I saw in the Review the final results of the Villa Park Village Board election but nowhere can I find in print the results of the District 45 School Board election. Could the Review print these results for us? Thank you very much.

According to the DuPage County Election Commission, 42 precincts were counted and 24.84 percent of voters turned out at the polls: 5,538 out of 22,294 registered voters. Voters were instructed to vote for four trustees. Following are the election results as they appear on the county’s election results page:

• Jay B. Tovian, 2,346 votes, 14.79 percent
• Diana J. Stout, 2,604 votes, 16.42 percent
• M. David Cain Jr., 2,373 votes, 14.96 percent
• Linda (Snowden) Nystrom, 3,129 votes, 19.73 percent
• Judy Degnan, 3,004 votes, 18.94 percent
• Tracy Vroman, 2,406 votes, 15.17 percent

—JAC

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Hey, Lombard streets department, do you realize you still have Christmas lights on the trees, north side of St. Charles, east of Main Street? It looks beautiful, but kind of weird, too, since it’s not Christmas. Either do all the trees and keep them up summer, winter, spring and fall, or take them down if it’s just for Christmas. That’s all, Lombard.

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Lombard needs to get a functioning village manager, one who responds to the local press and has answers. My neighbors and I attended a meeting about our flooding problems at Terrace View Pond. The village is spending over $1 million and can’t fix our problems. Mr. Hulesberg, the village manager, is nowhere to be found. He is obviously an expense we don’t need. New village board, you need a competent and active new village manager. With all the flooding Lombard has, the village manager is moving out of town. That should tell the trustees something.

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Hi, this is just a quick message, hopefully. Persons always say there are cars that zoom by and the police need to watch out for them. Well, we see the ice cream trucks really zoom by. The kids have to be track stars if they want to keep up with those ice cream trucks. We live on Maple Street and we see the ice cream trucks go by at probably 30 mph. Who’s going to catch up with the ice cream trucks and we wonder if they even want business, so that’s just a comment I thought I’d make. Thank you.

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Don’t keep silent, don’t keep your mouth shut and don’t stop writing to your congressmen and senators. Why are we giving so much money away to those foreign countries, especially Afghanistan; we’re at war with them. Why are we giving them money to live off of? Our people here don’t have jobs, our people here can’t afford housing, our people here can’t afford medical benefits that they need. We can’t afford anything and we’re going broke. Our illustrious government is just giving it away seemingly to whomever they please. The diplomats taking care of this stuff should be fired or cut their pay and let them get out and look for a job like everybody else. This is ridiculous. This has to stop. Goodbye.

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Did you ever notice that Republicans are angrier with President Obama over the Benghazi incident than they are with the people who actually killed the Americans? Why is that? I’ll tell you why. The Republicans are only interested in playing politics. Under Bush 2 embassies were attacked, outraged Republicans—zero. And what’s even more outrageous is that it was the Republicans who cut the security budget for Benghazi. Years ago attacks were tragedies where everyone came together, nowadays Republicans use everything against Obama; if it’s raining blame Obama, No wonder why they keep losing elections.

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I am a proud supporter of my new trustee in District One, Dan Whittington. I think he will do a good job for the village. One of his campaign promises to me was that he would support the hiring a new village manager. I hope he takes the lead on this issue and gets it done sooner rather than later. I am not liking what I see from that office.

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To the person who called about running and biking with dogs, I should have been more specific when I said “keep up the pace.” By that I meant going so fast as to force the poor animal to keep up. I see people jogging all the time with their dogs and I know it’s good exercise for them; it’s just those who run and bike so fast that you can tell the dog is practically being dragged on the leash. Hope that clarifies my comment.

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I am hoping that in the very near future the new village board will start the village moving forward. Address the Westin finance debacle, employee morale, the business community relationship and flooding. A new vision by this board will never go forward with the current administration.

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I am hoping that the crosswalk debacle doesn’t get out of hand in SPEAK OUT. Just obey the laws. And, I hope those in the crosswalk don’t think they are safe just because they have the right of way. Use common sense and don’t expect to just wander through the crosswalk and expect the cars to stop for you. Be respectful of each other. It seems that is working on Main Street, where joggers, runners and bike riders seem to be getting it. However, I still get caught behind vehicles who think they have to stop just because a person is preparing to cross the street. I always keep my distance approaching that Prairie Path crossing in case the car in front of me brakes suddenly. Again, common sense is in order.

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I see the sidewalks are being reworked all around at the Prairie Path and Harvard. I walk the path and sidewalks in that area at least four times a week and there was nothing wrong with the sidewalks or the sloped sections going to the street.  Not sure why money is being spent to change what was perfectly good concrete when many streets really do need work. 

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I would like to know what our village employees are doing with their time. Lombard should stop using “Lombard Pride,” because it is a joke. I cannot be the only person who has noticed how awful it is looking throughout. There are houses with grass 2 feet high, abandoned and lived-in cars parked on front lawns, the same addresses with garage sales almost every weekend (that has gone on for years).  Businesses that no longer have any grass, just weeds and dead bushes, trash all over. One house has a “weed tree”over 6 feet high and a weed patch for a lawn. How does this go on without anything being done? I have been told than unless someone calls to complain, nothing will be done. So I went online to fill out a complaint form and it leads me to a restricted site with no other link. Fix the Web site and clean up our town.

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To the caller comparing public works employee pension to police pensions. Public works is under (IMRF) Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and the police are under their own pension fund, per state law. Police cannot get 80 percent of their pay. After 30 years they can get 75 percent, which is taxed and they pay their own health insurance costs. There is no retiree health insurance for police or fire. The last day pay for police pension benefits is based on salary only, not sick time, overtime, vacation time or comp time. This is all by state of Illinois statute. Illinois State Police can get 80 percent of their salary and free insurance after 26 years. Local police cannot. The police and fire personnel working today did not write these laws or set up the benefits for their personal preference. Laws were passed back in the 1950s to get people to take these jobs that nobody wanted.

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This is in response to the person who called in last week complaining about the local police pensions versus a public works employee pension. Before you pick on local police pensions, perhaps you should get some facts straight. The only police pension that allows for retired law enforcement to collect 80 percent is the state trooper pension. The only retirement program in Illinois law enforcement that provides health insurance benefits is the state trooper program, and I believe District 15 is the only district that still provides that benefit. Your local officers earn a maximum of 75 percent of their base salary, not a percentage of whatever is on their final check, overtime, comp time, sick time etc. They earn the maximum 75 percent only after 30 years of service. Local law enforcement does not receive health insurance for free upon retirement, as you made it sound. The officers contribute to their pension fund every paycheck, just as private sector employees contribute to Social Security. These officers and troopers have earned these pensions. Who do you call when you need assistance, or when there is trouble and you run from danger? You call the police. Think about that the next time you want to complain about police pensions. Thank you.

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Lombard has a fresh outlook and new players on the village board team. Let’s all get behind our team with a positive attitude. If we do that, maybe they can focus on a paid staff who can solve situations instead of making excuses. What situations? Flooding, Westin Hotel debt, empty business and properties, fix streets, to name a few. Don’t fall for the red herring. The what? The other distractions.

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When are we going to stop getting higher school taxes for children who don’t live in our district? Mainly, Willowbrook. Many kids from Willowbrook live outside of our district. Thank you.

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Hello again, Lombard pro-gun person who needs to read the Second Amendment more carefully. I do not have an “absurd” version. I quoted the Second Amendment verbatim. Have you ever read it? There is only one version—the original. Go to the library.

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I’d like to congratulate Lombard and the state of Illinois. You just added nine more to the already broken and shattered pension system. It’s all about making the taxpayers pay.

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I’d like to know if I am the only person in Villa Park who never sees the presence of the police department. Thank you.

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A comment to the person who wants to exchange a hardworking person for a homeless person. I consider a hard worker in America a legal American taxpayer; someone who has to pay for their food, medical, housing, etc. from their wages, not entitlements. Not someone who came here illegally part-time and goes back and forth from our country to theirs. And who do you suggest we send them, a homeless American veteran because we do have them? But wait; you can’t go into Mexico illegally and get entitlements. Only in America. But if it sounds like a good idea to you, try going over the border illegally. Good luck. America is the land of opportunity but only for the immigrants, not the American taxpayers.

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Hi, this is Villa Park calling. Here we go again; Thursday, May 30, 800 block of Michigan Avenue. Flooded. Storm sewers overflowing. Called public works; got a recording. Closed for the holidays. We’d like to know when the Village of Villa Park plans to do something about this. This is a recurring problem. A ticked off taxpayer.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I was just wondering what happened to the online edition of the May 29 Lombardian. It didn’t appear Wednesday, it didn’t appear Thursday; I don’t know if it was because of the holiday. Our paper came on Thursday like it usually does. I like to read it on Wednesday because I read the obits and SPEAK OUT and am a little ahead on Thursday when I read the news and do the puzzles. Just wondering. Maybe you could let us know, Bonnie, or one of the ladies there. Thank you.

Unfortunately, we were experiencing technical difficulties with our Web site last week, which were beyond our control. The online edition was late, but was available by 11 a.m. Thursday, May 30. We are still in the process of rebuilding our Web site. Although the new Web page currently is “under construction,” its content remains the same. Readers can find it at the same “old” Web address www.lombardian.info. As part of our new look, we debuted our first online advertisement last week with a full color ad for the Salvation Army’s day camp. We invite you to check it out.—blm

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Villa Park calling. To the reader who called in about Cullerton putting Villa Park in debt over the Heidelmeier situation, get your facts straight. Your comments were completely uneducated. The proponents of the situation you referred to are still sitting on your dais. Pay attention to your government.

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To the people who think the Second Amendment is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I ask you this: Was it written in today's times, based on today’s weapons, or was it written hundreds of years ago by men who had to use gun powder and a musket and ram it down, pack it in and then shoot? Or was it written by men who had 100-magazine clips? It was written a couple hundred years ago by men who couldn’t even imagine the type of weapons we have today. And, if it’s so great, have the guts to put it on the next presidential election. Should the Second Amendment stay or should it go? Let the American people vote on it. I guarantee you it would go bye-bye. You would never put it on the ballot; you’re too afraid to.

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Hi, Lombard calling. It looks like our president is going for the Trifecta; it’s that time of year. In Benghazi throwing our guys under the bus, our military, CIA, people who protect our country. That’s wonderful. And the cover up? The Clintons have been through that before. I only wish you people who voted for these people could have your own little country and be affected by their rules and leave me and my family alone. Go with all your gun control, high taxes, socialism, abortion and everything else and have your own little country. Gun control works really well, by the way. Take a look at Chicago. Also, great job with the AP. The regime, as it is, did some unconstitutional things; they don't care about the Constitution, he couldn’t care less about this country. And now it’s liberals being targeted. Most of the media is liberal. Maybe they’ll get angry and open their eyes, but I doubt it.