I haven’t read anything in quite some time about Lombard Police Department’s crackdown on hand-held phones and driving. It’s still going on. I sure see a lot of people on the phone driving around town. I’ve got a hands-free and I use it all the time. Very convenient.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I was reading in the Lombardian that people are upset that District 1 Trustee Dan Whittington’s wife is managing a business in town, specifically the wine bar. Somebody commented that they thought it was against the rules or a conflict of interest to operate a business in your district, and they’ve got to be loco. That’s exactly what we want—people who have an interest in town who are active, aggressive go-getters on our board. There have been many examples of people who have been involved in businesses who have been on the village board and village president and so forth, so I don’t know where they get this impression that it’s illegal. They certainly should not vote on anything that has to do with their business, but they’ve already said they’re not going to, so I don’t see where that’s an issue.

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The global warming/climate change alarmists are at it again. 2014 is apparently going to be the warmest year ever. Right. How do the scaremongers come up with their information? They apparently fudge the data to meet their own agenda. Think about it. As Dr. Roy Spencer—the scientist who helped develop NASA’s satellite system that provides the most accurate global temperature readings—has said, you can travel hundreds if not thousands of kilometers without finding a thermometer nearby. So the alarmists pick and choose their own measuring standards and adjust their questionable data to support their left-wing agenda. As Spencer wisely notes, all forms of life on the planet “experience much wider swings in temperature than ‘global warming’ is producing. We are arguing over the significance of hundredths of a degree, which no one can actually feel.”

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Once again I have had to call the Lombard post office and complain that I received someone else’s mail. Not even someone on the block, but another street all together. Every time our regular carrier is off, this happens. All I ever get from the post office is “we’ll talk to the carrier.” I can see that’s working out very well. I stopped going to the Lombard post office when I mailed our company checks from there and they failed to arrive or were delayed far too long to be acceptable. The check to Yorkville took three weeks to arrive and the AT&T check never arrived. If someone performed in this fashion from a privately owned company, they would have been terminated by now. No wonder so many people go to the Villa Park Post Office. 

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This is in response to the caller who claimed that pro-life groups were harassing women entering the abortion clinic on Roosevelt Road. I’m not sure how you define harassment. The pro-life groups I know are a peaceful organization. They have a designated area where many of them gather to pray. They want to be available to any woman who still has doubts. There have been women who have changed their mind about having an abortion after talking to some of the pro-lifers. That’s why we come. You’re right when you say it is a terribly difficult decision. It’s often made out of fear and uncertainty, but abortions are final. We want to be sure these women clearly understand their options. There is no judgment here, only compassion. We know that every woman going into that clinic carries two beating hearts. We want both hearts to keep beating. We care both for the mother and the child. There is no room for hate or harassment on either side of this issue. Thank you.

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Does anybody know, by chance, if there is a Villa Park Police Department? I’m just not too sure because I never see anybody out there doing anything. I never see anybody out there giving tickets, but I sure see lots of people blowing lights, blowing stop signs. Maybe we should just put a video on every stop sign and every stop light because that seems to be the only way a ticket gets given out. Thank you.

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This is Lombard calling. I’ve got to chime in. Recently someone called in and said people who think global warming is just about the immediate temperature and the amount of polar ice need to read—because global warming has nothing to do with that and we shouldn’t just watch Fox News—I have to laugh out loud at that. Al Gore, that’s what he told us global warming’s about. If it’s not about immediate temperatures, let’s look at long-term temperatures; 18 years, haven’t changed. In the past 100 years, the temperature of the Earth has increased by half a degree.

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So much was made of Glenbard East switching conferences to give the football team a chance to compete. Well they ended up 1-6 in the conference. I’d like to congratulate the girls tennis team and the girls cross country team on great seasons and wish the girls volleyball team success in the playoffs. Let’s focus on the good.

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Please, people, can we take global warming off the table in SPEAK OUT? Neither side, like in politics, will ever convince the other, and it’s like a game of infinite ping pong, back and forth with no winner, loser or even an outcome. For instance, if someone argues that something happened 50 percent of the time, the other side can say that the other 50 percent of the time it didn’t happen. They’re both right—as long as their facts are correct, that is. So, let’s give it a rest. And stop blaming Fox News all the time. Have you watched CNN lately? I’ve been totally surprised at some of the conservative line of thought that has come from that channel. These are all getting to be pointless, fruitless and time for a different topic to linger over—except skeets.

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In August, NASA reported that it was the warmest August on record and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agreed that 2014 is most likely going to be the hottest year on record in the world. Just because our area may have been below doesn’t mean that global warming does not exist. We must take into account all of the data across the world.

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Hi, this call is to the person who questioned how many signs Suzy has as opposed to how many Republican signs are out there. When I called in two weeks ago my contention was that Suzy was putting too many signs in an area, creating urban blight. Drive down along Route 53 and you’ll find 20, 25 signs in a row on either side of the street, maybe 50 signs in one block. Go another block, maybe 20, 25. I wonder if she’s going to pick them up the day after the election, like you’re supposed to. It’s going to take a truck.

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Hey DuPage County recycling —get your act together. Saturday’s “event“ in Lombard was a farce with cars backed up several blocks on Main Street, long waits to drop materials off, and hundreds of gallons of gas wasted in idling.  With only minimal attention to layout and management of the staff, it could have run smoothly and much more material recycled.

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This is Lombard calling to the young guy 15 to 17 years old wearing blue jeans, a sweatshirt and a skeleton mask who stole my good stainless steel pot on my front porch, full of Halloween candy which I had out there because a plastic bowl would have blown away, I want to say I hope you and your family enjoy it and after I confronted you by my house, and you lied to me that you didn’t have it, I hope your friends and family are real proud of you. Enjoy it. Bye.

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Hi, Lombard calling. I know Lombard has an ordinance that says you can’t put leaves in your street gutter, but why can’t the villages around Lombard, like Villa Park and Addison, Carol Stream, get together and do the whole city at once. Everybody take a turn with the street sweepers. Thanks. Bye.

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On behalf of my elderly father who lives on the 300 block of South Lombard, my father and my family would like to thank all of his neighbors and the neighbors’ kids and their friends, for helping keep my father’s property looking well. I understand a lot of people went in and did his yard for him; they mowed his lawn all year and now they are going over to rake his entire yard. My family appreciates it and most importantly my father appreciates all of his neighbors helping him keep his property up and looking very well. So thank you and kudos to all those people who help my father out. My family and my father appreciate it. Thank you very, very much.

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This is to anyone who has school-age children in Lombard. If we’re not careful, sometime in November the legislature is going to vote for a new school funding bill and what that will do is strip funding from schools that are in the suburbs and give the money to schools in the cities that are wasting money and are not educating the children. It will cost your children their education if they let it go through. I would pay attention, get on the phone and make sure this doesn’t pass. Thank you.

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I ran on the Prairie Path on Sunday, Nov. 2. The water fountain in Glen Ellyn was on. The water fountain in Villa Park, at the tot lot near Harvard Avenue, was also on. Two water fountains in Lombard—at Main Street and at Westmore-Meyers Road, were off. Why does Lombard shut off its water fountains at the beginning of November, when people still use the path? Can’t they leave them on a little longer? Thank you.

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What happened to common courtesy on the Prairie Path? Bikes come up two or three across and expect you to get off the Prairie Path. Bikers come right up behind you before passing you and don’t announce themselves. Yesterday a biker came up behind me and went to the right of me. If I had stopped or taken a step to the right he would have hit me. Come on, people, have some common courtesy and announce yourself when you’ll be coming up behind somebody that you’ll be passing them on the left.

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I am so proud to live in the wonderful town of Villa Park and adjoining Lombard. Does anybody in these towns take pride in doing anything anymore? No. I go by as people blow all their leaves into the street instead of mulching them or raking them and picking them up themselves. And then they hire these people who do their lawns for them and they blow them into the street also. Boy, I’m proud to be a part of this generation of people in Villa Park and Lombard. Thank you.

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I just heard some science about global warming, also known as climate change, now also known as climate disruption. For most of us, we call it weather. On the day Al Gore was born, there were 130,000 glaciers in the world. Guess how many glaciers there are today? 130,000 glaciers. And, actually there is 60 percent more ice on the polar caps than there was the day he was born. Interesting. Sorry folks, it's called global cooling. The only problem with global cooling is Al Gore can’t make any money off it, can he? Very interesting. Chicken Little, the sky is falling.

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Hello, I live in the Pinebrook subdivision in Lombard. I called SPEAK OUT once before hoping the police would patrol the Pinebrook subdivision once in awhile. I know they can't be everywhere at every minute, but it seems cars are drag racing through the subdivision everywhere. Pulling out of my garage and backing out on the street and they just drag race and nearly hit me. Please, why can't the police patrol this once in awhile? I know they can't be everywhere, but please, have the police patrol this subdivision once in awhile. This is a residential area. This is not the LA freeway.

I would encourage you to report your concerns to the Lombard Police Department, which has acquired a new tool to address a problem such as this. In early September, I wrote an article outlining two new speed signs that not only alert motorists who may be speeding, but also provide data from wherever the signs have been deployed. In the article, Lombard Police Sgt. Joe Grage, who supervises the department’s Traffic Safety Unit, said speeding complaints are probably one of the biggest complaints received by the police department. Because the speed signs are Bluetooth-enabled, Grage related that he can drive up to one of the signs in his squad car and “pull the data from the sign” onto his cell phone. “It gives a very comprehensive report,” the sergeant said in September. This allows the police department to see the number of violations in a neighborhood, the speed and the time of day the violations occurred. It sounds like this could be a perfect fit for your problem. The department already has had a number of requests for the signs, but if you call 630-873-4400, I’m sure the traffic unit would be happy to add your neighborhood to the schedule.—blm

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I’d like to know why a person who lives near Madison Meadow is allowed to blow all his leaves into the park. Thank you. Bye.

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To the person who’s happy the Village of Villa Park moved its recycling facility because it was an eyesore, I think it’s a worse eyesore for people to be dumping TVs and junk in the backs of commercial properties, at the ends of dead-end streets at the north end of town. It was so much more convenient when a reliable, responsible person could take their electronics and knew where to take them where they could be handled correctly and not become an eyesore all over town.

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Hello, this is Lombard calling. I see this upstart, the Lombard Commonwealth, are now officially Jaycees don’t-wannabes. I think it’s a fine time for the village to formally take over the Taste of Lombard. The project shouldn’t just get handed over to the don’t-wannabes when the Jaycees put well over 30 years into promoting and growing this project. Lombard Commonwealth, find your own fundraiser. Bye.

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I’m very upset with the bicyclists on the Prairie Path. I almost got hit twice because they are speeding, do not even give the courtesy to tell you they’re on your left. This is ridiculous. You can’t even enjoy walking down the Prairie Path. Why don’t they go somewhere else to a speedway? Come on, bikers, have some respect for the walkers. Let them know you’re on their left, OK?