I think it's disgusting that the village manager of Lombard is receiving a 5 percent raise; however, the crossing guard fund is being cut and we're losing all the crossing guards for our children. What is wrong with this village—who do we really care about here?

Only part of your comment is correct. Yes, the village manager did receive a pay increase. However, a check with Lombard Police Chief Ray Byrne revealed that funding for crossing guards has not been cut. The chief said the budget for crossing guards was $85,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 11 and the department is proposing that same amount for FY 12. —blm

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This is the circulation department of the Lombardian and Villa Park Review newspapers. We would like to give a big “thank you” to all our newspaper carriers who did an exceptional job in getting the papers delivered to their customers in a timely fashion. They did a fantastic job. Also, to our truck driver, Steve, we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.

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I would like to say congratulations to Mrs. Jill Placey, director and kindergarten teacher at Christ the King Early Learning Academy. Mrs. Placey was recently honored with the Bishop Imesch Teacher Excellence Award. It’s given out only once a year to the most valued teacher in the Diocese of Joliet. Once again, Mrs. Placey, keep it going.

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This is Congress Knolls calling. I got an alert from the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department that I had a garage door open. As it happens I was busy going in and out of my garage but somehow the police come around and they give you a notice and say they’re going to keep a file on you. I take care of my own property and don’t need any police department telling me when and where I can open my garage door.

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Thank you, Village of Lombard. I spent three hours on Feb. 2 cleaning up my driveway and sidewalk. When I got home the next day, the driveway was blocked from some work done by your snowplow. The difference between the two days was after the storm, it was sunny and 30 degrees out and the neighbors were all helping each other. The next day it was about zero degrees out, dark, and nobody to help me. I don’t appreciate it.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. We were wondering if there’s anything that can be done about the snowplows plowing ice and snow at the end of driveways. I know this is a problem for everybody and we understand the people who do the plowing have a big job to do. However, we’re senior citizens and we had paid $100 to have our driveway plowed by a company and the village truck put snow back in our driveway, and we couldn’t move it. It really is a problem. Is there anything that can be done about this, please?

Information on the Village of Lombard’s Web site addresses this issue. The village said that public works receives many calls about snow being plowed into driveways. Plowing often leaves a berm of snow across driveway entrances, although the village will try to keep berm creation to a minimum. Berm removal is the responsibility of the residents. The village does not clean out driveway berms with a loader after plowing. There are over a thousand driveways in Lombard. It would be very costly and time consuming, and would slow the process of snow removal. Also, there could be damage to driveways and equipment attempting to do this. Putting snow from driveways into the city streets is illegal and creates a hazard for drivers and a liability for the responsible party. When clearing your driveway apron, it’s best to pile snow past the driveway in the direction of travel. A common request related to this is asking that the driver turn or lift the plow blade at driveways. According to the information on the Web, since the village’s main goal is to open the primary roads as soon as possible, lifting of blades at each driveway would slow down the snow removal operation significantly and leave snow in the road that may in turn be a hazard. —blm

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. Just want to say thanks to my neighbors during the big snow. Thanks for no one offering to help clear my driveway out onto the street. I’m a older woman with hip trouble living by myself, and thanks so much to my neighbors with their snowblowers and their kids running by. I was out there with my snow shovel and little electric snowblower with no offers to help. I keep my dogs quiet, my property clean. I try not to bother anybody; and in this emergency, and they’re all out there. I can’t wait to move.

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I want to commend my neighbors for all pitching in on my block in north Lombard. It was a group effort to help those who needed it most. It’s the strangers on the road who were less than stellar; everyone out for himself. No destination was worth driving too fast for conditions and jeopardizing others. If there was ever a street worthy of a red light camera, it would be for those cars turning right off St. Charles Road and south onto Main. Even in the best of conditions I see rolling stops all the time and people edging out into the intersection just waiting for traffic to clear. Wednesday night was bad enough, because going south on Main Street, I could barely stop in time for a teenager who did a rolling stop and turned right. Oh, and she was talking on a cell phone.

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This is an Illinoisan calling. I just wanted to say thank you to all the snowplow operators, whether they be independent contractors, city, state or local, considering the scope of the storm and the amount of snow there was, I think they did as well as they could. They did a very, very commendable job. I don’t care what people say in the paper or on the news. If they think they can do better, these people who are complaining, let them go out and try to do it. I think all the snow plowers deserve a pat on the back; a very big pat on the back Thank you very much.

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I’d like to thank the Donovan family of Lombard. They were real lifesavers in that blizzard.

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This is Lombard calling to thank all the gentlemen who helped snowblow my driveway. I’m an octogenarian, by myself and have a big driveway and I want to thank Matt, Mark, Rick, Doug, Chris, two other gentlemen—I don’t know who they are—and also my son-in-law Eric and my eldest grandson Jason, who came over Monday and helped me clear the ice. Thanks to all of you. I hope I can do something for you guys some day.

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Hi, I’m just calling to give a big thank you to Austin and Cole for the delivery of our Lombardian on Wednesday. We didn’t get a Tribune delivery, we didn’t get mail, but those two boys managed to get those papers out. So, thank you, young men. It was a wonderful job and we really appreciate it. Thanks again.

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York Township Highway Department. Fantastic job. 2011 snowstorm blizzard.

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Hi, Lombard calling. Mr. Mueller, I just wanted you to know that the end loader operator who came to Green Valley to clean off the streets did a wonderful job. He got it from curb to curb. Much better than the guys in the truck. The trucks are not getting the cul -de-sacs. So, they did good.

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Thank you, Villa Park, for the amazing snow clearing performance. I remember 1967 very well. In 1967 in Villa Park it took three days to do what you did in 24 hours in the storm of 2011. Thank you very much, Villa Park.