This skeet kick has outlived its humor. How about moving on to something else?

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I’m calling from Villa Park. I had heard about it, but recent events do not support the theory, so I looked it up. I had to do it, and guess what, it’s true. The village manager reports to the board of trustees and the board of trustees reports to the residents of Villa Park. So, Mr. Manager and board of trustees, you ultimately report to me and every individual in this village. Please remember that next time you make a decision.

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This is to the lady who doesn’t like the Helen Plum Library because they don’t provide parking in front for her. There’s parking on the south side of the street. Be a real mom, park your car and go help your child across the street. Or you could park on the side street, South Park. Or, there are two parking lots. Don’t just sit in your car and blow the horn.

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Villa Park calling. It’s great to see that Rich Biagioli is running for trustee. He has been a great fireman for our village for many years and I am happy to see him as a candidate.

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Can someone explain to me the excuse Chicago gives for the gun violence; that criminals get guns from outside of Chicago in states like Indiana, or the suburbs, and bring them into the city. Why is it that cities and other states that have concealed carry laws, and allow people to actually carry the guns, and allow people to buy the guns in the city so the criminals don’t have to leave the city to get them, why do these cities have lower gun violence rates than Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun laws on the books in the country? Can anyone explain that? Its very confusing. You would think it would be the other way around.

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Regarding the Christmas decorations, how totally archaic and foreseeable that somebody would invoke religion into keeping Christmas decorations with Santa Claus and the reindeer, and whatever, non-religious statues and decorations that are out, to keep them up beyond Christmas. You people are so predictable. It’s not about religion. It’s about tackiness. Take them down now.

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To the person who wanted to adopt a skeet and wondered if they got along with pets, let me tell you, we adopted a few skeets and they got along quite well with our dog. But with our cat, it was a different story. Those poor skeet were treated like plain, old dirt from our cat.

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Well, if our president, Barack Obama, can hunt skeet, so can I. Skeet look great stuffed and mounted over the fireplace and there are a lot of recipes on the Internet. Did you know that skeet meat is a delicacy in France? Just like they eat horse meat.

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Villa Park calling. Back in the 1960s there was a show called “Candid Camera” where folks would have jokes played on them while secretly being filmed. Maybe that's what’s happening in Villa Park right now, because I can hardly believe that Trustee Bullwinkel has suggested that our officers police the train station areas on Segways. So, someone, please say this: “Surprise, you're on Candid Camera.”

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I just read in the Wall Street Journal that we have bypassed California as having the lowest S&P credit rating among the states. Boy, is that an embarrassment. Thanks to those whose votes got the current state officials elected. And, I get a kick out of the TV, radio and print ads from other states trying to lure businesses away with financial reasons why they should leave the Land of Lincoln. Let’s at least hope that if these businesses leave—and with good reason—they keep those savings in the USA by manufacturing here and employing Americans.

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In reading some of the responses in SPEAK OUT, it really amazes me how some people write such responses without actually knowing facts. To the person who called/wrote in criticizing Acting President Peter Breen about the BCS party on South Park Avenue, first of all, it was not a private party. It was advertised and open to everyone.  Second, not one penny of taxpayer dollars was used for the event. Third, Mr. Breen has been a strong advocate for our downtown. Much more so than the current District 1 Trustee. When it was determined that Notre Dame was going to be in the BCS game, and so many local people are ND fans, Mr. Breen recommended this hugely successful event for our downtown. Many people showed up for the event and the downtown businesses were thriving on a Monday night.  Thank you Peter Breen for your continued support of our downtown. As for your complaint of Acting President Breen writing something for the Lombard Pride, did you know that it was part of his job as acting president? Just as Bill Ware will now be required to write an article for the next newsletter. Get your facts straight before you put down someone who is actually doing something for this town besides just talking about it.

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Lombard calling. We put a stop light in for the parking lot for the buses at Glenbard East High School. Why do we need a policeman? They just block the right lane and cause a bottleneck. They’re out there directing traffic when there’s a stop light. I don’t understand it. Why did we spend thousands of dollars to put in a stop light when there’s a policeman there, and who’s paying them? The high school, the bus company or us? I’d like to know—more money going out the window.

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To the person who says the post office is the best value: Does that include all the money the post office loses on a yearly basis? Any business model that includes buying TV commercials to tell the public that you could buy stamps at the post office or endorses a professional bike rider who recently admits to using performance enhancing drugs, should go out of business.

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This is a confused Lombard resident calling. What are these “skeets” that everyone seems to be adopting and why does everyone else have a problem with them?

The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a clay target [that] is thrown from a trap to simulate the flight of a bird,” and in turn people shoot at them for sport. Some callers were complaining about the noise coming from the skeet shooting range at the nearby country club in Glen Ellyn, while others supported the sport. One caller, apparently wanting to lighten things up by describing a skeet target as if it were an animal, and things have “taken off” from there.—JAC

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To the person asking if all the bashing of Peter Breen is to make Keith Giagnorio look good: No.  The comments made about some of the trustees just make Keith Giagnorio look good. Any reasonable, rational human being would walk out of a room when our already elected officials act like children. They are already in office, and so, deserve the scrutiny for their actions.  

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Please explain this. Trustee Breen supports and encourages pulling appointments to committees off of the village board agenda and to wait until after the election, then he ridicules others who want to do the same thing with the open space issue at Ken Loch. Both of these would have been a 3-3 tie and games would begin again.  Wait until you have seven votes to decide anything other than day- to-day business. Hopefully, he is a one-term trustee. As a resident of District 4 I am very disappointed in his political antics. He has lost my support.

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The women of Villa Park have been invited to meet the man. The man being John Heidelmeier at Ms. Roberts on Wednesday. Good move on the part of the campaign. As women’s concerns are seldom the same as men’s concerns, this should be very interesting.

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As a resident of District 5 and an art student I am appalled at the actions of my trustee. Ethics, morals and common sense dictate that you don’t alter another painter’s work. She owes us all an apology for her self-appointed, selfish act. Please do not hang that mural up at the village hall; have her take it home.

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Why can’t we have two or three more handicapped parking spaces across from the library? Two just won’t do it.

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Lombard calling. I have a pigeon made out of clay, very similar to a skeet. Very low maintenance and quiet, too. It won’t disturb your neighbors.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I just wanted to thank the Willowbrook theater department for putting on an excellent play, “The Laramie Project.” The cast and crew were fantastic as usual, so thank you very much. We really enjoyed watching the play. Thank you.

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I just want to give a shout out to the Westlake drama club for putting on a great version of “The Wizard of Oz.” Everybody did an excellent job. And I especially want to tell the young man who was the Cowardly Lion, bravo. You did a fantastic job as did everybody in the play, but the Cowardly Lion really stole the show. Thank you.

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Beware that now, a high government official can kill a United States citizen by drone if the president deems that person is a danger to the country; no court or Congress can interfere with such a silly thing as due process. Looks like you voted for a dictator. Thank you.

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Lombard calling. In light of the difficulties of the government the U.S. Post Office is experiencing, and the fact that they have to keep raising their rates, I find it ironic that the federal government is requiring Social Security recipients to receive their money by direct deposit. They are starting to no longer mail checks. I prefer getting the check in the mail and handling it myself but I can’t anymore. You would think the federal government would support their own post office.

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This is a Lombard citizen calling. On Tuesday night I had to go pick up my child from work because her car broke so I left the house at 12:30 and I went up Westmore, from St. Charles Road to Roosevelt, over to Fairfield where I picked her up, and didn’t see a squad car the whole time. I went all down Fairfield to Maple, Maple to Grace, Grace back up to Madison and Madison to Westmore and Westmore back to St. Charles, and I didn’t see a squad car. I think I know why we have so many break-ins and damage to motor vehicles in this town. When you don’t see any squad cars in a 45-minute ride, almost an hour, I gather I know the reason. I know you won’t print this one.

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Hi, I’m calling from Lombard. I went to an event at the Westin Hotel and a lot of the Lombard police officers and village workers were all there supporting themselves and patting themselves on the back for the great job they have done. And the worst part about it, not one mention about who supplied and supported all this expense at the Westin; the taxpayers were never even thanked.

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The section of road on St. Charles between Grace and Westmore is completely filled with pot holes right now. I don’t know what happened, but someone definitely needs to fix that.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. Now that Kmart is closed, I was just curious if anybody knows what they’re going do with the building or the property or what businesses might be moving in there. I’m just curious.

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Lombard calling and wondering who wrote the Feb. 13 Reporter that I just got. Did anybody actually try to read it before it got sent out? Besides only three of seven schools that “meet the criteria,” what does it say? Were all the crayons in the box broken except yellow and green for the poorly planned graphs that all look the same? How much did this waste of time and paper cost the taxpayers? I remember when this was a professional newsletter.

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When you get your gas bill, they tell you that you can save on your electric bill, but the electric bill never tells you how you can save on the gas bill. We have an endless supply of natural gas for 150 years yet the bill keeps going up. Why can’t we save money going with another company on the gas bill?

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I’m from Lombard and I read in your SPEAK OUT about three weeks ago about Shannon’s Butcher Shop on Park Avenue. Well, I tried it and I just want to say that everything there was nice. The people were friendly and I sure hope this shop and this restaurant make it in downtown Lombard. It’s something we need here in Lombard and downtown.

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Still trying to figure out why weather forecasters are saying a snowstorm, a monster storm, of 2 to 4 inches, is actually a monster storm. They’re driving people into a frenzy; 2 to 4 inches is nothing. It is not a monster storm; it’s not a snowstorm, so quit exaggerating everything.

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Calling about the gas prices on Roosevelt Road; 2 p.m. Feb. 9, $3.65, they went up to $3.85. At 3:30 p.m., they went down 6 cents. How can they go up 20 cents a gallon in an hour or so and then go down 6 cents? Who is taking advantage of whom?

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I’m a Lombard resident. My favorite definition of insanity is to re-elect the same people to political office and expect different results.