Remember to keep pets safe on Halloween
With Halloween right around the corner, the following precautions should be kept in mind to ensure that your pet has a safe Halloween.

Keep your pet in a quiet place, away from trick-or-treaters and other Halloween activities. Your pet could become frightened or upset by the knocking on the door or the bell ringing. With all the activities, your pet may become unnoticed and escape from your home. Be sure all pets are wearing collars and ID tags.

Place live flame decorations like jack-o-lanterns out of your pet’s reach. Curious pets can be easily burned by the flame and/or start a fire.  
Keep candy away from pets. Chocolate can be toxic. Also, candy wrappers can be harmful if swallowed.

Pet Costumes: If you decide to dress up your pet, make sure the costume is safe for your pet and doesn’t constrain its movement, hearing or ability to breathe. Also check the parts of the costume for parts that your pet could chew off and choke on. Any dangling pieces like flowing capes could injure her also.

Don’t let the family pet go on the trick-or-treating outing. With all the spooking and strange sights and sounds your pet may become frightened and get loose.

Keep decorations that pets could chew on, like streamers and fake spider webs, wires and cords from electric decorations out of reach. If your pet chews on Halloween decorations, they could choke or become ill. If they chew on electric cords, they risk a potential deadly electrical shock.

Pets could also become tangled and injured by dangling cords or decorations.
Have a safe and happy Halloween, and please keep your pets safe too.

Susan Masek, Cicero

Palin is not a good choice for vice president
I agree with Jean Rodgers that Sarah Palin is not a good choice for the country. When she told reporter Charlie Gibson that she would be willing to go to war with Russia if it decided to invade a nearby country that is a NATO ally, she showed how dangerous she is. If John McCain were to be elected, she would be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

President George W. Bush showed us how costly in tax dollars, human lives and soured relations with other countries a war with a small nation such as Iraq can be. Imagine the catastrophic effects of a war with a nation the size of Russia, which would more than likely involve China, North Korea, former Soviet republics, as well as many Middle Eastern Arab states. Such a scenario reeks of Armageddon.

Undoubtedly, Sarah Palin’s bravado, love of guns and warhawkishness will impress many of the people who put and kept Bush in office for two terms. I know it will give them a surge of machismo to parrot some of her rhetoric. But I hope it will wake up the rest of the U.S. electorate who are sick and tired of mounting U.S. casualties, squandered tax dollars and damaged relations with the rest of the world.

I will not denigrate the sacrifice Sen. John McCain made during his military career, but I strongly question his choice for a running mate and many of the stands he has taken in recent years. For that reason, I will endorse Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. If McCain-Palin were to win, it would be Bush-Cheney all over again.

William Bejda, Cicero

Former alderman plans 2009 mayoral campaign
At the last city election in 2005, the old Democratic Party was voted out of office in Berwyn. That was a great day for Berwyn since they were corrupt and wasted taxpayers’ money. They constantly increased our taxes and refused to curb spending.

Unfortunately, the newly elected party, led by Mayor O’Connor, did nothing to remedy the situation, instead running Berwyn into a higher and higher deficit. Berwyn is running $2.5 million in the red and laid off 12 people to help cut expenses. This won’t solve the problem since these people obviously do not earn $2.5 million. City salaries will go up next year as set in union contracts, costs of supplies will increase and revenues are sure to decrease further. What will Mayor O’Connor do next year, lay off 50 employees?

It is time to develop a plan for Berwyn instead of knee-jerk reactions. Their No. 1 campaign promise was that of reforming city government. Unfortunately, not long after the 2005 election, Mayor O’Connor’s lack of leadership and continuation of the Democrats cronyism led to a complete disintegration of his party, with everyone fighting at meetings instead of working together for the improvement of Berwyn.

I have been approached by many residents and business owners to run again for re-election. I have decided that I can’t just sit by and watch our city run further and further in debt. I am therefore announcing that I will be a candidate for mayor of Berwyn and am seeking other candidates who want to join with me in true reform and fiscal responsibility. We do not want a return of either the Democrats of O’Connor’s form of government.

Alex Bojovic, former 2nd Ward alderman