I happened to move into this area and was visiting your local library. I was there to pick up my young adult children and there was no place safely to pick them up in front of the library. I don’t seem to understand your system. There are signs up, no parking, no standing, no walking, no this, no that. In the town I came from you could pick up your young adults right by the front door. Every time I pull up to pick up my young adults I’m told by some angry man to move it along. I don’t understand. My children have to cross streets? I don’t think that’s safe. I don’t think I enjoy your library in this town. I think you need to have some kind of system or set-up or section where we can pick up our children safely. Could somebody please explain where there’s somewhere to pick up my children?

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This is Lombard calling and I just want to let the citizens of Lombard know that in downtown Lombard there’s a wonderful butcher shop and deli called Shannon’s on Park Avenue south of St. Charles. I had a couple of their steaks and I grilled them and they were absolutely wonderful. Just great meat and very friendly. Stop and see for yourself. That’s all I can say except it’s a really, really good place to go and eat or to bring something home to barbecue.

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The Lombard village manager is so transparent, he seems almost invisible. Obviously he doesn’t want to answer questions from the newspaper to justify anything. That is why he has a gag rule in village hall. We the taxpayers are now going to pay out another $120,000 so he can have a front person. Lombard needs a village manager who is personable and can flow with what Lombardians want Lombard to be with its past heritage.

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Calling all Villa Park residents to grab the bushel baskets and stand beneath the village hall second-floor windows. Administration is tossing your money out those windows left and right and not one penny is going for those things most needed in our town.

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Lombard, I was just wondering if the trustees can do with the gas company whatever they did with the electric company and help us residents out. I know, Bonnie, you can’t answer this question, but I’m betting the trustees read the Lombardian. I’m betting on that. Thank you so much, Bonnie.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I just want to say the parking situation at Hammerschmidt School is absurd. Recently I had to walk two blocks with my toddler in minus 12 wind chill to pick up my kindergartner. Now I get info on a learning garden that’s part of the new playground. Forgive me for being a realist, but shouldn’t it address the parking issue first before we add the glitz?

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Lombard calling. The Lombard public works director administers the Code Red program. Call 630-620-5740 to have your name removed from the call list. That’s what I did.

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Dear SPEAK OUT. I was in line at the grocery store the other day. I overheard two ladies talking about how they go to the food pantry and get free food and they were laughing about it. All I want to say is that food pantry is for people who have hit hard times. That is not for you two to get your kicks out of taking advantage of the system. I hope you don’t ever have to fall on hard times. All I have to say to you both is shame on you.

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Lombard calling. It comes with common sense that the senior trustee should take the position of village president. First, that trustee must have some approval, seeing that the trustee has been re-elected for the position. Second, that trustee should have accumulated more experience in the process. By voting for the most popular contestant or the person who combs his hair better, it just ties up our trustees and keeps them from handling the important issues. We don’t need to be so political in our village just because some people may have a political agenda.

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Hello, Lombard. If you already heard, Glenbard East High School is pulling out of the best conference in the area. The No. 1 reason cited was that East simply cannot compete in the DVC’s level of play. According to Josh Chambers and William Burt, the biggest reason for our poor performance over the years is East’s low socio-economic student athletes. How incredibly insulting to every child at Glenbard East. Have you ever looked at the athletic performance of the inner city schools? Do not put the blame for East’s lower performance on the lower socio-economic kids. Perhaps, look at your coaches who haven’t gone the extra mile to work with our local feeder teams and who haven’t worked hard enough to develop the talent we already have.

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Hello, Lombardians. Christmas has been over for about a month now guys, and as pretty as all the lights and decorations were, it’s time to turn them off. I know it’s too cold to take them down, but turn them off.

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During a “State of the Village” telethon that went on for two-plus hours—he was only given five minutes—Village Manager Richard Keehner made several lofty comments, including taking credit for many things he had nothing to do with and saying, “[We are putting in technology] that is allowing us to communicate more efficiently,” so I looked into this. He paid several thousands of taxpayer dollars to buy a system that allowed the village to connect their Blackberries—also bought with taxpayer dollars—for a service that he could have gotten free by using Android or iPhones. The only thing this village board of ours is communicating is they don’t appear to care about us; it’s all about comfort for them. I’m just saying. Anyone is better than the current board. I say we don’t re-elect any of them come April and get some new blood in there.

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So, if any of you know Deb Bullwinkel, you’ll know one thing. Don’t invite her to an event if you need help setting up. She only comes for about 15 minutes, poses with a few tools and hoes and the occasional gardening tool, then leaves. I’ve witnessed this several times including two summers ago, cleaning the Metra station, multiple summer fests, and pretty much any event she throws. She hasn’t done a thing in office for—what, three to five years? Why are we going give her more responsibility?

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I don’t know how others feel, but Heidelmeier did a great job as chief of police and I think he will make a great president for Villa Park. Maybe with him as president the skate park and train station areas will be safe again.

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Hello. Regarding vacant Lombard retail properties, it would be nice to see IHOP or Home Run Inn Pizza in the old Hollywood Video store, medical offices or Ashley Furniture at the Great Indoors site, and either Meijer or Woodman’s Market at the Kmart location.

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I have to disagree with the caller who said that the culling of skeet was unnecessary. For your information there are no predators that prey on skeet. Also, with these mild winters we’re having, the skeet population’s at record highs. Have you ever seen a pack of skeet starving in the dead of winter? I have. I can tell you it’s not a pretty site. Human intervention is the only humane way to deal with the skeet population.

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I think it’s time to move on from the skeet jokes. They were amusing at first, and it’s nice to get some comic relief. But enough is enough. Speaking of comic relief, it looks like both Lombard and Villa Park are setting the stage for just that sort of thing between now and the April election. I think there are going to be laughs to be had, but when you stop and think about it, that makes the whole situation seem kind of pathetic.

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I’m calling in response to the person who said that there are plenty of police officers and civilians within the Villa Park Police Department who worked with Chief Heidelmeier his entire career. This persons states that he should have never been the chief of police. If this person had been at the board meeting when former Chief Heidelmeier had been relieved of his duties, as he walked out of the village hall, he would have seen many police officers there with the lights on the squad cars lit and a cheer that went up for Chief Heidelmeier that was heartwarming. Not to mention all the police officers who were in attendance at the meeting that night. So I tend to refute that statement.

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Lombard calling. The back of my neighbor’s house is visible from my kitchen window. Said neighbor has glass blocks for a bathroom window where the bathtub is but when their bathroom light is on I can still see the silhouette of whoever’s showering. I believe you can buy curtains for just such a window. Please do so.

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The village called all Lombardians with a Code Red. It’s cold outside, take precautions. Are you serious? Just open your front door and feel how cold it is outside. At my age I found this call to be insulting. I’ve been living in this town for 50 years and never had the need to be cautious in extreme weather. How much did this cost the village?

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For all you people living under a rock, on Jan. 27 the post office raised rates again on those cute sticky American flag things we call stamps. Boy, I’m sure glad that I purchased those “forever stamps” so when the price to mail a letter exceeds my son’s college education I could mail my tax bill to the government. Sorry, can’t wait. Online bill pay for me.

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As an elected official, how does Trustee Breen not check his ego at the door. The private party for Notre Dame, at taxpayer expense; writing an article for the cover of the Pride and giving the State of the Village, when he is not the village president; attempting to shove issues through the board, instead of waiting for the full seven member-board in May. Get off your high horse and remember why you are in office. If you still want a state office, then get out of here. And take the self-appointed village artist with you. Isn’t there an ethical code among artists not to touch a painting that you did not paint originally?

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Our country is broke and everybody has to cut back, but what I want to know is why doesn’t our president of the United States cut back? Every day he has to go somewhere to make a grandstand announcement or fire up that great big expensive jet, which costs us taxpayers a lot of money. Why can’t he do the work right in Washington, D.C.? Why must he constantly travel and spend the money that we don’t have? That’s one of our biggest problems. I think we ought to write a letter and tell him, get with the program, Mr. President. You’re a big part of the problem that we have, of this country going broke.

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Hi, this is response to Trustee Bullwinkel running for village president. I have a problem with her statement to a reporter—when asked what office she was running for she declined to tell him and in fact, said, “I will not tell you.” Is that the kind of president we need in this village? We need transparency, not people hiding things and doing things behind our backs.

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This is Lombard calling. To the person who was calling about adopting skeet, could you tell me if they get along with dogs and are they easy to house train? Are there any local ordinances regarding the adoption of domestic skeet? I’ve called the village hall but they just won’t take my question. Seriously.

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I am a longtime resident of Villa Park and I’ve never called SPEAK OUT before, but I’m doing so because I need to respond to last week’s comment about Villa Park Police Department employees being happy with Heidelmeier’s retirement. This could not be further from the truth. I know some folks over there and in my opinion Chief Heidelmeier enjoyed overwhelming support from the staff. The police officers especially enjoyed working for one of their own, who encouraged them to arrest the bad guys, not just generate revenue for the village.

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This is a grandmother in Villa Park. We want to thank the kind man who found my granddaughter’s glasses on Stewart Avenue by Hammerschmidt School in Lombard last week. They must have fallen out of her backpack when I took her to school. This nice man took the time to bring the glasses that were in a pink case to the school office. My granddaughter and her mom were so happy since children’s glasses are a great expense. Thank you for being so thoughtful.