Hello School District 87, Glenbard East. Why did you allow this alcohol festival to take place? This is contrary to school board etiquette and policy regarding tobacco, alcohol and other inappropriate activities. Please, school board, do you have a response?

Peg Mannion, Glenbard Township High School District 87 spokesperson, said on behalf of the board of education that “Lombard Ale Fest was held in downtown Lombard and benefited several nonprofit organizations in Lombard. There was appropriate oversight of all aspects of the event, which was strictly for those age 21 and older.”—JAC

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Lombard calling. I’m driving through Addison in the section of Route 53 between Army Trail and Lake Street. They’re almost complete with their four-lane roadway here and it is beautiful; four lanes wide, turning lanes, right-turn lanes, double left-turn lanes. It must be an 8-foot pedestrian sidewalk along one side. Speed limit probably 40; the signs aren’t up yet. No back-up at all. When is Lombard going to get with it? We need to get Route 53 widened so we can start making left turns and not have to drive through downtown Lombard anytime we come home from work. Thank you.

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Would you like to have hundreds of drunks walking past your house late at night or pounding music until 11 o’clock on a work night, or trash all over your lawn? Or increased crime in your neighborhood? That’s what those of us who live around Madison Meadow have to endure every year during the Taste of Lombard. No one would want the Taste in their own neighborhood, so why do we have to have it in our neighborhood? It’s a commercial venture and it needs to be zoned somewhere commercial. Support those of us who live near the park and boycott the Taste.

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In looking at my mail, I received something from Lombard Families First; it said don’t gamble away our future. How ridiculous. If you go to Villa Park, or numerous other communities such as Addison, you can sit down at these video gambling machines all day long. You cannot legislate morality. By the way, for you people, maybe, just maybe, if you don’t want people to play these machines, we should dig a big moat and fill it up with alligators, crocodiles and piranhas so the people of Lombard can’t go all the way to the distant community of Villa Park and put their money in the machines. You guys must have nothing else to do with your time. Goodbye.

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We just read the Villa Park Review SPEAK OUT column and heard about the shooting on our side of town, the north side of town. Let me tell you something. Villa Park, for the last several years, has gone downhill drastically, in my opinion. You ask the police, they say there’s no gang problem. We watched them sealcoat the north side of town; they didn’t even bring a street sweeper out. I’ve watched the foreclosure house next door to me have the water department come and shut the water off five times since November, when it was shut off the first time. You call the police, it takes them too long to get out here. You see all this riff raff walking down the street. I’m glad I have two big pit bulls and a conceal and carry card. Villa Park, congratulations, you’ve hit rock bottom. The only place you can go is up.

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This is to the person a couple of weeks ago who called about having a concealed carry permit and boasting that people in town might see him or her with a gun. I just wanted to point out, as a concealed carry holder myself, he or she has not abided by the laws of concealed carry and maybe should take the course again. No one should be able to tell that you have a gun on you and it’s made for that reason of not scaring the populace. So, for this person to boast about that, that is wrong and this individual should reevaluate him- or herself carrying a gun because already this person is not following the laws regarding that. And, to the person who replied saying that if he or she ever sees anybody carrying a gun, that individual is going to cross the street because he or she would feel unsafe, I just want to point out that a normal taxpaying, law-abiding citizen who has a concealed carry permit will be of no threat to them at all. The person who’s going to harm you is not going to go through the process of getting a concealed carry permit. Just wanted to clarify that. Thank you.

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This is Villa Park calling. To the person who is complaining about weeds and grass in Villa Park, get a life. And when is the last time you read a book? There’s more to life than grass and weeds and I find Villa Park residents working very, very hard to maintain their homes. Thank you.

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Hello, this is Lombard calling. It’s a beautiful Father’s Day, we’re outside enjoying our patio of our townhouse; our neighbor starts the fire pit and there is much smoke. There are no yards between the townhouses. The smoke is coming directly at us, so we retreat indoors, shut the windows and turn on the air conditioning. Yes, I believe fire pits should be banned, and why is this not considered disturbing the peace, when I am chased from my yard into my house? Thank you for listening.

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This is a message to the gentleman or lady who is so happy to be able to conceal and carry. I hope I’m not in the restaurant when someone comes up to you or your spouse and maybe looks at you wrong or says something wrong and you feel threatened and pull out your gun and shoot that person. Apparently, concealed carry is just making you feel stronger and making you feel you have the right to shoot before you speak. I think it’s pretty sad that in order to feel safe, or think you feel safe, you need to have a gun on your person.

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Hi. This is Lombard calling. I was just in downtown Lombard on Park Avenue and had lunch at Shannon’s, which is very good, and also took a walk down the street and went in a shop there. The young couple has only been in there a year and they remodeled everything, and all of a sudden the rent goes up in one year. I’m wondering why people in Lombard do not stay in Lombard because of the seemingly enormous rent people are paying. Something is very wrong; something has to be done and our trustees need to get behind these people and support them somehow. It would be very nice. I’m very, very disappointed in seeing this store go because it has a lot of cute things in it. Thank you. That’s all I wanted to say. I’m disappointed, as usual, in Lombard.

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Leave it to Lombard. Westbound Madison is under construction from Westmore to Grace Street and you can’t drive westbound; eastbound only. So, the alternate route is Washington, and guess what they do on Washington on June 17, while the other street is torn up? They pour oil on it and chips so you get to drive on the oily crud and get it all over your car. Now I have to go home and wipe the tar off my car. Who plans this stuff?

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Hi, it’s the travel agent again. I guess that’s why I’m the travel agent and you’re not, because in SPEAK OUT, I had said, hence the extreme weather around the world. I guess they don’t read the fine print. That’s why I’m a travel agent. Bye bye.

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Hello, Sunday morning in Lombard we stopped to get a cup of coffee and were in the drive-through lane and the gentleman in front of us paid for us. So, when we pulled up to pay for ours we paid it forward. We left there feeling very good on Father's Day. That's Lombard for you. Bye bye.

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Two trustees and the village president changed their vote on video gambling when the public voiced a loud and opposing opinion. Because of that we continue to have peace and harmony in our village hall and the community. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if trustees Breen and Fitzpatrick had behaved the same way 18 months ago when there was overwhelming public outcry to let the senior trustee at the time, Greg Gron, finish the term of the late Bill Mueller? Unfortunately they played politics and gave our village a media black eye. It’s good to see that at least five members of this board truly practice Lombard First on the dais. Congrats to all of them.

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A solution to the campfire controversy from north Lombard—I’m not sure what kind of childhood one would need in order to want to ban campfires, but I do believe I have a solution to the dilemma. Nothing smells better than slow-roasted skeets over an open campfire. Now skeets can be a bit on the tough side if prepared improperly, but a tasty 30-day marinade and a long slow roasting really transforms them into a tender mouthwatering gourmet treat. Of course, nothing goes better with slow-roasted skeets than fire-baked redskin potatoes. Simply rub them down with oil and your favorite seasonings and several layers of heavy aluminum foil to protect their rather thin skin. The whole neighborhood will be enveloped in a delightful smell and at the same time skeets will not have to die in vain, only to be sent to the landfill.

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I live in Lombard and always enjoy attending Villa Park’s Summerfest with my grandchildren. Unfortunately this year since there was a bad storm on Saturday evening and we could not attend, it stopped us from enjoying the children’s activities including the rides. Why are the children’s activities not on Friday night too? It would give families another option to attend. The children do not appreciate the car show and it is not children friendly since children cannot touch or get near the cars plus there are car shows everywhere every weekend if you want to see them. Cruise Nights on every Saturday night in Lombard is just a few miles away. On Saturday evening when it rained all the families left and others did not attend because of the weather, taking  all the money they would have spent at the fest. It was disappointing for the vendors and the festival to lose all the revenue. Next year, I hope the organizers will consider offering the children’s activities during the entire Summerfest.

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I’m glad the village trustees decided not to lift the ban on video gambling. You start having gambling in your establishments, all you’re doing is, crime’s going to go up. You’re attracting gamblers and you don’t want that. For one thing, this is Lombard; this is not Las Vegas. Plain and simple, you want to gamble? Go to Las Vegas or go elsewhere. Just because they’re doing this in Woodridge and Barrington and some of the other villages, doesn’t mean you do it here, because that is there and this is Lombard. Lombard is not any other village. You made the right move not allowing the video gaming and it better not ever happen because the ones who vote you in will vote you out.

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Watching the Lombard village board meeting and President Giagnorio making his presentation on video gambling with his ideas, was very impressive. It would be great if all politicians spoke and conveyed their real feelings and ideas on topics and situations. I think Lombard made a good decision electing him as village president. It looks like Lombard is in for a good future. I hope everyone gets a positive attitude and makes Lombard the best. Bye bye.

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Lombard kudos. Between our new village manager, village president and the trustees, we can see a winning team. TEAM. Together everyone accomplishes more. Whatever your opinions are about video gambling, they listened to the people and voted accordingly. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if you disagree. Bill Ware had his and you have to give him credit for standing by his convictions. The whole process brought out full transparency. Lombard politics is on a new road. The destination looks good. Thank you, President Giagnorio. You keep everyone’s feet on the ground and common sense in the mix. Thank you.

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Hi. There’s an unlucky person out there who lost his tool bag and his tray with bolts and nuts in there. It must have fallen out of his truck. I found it on Ardmore Avenue. If you can described the items I’ll give them back to you.

Because we do not publish personal phone numbers, we suggest that any person who found an item contact the local police department non-emergency number to report it.—JAC

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Lombard is really going all out with all street repairs lately. Keep up the good work, public works. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.

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This is Lombard responding to the comment about the humanitarian situation with the children crossing the borders of Texas and Arizona. This comment was made without knowing the facts. The children are coming from  Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Mexico ages 11-17 years old. They are minors without parents—what would you want us to do with them, send them back? These children are not citizens but none of the children are Puerto Ricans because Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens since the Jones–Shafroth Act of 1917 granting US citizenship to the people of Puerto Rico. So before you go “screaming” anything else, please get your facts straight.

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Under Obama more babies were killed by abortion than jobs were created; on the Drudge Report by Gary Bauer.

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I see the village is putting in handicap ramps on the end of the sidewalks along Madison east of Finley. They’re taking out the existing curb and putting a ramp in with some plastic non-skid device. I find it ironic they do that at all the corners and then come the end of November, through this year, they plowed snow right on top of it, so not only cannot handicapped people use them, nobody can use them. You’ve got to walk in the street. You’ve got to figure out a better technique for snow plowing, guys or plow it there and come back and get it like they do in Villa Park and along St. Charles Road.

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Thanks to the driver who slowed down the other day westbound on Roosevelt Road just east of McDonald’s. I was right behind this person and noticed as he or she slowed down that it was to let a mother duck and about four young ducklings make it safely over the curb and onto the grass. Very observant.