Bee Heard

(Editor's note: Call The Bee at 632-0390 and record a one-minute comment on our Bee Heard line. It gives readers an opportunity to comment quickly and candidly on items of local or regional interest. Callers do not have to identify themselves and no callers' names will be used. In the interest of fairness and good taste, The Bee will not publish derogatory or insulting comments. All comments are by our readers and are subject to editing.

.I want to congratulate and commend all the students in the Amherst High School Conservative Club, also the administration at the high school and all the local businesses in Snyder and North Cheektowaga that made possible the terrific Sept. 11 flag memorial on the lawn of the high school a couple of weeks ago. Too many people in this country would just like to put Sept. 11 behind us, and it was nice to see a group of students do something to honor those who died on that tragic day as well as honoring those who are fighting today to protect our freedom. Also thanks to The Bee for doing a nice job publicizing that memorial.

.I've lived here for over 30 years, and every year I've contributed to the fire department. After reading the article written in The Bee by Supervisor Mohan and finding out how they are wasting our tax dollars, I am not going to contribute any more money to them. Let them get their money from somebody else, not the hardworking taxpayers of Amherst!

.Ten volunteer fire companies in the Town of Amherst and not one person pulls a paycheck out of it! Satish made the irresponsible mistake of promising 15 percent tax cuts to get himself elected. He can't go after the union contracts legally any more with the police and town workers, so now he goes after the fire companies and tries to make good on that irresponsible promise. That's not leadership; that's recklessness!

.If a member of any of the fire companies in the Town of Amherst responded to my residence at 2 a.m. to answer a call for a medical emergency or a fire, what does it matter what his daytime employment is? Value these fine individuals for what they do for us as volunteers on their own time, and leave what they do as a career out of the picture. There are 24 hours in a day, not just eight. It is of their own time that they dedicate themselves to rigorous training demands, keeping updated on medical, firematic and state regulations. I don't wear the gear, so I am certainly aware enough to be thankful for those who do.

.If Dan Ward is running for county executive, then he should resign his town board position. Anyone who runs for higher office should resign, then maybe we could get someone in there to do the job he was doing!

.I find it ridiculous that every week people call commending Amherst Police officers for a job well done. They are just doing their job!

.With the loss of the D.A.R.E. program in our schools as a result of the supervisor's cuts, we have lost intervention, prevention and education. This was a sad and unfortunate decision for the youth of Amherst and the community as a whole. With the forfeiture of programs such as these that provide Amherst the benefit of real-life education, we are forcing our law enforcement and emergency personnel to become reactive to incidents instead of proactive in prevention. Sad. Whatever happened to the Amherst that was?

.To the customer at the store on Transit Road who called the police because a bird had purposely defecated on her car, you need to volunteer some time at the police station to pay them back for that foolish call.

.Thanks, Satish, for more cuts! Now the police department was forced to cut the D.A.R.E. program just at the time when my children are reaching that critical age in school when they need to learn the importance of drug awareness. I guess the fire departments are up next, according to The Bee. What's next? I moved here for a reason - for the services, and all Satish wants to do is cut them.

.As a lifelong resident of the Town of Amherst (over 50 years), I am very unhappy with our supervisor. He is trying to take away all the hard work that all our departments do in this town that provide an excellent service for residents. I don't think town taxes are that high; I think it's all the state and county mandates that make it rough for all taxpayers. Maybe what our supervisor needs to do, if he doesn't like all those high taxes, is pack his bags with his family, friends and supporters and move to another town or city. The residents want the service this town provides and are willing to pay for it.

.Isn't it time for a breath of fresh air? A time to relive the stranglehold on Washington by one party that has led to unethical behavior and indictments? Isn't it time to truly make our country secure by relieving us of the $1.5 billion per month tax burden that Iraq uses and start rebuilding our own infrastructure? Aren't you angry that torture and invasion of privacy are even discussed by Americans for compromise? The time is now to elect new people with fresh ideas, beholden to no one, who really do

care that the needless loss of soldiers will soon exceed our losses on Sept. 11.

.I don't know that much about Jack Davis, but why don't we give him a try? Everyone who is in and hasn't done anything for our communities should be voted out, so we can try another person. Maybe we'll end up with a good person who will make a difference. Tom Reynolds has had his turn.