Hello, Lombard calling. Just reading my Lombardian and I see Tammy Duckworth has a section now. I’d like to ask her a question: Why was she one of the 15 Democrats who walked out on the government hearings on Benghazi when the families of the victims were there? Shame on her; no patriotism there, and she ran on her experience being in the service? Explain yourself, please, ma’am. Bye.

After sending several e-mails to Rep. Duckworth’s office requesting a comment, SPEAK OUT got the following reply from her press secretary: “The congresswoman will not be responding to the [above] inquiry.”—JAC

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For the people who may not understand about the Prairie Path and the right-of-way, I have read this in SPEAK OUT and the Lombardian numerous times and I understand what you are saying, that there are stop signs. But, let us go to the dictionary for those who do not understand what a pedestrian is. A pedestrian is a person who goes or travels on foot; a walker, going or performing on foot; pertaining to walking. And that is from the Merriam Webster Dictionary. They are not bicyclists. Bicyclists are not pedestrians. I hope everybody understands that. Bye, bye.

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This is Lombard calling. I just finished reading the article on police and fire pensions in the Oct. 9 paper and I noticed one glaring omission you might want to inform the readers of. That is that most firemen and policemen do not receive any Social Security. No Social Security is taken out of their checks, so if you take away their pensions they will have nothing when it comes time to retire. No Social Security whatsoever. Thank you, bye.

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In last week’s “Straight Forward” column, Trustee Whittington is praised for getting answers to construction projects in his neighborhood. The next paragraph, the publisher is asking why the village won’t answer questions about Park West Condos and their garages. Park West Condos is in Whittington’s district; why doesn’t he add that to the agenda at his Oct. 29 meeting? If he is the answer man, let’s get him some more questions. And why is the meeting being held two weeks before the project is scheduled to be finished? Probably because of all the complaints on why the project dragged on so long. Good idea, but would have been better before the complaints started; now it is just politics.

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Hello. I see District 2 Forest Commissioner Joe Cantore is going to install a dog memorial program at the Mayslake off-leash dog facility. This is a wonderful thing. Thank you, Mr. Cantore. All of our pets are very important to us. This is great. Good job.

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Our government was shut down for 16 days and federal employees were off work. Now they’re going back to work and they’re going to get paid. Are they going to get another vacation? Our government can really waste money. Something is wrong with this system. They just had 16 days off and they’re going to get paid. Are they going to get another vacation and get paid again, and why are we sending all this money to Mexico to help them with their police department? Are we feeding the world? I think we should have the world start feeding us and get rid of our debt. We should be taxing every country we gave money to; give it back so we can get out of our debt problem. Goodbye.

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It appears the Obama-ites are losing ground. Today, a Gallup poll, Oct. 17, 2013, President Obama’s approval rating has sunk to 42 percent. It appears all the Obama-ites are fleeing the president. That is all.

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I called about the person who is busy watching everyone talk on their cell phones in school zones and responded that this person should keep his or her eyes on the road. You called back to say I am one of those people not paying attention when I almost cut you off because I am not watching the road. You seemed to dodge my comment by saying that, instead of addressing why you are not minding your own business and watching the road yourself, instead of worrying about what other people are doing in their car. Also, you misunderstood what I said. Eyes on the road does mean also looking in your rear-view and side mirrors for traffic—it’s all part of being an alert driver. My point, again, was that if you are focusing on what others are doing inside their own vehicle, you can’t be paying attention to your own driving. Sounds like a distraction to me, which is what you were griping about in the first place.

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What is happening to this country? Washington is deaf to the people in this country. Our president seems to be deaf, dumb and blind. The president is so determined to see Obamacare in effect and his name on the program so he will be associated with this for years and years to come. If the program is so good, why aren’t the president, Congress and the Senate enrolling in this program? The program is good for those who have pre-existing conditions, I’m sure. The issue of Obamacare should have been put on the ballot for people to vote on. During this shutdown, I’m sure we could have gotten veterans groups to man the national monuments and our state parks. Obama and his cronies are destroying this country. He has been doing on-the-job training. He was from Illinois. How many of you heard from him prior to the election?

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In the Wednesday, Oct. 9, edition of the Lombardian, Page 8, you took a look at both the police and fire pension statewide. The Lombard firefighters’ pension is funded at a rate of 68.87 percent and the average annuity they retire is $57,6687. The police are funded at 54 percent and the average retiree is $53,900. I think that in order to solve the pension problem you should just lower the rate of the pension to the rate of the funding. I mean, after all, my Social Security, my wife’s Social Security, together, nowhere equals $53,000. That’s just an unrealistic figure in my mind. I’d like to know what the other people think. Thank you very much.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I’m so sorry Mr. Z’s closed. The store will be missed. The best meat in town. We love you. How about opening a Caputo’s? Lombard could use the revenue. And, whoever is letting their dog poop on my sidewalk, please pick it up. Thank you.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I just read in the Oct. 16 Lombardian that someone touted Trustee Peter Breen, that he would be a great state representative. You know what? He has no experience, and Sandra Pihos has vast experience, is always there to help the residents, shows up all the time for whatever; her record speaks for itself. Please reconsider. Thank you.

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This is my idea for the golf course that has been in limbo, it seems, for an eternity. Why don’t you make it a senior facility where you have to be 50 or over, like a Del Webb, and being 50 and over, make it with no children, thus having no school taxes on the property taxes? I would think the village would be a hero with the senior citizens because the school taxes on our property taxes are overbearing to most senior citizens. Thank you.

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Peter Roskam states in his column that the Keystone Pipeline has undergone extensive environmental impact studies and is safe. There have been many reports to the contrary that can be found on the Internet. Instead of investing in finding clean energy to replace our dependence on oil, Mr. Roskam seems to prefer that we use the dirtiest oil and transport it across the country to Texas for big oil to process.

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This is to the person complaining about the barking dogs in their neighborhood. I wish I had your problem. My neighbor barks at her dog.

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Lombard calling. I would just reiterate to the people that SPEAK OUT should really just be for Lombard and Villa Park issues; not the world, not Obama; not the government; not all the stuff that’s going on. Simply issues within our communities because our towns are what should be talked about. Lombard and Villa Park only should be talked about in SPEAK OUT. Thank you.

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Thanks to Trustee Breen for saving us $6.67. Can’t wait to see that in your next campaign brochure for state representative.  You are supposed to be doing what is best for the residents, not your campaign. With the pension issue looming and the Westin debacle ruining our credit rating, probably not a smart move other than to try and help your election bid. I would rather pay that amount now than what it is going to cost us later.

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After watching last Thursday’s board meeting, I can honestly say that Peter Breen will not get my vote for higher office. I wish I could vote for Reid Foltyniewicz because he at least thinks Mr. Masterson may be onto something and is willing to hear him out. Peter Breen, on the other hand, sounded just like the current crop of politicians in Washington. Mr. Breen, instead of pointing out your 45-minute conversation and the 167 e-mails between Mr. Masterson and the village staff, why not just answer his 11 questions? Did you count each and every e-mail? Why didn’t you just spend the time getting answers for his 11 questions? You certainly are not demonstrating transparency in government by your actions or words. Thank you.

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Can someone explain the real problem with Park West Condos on St. Charles Road? How come none of the residents are complaining but some guy who lives in Winfield keeps going to the board meetings?   Maybe the trustee in that district can get some answers for us. He did campaign saying he was his own man and not hooked to anyone else. Show us.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. An article in the Daily Herald said a Walmart neighborhood market is coming to Des Plaines and Rolling Meadows. This is Walmart’s version of a smaller store that carries groceries only. This store would be perfect in the Mr. Z location and would be a boost to downtown Lombard. Thank you.

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Fried, scrambled, over easy, on a salad, in a cake, in a meatloaf—all better ways to use an egg than on this mom's car. Forced to park on the street so the village can repair the road, I ask you little vandals; bake a cake. Go for a run. Help your mom with laundry. Find something cooler to do.

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Hi. I just finished watching the Oct. 16 village board meeting and I'll be checking in again to see if Tom Masterson finally gets answers to his questions. One board member stated that 167 e-mails have been exchanged. I guess he was trying to support that they answered the questions, but just because e-mails have been exchanged doesn't mean anything has been answered. So, I'll be looking forward to that. Thank you.

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So, here is the picture. Obama shuts down the national mall but gives a special permit for a rally for illegals and union people at the same mall, where they barred World War II vets from their memorial. Is this a free country or not?

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I read where the Lombard Park District financed $500,000 for the new turf at Glenbard East High School. I’m a resident of Lombard and pay Lombard park taxes, but I do not live within District 87 boundaries. Wouldn’t that money have been better spent on improving park properties like Terrace View Pond or moving all the dead trees from Madison Meadow? That way it would benefit all the resident of the Lombard Park District instead of just a few.

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For the person who wanted an alternative to Comcast saying U-Verse is coming, I have the greatest alternative of all. I went to Radio Shack and bought an antenna. I get as many channels as I can possibly watch and every month I say, “Thank you, Mr. Antenna; I’m not spending $130 for some TV that I can get for free.” After all, 90 percent of our watching is 2, 5, 7 and 9, and 11 has wonderful shows. Think about it. Buy an antenna.

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Lombard calling. I’m going to throw in my two cents on the Terrace View Pond, to the person who thinks Terrace View Pond apparently looks pretty good right now and that person said other people didn’t have their information straight before they called in. Let’s correct this person. Terrace View Pond looks the way it does now and it has for years. It was years ago that they drained several feet of water out of it. They did no work; they didn’t need scuba gear to drain the water. They simply had an engineer who told them he thought it should be returned to its original levels when it was built some 40 or 50 years ago. Period. No other work was done. About 10 or 15 years ago they took that pond filled with fish and turned it into a cesspool; what it looks like today.

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Hi, I’m not really surprised, but just wanted to say so much for freedom of speech. I’ve called into SPEAK OUT probably 10 times during the course of living in Lombard, a couple of times to criticize one of your employees. Second of all, I criticized Mr. Z’s for closing and believe it or not, that didn’t get published either, so, I’d better never hear the Lombardian talk about freedom of speech.