Playground should close for Memorial Day event
This year, as in years past, I had the pleasure of attending the Memorial Day parade and ceremony in Downers Grove.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars and all of the participants do a great job each year of providing the community with a respectful ceremony in which to honor our fallen military.

This year, as in years past, I’ve been disappointed by the amount of noise coming from the playground in Fishel Park during the ceremony. Is it possible that the playground be closed during the ceremony?

Don’t get me wrong, I have a 2-year-old who would much rather be partaking in the fun on the playground than sitting still watching a ceremony she doesn’t understand. However, my husband and I feel strongly that this is a life lesson that we can all teach our children.

Memorial Day isn’t just about a day off of work or BBQs or a mark to the beginning of summer.
It’s about taking time to genuinely reflect on the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could all enjoy that three-day weekend, the BBQ’s and our upcoming summer.
It’s not just about respecting the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice but about paying respect to their families as well. These are people who must endure each day without a loved one in their life because they made the choice to fight for you.

This isn’t about being pro-war or anti-war or anything like that. It’s about being appreciative for others who have gone before us to protect our freedoms.
So I make a plea to parents, please save the playground time for a more appropriate time and encourage your kids to watch the ceremony and help them understand what it means. Better yet, I make a request to the village to block off the playground during the ceremony so the playground noise and the ceremony aren’t fighting for air space.

Sheryl Van Anne, Downers Grove

Trout used poor judgment with Memorial Day speech
Westmont Fire Chief Frank Trout exhibited extremely poor judgment in using the village Memorial Day ceremony to voice his personal political opinions. It was evident he was aware that his comments would be controversial since he repeatedly mentioned that he was speaking as a veteran, not as fire chief.

If this is an example of Mr. Trout’s judgment, the citizens of Westmont have cause to worry about his ability to perform effectively as fire chief and whether or not he performs his duties in the best interest of all the citizens.

Sue Stealey, Downers Grove

Memorial Day dishonored by Democrats’ political junk
I can’t comment on whether the content of the fire chief’s speech was appropriate as I didn’t hear it. I probably would have agreed with his views, however, judging from what I read in the Westmont Progress.

The shameless handing out of political junk along the parade route by the DuPage Democrats was very inappropriate and disgusting to me. It was Memorial Day, not Columbus Day, but I don’t think the Democrats know the difference.

Joseph Bukovsky, Westmont

Legislators thankfully didn’t pass civil unions bill
The regular session of the Illinois General Assembly recently came to a close. And despite all the pro-homosexual propaganda in favor of the civil unions bill, it thankfully didn’t pass.

Those objective and intelligent enough to see through that propaganda know the bill didn’t make any sense. The facts simply do not justify either that bill or homosexual activity.

For example, homosexuals want you to believe homosexuality is not a disorder. But any thinking person knows a homosexual mind trapped in a body clearly designed for heterosexual sex is a sure sign that something went wrong somewhere (in nature or nurture — and nature makes mistakes all the time).

And homosexuals want you to believe homosexual activity is moral. But thinking people have known for centuries that it is immoral because it is a bad and absurd legal precedent. There are all kinds of other consenting-adult, sexually aberrant people out there waiting for their “rights.”

Wayne Lela, Woodridge