In Colorado, the police were asked if they would confiscate legally owned weapons if asked to do so by Homeland Security. Some said yes. We would like to know if the DuPage sheriff would comply or would he protect the Constitution and the citizens who have voted him in office. Confiscation is only legal under marshal law. What say you, DuPage County police? You can Google this at “Colorado State Police target Christians” Tuesday, April 9. Thank you.

DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba responded with this statement: “I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and protect its citizens.”—JAC

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Lombard calling. I’m the one who called a couple of weeks ago asking about the policeman directing the buses at Glenbard East High School after school, and I read with interest from somebody from the district, but I completely disagree with her report. I have sat there at 2:30 in the afternoon and watched the majority of the buses come out of the south parking lot and that’s where the policeman sits, blocking the southbound outbound lane of Main Street, causing that to be a jam up. Perhaps some buses come off the main drive but I’ve never seen one. The other thing they didn’t address as part of my question was, who pays the policeman? If you could get more information for me, Bonnie, I’d appreciate it. Thank you.

Glenbard High School District 87 spokesperson Peg Mannion referred your question to the Lombard Police Department. However, it is against village policy to provide responses to questions that come from anonymous sources. You can call the village at 630-620-5700 with questions regarding village matters.—JAC

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I’d just like everybody to know I just paid my first installment of my property taxes; over $3,600. You know, it’s been a pretty tough year and I didn’t have the money to really put away. I put it on my charge card. Being that it’s been a tough year, I didn’t have any money to invest in myself or my house and most definitely I didn’t have any money to put away for my retirement. I just would like all the DuPage County employees to say a big “thank you” to me for putting it on my credit card so I could pay their pension. What’s wrong with that? Boy, the tax code stinks.

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I’d like to know why my taxes are being raised for pensions, schools and for police and I’d like to know why we see little police enforcement in our town. More people blowing our stop signs, people texting and blowing red lights and there are no police at all. Bet the police department in Villa Park has more police cars in their parking lots than they do on the road. Please tell me why.

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Hey, Lombardians. The garbage cans on the curb are supposed to be 3 feet apart. This is so the claws on the garbage truck have room to grab them. Bye.

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It is not the bridge to nowhere. These are the bridges on the Great Western Trail to good health and recreation fun. This is about the journey, not the destination. Again, thank you, Village of Lombard, for providing the funds to complete these three bridges on the Great Western Trail. Bye.

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I have lived in Lombard for many years and read the Lombardian faithfully—usually somebody complaining about somebody. I walk with a walker and marvel at the help I’m given from kids, from teens and upward from there. If you can’t imagine the kindness and love are shown, buy yourself a walker. It helps.

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This is Lombard calling. I’m very tired of hearing about the village manager in Lombard. Mr. Hulseberg has done a fantastic job for our village. Our village would be in deep, deep trouble without him. We should be very thankful and supportive of him and whoever keeps putting this stuff in the Lombardian is not right; if they would look at the facts. Maybe they don’t like him but he is doing a good job. That’s all I have to say at the moment. Thank you.

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I’m calling about an article titled “To the rescue” in the May 29 Lombardian and it’s about a duck family that was rescued largely, it looks like, due to firefighter efforts. However, the good Samaritan who is mentioned in that article was able to use his very, very long hands for a very long time to prevent ducks from going deeper into the sewer pipes and that allowed the firefighters to be able to make the final rescue. Thomas did a great job. He’s the concerned resident who you say was determined, and we are now welcoming him officially into our family, so both his father-in-law and his wife I’m sure are very proud of his efforts in saving a poor animal. Thank you. Goodbye.

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To set it straight to the person who commented about police officers’ retirement that was printed May 29, here are the real facts: Police officers in local towns and villages pay 9 1/2 percent of their salary into a police pension fund. When the officer retires, he or she has to be 50 years old with at least 20 years on the job. At that point the officer will collect 50 percent of his or her base pay at the rate they are paid at the time of retirement. This does not include vacation, comp time or sick time like the person who called SPEAK OUT said. If you stay longer than 20 years on the job as a police officer, you are paid 2 1/2 percent for each year served for a maximum of 75 percent of the officer’s base pay.

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Bonnie, I just saw your new online content. It looks great, very straight forward. Now I know why it wasn’t put up on Wednesday last week; you probably were getting converted. I hope it works well for you.

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How come all I hear is that Obama let four people die in Benghazi? And all I hear is this will be the 36th Senate investigation into Benghazi, when George Bush let 13 embassies get attacked under his watch, and over 53 people were killed? Fifty-three diplomats to four diplomats, OK? Who’s worse—Bush or Obama? Bush, hands down. Do the math. End of story.

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This is Villa Park calling and I’m just wondering why the south side of Villa Park’s streets are so well maintained and here on the north side of Villa Park, our streets are just crumbling. They’re a mess, pot holes are everywhere—they’re never maintained. Is the north side not as important as the south side? Thank you.

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Hi, Villa Park calling for the person who called about the police pensions. Only the state police get 80 percent of their salary. Other suburban police departments are mandated by the state laws but they only get 75 percent and that doesn’t include any overtime, any vacation, any sick time. It’s strictly based on their salary. Most villages don’t pay for their employees to have health insurance paid for them, so when you ask a policeman about his big pension, you should actually ask the facts. They’re not the state police, they don’t get all these perks, they have to work at least probably 30 years before they max out their pension. I’d say get the facts straight and stop lumping suburban police into state police.

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Yes, this is Villa Park calling about our great police presence. I just drove past Ardmore and Vermont and saw a whole bunch of seemingly gang members drinking beer on the corner and watched two of Villa Park’s finest—police—drive right past, look at them and that was about it. Way to go, Villa Park Police Department. Where are you when we need you?

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This is directed to the person with the absurd version of the Second Amendment, as stated in the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” There are no other words, phrases or context associated with this. I would suggest that you go to the library and read it, then you would know what the exact amendment states.

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Thank you, Lombard Trustee Breen, for eliminating the vehicle sticker fee. You saved us $3 and $15 a year. With the $500,000 the village could have gotten from the vehicle sticker fee, you could have filled the pot holes in our subdivision with asphalt and not just throw cinders in them and get them washed out. My taxes this year went up $500 and the year before that they went up $400. The trustees should have focused on other line item budget items. Lombardians, look at the increases on your tax bills.

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I would just like to comment on the person who called SPEAK OUT about Lombard Pride, about people parked on the lawns, with people living in them and dirt all over and weeds 6 feet high. I don’t know where this person lives, but I live and work in Lombard and once in awhile somebody’s grass is a little big longer; this is a working class neighborhood and people work, but as a whole this is a lovely town. I don’t imagine where this person lives but you know what, you can drive into Lombard and just as easily drive out. I kind of have a feeling that somebody like that will never be happy wherever he or she lives.

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Hi. The corner of Addison and Madison is a four-way stop sign but nobody stops. You might as well take the signs out. The police don’t enforce anything. I estimate five out of 10 cars blow the stop sign and we have kids right there. When are we going to see some action? Now I see all new sidewalks going in. Hey, Villa Park, maybe we should drive our cars on the sidewalks. We have terrible streets and the police don’t enforce anything. Thank you.

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The price of gasoline is too high for too long and we’ve got to start to find out who the cause for this. None of the excuses as reformulation and global demand. It isn’t global demand. People all over the world are hurting just as much as we are. It’s the politicians and taxes. The departments are bloated. Some of that has to be pared down and some of the politicians have to start getting less money. Something has to give and it has to give real soon. I’m broke and I can’t afford to gas up and pay those high prices anymore. I don’t shop for anything else. So all you people, let’s get together and demand to find out who’s causing this, what departments and where the culprit lies. Goodbye.

The following response may provide some insight.—JAC

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Hi, who is gauging us now? The price of oil is lower than it’s been in weeks, yet the pumps have gone p 16-20 percent in our suburb and neighboring suburbs. Who’s getting this? Is this the county or state? Who? Thanks.

According to guest columnist Scott Reeder (June 5), Illinois is now the fifth highest in the nation in terms of gasoline tax rates. A visit to the Tax Foundation site, where he got that figure, indicates that Illinois gasoline consumers pay (in cents per gallon) 19 cents in excise taxes and 20 cents in other taxes and fees. The Tax Foundation states that the American Petroleum Institute (API) has developed a formula for determining the average tax rate on a gallon of fuel, which includes the excise taxes, environmental fees, storage tank taxes, general sales taxes and other fees or taxes. Illinois, according to the API is one of the states that “fully or partially” applies general sales taxes to gasoline.—JAC

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Wow. It has been a few years now since I have thanked the Village of Lombard for putting my building east of Main Street on St. Charles into the TIF District, raising my taxes from $24,500 up to $27,500 to support the dilapidated buildings on Main Street in Lombard. Thank you for driving my business into bankruptcy, jeopardizing my family and forcing my tenants to leave Lombard due to the high increases I had to put on them to pay for the new TIF District tax in 2005. Our money is sitting in the Village of Lombard savings account, gaining interest and not being used. Thank you again, Lombard, for thinking of the small-businessman and the little people on the street. You’ve done a really fine job of running us out of your town with these Gestapo tactics. Thank you again.