This is a question for our village manager of Villa Park. We pay village tax dollars for our fire department, our police department, our ambulances and everybody else, yet I just got a bill from the Villa Park Fire Department for an ambulance and I thought, we paid to have a new ambulance for Villa Park, we pay the salary for the ambulance drive, we pay the gasoline for the ambulance, and it's a service to the Villa Park people. When I called about the bill, it says it’s for a service. Aren't we being taxed for these services, and I think we are? So why does a resident get a bill for these services? It seems like double dipping. I'd like an answer. Especially why a 1.5-mile trip cost $900. Thank you and have a good day.

Your inquiry was forwarded to the Village of Villa Park. Here is the response from Village Manager Rich Keehner Jr.: “User fees for ambulance services are used to recoup costs associated with operating a full-time fire department that is staffed with licensed paramedics and certified firefighters. Real estate taxes do not fully cover the cost of these services so ambulance user fees are assessed to those who use the service. Ambulance fees are carefully reviewed by the Villa Park Board of Trustees before they are placed into effect by ordinance to ensure that residents are not being overcharged for this service. Villa Park’s resident ambulance fees are comparable to our neighboring communities, and in most cases less. State laws mandate that the transporting ambulance must bill the patient; if for some reason all Villa Park ambulances are busy, then the Villa Park resident is transported by an ambulance from a neighboring community and charged a higher, non-resident fee based on the fee structure of the responding mutual aid fire department ambulance.  The reverse is also true, if ambulances in a neighboring community are all busy, and Villa Park transports the patient, then Villa Park will bill the non-resident rate. Fire Chief Ron Rakosnik is always available to speak with residents on any fire related topic and can be contacted via telephone at 630-833-5350.”—JAC

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If leftists didn't have double standards, they would have no standards at all. Before she lost to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton said that not respecting the results of the election was “a direct threat to our democracy.” Since she lost, what have we heard from many of her supporters? She lost because of Russian hackers, James Comey, white supremacists, etc. What a bunch of sore losers.

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I'm looking forward to the global warming/climate change fanatics telling us that 2016 was the warmest year ever. Right. Sure. You bet. I also enjoy when the fanatics associate “climate change” with each and every natural event and condition. What caused that blizzard? Climate change. What brought about subzero temperatures in December? Climate change. Forest fires in Tennessee? Climate change. Floods? Climate change. Droughts? Climate change. Our planet is over 4 billion years old. If you believe these zealots, we only have a few years to reverse the evils of climate change.

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I did comment about the library referendum, which reportedly may be in limbo, winning by only 1,114 votes. There are 29,866 registered voters in Lombard, 21,545 of them voted.  So the library passed by .05 percent, again that is not a mandate. No, I am not running, but I believe 11 other people are. We can vote out all of the incumbents for their apparent greed.

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To the person whose insurance is skyrocketing and was told people with free or almost free insurance are flooding the system with claims that somebody has to pay for, I have looked into the Marketplace and found out that bronze-level free and nearly-free insurance plans are HMOs, and the deductibles are upwards of $6,500 for one person. Out-of-pocket costs add up to more than that. Emergency room visits are as much as $1,000 before any co-insurance kicks in. It would stand to reason the insured person is paying the bill for those claims, unless and until the amount goes above those deductibles. I saw one plan that went up over $500 a month from 2016—bronze—and was told by a broker the government is setting these prices. By the way, in DuPage County, two years ago there were four companies to choose from; now there are two. I agree this all smacks of socialism.

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Does anyone remember the recent stories about the college student who said she had been accosted by three Donald Trump supporters while riding a New York City subway? She claimed that these three men called her a terrorist and tried to pull off her hajib. There were several news stories about this alleged incident, which fit perfectly into the left-wing media's narrative that Trump and his supporters are hateful bigots, and that there was a spike in “hate crimes” after Trump's election. One problem—the story isn't true. The young lady who reported this incident has recanted her story. She said she made it up. She's been charged with filing a false report.

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To the person who called SPEAK OUT last week about the anti-Trump people saying “I hope you all went to Castro's funeral,” I did not vote for Trump; I would not go across the street to attend Castro’s funeral nor will I cross the street ever to look at Donald Trump. He is not my president nor will he ever be my president. He and Castro are of the same mold, except Castro actually murdered people, where Trump is going to take away everything that we have. I hope when the day comes when he and the people he put in office do all these things to us, that you all, the people who voted for him, will realize how you have been duped by a man who is unfit to be president of the United States.

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Ever since the election, the SPEAK OUT column has been filled with Trump lovers complaining about liberals. They have nothing good to say about their guy, so instead they whine about the anti-Trump crowd. That just goes to show you that even winners can be losers. Maybe they're feeling guilty about their vote.  Hey, your guy won. Get over it.

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Hey, Villa Park. You want to raise my taxes, you want money for this and money for that, and you seemingly can't even take care of us when it snows outside.

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Hi, this is Lombard. I put an ad in the Lombardian for three weeks now about my lost cat and though we haven't found him yet, I do want to thank all the people who are responding with sightings of my cat Chacha and told me positive stories about their own cat returning home after being lost. Also, because it's been cold weather since my cat Chacha has been gone, I was wondering if you are reading this, can you please check your sheds, garages and any other nooks and crannies of your home to see if he is there. Our family thanks you so much. Please refer to the lost and found section of the Lombardian for more information. Thank you and God bless.

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Villa Park calling. I have two comments. One is I truly enjoy your paper. You keep everyone abreast of what's going on in our area and I look forward to reading it every Thursday night. The second comment I have, I've read many comments about mail delivery in Lombard and I work in Carol Stream, I come home down St. Charles Road go up Main Street to View and there was a Lombard Post Office truck that was delivering mail on Main Street, blocking traffic as it stopped at each house. That really was uncalled for. I know these people need their mail but the have to plan better. Thank you.

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I was just reading the Villa Park Review. On the front page it's got the library referendum again. We've voted it down two or three times. I think it's kind of getting senseless. Most village libraries have a fundraiser. If they can raise 10 percent of the $10 million they want for a library, then maybe come back in a year or two and say, “Hey, we raised 10 percent of this, can you guys please help us out?” Instead, I don't think they've raised anything. I would like to know if they've raised anything, if they're going to try to raise anything, or just put it on the taxpayers; because if they're just going to put it on the taxpayers again, we're going to vote no. Thank you.

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For the person who called and was complaining about all the bleeding-heart liberals, I want to ask you one question. I want to talk to you after Jan. 20 and on the 21st of January, when they cut my Social Security in half, when they cut my Medicare or yours if you're on it. I want to see you sing a different tune. You say things are going up, the stocks are doing good in the market; you know why they're doing good? I think it's because he's hiring all these millionaires and billionaires to be his advisers. You mark my words; before 2017 is over you're going to see a crash like you never saw before, and it makes me have really sleepless nights when I know he's going to slash and cut everything that keeps me and my family in my house. And another thing, people are not illegal aliens—they come from space. People are immigrants, regardless of their status.

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Hello, Lombard library lovers. For those of you who would vote out the library board, a couple of quick questions for you. Who do you think is going to want to do all that work, and don't blame it on the library board. They did their due diligence. They put it out to the voters; the voters approved it, so be mad at your fellow citizens and voters, not the board. They did the right thing. Now if you want somebody to be mad at, be mad at the village board. They just raised your water rates.

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Hi, Lombard calling. Just wanted to let you know what a bad job you did on our streets. I drove through the city recently making a couple of deliveries. They were better than our side streets when I got home at 5 p.m. I can't understand this. Thanks.

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President Obama played the race card. Hillary Clinton played the gender card. American voters played the Trump card. Merry Christmas.

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Senior citizens, be aware, they're at it again. I just got a phone call, “Grandma, I was in a terrible car accident, and I need you to send me money.” That hasn't been around for a couple of years, but they're at it again, so be alert.

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OK Villa Park—it’s our turn next. You saw the article in last week’s paper. The library board still wants to buy property and add items we have said we do not want to pay for. The original $5.3 million is now over $10 million again. Sandra Hill needs to hold meetings again to explain every dollar she wants to spend of our tax money. And please don't believe the amount your taxes will go up—its more than that because it’s a percentage of every other tax, meaning it goes up every year and the $7.48 quoted in the paper is only the increase—it doesn't include how much you already pay for the library every month.  And even the $7.48, or $90, a year is too much for seniors—and that's just the library increase—not to mention increases in other areas of our tax bill. Even our village president has voiced concern about Villa Park's borrowing capability for this library loan. Our neighbors in Lombard are already regretting the passage of their library bill—they are now finding out how expensive it really will be. Remember; libraries need to change with the times, much less space is needed; more and more is done on phones and personal computers. Get ready to vote no in April.