our government possibly expect seniors to take a cut in Medicare and Social Security after working a lifetime paying taxes, etc., and getting no interest on our savings, when there are people walking in by the millions illegally and receiving medical, hospital, food stamps, checks for their children and don’t have to pay income tax and we’re expected to send their kids to college? Maybe the money they make here by not paying any of those things could send their own kids to college. If I didn’t have to pay taxes and had entitlements, I could have sent my own kids to college. How about our politicians work for the American taxpayers.

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Hi, this Lombard calling. I would like to know how come Lombard does not help out and get rid of tree limbs after a major storm. Since it appears Lombard pays the highest taxes in DuPage County, we should get some services. It seems we get below average service for above average taxes. Lombard taxpayers should be very upset because Lombard is the only town in the area, to my knowledge, that does not assist its own citizens and take tree limbs after storms.

See explanation below. —JAC

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Hello, this is Lombard calling. Is Lombard going to pick up the branches from the last storm that took down a bunch of branches, that have been sitting by the curb for the last three weeks? Just calling to find out if somebody’s going to pick those up.

A press release from the village dated July 25 states, “The Village of Lombard has completed the clean-up of the July 12 storm damage debris from parkway trees. All downed trees and brush from parkway trees have been removed by the public works department. Any remaining storm debris from private property has to be removed by residents in compliance with the Waste Management agreement. According to Waste Management, the bundled brush must not exceed 6 feet in length and 50 pounds per bundled weight. Each branch shall not exceed 6 inches in diameter, with the total diameter not to exceed 18 inches. The code enforcement department will be responding to material left in the parkway that has not been bundled properly and did not emanate from the parkway trees. Stickers are not required for properly bundled brush and will be picked up on your regular garbage day. To view a copy of the village boards storm debris management, go to www.villageoflombard.org.”—JAC

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Hi, this is Lombard calling about the garage sale signs all over Lombard. I just don’t understand how sometimes people can put up a garage sale sign and within four minutes, it’s down; other times you drive around Thursday, Friday and Saturday, there are signs on parkways everywhere and nothing has been taken down. Lombard, please be more consistent with your rules.

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Cut Social Security for seniors, cut educational support for children and college students, cut job-creating infrastructure projects and green energy start-up programs, cut Medicaid and unemployment benefits, not to mention job training programs. Meanwhile, the owners of wealth are sitting on massive profits, which they lavish on bonuses, stockholders and politicians who do their bidding. There’s no one left. Who can afford the goods and services they produce? But raising taxes or cutting tax loopholes for those who can afford it most, is “off the table” for balance. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that cut, cap and balance will evaporate 7,000 jobs in the first year. Poof.

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Lombard calling. I just drove by the DMV in Eastgate and found it amazing to see state union employees, in other words, the people who work for you and me, out there protesting against the man they voted for, Gov. Quinn and his fellow Democrats, because they’re not going to get their raise. The arrogance of these people. Don’t they realize that right now the actual unemployment rate, with people who have stopped looking, is 17 percent, we have 16 percent of people underemployed, and they’re demanding a raise? They haven’t missed a beat through this whole recession/depression. I really hope something is done with the unions in this state and I am a private sector union man. You people have gone too far. That goes for the teachers, policemen, firemen, the guy who mows my lawn here in town, belongs to a union and makes $90,000. We’re all tired of it. It’s quite a bit of arrogance for you to demand your raises in these times when we are all sitting at home out of work.

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Why is Lombard ripping up Main Street near 20th when they ripped it up and repaved it last year?

Sorry, we are unable to obtain an answer to your question due to a new village policy, which was approved by Lombard trustees on May 19. It is against village policy to acknowledge or respond to any item that is from an anonymous source. Anyone with questions regarding the village should contact the Lombard Village Hall at 630-620-5700 for assistance.—blm

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To the caller who suggested not replying to the random questionnaires being sent out, because the village won’t respond, I think that’s not a good idea, because then the powers that be can come back and say they did not hear from their constituents, so how will they know what we want as residents of this community. In other words, we absolutely should answer the survey and speak loudly and clearly about what we want, so officials cannot say they haven’t heard our concerns.

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Hi, this is Villa Park calling. I have a couple of questions for the unions. How come I see a bunch of “proud to be union” bumper stickers on non-union-made cars and trucks? The other question I have is, I thought union members were not supposed to shop at a big non-union discount store, but yet you drive through the parking lot and see all these “proud to be union” stickers on cars. Hmm, unions good, unions bad. I don’t know. Maybe a union member could answer this question for me.

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Hi, I want to congratulate the person who’s on the corner of Madison and Edgewood in Lombard for such a beautiful, beautiful garden. It is superb. Every day I try to go past it just to look at it and I’m delighted that it’s there and that they think enough of everybody else that they really put a lot of work into it. Another thing I’d like to say is, I go to the Taste every year and I always go there for one reason—to see that garden because I don’t live in Lombard. But, I’ve got to say, congratulations and if you haven’t seen the garden at the northeast corner of Madison and Edgewood, put yourself in for a treat. It is absolutely beautiful.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I was passing the railroad tracks by Addison and Division and there was an apparent homeless gentleman standing there and the road was flooded because the sewer drain was blocked. He decided to grab a stick to unclog that drain and all the water drained out from this great big mass puddle. I commended this gentleman and also gave him $5 and said what a good job he did. I think, Villa Park, you owe me $5.

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Lombard calling. When my father-in-law started working, he worked for many years for seven days a week with no vacation, sick days or health insurance. In fact, he couldn’t get a day off to attend his son’s wedding. Most people don’t even remember those years, but thanks to a union, by the time he retired he had paid vacations and health insurance. And thanks to Social Security, he enjoyed financial security in his retirement years. Would anyone want to go back to the good old days?

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To the people who don’t want to read about politics in SPEAK OUT, it’s “speak out,” not just talk about your town. And maybe, it might enlighten some people about how to vote and who to vote for, because in case you haven’t noticed, our country is in a mess. And obviously, the voters aren’t paying enough attention to what our representatives are doing. So, speak out, America; take back your country.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling and I want to thank God there are rational leaders, including Al Gore, who are rightly concerned for the environment. We also thank NPR for keeping the matter before the public.

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Hi, Lombard calling. Why don’t we put a fence up on the Prairie Path similar to the fence they have on Schmale Road in Carol Stream at the Great Western Trail? That way people can’t just ride across the street. They have to stop and go around the fence.

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This is for the disgruntled person from the Memorial Day speech winner. You know, way to go to try and ruin a kid’s day. The kid was so happy to have been there and read his speech, but really, you weren’t dissing the child, you were dissing our veterans, whom we were all there honoring that day. The VFW provided the teen all because of the community, the topic; they picked the winner, they wanted that speech read at the ceremony. I cannot believe we live in such a petty society that now we’re going to critique our youth. Unbelievable. But, carry on, Lombard; we have to deal with people like this.

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The tea party apparently doesn’t give a hoot about the middle class. All they care about are dollar signs and they want those dollar signs to make the rich richer. As billionaire Leona Helmsley said, “The rich don’t pay taxes; only the poor do.”