Lombard here, so Kevin Fitzpatrick thinks it’s “patently unfair” to criticize the Lombard board. Kevin, this board has been an embarrassment. The deal they made was a joke. It’s obvious there are agendas that people have, and their constituents were mere afterthoughts. Last time the board was split 3 to 3 was back in the DuPage Theatre days. None of these people were trustees then, but the Fitzpatricks were front and center then and are front and center now.

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This is Lombard calling. What do you think of these trustees by putting a limit on the number of times I can call 9-1-1? In DuPage County, the only number we can call for police, fire or ambulance service is 9-1-1. I hope none of you trustees need any help from 9-1-1 because I may have used up my quota and won’t be able to call for you.

While trustees addressed village code regarding fees for emergency medical services last month, it was mainly about repeat callers who have debilitating medical issues. Lombard Fire Chief Paul DiRienzo related that he personally reached out to the highest users a few years ago and tried to provide names of other agencies and other means for the frequent callers to receive assistance. This made it possible for the department to reduce calls from 55 to 34. DiRienzo noted that these calls are not emergencies, but assistance to an individual.—blm

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Hey, Lombard, why don’t you talk to the state of Illinois and get the lights on North Avenue to all be green at the same time? That would save on the gas. Having them turn yellow after you’ve sat for a light and then the next light turns red when you get up to it; it’s all stop and go and that’s ridiculous. So talk to the state of Illinois or whoever owns the road and have them work on the light situation on North Avenue.

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In the SPEAK OUT column someone from Wheaton complained about the loss of small businesses in the neighborhoods and is blaming Obama. Don’t blame Obama; blame the big box stores and I bet you shop at these stores, so don’t blame him.

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I saw a full grown coyote on South Main Street, one block and a quarter from 22nd Street Friday, Nov. 9, in the afternoon at 2:58 p.m. It was in the empty lot on the east side of the street. It was just looking around for a meal. That time of day is pretty brazen even for coyotes.

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Lombard calling. I listen to a great radio talk show where you can actually get unbiased news—perhaps biased but at least it balances out what you get on CNN, MSNBC and ABC, the world news, all that, who love the liberals and love this president. The talk show starts out, “The greatest nation on God’s green earth.” That’s touching. A lot of people say that but they don’t practice it. It’s just something we don’t have too much of anymore. Our president had apologized for America; we’re not exceptional was what he said in his own words. That means we’re not really anything. We’re not exceptional? That’s like telling your son after he comes home from his high school football game, “You’re not exceptional.” That pretty much means he stinks.

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Lombard calling. Mr. Z was out of one item, our wonderful local supermarket, but I called back to compliment them on their great meat department. They have done nothing but improve and their customer service is out of this world. Folks, please give them some business. They deserve it. I bought some smoked ham hocks for my soup, better than I could get anywhere else at the high-end butcher, and with a smile and good customer service. So folks, give them your business. Sorry about the election. It’s a slap in the face to all the hard-working people out there who now have to pay for the people who don’t want to work and a president who doesn’t respect our country.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I probably should be calling the obituary column but I’m going to call SPEAK OUT instead. I just want to let you know there was a death—the death was America on Tuesday night. I live in Lombard; my American flag is at half mast in observance of America dying on Tuesday. The people have spoken; more people want the free handouts. That’s not the America I know and this will be our ultimate demise. I’m done. I’m not going to give anything to the people on the streets coming for the free handouts, coming to my door, anybody, I’m done. I get taxed enough and I just want to say thank you to Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden for killing this great country that was handed off to me by my parents.

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Regarding the comment about District 44 schools underperforming, they can thank dumping extra responsibilities on teachers and getting rid of veteran teachers. They even got rid of grades. Boy, that really helps a lot. Test, test, test; assess, assess, assess. What has it meant? You see the results.

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It’s the first week of November, the day after the election. Thank goodness I don’t have to see any more stupid commercials about which candidate is better than the other one; but unfortunately, it’s a double-edged sword because now I’m seeing commercial after commercial about dot-com companies for buying Christmas gifts, or what stores are have what sales when, or Christmas gifts. It just never ends. It’s very annoying. Stop. Overmarketing does not work.

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Hi, Lombard citizen calling. I just got wind that the board has approved a new assistant village manager. I’m wondering how they all of a sudden came up with the money to pay for an assistant that Hulseberg hasn’t had in the past. They were talking layoffs and cutbacks, and privatizing and all of a sudden the village manager gets a board-approved assistant and a lawyer, no less. Somebody needs to explain this to us.

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I could not agree more with the person who called in annoyed that their neighbors leave their dogs out all day to bark. They know they’re barking; clearly they know. It is wrong that they leave the dogs out to annoy everybody and is inconsiderate to the neighbors and wrong for the dogs. They should be better owners and better neighbors.

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Driving around the village I noticed the lilac-colored street signs, such as Park, Main Street and St. Charles Road. I’m just wondering if this is going to be a village-wide initiative or just a downtown initiative. I’m just wondering how much this initiative is costing us and I’m just wondering not only in the signs but in the labor involved and I’m wondering whose bright idea was it to make it such a cutesy little lilac? Oh, my, look at us.

When Bill Heniff, director of community development, made a presentation to the Lombard Chamber of Commerce in September, he said the signs would be placed in downtown Lombard as part of the “branding” of downtown Lombard.—blm

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Lombard calling. I’m hoping somebody can explain this to me; I don’t understand it. I was in Homer Glen on Nov. 8 and gasoline was $3.29 a gallon. I thought, great, when I get back to Lombard I’ll gas up; gas will have gone down. I get back to Lombard and it’s $3.55 a gallon and it hasn’t gone down all week. How could it be a quarter less 15 miles away, 10 miles away? I don’t understand it. If somebody could tell me, I’d appreciate it.

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Hi, I would like to congratulate Glenbard East for a terrific job on “Beauty and the Beast.” The stage production was absolutely fantastic. My question is, to District 87, why do you have all the plays on the same weekend? Can we stagger them in the future so that people can go see plays at East, West, North and South? That would be a terrific idea. And finally, the schools need to talk with each other so you are not producing the same play at both schools. Just my opinion.

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Good morning, Lombard calling. I just drove down St. Charles Road and I love the new street signs. They’re so festive and pretty and I think for change Lombard’s made a good decision.

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This is to the person or persons who stole my granddaughter’s stroller from outside my house between 6-7 o’clock on Halloween night on West Adam Street in Villa Park. Unbelievable how people have little or no respect for other people’s property, possessions. You know who you are. You took a very nice stroller that I walk my granddaughter in.

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This is Lombard calling with a thank you to the person who called about the yapping dogs. I, too, am very annoyed and am glad somebody else is about a homeowner who would leave two barking dogs out all day long while he or she is not home and then allow a third one out of his or her arrival home. I guess the person can’t hear the dogs barking though because when he or she is there, it’s a constant high-powered leaf blowing for two or three solid hours daily. So thank you for commenting about the yapping dogs. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one.

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Wow, what a sad day for America. I cannot believe what happened on election night. All you folks who voted for Mr. Obama, I wish you had your own country. When you go looking for health care, you can’t find the right doctor, doctors get told what kind of medicine to practice, government intrusion into people’s lives and health care, overtaxation, national debt, your kids are paying off the national debt because of this guy, Obama, trillions and trillions of debt, America goes down the tubes. America is no longer a super power because as he said, we’re not exceptional. Your pants are taxed off, you can’t afford food, unbelievable. Thank you, America, for voting for Barack Obama, when you can’t afford food.

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This is Lombard calling about a statue of St. Francis of Assisi missing from our yard since Halloween. It was a gift in memory of my mother-in-law for her love of animals and stood tall for 15 years. I hope it is not damaged and will quietly find its way home.

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To whom it may concern, and I believe it concerns everyone: I always look forward to voting. On Nov. 6, while exercising the right of every American, I was harassed and intimidated in front of my polling place. I brought up the fact that it is illegal to do this within 100 feet of the polling place, just to find out they were operating within the law. I would like to propose a 2,000-foot limit around the polling place. Voting intimidation is very serious and I think this simple law would stop the harassment. Thank you; one proud American.

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Hello, this is Villa Park. I just wanted to call and thank everybody who helped try to find my cat. I did find him and I wanted to thank everybody for that. Thanks again.

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I just have to say I’m really annoyed that Bill Mueller’s widow called me to tell me to vote for somebody. Did she get my number from the village? Because I’m registered to not get these calls.

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Just want to thank all the people who are running for office every two years or every four years who come knocking on my door once every two or four years right before the election, trying to get my vote. Way to go, that works really well. And for those same constituents, thank you for sending me all the fliers. I send them to the shredder and my friend’s gerbils absolutely love their new bedding.

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It’s Monday, Nov. 12, we celebrated Veterans Day. We’ve got to put some teeth in this thing. The only people who should be getting off with pay are veterans. If you weren’t a veteran and you didn’t serve your country, then you shouldn’t be getting the day off with pay. This is ridiculous. Everybody else benefits besides the veterans. We’ve got to pay the veterans, show them that we appreciate them putting their lives on the line. Only veterans should be getting Veterans Day off and nobody else.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling regarding the caller who quoted the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. This was never designed to make equal pay for equal work. This was designed so that if you find out, say, your male counterparts have been paid more than you have and you’ve worked for a company for 10, 12, years, you go to your boss and say, “I’m not earning the same as they are for the same work,” and the boss says, “Too bad. You should have complained about it 10, 12 years ago.” Well, maybe back then you didn’t know. The Lilly Ledbetter Act says that once you find out that you’re not being paid the same, you have 180 days from that moment to file your lawsuit. They cannot say, “Too bad, you should have filed it on your second or third paycheck.” That’s what it’s about. Not equal pay for equal work for every job for every person.

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Glenbard East and the robo calls. I’ve got a feeling these things have to cost a ton of money. I get robo calls all the time. Now it’s a Sunday night and I’m ready to have dinner and I’m getting a robo call about something happening on a Wednesday night during the week. Stop wasting my money and please, to the vice principal, can I please have your home phone number so I can call you Sunday night and interrupt your dinner at home? How rude, and what a waste of my money. Really? Sunday night? If you’re going to call my house, have the decency to do it yourself, not a recording on a Sunday night, so I can tell you myself how rude I think you are.

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I’m from the Lombard area and I went to the Schroeder’s Ace Hardware extravaganza weekend. I was probably one of a million people who put in my slip of paper for the prize drawings. I was just wondering, where is the list of winners? Did anyone find that list of winners? I would really like to find out if I was one of the winners. I’m sure there are a lot of other people who would like to know who those winners were and if they were one of those lucky people to get one of those lucky prizes. Could I get some response on this from Schroeder’s Ace Hardware? I would just like to know, is that list published somewhere?

Sue Hall from Schroeder’s Ace Hardware responded that there was no “list” of winners published, although some are pictured on the store’s Facebook page. She emphasized that “All winners were notified and have picked up their prizes.”—JAC

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I’m a Lombard resident, and the election has proven the validity of a couple of adages. The first one is “A democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” And the second one is, “He who robs Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul.”