Lombard. To all those complaining about teachers’ salaries, it’s the administrators who are getting overpaid. If you combined all those salaries, it’s over a $1 million a year. And one principal still hasn’t updated the Web page. It’s four weeks of school. That’s where it last has been updated.

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I think this may put an end to the teaching arguments going back and forth in the Lombardian. The elite six who went in and took out bin Laden, these are the finest military people we have to protect this country, and thank God we have them. God bless them. They only make $54,000 a year. A physical education teacher I guess is making $100,000, or $125,000, whatever it is, who is educated. I’m sorry, but the people who protect this country from people like bin Laden and Al Qaida, who go to war to protect this country, should be making $100,000, $200,000, $300,000. They have volunteered their lives to protect this country. They have seen more danger and have been around more problems than any teacher ever will.

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This is in response to the person who says teachers shouldn’t get $100,000 in pay. The person holds a doctorate and I’m thinking the doctorate is probably in basket weaving because if he or she said teaching is really, really easy, this person is not a very good teacher.

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Lombard. I want people to stop beating up on the teachers, stop beating up on police officers’ pensions, teachers’ pensions, firemen’s pensions. Go after Congress; go after the Senate. Look at this one; I just found this out. Since Sept. 11, we have given Pakistan $20 billion in aid—so they can harbor and keep Osama bin Laden safe from us. Get it all straight. It’s not the teachers destroying this country; it’s not the firemen; it’s not the policemen, all their pensions. It’s the politicians who forget what they are. They’re supposed to be public servants. Get in touch with your representatives.

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This is for the Villa Park development department. Why don’t you guys get busy and see how many more bus companies you can squeeze in between the two sets of railroad tracks on Villa Avenue? You’ve got two bus companies and a limo service. Every time you drive there, there’s a train, and buses stopped at the train tracks. I stop at that train track every time I come by. Gas is over $4 a gallon and I’ve got to sit there and wait for some bus? Then you’ve got Villa Avenue all torn up. We’ve got these people coming from the north. We’ve got to figure out a different way or else just make it buses only and find another street for us.

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I’m calling to make a comment about the play at Glenbard East. The recent production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by students, was outstanding in our opinion. We were really impressed with the presentation, the costuming, the staging, the action and just the whole production. I want to congratulate each and every one who had a part in this play and all the plays throughout the year. We’re so thankful to have such a fine, fine high school theater group.

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It’s Monday afternoon and the electric power in our area is out again. This is the third time this spring. Last spring and summer it happened a dozen times. Does anybody know what’s going on?

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This is Lombard calling. I watched Sen. Dick Durbin on a Sunday talk show and it was amazing. His answer to our energy problem is to impose a $21 billion tax on the oil industry in the United States. Doesn’t he understand that right now there are Americans who are actually giving up prescriptions, giving up food, just to pay for gas? Who does he think that $21 billion will be passed on to? Us—the American taxpayer. We’re paying $4.50 a gallon right now and he wants us to pay more? Meanwhile, G.E. is going to make billions this year and pay zero, yes zero, in federal taxes. How about we go after G.E. You know what? I don’t need a new TV. If they raise the price on the TV, good for them, but I have to have gas. Can I ask you people, what are you thinking in this state when you vote for guys like Dick Durbin?

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I watched the Lilac Parade and was just kind of curious why the parade was sponsored by hotels in Lombard, but not by a local business; everything was by Hilton or Comfort Suites, etc. but not one local business supported the Lombard Lilac Parade. That actually says quite a bit about what the local businesses think of the current administration in Lombard.

Part of the funding for the parade comes from the village’s Hotel/Motel Tax Fund. In addition, many businesses and groups support the parade, as well as the Lilac Parade Committee that works countless hours—almost year round— to bring the Lilac Parade to our village each spring.—blm

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I see the village is no longer going to answer anonymous questions as written in the May 18 edition. But, it is not anonymous; when people call SPEAK OUT, you are the voice of the people. They should answer our hometown newspaper. After all, a journalist gets leads from many different resources. Two, I don’t know who’s at fault for the Westin, but I just came out of there and it’s interesting to see our village president Bill Mueller’s name on the Grand Ballroom.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I’m reading SPEAK OUT and see that our village apparently wants to silence the media. This new policy of communications response is totally ridiculous. Don’t be fooled, Lombard. These policies originate with the village manager and come in front of the village board. So much for transparency in the media.

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Hi, I’m calling in regard to Terrace View pond; the park district spent over $6,000 to put in sprinklers to aerate the water so mosquitoes and moss and everything doesn’t grow. I called the park district and they said they’d turn them on. They still haven’t turned them on. It’s ridiculous in this economy how much money is wasted every single day. At some point we’re going to become like towns where we’re going to have no more money. That’s because we’re wasting it all now. It’s ridiculous. Lombard Park District, turn on the sprinklers. You spent all the money for it. Or, go get the money back. I’m embarrassed to say I live in Lombard.

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Citizens. Those of you who are complaining about your property taxes must understand that your taxes are never going down because your property value is less. The dirty little secret is, your property value could go down another 50 percent and your taxes would still increase. Government has the ability to pass on their full budget each year no matter what your property is worth. The only way to reduce taxes is to cut the cost of government. You need to keep this in mind; government is not a business. There is no incentive to reduce costs. On the other hand, they work under the concept that their job is to spend the full amount of their entire budget, so they can increase it next year.

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I have only been recently relegated to a walker, and I am so thrilled and so pleased at the kindness shown me by both old and young, and male and female. This world is not all negative. Try a walker for a while and see how wonderful people really are.

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This is Lombard calling. It’s nice to see that our Lombard officials voted on a policy that they no longer need to communicate to our citizens. Apparently, we must be doing a lot of things wrong in our town that we’ve got to filter everything to communicate to the village citizens. I’d like to know whether if we leave our name, whether we’re going to be able to get a response in SPEAK OUT. Although, what good is the system of venting our concerns in the paper?

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Lombard calling here. Just noticed that the Grace Street crossing by the Metra tracks is closed for at least 10 days. I can’t help but notice how well traffic is flowing now with this closure. Let’s keep the intersection closed permanently; better traffic flow, and all traffic now goes through downtown Lombard, creating more attention to downtown Lombard. The traffic light coordination at that crossing has always been a joke; also it would be one less dangerous crossing for cars and pedestrians. But then, this type of decision would involve the village board. Well, we might as well forget about it, then.

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Hey, Lombard, when are you going to get a decent Lilac Parade committee, one that doesn’t honor the politicians like they are a bunch of gods? The politicians should have been at the end of the parade in their heated cars and comfortable seats while those poor princesses and queen should have been at the head of the parade. I think Lombard puts on the worst parade in the whole county.

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I find it very interesting how the village is responding to many different things now and with the rebonding of the Westin Hotel, nobody seems to want to answer and all of a sudden these things are coming up that it’s a new thing with the village that they’re not responding. Perhaps there’s more going on than any of us could realize. We’ll keep an eye.

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Lombard. Yeah, those tax increases are paying the salaries of the principals and administrative staff, over $1 million a year. They’re also paying for the toys they’re putting in the classroom called Smart Boards; $3,000-plus each. People have iPads now at a fraction of the cost. You’ve got to see the big picture more clearly before you start spending so much money. People don’t have it.

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I watched the board meeting Thursday night and heard that the board passed—unanimously—measures to pay extra on contracts they have with companies who are doing work for the village. One was over $100,000, another about $70,000 and a third one was around $20,000. That’s nearly $200,000 added on to existing contracts in the blink of an eye. I know I can’t ask the village to explain how they end up having to pay more for whatever work it is, nor do I have faith that it will be money well spent. In this tough time, and with everyone worrying about property taxes, that passage of money spending was not what I wanted to hear. I will remember that come the next election.

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Hi, Lombard. I don’t think our trustees have enough courage to be on the village board, due to the fact that they cannot address anonymous remarks or concerns or comments through SPEAK OUT. If they knew anything about human behavior, they would know that they would get more information this way and learn more about the residents than having them put a name to a statement.

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Way to go, Mr. Hulseberg. I see the Lombardian is too nosy for you and you’ve struck a blow for one step backward in political clarity. Nobody should know.

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Lombard calling. The other night I was stopped by the police, apparently for no reason. I was harassed, searched and my property was damaged. I do not feel safer walking the streets of Lombard knowing that the police are so arrogant as to bother people for nothing.

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The village board actually came up with a “no communications” policy. They have instructed the village employees not to answer anonymous questions? If a newspaper employee is asking the question, is it really anonymous? No, a person who is known to them is asking the question. What happened to “transparency in government?” The persons asking the questions have elected these policy makers and are paying the salaries of the people who are refusing to answer the questions. By not answering simple questions, it appears like they are hiding something or don’t want to tell the truth. Welcome to communist Lombard.

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I was reading the obits in the May 18 issue and saw that we lost a real hero on May 7. Thomas Grubisich of Lombard passed away. Mr. Grubisich was a U.S. Navy corpsman with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and on Okinawa during World War II. I had the distinct honor of meeting and talking with Mr. Grubisich while he and my father-in-law shared a room at the Lexington Rehab center in Lombard. Being a Vietnam Navy vet we did some story swapping when I would visit my father-in-law. We are losing hundreds of our treasured WW ll vets a day. Soon the living link to that history will be gone and all we have left is pictures, movies and words. Make time to thank a WWII vet and listen to his stories before these warriors are gone. God bless our veterans, past and present.

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This is to Lombard parents of teenage bike riders. At 9:30 p.m. on May 19 I almost hit a couple of young boys on Grove Street between Park Avenue and Main Street. Their bikes had no lights or strobe flashers on front or back. Most of our side streets in town are not brightly lit and I guess we prefer it that way, but I darned near creamed those kids in the dark. They seem to think because they can see my lights coming I can see them, too. Wrong. Bicycle headlights, strobes and reflectors are easily available at a bike shop, not hard to attach and not at all expensive. So, how much is your child’s life worth?

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This is a Lombard citizen. From what I read in last week’s paper, some paid village government employees do not recognize the editor of our hometown newspaper, which has been in existence longer than the years they are probably old. Open government, we should ask? They want everyone who calls SPEAK OUT to give a name so they can put a political finger on the person. People want to remain anonymous.

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If you love living in Lombard and you are smart enough to read this newspaper, ask your neighbors to do the same. Informed people can make the right things happen, and influence their trustee to do the same. Just because you voted or hired someone to do a job, doesn’t mean they can read your mind afterward. Pay attention or just pay. It’s your buck.

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I want to thank you for making the correction about the chamber of commerce. I was feeling so bad about it but I really appreciate that. Thank you many, many times.