Hi, Lombard here. I think the public needs to know exactly what’s going on with this whole pension rhetoric. I want to put it in terms anybody who’s ever owned property can understand. Let’s say you buy a house and take out a mortgage. The bank tells you you’ll pay X amount of money every month for 30 years until it’s paid off. Then imagine the bank coming to you in year 20 and saying, look, we really didn’t take the money you paid us to buy the mortgage down; we spent it on other stuff. We’re really sorry, but you’ll have to A.) pay more money, B.) pay for longer or C.) go into an adjustable rate that who knows what will happen before you retire. That’s what they’re trying to do to police and firefighters and I think it’s terrible that villages aren’t owning up to their past mistakes.

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Many years ago I worked downtown and was fortunate to be able to rent a parking space at the old DuPage Theatre. Spaces were available to rent by the month because it was during non-busy hours when they weren’t running films. It would be so nice if someone could do something with that property and have some spaces available for shoppers as well as commuters.

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President Obama announced that he will issue work permits to children who were brought to the U.S. when their parents came into the U.S. illegally. He will not deport them although they are not here legally. He has raised a big problem, as where are they going to work? A work permit means nothing. Polls show 57 percent of the people out of work have college degrees. Anyone who is in this country illegally should be deported. This is not an issue to discuss. It is the law. He has pandered to the gays, the illegals and started a fight with a contrived war on women seemingly for the sole purpose of getting votes. He is constantly going to fundraising events instead of doing his job in Washington. The Senate has bills that Harry Reid has locked up and can’t be voted on and hasn’t passed a budget in three years. As Obama said, if he is not successful, he should not deserve to be re-elected. Hold him to his word.

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Who do I contact to be fire chief for a month? Sounds like fun. This is a joke that our village manager does not have the ability to hire a permanent chief. I think the rank and file suffers the most. Maybe it is because nobody wants to work for him? Before we get a new chief, how about a new village manager?

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Villa Park calling. It’s wonderful to have the bridge on Ardmore open, but the sidewalk situation is ridiculous on both sides of the bridge. It starts, it stops, it’s dangerous. Come to some other conclusion.

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This is Lombard calling. I have a question: At Cruise Nights, and I’ve seen at the Lilac arts and crafts fair, why all the dogs? There has to be some kind of curbing of dogs. First of all, at Cruise Nights, by the bands, do they have to have their dogs? Keep your dogs at home or in your backyard. They don’t need to be with all the other people and dogs barking at each other and fighting with each other. It has happened at Cruise Nights and it’s happened at the Lilac arts and crafts fair. Leave your dogs at home.

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Once again, I think it’s time to remind people who use the Prairie Path in Illinois, whether it be bikers, joggers or runners, or people who just stroll—you have to stop at every street. There are signs that say stop, proceed when clear, or whatever they say, because I’m really tired of having to slam on my brakes to avoid people who think it’s their right to cross the Prairie Path without even looking to see if it’s safe to do so. I’ve seen parents with young children on bikes or in strollers just walk straight across without looking. I’ve almost hit somebody four or five times in the last two weeks. It has to stop. Someday somebody’s not going to be able to stop. People need to pay attention.

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I want to be a Lombard politician so I can live the high life, too. What about you other folks? Want to join me?

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This is in response to a SPEAK OUT regarding teaching students to stand at attention when the flag goes by during the parade. I am a teacher in the system and I will tell you, when I request that my students stand up and face the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance, I’ve been told they don’t have to do that if they don’t want to. They can sit during the pledge. You can ask them to walk out of the classroom. It is not the responsibility of the teacher. It is the responsibility of the parent to instill the thought of patriotism to America. Teachers’ hands are tied due to the bureaucracy, administration and the too many freedoms this country gives to everyone except the citizens.

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Hi, Lombard. Two things. I live by Madison Meadow park and every Fourth of July as the Taste of Lombard approaches, I get this feeling of dread that comes over me. I dread the noise, traffic, littering, drunks for five days. Can the Taste ever be held at a different park, and also, who is paying for the chain link fence that is put up every year for the fest? Also, people jogging with dogs, please stop and allow your dogs to do their business. I’ve seen people jogging and pulling their dog down the sidewalk while the dog is trying to go to the bathroom. That’s cruel and please, pick up after your dog.

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This is for all the teachers out there in the Chicago Public Schools. You want a 30 percent raise; I’m sorry, 29 percent—I want to get my facts right. That’s ignorant. If you become a teacher, it’s for the kids. Don’t tell everybody on TV when carrying a picket sign because you voted to strike that you’re doing it for the kids. No, you’re doing it for more money. Guess what, everyone else is getting 2 percent or 3 percent raises, not 29 percent. If you want to do your job and you want to make money, get a different job. Don’t become a teacher unless you want to do it for the kids, not the money.

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Hip, hip, hooray, another feather in President Obama’s cap and another hair plug in Joe Biden’s head. Thirty-nine straight months of unemployment 8 percent or better. Folks, that is a record, hope and change you can count on. Another record; 30 months of the worse employment in the last 25 years. There are actually fewer people working right now than when President Obama became president. If you just do the simple math in your head, you go, Hmm. Each month 125,000 try looking for a job but we have less people working. He and Biden get on TV and say unemployment’s going down. Folks, once again I have to sit there and say, I can’t wait to go back to the failed ways of the past.

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We are raked over the coals and we are being robbed in emptying our pockets by the politicians. The politicians caused the problem the state is in. They want to raise the fees on license plates; they want to raise taxes; they want to raise the price on cigarettes. They’re giving themselves a big handsome pension. Take the money from former Gov. Jim Thompson, over $2 million a year; Emil Jones, over $1 million a year. Take the money from them. They’re the ones who are robbing us. We should not be paying additional taxes for all these different boondoggle mistakes they made. Take the money from the politicians and stop taking it from the hard-working people. You people start speaking up. Enough is enough.

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Hello, Lombard. I think we’ve got a problem in Springfield. Michael Madigan wanted to raise the taxes on every homeowner in the state except Chicago, because his buddy Rahm is mayor, I think. So what Mr. Madigan feels is that we do not already pay enough in taxes and that because we have these pensions we cannot afford—oh, by the way, the $7 billion we raised from raising our personal income tax isn’t enough to pay for the pension, but that’s another story. So, he wants to raise everybody’s real estate taxes except Chicago to pay for pensions we can’t afford. Now there’s real reform. I can’t believe we allow this to go on. Let’s lay it on the hard-working people of Illinois because we goofed 30 years ago and put these pensions in place. Gosh, do we have a great state.

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Regarding the construction on Highland Avenue in front of both Manor Hill School and Glenn Westlake Middle School, I have a huge safety concern. Recently, due to the construction, all but one of three driveways to Manor Hill and Glenn Westlake were under construction and could not be used. If there was a fire or an incident at either of the schools, the soccer fields or the park, the police, fire and paramedics would only have one access in. Wouldn’t this be an OSHA violation? There needs to be a back access through the park district park onto Finley Road before disaster strikes.

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This is painful; I’m not a Democrat, I’m not a Republican. I won’t even call him by his name, but the person who runs this supposed country changes the immigration policy to court the Latino votes. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic how far this country has fallen. I’m ashamed to be part of this country.

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Hi, this is from an irate citizen right now. I live on Maple Street and I’ve been really good about parking on other streets, real good about parking on Fairfield, Grace and the park parking lot, which is approved. And then, I was coming down and was going to go right from Fairfield so I could park in my driveway, which is OK right now, when somebody had to beep at me. How dare they. I couldn’t park in my driveway at all. I had to carry some groceries to my car and my iced coffee spilled, and I’m just really upset, especially at these people who think this is a through street and they don’t even live on this block. How dare they. That is so inconsiderate. People should think of others.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I’d like to comment on the remarks that Trustee Breen said to President Mueller at the last village board meeting, calling him names and insinuating he’s the president of a board, not the king of Lombard. How unprofessional of him, and I feel he owes Mr. Mueller an apology. He himself should set an example of professionalism and how this village is run, and respect the office of the president. I hope Mr. Breen makes a comment.

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This is Lombard calling. This First Energy deal is coming up and I just wanted to let everyone in Lombard know that the quote, where they say they’re saving against 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour, the actual rate from ComEd is less per kilowatt hour. Please make a note of it. Bye.

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SPEAKING OUT FOR 25 YEARS

The following comments are reprinted from the June 30, 1999, SPEAK OUT column in celebration of SPEAK OUT’s 25th year.

Hi, this is Lombard calling. It’s Wednesday, June 23. On Monday of this week some young person went into two of my vehicles parked in my drive and basically stole tollway change. I’m assuming it’s young kids because there was valuable stuff inside the vehicles that they didn’t take. Now, I know I need to lock my vehicles in my own driveway, which I think is very sad, but I have to wonder: Do any parents anymore know what their kids are doing? This happened at approximately three in the morning. I just wonder. I know exactly where my kids are, virtually every second of the day. What’s going on with the parents these days that these kids are running around the streets at that time of the morning? Thank you.

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People keep asking, “Where do the children learn how to break the law?” But on the Fourth of July, people will set off fireworks, which is against the law. This year, set an example for your children. If you still insist on breaking the law, I will call the Lombard police and report your address. I urge everyone else to do the same.

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OK, I recently noticed all the dumb things people call/write in for SPEAK OUT. There are two main topics that are starting to get on my nerves. First, if someone wants to give their kid a doughnut in the supermarket, that’s their own business. It’s not causing you any pain, is it? I understand that everyone might start doing it, and then people don’t pay, blah, blah, blah. Well, too bad. People do things I don’t like all the time. So? Secondly, police officers are there to protect us, not model for us. If they want to wear shorts to feel better and cooler, let them. It’s not like they’re slacking off on the job because they’re too busy showing off their bods for us to adore. I’ve never even thought about what police officers wear until I read the SPEAK OUT and someone mentioned it. So now, maybe we can start a new, more exciting topic to complain about in SPEAK OUT (just hopefully, not about me).