For our Republican friend who called and pointed out that the current economic crisis is entirely the fault of the Democrats, that’s a little like someone buying a used car, driving it for eight years, crashing it into a tree in their own back yard, and then saying, “This is the fault of the previous owner of the car.” The Bush administration drove this economy, just like the rest of the country, into the ditch and destroyed it. The bailout is more money for the rich—a last-chance money grab. So, don’t tell us this is all the fault of the Democrats. All the government is complicit; Democrats and Republicans, but the Republicans were driving. They were in charge, the Bush administration was in charge; they crashed the bus, not the Democrats. Keep thinking, folks. Don’t listen to that baloney.

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For the north side of Lombard; I saw the picture in the paper of five or six firefighters up on La Londe for the garage fire. Where’s the picture of the seven supervisors who were there watching them? Please explain why we need that many supervisors at a fire scene. Sounds like a waste.

Lombard Fire Chief George Seagraves responded: “Possibly the caller is wondering about the fire personnel at the front walk who were not actively involved in firefighting. One was the incident commander, who was in command of all of the personnel at the scene.  The rest were on-duty personnel such as me, the fire marshal, two inspectors, our public education coordinator and the administrative battalion chief. All of these people are dispatched on the General Alarm. A General Alarm is a report of a structure fire and each area of the village has detailed equipment and personnel assignments. Based on what is discovered, units and personnel are added or returned. The personnel not on shift would have also responded from our homes to this alarm even if it had been at 2 a.m. This garage fire, although a small garage, had a large amount of stored household items. The actual firefighters’ supervisors, who we call lieutenants, were in bunker gear and were actively involved in the firefighting. There were a total of 18 fire personnel there from Lombard and two other fire departments at the scene and one rescue squad with three personnel that were returned before they arrived at the scene. During a fire, non-required officers observe and note activities at the scene. During and after a simple fire, there are many activities that are performed from our public education coordinator, who assists the owner and/or the renters and may assist if there are juveniles involved in the fire setting. Other on-scene officers and personnel provide fire investigation, protection of the property from further damage after the fire and ensuring that all needed agencies and services are contacted and the preparation of a media release. During this fire we also had a water main break that required our fire marshal to stay on scene to coordinate efforts between two utilities and help homeowners who were getting or in danger of getting water in their homes. For this fire the other officers and inspectors—once it was determined that they were not needed—returned to our regular assignments. Except for the inspectors the officers are all salaried employees and do not receive extra compensation for our time at the scene nor for any additional time that we put in to catch up on missed work during the fire. At a larger fire we all would have been given assignments to support the firefighting and ensure the safety of our firefighters.” –JAC

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Well, we recently had our first appreciable snowfall of the season. We certainly applaud the Lombard Public Works Department for clearing the snow from the streets in record time. But I will never understand why it is that they have to dump huge mountains of snow right in the crosswalks at every corner. We have village ordinances about businesses clearing the sidewalks within a certain amount of time after the snow stops falling so as to make walking safe for pedestrians, yet they continue to create little Everests at every corner, right smack in the middle of the handicap-accessible curbless ramp. How are we supposed to maneuver that? There has to be a better way. Please, give us walkers a break. Clean the blades of your plows somewhere other than at the corners in the crosswalk. we’d really appreciate it.

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Several weeks ago you had something in SPEAK OUT about knitting or crocheting scarves for the winter. I do this sometimes but I can’t find where you can donate them. I’m wondering if anyone knows.

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I was just wondering what is going on; Sweet Street is selling and now R&R Video is closed. Where are we going to walk when we go downtown? All the fun is done.

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Villa Park here. It looks like the Democrats actually want to appoint somebody to fill Obama’s seat because they prefer to have a Democrat and prefer to have a black person in there, so I suggest that to keep DuPage Republican, we forget about the elections and appoint our own people, because I don’t see Chicago getting any Republicans in—90 percent Democrat—why should we be changing and having all these Democrats coming into our county and trying to take over?

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It is disheartening in today’s economy to know that people are struggling while many corporate business people are given the opportunity to fly for free to business meetings in beautiful locations, stay in luxury hotels and have meals on their expense accounts. You have to wonder how many corporate business trips are really necessary or if they’re just tax write-offs and free vacations. Thousands of people have lost jobs while others are taking luxury trips. Is anyone taking a look at this excess spending?

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Lombard calling. I wish to compliment the young men and women at Glenbard East who sang and played beautifully at the holiday concert. The only change could have been with the powers that be to have more traditional Christmas songs sung by the choir. It’s hard to relate to another language when there are so many Christmas songs in English. The “Hallelujah Chorus” sung by the choir was inspiring, as we all stood. Please don’t satisfy the few; play to the masses. Also, turn the lights on at the end so we can read the words to the community sing-along. Put Christ back in Christmas.

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This is Villa Park calling. I want to thank the good neighbor who cleared the sidewalk and front porch and even put salt down so I would not slip on the icy driveway. We have an angel on our block and I just wanted to thank that person. I will definitely pay it forward.

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I read that Rick Soderstrom is running for village president. I just met him—he was actually walking the neighborhood, knocking on doors in the freezing cold. He seems like a very nice man. I have to commend him for getting out in the cold and talking to residents.

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Hi, Lombard. I went to see the Alchemy Theatre production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” at St. John’s, and it was phenomenal. The mostly children cast was fantastic. The theater is trying to raise funds to lease a permanent space in Lombard. I’m just wondering; where were all the people who in recent years had claimed to be supportive of having such a theater in Lombard in order to revive our downtown area and bring arts to our community?

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I’m calling from Lombard. Every day I marvel at the hordes of wonderful people I meet. I use a walker occasionally and I marvel at the folks who go out of their way to help me. My only complaint about the paper is please dump a little more ink in there so I can read it better. I’d appreciate it.

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Once again, I’m watching the millionth interruption of supposedly important breaking news. Turns out that Obama is either appointing another cabinet member post or another chance for his economic policy before he even comes into office. I’m just wondering if there’s a fatal flaw in what’s going on. I don’t see any people blowing horns or throwing rose petals in his path. I just don’t get it. What are you people doing?

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Hey, Lombard. I haven’t heard anybody blame George Bush for the car crisis. You know, it’s his fault for forcing General Motors, Ford and Chrysler to take union demands. It’s George Bush’s fault that the union demanded so much money an hour and the cost difference for building a car is about $40 difference from the foreign-built ones. That’s George Bush’s fault because he forced them to do that. It’s George Bush’s fault because they build cars that America doesn’t want to buy. It’s George Bush’s fault. Everything’s George Bush’s fault; it’s 13 degrees outside, it’s George Bush’s fault. Unions need to take a break on their wages. That’s what needs to happen.

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This is for Villa Park. Villa Park, you want to save some money? Quite planting all those trees. They’re nothing but money eaters. They fall down, knock things down, cause a lot of trouble, they plug sewers and then you have the leaf problem. So, if you curtailed your tree planting, maybe you could save some money for the streets.

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To the confused person concerning Barack Obama, aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves? The guy isn’t even in office yet and you’re jumping all over him.

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Hello, this is Lombard calling on Wednesday after the snow. I’m calling to thank my kind neighbor who brought his snow thrower over as I was shoveling out my driveway. He did my whole driveway plus most of the public walk. Thank you also to those who have, many times in the past, helped me. You know who you are.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling about the parking at Westmore School at pick-up time. I am very concerned that people are constantly double parking. You have little children running out in between cars, and parents also are leaving their cars when they’re not supposed to be. I wish the police department would have more presence here between 2-2:30 p.m. to ensure student safety.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling.l’d just like to say that I’m in the northern area of Lombard and one house by me, the owner has a truck that has a snow plow on the end of it; and instead of plowing your own driveway, it would be courteous to come to your neighbors and ask if they need help with the driveways. Some people out there aren’t physically able to stand out there and shovel their driveway because of back problems or any medical issue you can think of. So, when you’re out there plowing your own driveway, think of the others and be courteous; ask if they need help with their driveway. Thank you.

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Barack Obama said he would not have Washington insiders; well, that’s kind of strange, because that’s all he’s hired—a lot of superficial talk from a superficial man. This is ridiculous; not that the Bush and McCain way of doing things was perfect, but we were kept safe, and we had more money in our pockets due to tax cuts. The economic crash was inevitable with the auto companies and the unions. That pretty much brought them to their knees and the wasteful executives are also part of it.

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Hi, calling from Lombard, just wondering why our town is the only one that has to leave rows of snow in the middle of the lanes. You go to Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, nobody else does that but Lombard. Why? If anybody could answer that question, that would be great.

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Hi, I just want to thank Lombard for Tuesday night cleaning the streets. They did a terrific job. I came home through Oak Brook and they were not cleared. I came through Downers Grove—they were not cleared. I got to Lombard and the streets were cleared, so, thank you, guys, for doing a nice job. Bye.

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Once again I’m reading in SPEAK OUT about the senior center that never was and how good it would have been to have them live there. I have a mother who’s 86 years old, and the last thing I would have ever done is consider having my mother live there. There is absolutely nothing there for a senior to go to. Most of them do not drive. My mother does not drive. There’s no place for them to walk across the street safely with the railroad tracks and the five stoplights. If they would have to go anyplace, they would have to be driven, causing too much congestion. I am in favor of the trustees who voted no. I think this should not be a political issue; this should be a moot issue.

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This is Lombard calling. I just read in the paper that they’re changing the name of Moran Water Park to Paradise Bay. I just can’t believe that. I wonder if you can ask the commissioners of the park district why they’re doing that, after all these years of the Moran Water Park. I’d like to know.

Lombard Park District Executive Director Paul Friedrichs responded: “Had the Moran Water Park been remodeled or renovated, the name would have remained the same. As this aquatic facility is completely new construction made possible through a successful referendum, the board of park commissioners approved the name Paradise Bay for it. In an effort to continue to recognize Mr. Moran’s dedication to parks and recreation in Lombard, the park board has directed staff to determine an appropriate recognition in his honor at the new aquatic facility.” –JAC

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Villa Park calling to the person in Lombard who was not happy with the street sweepers who were coming at 6:10 in the morning. In Villa Park, south of Highland, in the Summit to Villa area, our leaves haven’t been swept since the week before Halloween. So, people in Lombard should be happy that they’re getting their leaves swept. In Villa Park, I guess their idea of street sweeping is to wait until the plows come out so they can throw the leaves back on the parkway for the people to pick them up.

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First, I walk a mile to the Lombard train station every day and I would like to thank all my neighbors who have been cleaning their sidewalks. It’s much appreciated to be able to walk on a clean sidewalk than through the snow. Second, for those Obama bashers, he hasn’t even been sworn in yet. I suspect that no matter what he does, you wouldn’t be happy with him, but how about judging him after he’s been in office for a couple of years? Finally, the reason the Christmas lights might be up early or taken down late could be safety and comfort. I wouldn’t want anyone to have to get on a ladder with snow and ice on the ground, and I wouldn't want them to get frozen either, having to put them up right at Christmas.