Every day I pick up the paper, there’s cheating and stealing on a grand scale. Every department, every person, everybody else is out there stealing and cheating. This is against God’s law. And about the marching going on in Washington, D.C., how can all those people take off work to just go to a march? Who is paying the tab? Where are they getting the money to do that? They have to be fed, they have to be housed, they have to be transported. They’re not working, yet they’re complaining about no jobs and no money. Something doesn’t make sense here. No work, no eat. That’s what God says. Goodbye.

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The wiper griper is back. This is the person who calls SPEAK OUT every few months to complain about the most important issue in his or her life—which is people who don’t turn their headlights on when they use their windshield wipers. I wonder if this person is related to the flag nag—the person who calls every few months to complain that we’re not all flying our flags or that we’re displaying them wrong.

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Hi. This is a Lombard resident calling. On Tuesday, Aug. 27, I was traveling southbound on Elizabeth to Madison, turning from Madison and continuing southbound on Elizabeth. As I made my turn around the corner, a Lombard police officer was traveling at an excessive, high rate of speed. I looked each way before I attempted to even go, and he came barreling right down with his lights on and no sirens. If this had been a child crossing that street, he would have had no chance at all. And that poor kid would have been run over. I don’t know what emergency the Lombard Police Department had at that point, but they should be watching out for the citizens of Lombard. They don’t need to be traveling at that high rate of speed through residential districts. That officer should be disciplined for his actions. It was very close to an accident as I pulled over to barely avoid him.

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On the TV news, hot or cold weather is described as dangerous, deadly, etc. School is out early, warnings on TV all day, guess what? I’m 77 and went to school in the heat and the cold, no air conditioning, no warnings, because it’s been hot and cold since time began and you use common sense. There’s something missing in today’s society. I’m still here and I even go out when it’s dangerously hot and cold, and let’s not forget those terrible rainy, dreary days, which I happen to love.

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The Villa Park Police Department desperately needs to assign an officer or two to Jackson Middle School, both in the morning and afternoon. There are reckless and angry drivers everywhere and something bad is inevitable.

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The person from Chicago who called about the stopping of the cars on Grace Street to let the bicycles go by and said the City of Chicago does that all the time, I lived in Chicago for over 45 years. People in Chicago don’t stop for fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and they also double park. You’d rather be in the City of Chicago, I’d rather be in Lombard.

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Hi, this is Villa Park calling. I take pride in Villa Park and where I live in my community. To those people who think it’s OK to leave your garbage cans outside after garbage pick-up day for three days or more, please pick up your garbage cans, along with your drywall and other debris. It makes the whole Village of Villa Park look bad.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I’m a cyclist and on behalf of all the cyclists who use the Great Western Trail and the Prairie Path, I would like to say thank you very, very much to all the motorists who show consideration for us bicyclists and also for the runners. Thank you so much for your consideration, for you being nice and may God bless you all. Have a wonderful day.

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I think before Laura Fitzpatrick is so worried about the fire department and their benefits and everything, maybe she ought to look at the beautiful golden parachute that Mr. Hulseberg has received. No loss in pay, still benefits and apparently making more money than he did before. So, I think you ought to just mind your own business and let the fire department take care of themselves and things would be good.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. Another day in Lombard on Finley Road. The workers are not here again. It seems to be consistent throughout the summer here. They work a couple of days and take a couple of days off or whatever, and we pay a lot of money to these people. All we’re getting is more and more dust and we really don’t appreciate it. Hope they get their act together soon.

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Coptic Christians are being raped and murdered, the Muslim Brotherhood is burning churches, Christian schools, Christian businesses and homes. We must inform our government that their silence is intolerable. We as a church cannot be silent. What is happening is not being reported by the media. You’ll find it on the Blaze, on the e-mail and tapes. Christian churches should not ignore the killing and destroying of Christ’s home. Call your priests, call your rabbis and also your pastors. We must stand up for all these Christians. They’re wiping them out in Egypt. Thank you.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling regarding the Terrace View Pond. Many years ago the Village of Lombard paid some engineer a ton of money for flooding and he came up with the idea of putting in a drain from the Terrace View Pond to the DuPage River, sucked the water out of it and all the fish died. It turned into the wonderful cesspool we have now, and it’s been a cesspool since then. I’m guessing approximately 15 years ago. Before that it was a beautiful pond where you could catch fish all day long, people canoed in it, people used the park. Well, not anymore. Cesspool, mosquito breeding ground, the weeds they decided to grow around it, folks this prairie restoration stuff is a bunch of hooey. We don’t live in a prairie. We’re not a prairie; we’re a town. The weeds collect garbage and didn’t stop the geese from coming in. There used to be a beautiful meadow across the street where my kids played.

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The taxpayers of Lombard need to know how a retired village manager can get full pay after retirement as a consultant. Did Dave Hulseberg write and accept his own contract? If not, the newspaper should publish who did. This is ridiculous in these times, when we are debating about hiring firefighters.

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There’s way too much confusion about who has the right-of-way near the Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail. Enough, already. I’ve been a bike rider on those paths for over 40 years, and I’ve seen everything. I’ve seen nice people in cars slow down and come to a stop on Main Street—where there is no stop sign, hey pay attention, bike people are passing here—they stop to let a biker go past and bam, they probably get nailed from behind. Their car gets pushed right into the bicyclist who was trying to cross the street who thought he or she had the right-of-way. The bottom line, once and for all, do it the way I do it and nobody will get killed. The cars should not stop or slow down. They’re going to kill you if they hit you. Let the cars go. Cars, when you’re coming up to the bike path, don’t slow down or brake, don’t switch lanes, jut pay attention.

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Hi, Lombard resident calling. I live across from the intersection of Crescent and Finley and it would be nice if maybe there was new signage at the two stop signs there. Maybe it should say, “Two-way stop. Oncoming traffic does not stop.” Maybe some flashing red lights around the stop sign so that traffic actually stops at the stop sign. I’ve seen a whole lot of near misses there. Again, it’s the corner of Crescent and Finley by the tracks near Otto’s bar. Just a thought. Thanks, bye.

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Lombard calling. Just was wondering if our trustee, the new one who was elected, could look into some matters on Finley Road and what’s going on. It seems to be taking a long time. I hope he gets his act together.

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Hi, didn’t your mother teach you if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all? This is a SPEAK OUT section, not a complaint department. Villa Park, the fire hydrants are very nice and very amusing. Thank you.

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Leave it to Villa Park. Only Villa Park would have Oktoberfest in September. Wow.

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Lombard—the new bridges on the Great Western Trail are wonderful. They provide a lot of safety. So, to continue to provide safety for adults and children, we are hoping the park district would allot money for a path at Lombard Common park along Edgewood Avenue, so children and families could bike, walk or jog on the new extension of the park path instead of being in the street. The park district would just need to continue the path that’s already there that meanders around the shelter and water park. That new portion of the path would make it safer for all. Thank you.

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I know you’re all over-burdened with pressure but I think I know what the problem is with my health these days. It isn’t chemicals, transportation, this, that and the next thing. It’s over-taxation and it’s about time we marched on the assessor’s office. This is ridiculous. Every time you turn around, more taxes, more taxes, and the politicians never take a cut. They keep getting more. So, it’s about time we start marching on the village hall and the assessor’s office and say, “This has to stop.” It has to start going down, instead of going up. And, any politician who starts telling you otherwise, vote him out of office. Return nobody back in office.

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Lombard calling. I’m just calling to let you know that I went to the last Cruise Nights, Appreciation Night, and I hope you guys bring back ARRA. They were excellent. Thank you.

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This is Lombard calling. Instead of complaining, I would like to compliment somebody; the owners of the house at the southeast corner of Madison and Grace. It is just darling. It just goes to show, with a little bit of attention and ingenuity, the curb appeal that a home can get. Everyone should take notice of it. Thank you for having pride in your property. Bye bye.

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Lombard calling. My question is, where are the anti-war protesters? They always show up when there’s a Republican in the White House, but strangely, when there’s a Democrat in the White House, they disappear. I wonder why that is. Thank you.

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Hi, Lombard here. To the person in last week’s SPEAK OUT who voice his or her concerns about the amount of money that goes to the Lombard EMS, as compared to that of Elmhurst’s lower amount, learn all the facts before you make that comparison. Elmhurst’s fire department and EMS are two different units, and Elmhurst also has a large private ambulance company located in its town. Lombard’s fire department and EMS are one unit, so the numbers you provided are misleading. As for your support of Laura Fitzpatrick, if her solution would be to make cuts to Lombard’s fire department, then she doesn’t get my support. Thanks.

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I want to thank the man who showed up at my door on the night of Aug. 29 with my wallet. I unknowingly left it on the bench at Dairy Queen and his son found it and they drove to my house to return it. I just want to say, I’m so happy that there are still honest people who would find someone’s wallet and return it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Good morning. I am a proud employee of the U.S. Postal Service and I’m calling to remind people to please always use your return address on any mail you send. There are reasons why mail cannot be delivered sometimes. due to incomplete addresses, the party may have moved and left no forwarding address, they may have no mail receptacle or the mail may be damaged. Your return address ensures you will get your first-class mail returned to you. First-class mail without this information goes to our dead mail recovery center in Atlanta, so please, always use a return address. Thank you.

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To all you people who are writing letters and protesting on the streets and shouting and marching that you want higher wages, you want this, you want that, you can demand all you want but there’s only one way to get it. You have to do it like John Houseman says—the old fashioned way. You must earn it. If you don’t earn your respect, you will never get it. Keep that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, you who are demanding more. You must earn it. Goodbye.