TALK OF THE COUNTY

I'm a Beach Park resident and it is ridiculous having trick or treating from 4 to 8 p.m. because it gets too dark for the kids. They should have it in the afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m.

This is the coldest Halloween that I've seen in 61 years. Soon, the haunted house in Zion will be closed. That will warm God's heart, and that will get us some good weather.

So now Obama is concerned that our medical facilities will not be able to keep up with the H1N1 "epidemic." Why? Because he is doing what he did three years ago to our economy. He is creating an alternate reality. Why isn't he allowing the Surgeon General to comment on the H1N1 "epidemic." Because the Surgeon General would probably tell us the truth. The only kind of doctor President Obama is, is a spin doctor.

A lot of homeowners in Beach Park wonder why they changed trick or treating from 1 to 5 p.m. to 4 to 8 p.m. We haven't had those hours for years back. Whose idea was this?

The taxi business is an unfair business.

The Shanty was on "Diners, Drives-ins and Dives" on Oct. 26. They didn't even show their featured item, the one that's been the most popular for years: The Shanty Slam breakfast with a bloody Mary. The place looked a lot bigger on television than in person. It will be a repeat, so don't miss it.

By the way the Beach Park Village Board is acting, I'm starting to think they are getting some push from the federal government with all the new plans they are coming up with to spend the taxpayers' money. Maybe it's time to change our board.

Fox News attacks on President Obama are very divisive. Everybody is wise as to what they are doing. As an African American I feel very strong about this issue. Get off of the hate tactics and the destructive mannerisms in which you attack our president. I never heard President Bush attacked like this by any news organization.

This is for "Bang, bang": If the wild animals were not thinned out by sportsmen, they would eventually overpopulate and starve to death. Sportsmen bring a lot of revenue to the state for fishing and hunting licenses.

I am amazed at the number of Wadsworth residents that can't get their facts straight. The "Wadsworth police" never protected anyone. Their only job was to write speeding tickets and direct traffic at the school. They did nothing else. Shaking down motorists to pay for a crossing guard was an ill-conceived idea from the onset. The Wadsworth Village Board made the right decision. The Winthrop Harbor police were never needed or wanted.

So they are finally going to have the groundbreaking for the baseball team in Zion. I wonder if this is going to be the same kind of groundbreaking that happened two months ago at Market Square in Zion. But, there hasn't been any ground broken yet. Is this just more spin by the administration in Zion?

Who was in charge of Congress during the Reagan era? Oh, it was the Democrats. As a Republican, I'm sorry to say that our party doesn't share any leadership in being fiscally conservative about anything after the pork barrel that 9/11 turned into.

Firefighting tactics are the same whether you come from a town of two million or 200. The only difference is the number of people you have available.

I wanted to shout out to all the teachers in Lake County and congratulations on a job well done. For those that are against teachers getting a salary, they have no idea what teachers have to do these days as far as accountability and meeting state standards. If anyone thinks they can do a better job, we welcome them with open arms to come into the classroom.

I guess the self-sustaining Water and Sewer Fund in Gurnee is not self-sustaining. Not sure why they didn't realize the situation prior to advising it would soon be bankrupt. I would think that someone would be monitoring the financial situations for the village of Gurnee. Will the rate increase proposed also cover the cost for the independent consultant? Seems to me the rate increase would be better spent for the Water and Sewer Fund and not used for a consultant.

We don't have a Surgeon General, but we have a potential flu pandemic facing us. The president nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin in early July to be the Surgeon General. Her nomination is being held up by Republicans. Once again, they are playing politics with our lives.

Who in Gurnee has been monitoring the water fund up until this time? How are residents supposed to keep up with all the increases due to the economic situation since they have lost their employment, homes and are having a difficult time making ends meet? Sure hope the situation improves sometime soon.

You know what is being buried over by the nursing home on Sunset Avenue in Waukegan? That used to be a garbage dump. There are 55-gallon drums inches from the surface. They took big rubber sheets and laid it right over the top of drums of Lord only knows what. Then they just put dirt over it. The stuff keeps leaking up to the top. That's why they have to keep working on it. That should have been one of the Superfund cleanup sites.

Congratulations to Mr. Howard. My prayers are with you sir. My husband suffers from congestive heart disease and his kidneys are gone. Good luck, Mr. Howard.

I visited the Eagle Ridge Resort and Spa in Galena on Oct. 4. Saw people checking in for a conference and found out these were Lake County school superintendents there for a leadership conference. Who paid for this conference at such an upscale location? What can these superintendents accomplish in Galena that they can't accomplish here in Lake County? Why not keep the revenue local? Did the teachers know about this conference, and how did they feel about it? How will attendance at a leadership conference directly impact and benefit the students in their district? In a time of economic squeezing, why are they going to such a fancy place?

If Chicago didn't spend all that money trying to get the Olympics, they wouldn't have had to lay off all those people that work for the city.

Regarding the proposal to add a fourth grade school in Gurnee, citing the problems of having one of the existing schools, Gurnee Grade, located within a floodplain. Hmm, where I have heard this story before? Oh yes, not many few years ago, Gurnee School District 56 decided they wanted a new building and they justified it by saying that Gurnee Grade was unusable because it is in a floodplain. They then got the taxpayers to ante-up to build O'Plaine School as a replacement, closing Gurnee Grade -- for a time. Not long after they got the new building they wanted, they then declared that Gurnee Grade was fine after all and started holding classes in it again!

A few years ago we had a shortage of vaccine and the Democrats blamed President Bush. A few years ago gas prices climbed and the Democrats blamed President Bush and his "oil buddies." We now have a vaccine shortage and gasoline prices are climbing. Where are the Democrats placing the blame now?

Regarding the Page 2 article on Oct. 28 concerning the gentlemen who went off his medications and now is on top of a kidney transplant list. To me, he should be at the bottom because he spent 13 years off his own medication -- just because he hated needles! He was prescribed and should have been doing what his doctor instructed him to do. Now he is costing taxpayers money. I'm sorry for him, but if you have this disease then you treat it. Who is paying for the operation?

I'm sick and tired of the Republicans calling in blaming Obama for our national debt. This debt was caused by the Bush/Cheney war for oil.

Illegal immigrants should get the H1N1 vaccine, too. That person that said they shouldn't is very uncaring. I hope God doesn't take offense to it.

The rush to pass a health-care bill scares me more than anything this government has done in my 63 years. I agree that health care needs reform, however until this administration deals with the real issues that plague this country, health care will not be reformed.

Are you kidding me? I wouldn't trust anyone but my immediate family to care for my child while I'm at work. I consider myself and my child very fortunate to have this clandestine care available. After all, my unqualified mother just happened to raise four of us to be healthy contributing adults with families of our own. I haven't read recently about any uncertified grandmothers chucking their grandchildren to the floor because they were crying too much! No, they pick them up, find out why they're crying and love them instead. There is no state certification or substitution for unconditional love.

Health care is a basic human right. Americans deserve, at the very least, a strong public option. In addition, you need to support any legislation that will make the insurance companies fall under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.