Lombard calling. I would like to know how the detention pond at Hammerschmidt schoolyard works. During the weekend of Sept. 13-14, I watched the water expand and recede, and it is fascinating. I would like to understand the process.

Dave Gorman, assistant director of public works, responded: “Detention basins benefit our storm sewerage by reducing flow rates into the storm sewers. Each basin has a “restrictor,” which is a small orifice, usually 1"-4" in diameter, that causes water to back up into the basin. Rainwater flows into the Hammerschmidt School basin from the school property as well as from the storm sewer on Hammerschmidt Avenue. The water then exits through the restrictor to the storm sewer on New Street and eventually reaches the East Branch of the DuPage River.”—JAC

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Lombard calling in response to the person who wants a traffic light at Finley and Wilson. I, too, have noticed a lot of traffic at that intersection but expect it to go back to normal once Main Street is finished in a couple of weeks. The added left turn lanes by the shopping center were sorely needed and although it’s been a painful five months, you’ll quickly forget about the delays since traffic will be moving so much better.

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You always hear people complaining—this is a thank you to a young man who came to the aid of an older couple whose car had stalled at a very busy intersection in Naperville. Even with the hood up and emergency flashers on, other cars and trucks honked and went around without asking if they could call for help. A young man who happened to work for a nearby Jiffy Lube stopped to ask if we needed help. My husband told him the car kept dying and the engine light was on. He asked us to follow him to his place of employment, that they would check it for free. To make a long story short, through this act of kindness we were able to make it to the dealer. The reason I’m calling this in is the young man, whose name is Jeffrey, happens to live in Lombard. Jeffrey, you make our town proud. Thank you.

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Good morning, Lombard; wake up and remove your rose-colored glasses. Sen. Obama is a very gifted orator. But that is all he is. Our country is in peril from Russia, Iran and North Korea. He lied to the people of Illinois by telling Tim Russert that he would complete his six years in the Senate and not run for president. He skirted controversial legislation by voting “present.” He climbed over many women, like Alice Palmer, Mrs. Rezko and Sen. Hillary Clinton to get where he is today. The list goes on. As a lifelong registered Democrat, I will be voting for Sen. McCain. He believes in his country, says what he means and respects women. This is not the time for on-the-job training. This is the time for a man who has in the past, and will in the future, protect us. Don’t be fooled by smoke and mirrors. Don’t let the media cast your vote. Vote McCain-Palin on Nov. 4 or kiss your democracy—and country—goodbye.

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There’s a great sign near the train station, asking for everybody, probably geared toward the cab drivers, not to idle their vehicle so we can have clean air. It’s a very great sign and I’m very appreciative that they have that, but I’m curious as to why all the police officers like to sit in parking lots, and while they sit there for 20 or 25 minutes, or an hour sometimes, and let their vehicle idle. It’s not just the Lombard Police Department, but I’ve noticed it with all police departments. I’m curious as to why everybody else should shut their engine off for our clean air, but police departments don’t feel it necessary that they do it as well.

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Hello, Lombard. Our leaders in Washington said we need an economic rescue plan or dire consequences would follow. The leaders worked for hours and days to develop a bill. We must replace our so-called leaders with new representatives. The blame game is alive and well in Washington, while we, the citizens, suffer the consequences of the schoolyard mentality from our leaders. It’s a leadership crisis in Washington; both Democrat and Republican.

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I don’t know why we have to spend $700 billion to bail out banks that hurt themselves on bad mortgages. What irks me even more is that the media is only talking about 133 Republicans who originally voted against the bill. Nobody bothers to mention that 95 Democrats voted against it as well. They didn’t like it either. Everybody needs help. Quit messing around, Nancy Pelosi. You want to give 20 percent of the revenues we might gain from this bill to ACORN. Why? They don’t want it. They don’t need it. That money belongs to the American people. Pelosi should be voted out of office, with Harry Reid and Barney Frank.

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Why is it whenever Villa Park police arrest somebody for drugs, i.e. cannabis or one of the many other ones, that portions of the police report are blacked out. What are they—the CIA? I mean, if they’re investigating the background of people caught with drugs, and they have the manpower for that, shouldn’t they be watching their train station a little bit better so cars don’t get vandalized? Or keep an eye on Burlington Coat Factory. They’ve got to have better things to do than that. No other town does anything like that. What are they thinking?

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This is Lombard calling. Just another call to say, let’s put ribbons around our trees for our troops, people. The holidays are coming. They need to know we support them. It is war time. We don’t like it, but we have no choice. Villa Park has done an outstanding job. I hope they’ll continue to do it. Come on Lombard, let’s do it. Get the ribbons on the trees to support our troops. Please, please, please.

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Hi, Lombard calling. To the person who is sick and tired of my kids whining about a skate park, guess what? There is a roller rink in Lombard. You didn’t have to go all the way to Elmhurst to go roller skating. And yes, we are all taxpayers; whether our children skateboard or not, they should have a skate park like any other town around or in DuPage County.

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Near Elizabeth and Sunset I saw two black cats with white on their chest that look like siblings. One was chasing the other across the street. Good thing I saw them or I would have hit one. Since they weren’t wearing collars, I will assume the are wild, although they looked pretty healthy and not malnourished. If they do belong to somebody, I think it’s terrible to let them run around loose, for one, and two, not have any ID on them. And, I don’t want to see more wild cats around. So, whoever owns them, please keep them inside.

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On Sept. 11, who died? Stuck in traffic for over an hour, around 2 o’clock, High Ridge closed. High Ridge to Ardmore, no access south, cars lined up for miles. Ardmore to Roosevelt stopped; Summit to Roosevelt stopped; Villa to Roosevelt stopped. At least 10 police officers and no access to public schools. Seeing a school bus have to make a U-turn. Did no one, including police, know about this ahead of time? Shouldn’t there have been access signs or detour signs? Also, no cars were marked with funeral markings.

The funeral was for Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Villa Park police Deputy Chief Robert Budig responded: “We were informed about the event the day before and took all necessary actions including putting a traffic plan in place to best deal with the large numbers that were expected.” —LWS

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To the person who called about Peter Roskam’s fancy mailings being paid for by the taxpayers, the easiest solution is not to vote for him.

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Hello from Villa Park. Shred events are a great idea and good motivation for seniors to downsize a lifelong collection of so-called important papers. I hope there will be more and the Lombardian and Villa Park Review will continue to publicize them. Thanks to the West Suburban Bank and the Better Business Bureau for hosting the Sept. 20 event in Downers Grove. Will the Sept. 13 event at the Metra station in Villa Park be rescheduled because of the heavy rain that day? I’m curious about what happens to all that shredded paper and how curbside recycling is affected.

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President Bush is being blamed for this financial crisis, but this monster was conceived by the Carter administration, birthed and nurtured by the Clinton administration, defended and protected by the Democrats now in Congress. There will be no investigation because it will reveal this monster’s DNA is Democrats.

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Wake up Lombard. As a lifelong Democrat I am so ashamed of this $700 billion bailout; almost $500 million to Hollywood. No surprise there, as they back Barack Obama. Money to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for rum. Again, no surprises. These countries can vote in the general election and, yes, they back Barack Obama. But, money for children’s wooden arrows? Goodness, they’ll shoot their eye out.

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I’m appalled that Willowbrook High School and the Villa Park Police Department do not enforce the handicapped parking in the parking lot. Occasionally I need to pick up my kids from Willowbrook and I am disabled, and in case I have to go in for anything, I park in the handicapped spot. Sometimes you can’t even find one because there are able-bodied parents and boyfriends picking up their girlfriends, and they’re all parked in the handicapped spots and the criss-cross line spots next to the handicapped spots. You know, regardless of the situation over there, a handicapped spot is a handicapped spot. Unless you are disabled you have no business being there, not even for a minute. I really think that Willowbrook and the Villa Park Police Department have to start enforcing this.

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It’s a fall weekend and once again our trees are full of toilet paper and our town’s an ugly mess. Does everybody know who’s doing this toilet paper thing? Maybe they could cut it out. Maybe they could realize it’s a disgusting mess and and it’s not funny. I don’t know, it doesn’t seem amusing to me. It seems wasteful and makes a big mess that doesn’t get cleaned up.

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I read in the Lombardian—$260,000 for the train station? Not of Lombard’s money. I’m sorry, but if those people need comfort while they wait for a nice, warm train while the rest of us walk, or commute in our cars and scrape ice off, that’s too bad. This is ridiculous. If they want to put new windows in, that’s fine. If they want to put anti-graffiti paint on there, that’s fine. But washrooms? There are other train stations that don’t have them. We don’t need a train station to ride to Glen Ellyn or Wheaton. What we need is a train station that keeps people out of the rain. This has to be stopped.

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I’d like to pay a compliment to the staff and management at the Greek Islands. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair and they just gave him some great assistance and service. I just wanted to say thank you again.

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I received a flier from DuPage County that says, Robert Schillerstrom says all of DuPage County will have Lake Michigan water by 2009. What is that all about? And of course, his e-mail address isn’t listed in there. I don’t get it.

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Villa Park here. I just read that Fannie Mae is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest when the sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her. That’s nice. The taxpayers, after bailing out Fannie Mae, are going to pay for this old woman’s debt because she’s going to try to kill the sheriffs for evicting her. Nothing like getting rewarded for trying to commit a crime in this country. It all happens so often, but gee, this is a good one.

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We recently had our block party with both ends of the street blocked off, and yet we had to continually stop the party for cars that went around the barricades, who didn’t even live on the block, who had to cut through. I can’t believe the ignorance. Come on, people, go around. A block party means the street is being used for a party for the neighborhood. It’s not meant for you as a cut-through to save yourself 20 seconds on your commute. Have some respect and stop being ignorant.

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Let me understand this correctly: Obama raises taxes on everybody who makes $250,000, including small businesses, and raises the capital gains tax. So everybody who gets their taxes raised who owns a small business or corporation raises the price of their product, in effect, causing everybody else to pay more for the product. Instant tax increase. Don’t you get it? If he raises taxes on everybody making $250,000, including small businesses, and raises the capital gains tax, you’re going to pay more. Tax increase. Come on, America; listen.

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Hi, this is Villa Park calling. I just got a letter in the mail from a public librarian. You know, it’s nice that she wants a new place to work, but if you also read this letter, she’s also taking Villa Park and listing higher-dollar suburbs, like Itasca, Oak Brook, Elmhurst than we are. Sorry, we’re a poor suburb compared to them. Next thing, we are in recession right now. Please vote no at the present time. Yes, we could use one, but at this present time, look how many houses in this village are in foreclosure. How many storefronts are empty? What do you pay for a hamburger? Right now we do not need a library and our property values also went down in this town, so, why should we build something at this present time we cannot afford? That’s why the government is bailing people out.

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Hi, I was calling to find out if anybody knows what is going on with the bakery on Main Street. Just curious if there’s going to be a new bakery there.

Bill Heniff, director of community development for the Village of Lombard, noted: “To date, village staff has not heard anything regarding the tenant space that used to have the bakery.” —JAC

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Hi, this is Lombard calling. Every morning I watch kids late for their school bus and every morning I watch them trample flowers, lawns and litter with their Styrofoam coffee cups that they are discarding on lawns and sidewalks. Can we please teach our community children to be more respectful? Thank you.