I was just wondering what’s happening with Lombard’s fleet of vehicles. I read awhile ago there were going to be a couple of SUVs purchased for the police department, but now it looks like everybody and their brother who is not a patrolman is driving an SUV and now I even see some departments driving SUVs. It seems kind of inefficient for a one-man vehicle. I don’t know how much gas mileage they get but it seems like overkill. Thank you. Happy New Year.

The Village of Lombard provided the following: “The Lombard Police Department has gradually transitioned its fleet to one that has more SUV-type vehicles. The major factor driving this transition was the inability to respond to emergency situations during significant snow events. The police department wants to be able to reach residents in need or emergency situations in a quick manner and the SUVs are simply easier to navigate in bad weather. Additionally, police officers are carrying much more equipment today such as computers, AEDs, ballistic shields and equipment cases. Since these vehicles are now routinely manufactured (in the US) for law enforcement, the price differential between them and a standard car is minimal, as is the gas mileage which has proven to be very efficient. The Lombard Police Department is available to gladly answer your questions. Please call the non-emergency police number at 630-873-4400 for more information.”—blm

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Hi. I’ve lived in Lombard for over 50 years at the same address and the mail service, if you want to call it service, has been getting progressively worse in the last year. I either get misdirected mail or no mail. They have new carriers on and they work late at night so they have to use flashlights to see the address and the mail. Something has to be done. I tried to call them; the call didn’t go through. I called another local post office to get a number of the national post office to complain, which I did. We do need help here. We need it badly. This post office is not doing its job. Thank you.

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Lombard calling from the 500 block of South Highland. We used to get our mail before the new postmaster came on board between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. Ever since she started here—which I thought she was supposed to fix our problems—we don’t get our mail at this end until 8 to 9 o’clock at night. I thought she was supposed to fix the post office, not make it worse. Thank you.

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It wasn’t that long ago that gas cost more than $4 a gallon. Do you remember all the complaints at that time, including some in SPEAK OUT? The evil, greedy monopolistic oil companies were to blame, we were told. You may recall that some oil executives were summoned by Congress to explain the high prices. Here we are, in early 2016, and gas is under $2 a gallon. If the oil companies were free to gouge consumers when gas was over $4 a gallon, why aren’t they doing it now? And will oil executives be called in front of Congress to explain why the cost of gas has gone down?

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Hi, Lombard. Do you remember some years ago when there was a large group of people trying to save the DuPage Theatre? We had fundraisers, we had events going on. Do you remember what the Lombard Historical Society did to help save the DuPage Theatre? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. They did nothing to save the historic DuPage Theatre and now they’re having another one of their Roaring 20s bashes, so my family and I will not be attending.

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A few years ago, when gas cost over $4 a gallon, President Obama repeatedly said, “We can't just drill our way to lower gas prices.” Look it up. He said it over and over. In 2012, he added this statement: “Anybody who tells you otherwise either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or they aren’t telling you the truth.” Guess what? The U.S., with no thanks to Obama, did drill its way to lower gas prices. It turns out it was the president who either didn’t know what he was talking about, or wasn’t telling you the truth.

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Americans need to be protected from illegal immigrants. Elect someone who will work at this problem. We’re losing our country, our language and our values. I’m hoping it’s not too late. I’ve been calling SPEAK OUT for years about our open border and there were only a few other comments. Legal immigration only. If you don’t want to be an American, why come to America, for entitlements?

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To last week’s caller who wants to call the kettle black; the previous caller was not uninformed. The state’s fiscal budget was voted on, passed and sent to the governor early last summer. The governor signed the educational fund provision into law, and vetoed the rest. Articles on this appeared in the Lombardian. If someone wants you to believe otherwise, you need to ask yourself why.

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Hi. I am calling to ask whatever happened to El Famous Burrito on Roosevelt Road in Lombard. We used to enjoy getting burritos there; they were really good and the owners were particularly nice. There’s a very nice lady who worked there. They were just very warmhearted and I’m just wondering what happened to it. Except for one time, everything was great. So please, any information. Thank you.

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This is for the Lombard caller who said Lombard residents have only themselves to blame for buying near a shooting range. That shooting range is skeet shooting at the Glen Oak Country Club and has only been going on for about five years, so anybody who’s lived longer than five years in Lombard is innocent of those charges. Also, they only do the skeet shooting in the winter, early spring and late fall, so one could have moved into Lombard in the summer and not have even been aware of it until he started hearing the shotguns go off. That person should know what he or she’s talking about before he chides Lombard residents.

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Hello, Lombard calling. I’ve been an avid reader of SPEAK OUT for well over a year now and it’s become quite apparent to me that the citizens of Lombard are so incompetent as to call in and discuss national matters such as politics. We have the freedom of speech in America and I suggest we make use of this by complaining about stuff on the local level and not the national level. Feel free to complain about anything you want, but keep it local, Lombard. Thank you. Bye.

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This is a resident of South Highland Avenue in Lombard calling. I didn’t get my mail again until after 9:30 last night. We used to get our mail between 2 and 4 every afternoon, had the same mail carrier. Now we don’t know who we’re going to get and they usually bring our mail after we’ve gone to bed, past 9 o’clock now. I thought the new postmaster was supposed to make the post office more efficient and operate better. This has turned into a joke. Thanks.

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Automobile dealers, automobile lubrication places, all you people who own your cars and do your own little maintenance work, the question is this. I want to know why doesn’t the price of lubricating oil when you buy it in an auto parts store come down. It stays up forever. Gasoline has been coming down but not the price of oil, when the price of oil is half of what it used to be. Why are the prices so high? When they get up there they keep it up there. Proportionately I think it should be lowered and I think our congressmen and senators need to hear this and do something about it. It’s a big rip-off every day by our government and manufacturers. So long.

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Hi, Lombard. I would like to thank the gentleman who paid for my groceries Saturday at Ultra Foods. I still don’t know why but I hope his generosity will come back to him 100-fold. Thank you.

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There is a space very close to the Lombard Metra station that is designated for handicapped drop-off. That’s what the sign says, anyway. Unfortunately, every weekday there’s a car that’s parked there, so if someone wants to use that as handicapped drop-off, they are unable to do so. If that’s going to be someone’s parking spot, then they should change the sign. If it’s not going to be someone’s parking spot and it is going to be used for handicapped drop-off like the sign says, there should be tickets issued by the Lombard Police Department. Every weekday morning the same car is in the spot and it is clearly designated for the handicapped, not for personal parking. Thank you.

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Hi. I’d like to respond to the caller who thinks he’s funny with watering the lawn on odd/even days. It wasn’t funny the first time; it’s not funny now. Would you please shut it down? You’re not funny. Bye.

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Lombard calling. This is the answer to the person who wonders why I moved near a shooting range and complained about Glen Oak Country Club. I did not move near a shooting range. I moved here 40 years ago. It was a nice quiet neighborhood in Green Valley, probably 2 1/2 to 3 miles away from the country club, and it’s only been in the last five years they decided they want to shoot every weekend. When there are no leaves on the trees and it’s the middle of winter, you can hear them probably on Westmore. So, that’s my answer and I have no intention of moving.

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My grandson goes to Loyola University. Early this Saturday morning we heard someone was shot at Loyola, a drive-by shooting. Thank God it was not him. When are we going to get our act together? We should not be for gun control—we should advocate for gang control. Forget the politics. Go after the gangs and their lucrative drug trade. They should be destroyed totally. Gangs are a cancer. Young men and women with no gang ties are being killed on the streets of Chicago. Eventually the killings may affect us and our families who live in Lombard.

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We were all enriched in America with immigrants coming here legally to be Americans. But when millions come illegally and take over and demand, we lose our identity and they take over. Close the border. Keep our America. Germany and other countries are finding out it’s not good when you take in millions of people who don’t work or have too many children they can’t afford. It’s not what made America great.

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I can’t believe the Village of Villa Park. They won’t allow the knight or the Statue of Liberty to stand out in front of their respective businesses—the pawn shop and accounting firm—and wave at traffic. They just have no sense of humor. I love the guy when he stands out in front of the store on Main Street, Lombard. It just adds a little character. Get a life, you guys. You mini-manage everything. Demagogues, my wife says.

You are mistaken. According to the Village of Villa Park, “There is nothing that prohibits someone dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, or a knight, from standing on the sidewalk and waving at people. However, they may not have anything that identifies a business they are trying to promote.”—JAC

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This year I will be selling my Lombard house and moving out of state. The politicians of both parties are corrupt, taxes are exorbitantly high in the state, we’re losing jobs because of that and revenue so the state is going bankrupt, the politicians of this state keep getting reelected because the voters are ignorant and vote their party instead of what’s best for them and others. Goodbye Illinois. Last one out, shut the light off.

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Hi, this is South Villa Avenue calling with a great big thank you for our letter carrier; her name is Juanita and she does a terrific job. Thank you, Juanita.