Why does a large garbage truck park by Sugar Creek, in the "No Parking" zone, and there is no driver anywhere?  There was a school bus parked on the opposite side, and it is difficult to see around these two large vehicles. Villa Park police – please ticket or tow this obstruction in the "No Parking" zone.

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Lombard calling: I noticed a story on CBSnews.com about how four in 10 millennials don’t know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. This, according to a study published on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Here’s another stat from that study that’s even more troubling—two-thirds of millennials could not identify in that survey what Auschwitz was. So nearly half of these kids don’t know about the Holocaust, and even more don’t know what Auschwitz is? How sad and disturbing. Hey kids, since most of you spend every waking hour on your smart phones, at least get the History Channel app and learn something. Unbelievable!

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To the person who called complaining about the music at Jewel, did you call or write to the manager? That is more likely to get results than calling SPEAK OUT. And come to think of it, that goes for all you folks who apparently don't call the village or your trustees, but instead seem to expect SPEAK OUT to get answers for you. Granted, some of it may be of interest to many, but it seems like people typically call about something related to their own neighborhood or part of town. What would you do if SPEAK OUT didn't exist? Take ownership of your issues.

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Peter Roskam was too busy to attend the Saturday evening rally to support our youth; really? Mr. Roskam, you need to hear the voices of those who elected you and pay your salary. An apology is definitely in order, and probably an alternate rally. Stop hiding from us.

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I think Trump has drained the swamp—of all the good stuff! All that's left are the predators who have only their immediate survival on their minds. There is nothing left in the swamp to do any good for our country. Elections are coming; let's fill the swamp with people who care about our country.

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To the commenter who referenced human failings by noting Obama’s presidency “deepening divide” of people “which was promoted by our president,” you are, of course, referring to Trump for his years of claims that Obama was from Kenya with a forged birth certificate. Also, the “police officer” who commented last week on shooting to kill needs to turn in his badge. There are too many of those cops already.

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I just read that kids who go to public schools in Illinois may be required to learn about LGBT individuals and history. That’s right. The Illinois Senate education committee voted 8-2 to endorse a bill that, if passed, would require public schools—high schools and elementary schools—to teach a unit on important LGBT individuals and history. This is already a requirement in California public schools. I’m not making this stuff up. Google it. I’m all for LGBT rights and have no issues with how someone wants to live their life. But I have to ask: What’s going to be the next group that the history books will have to be rewritten for? This is all getting out of hand, in my opinion.

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Lombard Post Office. It's a Wednesday about 12:20, lunch hour. I need to buy some stamps. Five people in line, one window open. Eesh.

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Hi. I was wondering if anybody else got this letter and a phone call from "Clean Energy" about them costing a little more but they are cleaner for the earth. Clean energy is a good thing, I'm not going to bash it, but here's what I'm going to bash. They still use ComEd's power lines. They say it costs a little more money, but ComEd still delivers the power to your house through the lines. Unless Clean Energy puts up new power lines, guess who you're getting your energy from? It isn't Clean Energy, it's from ComEd. So keep that in mind before people start signing up and paying higher bills because you're getting your power from the same place no matter what they say. Unless they put up power lines next to the old ones, you're still getting the same power.

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In the 1960s I was in the Marine Corps. Demonstrations back then lost focus and were used as a tool against everything, especially the military. We heard rumors that military personnel were spat upon by demonstrators. Have you ever been verbally insulted because you wore a Marine Corps uniform? It was a hateful experience. On weekend liberty we were instructed to go to town in groups of three to five men. On leave, civilian clothes only. Demonstrations have a place in society, a guarded right. Demonstrations can start out with a clear, defined objective. However, if not careful they can become grotesque by the manipulative special interests with a totally different agenda in mind.

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We were in our kitchen this week when my wife happened to look out the window to our deck. She said, look at the big bird on our deck railing. It was big, really big, as Lombard birds go. It was about 24 inches from head to tail and looked like it could weigh 20 pounds. Of course, it didn't but the feathers made it look very large. It had brown wings with speckles of white, a white face and a white breast with brown speckles. Its beak was large and the tip was downward. Its claws had large talons on the end of each of three toes. It sat there looking sharply at us and surveying the backyard. We think it was looking for food. It probably had little ones to feed, as this is the mating time for birds. From our animal books it appeared to be a large hawk. It resembled a ferruginous hawk. We had seen peregrine falcons before but they are small compared to this hawk. Perhaps you have seen this big hawk. Keep your eye out for it. It left our deck and flew up into a tree; the squirrels had stayed hidden in the bushes while it was here.

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Hi. I'm a teacher of students who have emotional and behavioral issues. My question goes out to all the students who did the grand walkout a few weeks ago: How many of you reached out to students who felt alone? How many of you reached out and gave a smile, a handshake, just a nod in class that they could join your group? I don't think many of you are kind. Many of you talk the talk, but you certainly don't know how to walk the walk, and that is too bad.

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Wow! Can you believe the language our "president" continues to use? Name calling is so immature. He is so unprofessional and certainly unpresidential. And, what about not telling our enemies our attack plans in advance? And what about being faithful to his wife? Can you say impeachment?

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Lombard calling. Years ago, George Carlin said that they are coming for your Social Security, and that they will get it. U.S. Congressman Peter Roskam was one of the 233 member of the House of Representatives who just voted to strip away Social Security's $2.9 trillion in surplus and to use it to balance the budget after the tax cuts. They are coming for your Social Security. Impeach now!

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Hello. In the Lombardian dated Thursday, April 12, 2018, on Page 3 there's an article regarding the Illinois lawmaker who wants to prevent telemarketers from calling your home. Will that also include political calls from candidates who I don't want to hear from? Hmm, probably not.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. I'm a senior in my 80s. My grandson took me to Jewel Sunday night, the 15th, to pick up a few things in Villa Park. At the checkout there was a young woman checking out in front of us and she asked if I played Monopoly and she gave me her cards. As she was checking out, she paid my bill. I was so shocked. I didn't know what to say. I told her she couldn't do that and she said, "Yes, I can." The checker said, "Tell her thank you," which I did, but I'm in such shock that anybody could be so nice to do something like that for a senior. God bless her and I hope only good things can come her way. Thank you.

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To the person who's calling back about Downers Grove High School, it seems to me that you're the only one complaining. The students never complained. They had the option of what they could do and they did the protest outside the school for 17 minutes, they took the detentions and no one has heard another word about it but you seem to think it was wrong that they did this, that they should not have done this. Well, I and I'm sure many others do not agree with you, even if they don't call in. Again, it's not the students running the school. The teachers and the staff gave them the options and the students took the option. They went out for 17 minutes, they did their detentions and that was the end of it. But you somehow seem to think these students are running the school. I think you're wrong.

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Villa Park calling. I just want to comment on the April 12 SPEAK OUT on Villa Park and a pay carnival and the fact that Money Magazine called us the eighth best place to raise a family and the 28th best place to live in America. I agree. Fix the Lufkin Pool. We do not need a rec center. We have the community center. The front page of the Villa Park Review featured that we have pickleball there now. It's a very fine facility and we have a skate park and bocce ball and a rec center right there. It's a beautiful renovated area that we just got a few years ago. If they wanted to add a rec center toward the Lufkin Pool area, we don't need to build a new one. How dare they charge us more money for a pay carnival celebrating something they're destroying. Thank you, bye.