OMG, much like winter when there’s a chance of snow every single day, there’s weather every day during the spring, summer and fall. OMG, it’s going to rain every single day, according to the weather forecasters. God forbid there would be a rain-free day.

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I’m calling to let the north side residents of Villa Park know that the strong asphalt smell in the air is not construction. It is from a plant in Elmhurst. They have been there for many years but we haven’t noticed them until this year, and evidently this year their pollution control began to dysfunction. There have been numerous complaints to the EPA from Elmhurst but only a few from Villa Park because everyone assumed the odor was from summer construction. This toxic stew the company is spewing into the air is not only unpleasant but reportedly makes some of your neighbors ill. I urge you to contact the Illinois EPA complaint line, 888-372-1996, if you care about clean air and our right to breathe in Villa Park. Thank you.

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A little-known fact that you don’t know and you’re not being told and I don’t know why; regarding illegal immigration, every illegal immigrant who’s in this country costs us tens of thousands a year. That’s a substantial amount of money, and our government is not telling you about this and they don’t want you to know about it. You, hardworking American citizens, that’s why your taxes are so high, because our government is so generous with the whole world, but they’re not generous with us who are citizens and veterans in this country who work hard for our money, yet they can give it away like a printing machine. Give it a second thought if you want to support illegal immigration because you and everybody else have to pay a substantial amount of taxes. I’ve got nothing against immigrants but illegals must pay their way.

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I just heard on the news that our illustrious governor Rauner is threatening to close the state museums because it will save all this money. Did he ever stop to think the state capital, where he lives, has the Lincoln Museum and the Lincoln Library, and after they opened that town flourished, tourism went up tenfold, but no, no, no. Let’s close the museums that help a lot of these states with their income and people work. But no, we need to close them. He’s so worried about taxes. Why doesn’t he raise taxes on the upper 1 percent of the wealthy in Illinois, their real estate taxes? Maybe if he did like a few other states have done and legalize marijuana, Illinois could get up out of the hole that it’s in. No, no, no. Let’s cut taxes from the affirmed, the poor, the middle class who really need the money to work.

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When someone looks through the prism of Democrat or Republican, they get a false picture. Saying, as one contributor to SPEAK OUT did, that all Republicans steal from the needy and give to the rich is totally preposterous. Many of us still play that Democrat-Republican game. The reason that programs are being cut is the overspending of Democrats and Republicans in Springfield. Worthwhile programs will be cut because of the foolishness and spending of our representatives in Springfield over the previous years. This is somewhat our failure as we allow these politicians, our representatives, to stay in office.

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Hi. This is to the person who wants to get rid of chipmunks. My neighbors and I have chipmunks as well and we love the chipmunks. They’re so cute; we love feeding them. I don’t see where they’re a major problem are they? If they are, if they’re eating your stuff, you could always try feeding them sunflower seeds; or if they’re not, if they’re making holes all over your yard, I don’t know. They make a few. Contact a store for a live trap. Please don’t kill them. They’re so cute. You could trap them and take them to the woods or something. Thank you.

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The Lombard Post Office has become a fiasco. They used to have a sign up that post office box mail would be available by 9 and they they stuck a sticky note over it that said it would be available by 10 o’clock. Rather than say it would be available anytime they please, they just took the sign down. Sometimes you go in there at 11, there’s no mail. Happened by at around 3, so stopped again and there’s mail. I guess you get your post office box mail—that you pay extra to get—one day late. It makes no sense to me.

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Three cheers for Rep. Peter Breen. He writes wonderful articles that help ordinary people understand what’s going on in our government. Thank you, Peter Breen.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling and a 4-H mom. I’d like to invite all of DuPage County to come out and support your DuPage County Fair. It’s July 22-26. They have some exciting events coming along. We’re going to have a rodeo on July 25 and demolition derby on July 26. Please support your fair. We’d like to keep this going for the next 50 years. Thank you so much. Bye bye.

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I know I’m going to get flack from people because I do this every year. I have zero sympathy for people who live near lakes, streams, rivers or oceans that are low-lying that tend to flood when there’s a lot of rain. So, stop showing all the coverage to all these people who are in “distress” because they knew what they were getting into when they moved in. Thank you.

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I got up this morning and see that the president gave our country away to the Iranians. Watch out, we’re going to get the bomb dropped on us because of him. He’s destroyed America every way he could and he’s still working at it. Thank you, goodbye.

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We have a governor in the state of Illinois who won’t help or will not sign papers that would help people who need it; handicapped and that, but he had no problem making it legal to kill bobcats in the state of Illinois; on some trumped-up farce that they’re overrunning and everything else. Not like the animals don’t have enough trouble living in the world, now you have a governor who’s made it legal to kill them.

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I see that the pond by Park View is looking a little better—that is, when you can see it. On the south end near Greenfield, you can’t get a very good look because of all the prairie growth. It really obstructs the view of what could be a pretty pond. Plus, I’m told by people who used to fish there that because of the prairie plants growing on the banks, there is no good place to stand and cast off anymore. It’s like whack-a-mole. One thing getting better and another getting worse.

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Hi, This is Lombard. Just wanted to mention about how I miss the Taste of Lombard this year. I was kind of bummed. Usually we have family and friends over and we all head out to the Taste. The spirit just wasn’t in the air this year, but I hope they will have it next year. Thank you, have a good day.

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I’d like to congratulate the Village of Lombard and the village contractor who did the overlay on St. Charles Road between Grace and Westmore. It seems like it’s only been about maybe a week or 10 days they’ve been working on it; we’ve had some rain; unbelievably fast. They got it ready for the top coat and there was only really one day, which was a Wednesday when they did most of the paving, that traffic was inconvenienced. I travel this street daily, several times and had no noticeable inconvenience except for about 10 minutes that one day. Good job, Lombard. Good job, contractor.

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Villa Park calling, north side of town. Just read the paper yesterday, the Villa Park Review, what we’ve been talking about the last several years—the problem with the gangs, the village says there’s no problem with the trains for the last several years. Let’s talk about flooding. How about let’s talk about the power outages. I’ve lived here since 1990. In the past five years I think Villa Park has been going downhill fast. I think it’s about time to clean house from the village president all the way down to a janitor and start fresh. Look in the paper, the Villa Park Review printed it. Look in the police blotter, look in SPEAK OUT and you know what I mean. Come on guys, let’s get it together.

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Lombard calling. In the study of economics, wealth is a term of art. The state’s wealth is determined not by the state’s own balance sheet but rather by the wealth of its citizens per capita. Illinois is a very wealthy state and has been for several decades. This most likely is the case because of the tax advantage we give to the wealthy and to the businesses that they run. What we now as a state have to decide is whether we want to continue giving advantages to the wealthy when there are so many cuts being made in the budget. Call your representatives in Springfield and let them know your thoughts. Thank you.

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I was just reading in the paper about the Lombard Pride Committee meeting about the Taste of Lombard, and I concur wholeheartedly that it does not need to be five days but it should not be one day either. Many people are off of work on the Fourth of July so if you continue with it you could still have it, like two days before the Fourth and have it end on the Fourth. The other thing would be if you have the bands only for two days, there’s no reasons you have to have those mega-microphones that those people living by North Avenue can hear. It can be toned down. I think having a one-day event would be a total loss and having the fireworks separately. People enjoyed going out there and eating and having the carnival, but it certainly doesn’t need to be five days, that’s way, way, way too long. People over there have suffered enough. Two days and the Fourth of July would be very nice.

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Sorry to interrupt the constant Rauner bashing in SPEAK OUT, but I just read a report that all of the property taxes paid by the households of Chicago go exclusively to pensions of public union employees. Think about that. Every dollar the city receives in property taxes goes to fund public employees’ pensions. The city’s operating expenses are paid by additional taxes on gasoline, cigarettes, cable TV bills and sales tax revenue. And did you notice the city of Chicago just voted to approve a 1-percent sales tax hike, sending the city’s total sales tax rate to 10.25 percent? It seems like property taxes and sales taxes keep rising, but no financial problems are ever solved because of the steady increases in pension obligations of cities, counties and states. I’d like to add that Chicago is run by Democrats who seem to be puppets of public employee unions.

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With regard to the SPEAK OUT caller from last week who says a prayer every day for this country and its people; I couldn’t agree more. This country is going to hell in a hand basket and I also say a prayer every day that the Republican Fascists do not get control of the White House next fall. We the people are being made to bear the burden of a few select rich folks who seek to control the general population and tell us what to do with complete disregard for our pursuit of happiness and well being.  Mark my words; any of the Republican candidates currently running for the office of the president will drive us into a war in the Middle East just as they take money out of our paychecks to fuel their foolhardy egotistical empire expansions. 

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This is in response to the SPEAK OUT piece published July 15 that began with “Illegals are gaming the system.” Even though this is clearly an opinion piece that was printed in the SPEAK OUT section of the paper, it is factually incorrect and includes no sources for the information. Undocumented residents convicted of committing a crime, both violent and nonviolent, are deported to their home country. Undocumented residents pay federal, state and local taxes; in 2010 they paid $10.6 billion to federal and state taxes according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), undocumented residents have paid $100 billion into Social Security over the past decade, and they will never be able to collect this money. While I appreciate your service of letting the residents of Lombard share their opinion about local and national topics, to print one person’s rant about how awful they perceive the United States to be is a disservice to Lombard and not what I had planned to read when I subscribed to this newspaper.