I am constantly amazed at the fliers on the Villa Park Recreation board by the Harvard Tot Lot. This was built with plexiglass windows, a vented roof, brick pavement and a couple of benches. It does look great. I stopped there recently to see what new programs I may be interested in trying. But all that’s there were notices of programs that were run from April through July.  Why can’t anyone keep this up to date after we spent a lot of cash to build the thing? It seems the fliers only get changed a couple of times a year when they should be reviewed monthly. Is it that hard to do?

According to the parks and recreation department, “All bulletin boards have been updated. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”—Chris Fox

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If the Village of Lombard has an assistant village manager, why isn’t that person the acting village manager? Unnecessary position anyway. If the village board is boasting about saving us $6.67 on taxes this year, explain how you are paying more than $200,000 in salary and benefits to an ex-employee? Don’t pat yourself on the back for an easy decision; try making the hard decisions and then we can talk.

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Weekly recap on Speak Out calls: We agree to not talk about Fox News in Speak Out; whoever is jealous about not seeing the Stanley Cup, get over it, pay like everyone else did; you can still buy pizzas, they will be shipped from Ohio; leaf pick-up goes to the end of November, another misinformed caller; Dairy Queen is awesome, see you soon; our local schools are not in the top 10 in academics, but I bet we have the best unions and highest paid teachers, apparently money for teachers does equate to better grades; churches ask for money, the government takes it from you, one is optional, one is not; Obamacare is a mess, remember the politicians who voted for it did not read it; and you can get a Temporary Visitor Drivers License, I hope the temporary visitor car insurance also works. Keep the calls coming in to Speak Out, but know the facts and keep it local. If you keep talking about things that aren’t factual, you might get elected to office.

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Thank you, Trustee Laura Fitzpatrick, for your vote to freeze the village tax levy for real estate taxes. We appreciate that you are our trustee and view you as one skilled in the management of the needs and concerns of the people you represent. You have exercised the right reason. For those who see only $6.67 and ignore the vital precedent that has been established, it appears they have not exercised the right reason. We appreciate your vote, the reason for your vote lies not in politics, but logic. True, there are some people who wish to criticize and belittle the issue, but they are wrong and refuse to see truth because they think they have a right to define what is true. 

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Seeing that village water and sewer rates continue to skyrocket year after year, my $6.67 will more than likely be going right back to the village tenfold despite concentrated efforts to conserve.

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After much careful thought and planning, we have decided to use the $6.67 in property tax savings toward the purchase of a ticket to the Glenbard East Boosters Rainbow Run 5K event which will take place on Nov. 24. Details are available at www.eastboosters.com.

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While recently walking my shih tzu, two larger dogs ran across the street and tried to attack my dog. I picked my small dog up and kicked the two dogs away. Their owner then came up to me and told me if I kicked his dogs again, he would kick my backside. I was shocked. Neighbors have told me that they had seen this, that they all have problems with this person and his dogs and the house this person rents. He is 20 years younger than me, so he probably could kick my backside.

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This is Lombard calling. Our governor just signed a bill that makes gay marriage legal, hailed it as a big, great day. This is why our state is in such a mess. We have one of the highest unemployment states in the nation, we are beholden to Mr. Madigan and the unions, we are almost bankrupt because of the union pensions, and this is what Springfield wastes its time with? With all due respect, gay marriage is low-profile. We should be concentrating on the unfunded pensions, we should be concentrating on perhaps the South Side of Chicago being a shooting gallery, or maybe the fact that this state is almost bankrupt.

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If you want to hear both sides of an argument or issue, tune in to Fox News. If you want to hear the same old, same old party lines, don’t tune in to Fox. If you tune in to Fox, you may learn something other than the partisan, political talking points.

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We are tired of being lied to. “If you want to keep your health care, you can keep it. Period. If you want to keep your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period.” Don’t postpone this debacle. Don’t just delay it; get rid of it. Remember, Obamacare will have death panels and that will kill people. Thank you.

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I, too, would like to congratulate the Boston Red Sox. However, CNN is now reporting that President Obama is taking away the trophy because they can keep their World Series title, but they can’t keep their World Series trophy because he didn’t say so.

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Lombard calling. Thank you, Marguerite Micken, for expressing your disappointment in the Oct. 30 “On the Beat” column in food for thought about readers complaining about neighbors expressing their views of national events. That’s why we are Americans. This is government, our country. We have the right to express it. And, thank you, Bonnie MacKay, for allowing us to do it in your paper. It’s a great paper. Thank you very much.

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I had two near-misses today, Monday. One, an SUV overtook me going north on Route 53 this morning, where the street narrows to one lane. The driver was going so fast, just to get ahead of me from the right as the lanes merged, I nearly had to swerve into the oncoming southbound lane. And, this person ended up stopped at a red light to turn left. Didn’t save a bit of time by driving so fast. Later, next to Jewel where there is a four-way stop, another driver going west just kept going, and didn’t even slow down at the stop signs. It was my turn to go and I was facing north to turn left, but something told me to wait. Sure enough, this person just barreled through the stop sign without even glancing from side to side to see me or the car that was facing south, also at the stop sign. Come on, people, pay more attention. Twice in one day? Good thing I’m paying attention.

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I watched the board meeting the other night and Tom Masterson did a good job of laying out what was done wrong with the condo garages downtown. The village really needs to give these garages to the condo owners and make right what they’ve done wrong. Thank you.

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I just want to thank all the veterans who have served our country over the years, including some special family members who served during World War II and are no longer with us. They instilled a sense of pride in me, and I wish they were here to let them know how much their service meant.

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To the person who called in about the people who listen to Fox News might as well not listen to any news because they never receive any, I concur wholeheartedly. For the people who call in to SPEAK OUT, maybe if you listen to Kentucky and some other states where Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act is working, you might see a different picture. First of all, you need to listen to other media besides Fox News, because they never, never tell you what really is going on. They only tell you what you want to know. It’s time that people learn what you were were taught as children, to think for yourself, broaden your horizons and listen to all news stations, not just on that spews forth what I believe to be lies, hatred and bigotry. Goodbye.

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Today I’m glad that I had the opportunity to watch last night’s village board meeting, because in this day and age, when society is totally consumed with the “me” attitude, it is so inspirational to see a man like Tom Masterson fight for others. Tom discovered that something was wrong when the Village of Lombard issued occupancy permits that ended up costing these property owners a place to park their vehicles. Mr. Masterson has nothing personally to gain by bringing these truths to light. He speaks because it is the right thing to do. I only hope the village trustees will also do the right thing and give these condo owners the remedy and justice they deserve. Thank you, bye.

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I can’t quite understand why that person was so indignant that the Blackhawks allowed somebody to have the Stanley Cup to use as a fundraiser. Why shouldn’t they? I think that was a nice thing to do for the community, to share it with the fans.

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This to all my Canadian [geese] friends out there and I think you know who you are. Why do you continually interrupt the traffic flow? You do realize that you have wings, correct? No need to walk across four lanes of traffic, slowing traffic down for a couple of minutes at a time. You have wings, my little buddies. Use them. Thank you.