Editor’s note: Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-2460.
Support the police: This is about the police officer who was killed in Fox Lake. When I was a kid growing up in Barrington driving a car, I did some pretty stupid things. The cops would pull me over, but I never really had a bad encounter with them. They were pretty fair. I know they are getting a bad rap lately, but I have to stick up for them. Without the police and fire departments in this country, we would be in deep trouble. I have some friends who worked in the Elgin Police Department and are now retired. It has to be sad for them.
Target sellers instead of users: I am disappointed that the state legislature rejected Governor Rauner’s heroin bill. All that money spent on the users of heroin should be spent on tracking down the ones who are selling drugs. Then maybe the ones looking to buy drugs might get a job instead.
Frustrated about fliers: I’m just letting everyone in the area know that nobody is going to be shopping at Home Depot anymore. I just picked up a flier. I couldn’t read it. It was all in Spanish. I am boycotting Home Depot. We live in the United States. The fliers should be printed in English.
Don’t judge people when doing your job: The lady in Kentucky who wasn’t doing her job should be locked up. She was voted in by the people to do a job. I always believe that church and state should be separated. Whatever your religious beliefs are, they are your beliefs. We don’t have the right to judge other people. Everybody in this world does some stupid thing every day of the week. God will judge everyone, and they will stand alone. This woman should not judge people. She should just do her job.
All lives matter: I’m getting tired of “Black Lives Matter.” All lives matter. Half of the people who are getting shot have an attitude when they are stopped. The white people have to listen to the cops. The black people have to listen to the cops, too. It’s like people are trying to stir things up so blacks and whites hate each other.
Noisy neighborhoods: This goes to City of Aurora officials who are in charge of neighborhood parties. When are they going to put a ban on all these people playing loud music whether it’s a live band or disc jockeys? The people having these parties are the same people who stand in line with food stamps, drive new cars, and get free medical, free school supplies and free winter coats for their children. They can’t afford to buy these things, but they can afford to buy beer and pay for musicians. Come on, Aurora. Give the neighborhoods back their privacy and quality of life.
Upset about unions: I read that the unions for the Ford, General Motors and Chrysler auto factories may strike. I also read that entry level workers make $29 an hour. No wonder we have cars from Japan being sold here. The unions have ruined this country.
Keep personal matters private: This is about religion and marriage. It’s nobody’s business whom I want to marry and whom I want to spend my life with. I don’t try to push my religion off on anyone, so don’t push your religion on me. Religion is a personal thing. Leave everyone else alone.
Migration situation: So we have this migrant crisis in Europe that is totally out of control, yet the Gulf States won’t take anybody. By that, I mean Saudi Arabia. China and Russia are also not taking anyone. Europe, which has already changed drastically because of illegal immigration, has to accept upward of 800,000 of these people from Syria and Africa. Now President Obama wants to bring them over here when we can’t control our own illegal immigration mess. If people can’t see what’s going on, I think this is a ploy by ISIS to totally take over these countries. Not right away, but over generations. Unfortunately, the leaders of the world are too stupid to realize what’s going on. This is probably the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. This won’t end well for anyone. I’m not being racist. People better wake up, and wake up in a hurry.
Stop thinking in black and white: A caller made a comment about the shooting on live television of the reporter and cameraman. My condolences go out to their families. This is the very thing that divides us when we start comparing a black person shooting a white person to a white person shooting a black person. This is something we should do without. It’s a tragedy whenever anyone is harmed or killed at the hands of another person. We must come together and not compare things based on race. This is the reason the wealthy are sitting in their chairs and laughing at people who think this way. They don’t care about you or me. As long as they can keep us divided, they will sit there and count their dollars at our expense. Stop thinking in black and white. Think outside the box.
Board over budget on proposed bridge: Our Kane County board cannot give the coroner or the sheriff any extra money, but they can approve almost $700,000 in additional costs for the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor that is not even built. They are already over budget on a bridge we don’t even need.
Enforce all laws: This concerns Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was thrown in jail for refusing to give marriage licenses to same sex couples. She should have been thrown in jail and fired, but why haven’t all the government officials, sheriffs and police officers who refuse to enforce our immigration laws also been thrown in jail?
Call for presidential condolences: Did President Obama call the officer’s family in Fox Lake after the officer was shot and killed? Everyone else is doing something for the family, but I have not seen or heard one word about the president calling the family. He’s too busy doing other things instead of worrying about the people who serve and protect us. He should call the family to offer his sympathy.
Stop the shootings: Here we go again. In South Carolina, a high-powered lawyer is trying to justify a black man being shot in the back multiple times. I don’t care if he fought with the officer. If the officer wanted to bring him down, he should have shot him in the leg. You can’t justify shooting someone in the back. If someone is running away, don’t shoot them in the back multiple times. You wonder why the riots are happening. Some of them are justified, but the majority are not justified. We must stop this. I respect and love the police for the thankless job they do every day. There a handful of a bad cops as well as a handful of bad black people and bad white people. Let’s judge everyone fairly. The shooting in South Carolina cannot be justified.
Musing about Trump and Cruz: I see Ted Cruz is riding Donald Trump’s coattail like a little girl. Anybody who votes for Trump is crazy. He’s one of the best businessmen I’ve ever seen, but it’s a proven fact that he knows zilch about foreign policy. He doesn’t even know the names of the people in the Middle East. If you have Trump and Cruz as president and vice president, it would be like Dr. Frankenstein and the Frankenstein monster. Wow. I cannot picture this.
Nix student parking on public streets: School is back in session at Aurora University. For the seventh straight year, the neighborhood streets are loaded up with student parking. If the university can afford to build expensive structures, erect beautiful identification signs and lavishly overplant their grounds, they can also build additional parking lots or decks. I don’t pay taxes so my public streets can be used for overflow parking for a private institution. Study the situation all you want, but there is only one conclusion. While people twiddle their thumbs, yet another Aurora neighborhood is being ruined.
