Bee Editorial
Regional IDAs can't offer the same attention
      The reason for local newspapers, governments, industrial developmental agencies and other entities is to represent the best interests of a town or village. In the hands of a larger agency or organization, the "little" people and their concerns are lost.
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Spindle items
JESSICA FINCH Associate Editor
      + UPSIDEDOWN LIGHT - St. Patrick's Day is obviously a big holiday for many Western New Yorkers, but having spent a lot of time in Syracuse I learned that city is equally as celebratory. In fact, Syracuse has proved how proud its Irish population is. On Tipperary Hill hangs the only upside-...
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Spindle items
by TREY MEASER Publisher
      + 100 YEARS AND COUNTING - As our newspaper company soon starts its 128th year, I look back at my 40 years at The Bee as a keeper of family and community publishing. My family will be celebrating 100 years of ownership of The Amherst Bee this week.
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Out of the Past
      125 Years Ago March 16, 1882 In the State of New York there are 900 volunteer fire companies with an active membership of 30,000. Last Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Michael Windnagle, aged 57 years, 5 months and 9 days, passed quietly from this earth, after a long and painful illness with dropsy, com...
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It's never too early to start election speculation
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
      The great thing about being a political columnist is roughly the equivalent of wanting a beer at about 11 o'clock Saturday morning. You know that you should really wait another hour or so before cracking the first cold one of the weekend, but at the same time, as the rationalization goes, it's alwa...
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Budget process keeps education in focus
HOWARD S. SMITH Williamsville School Superintendent
      Every year we face the challenge of developing a budget that meets the educational needs of our students while remaining fiscally responsible to our taxpayers.
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County prepares for pandemic flu
JOEL GIAMBRA Erie County Executive
      As we all have been hearing over the past several months, the world is bracing for the onset of a pandemic influenza outbreak. The World Health Organization has been tracking various strains of influenza worldwide and is providing guidance to those countries affected and educating those which may b...
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Measer family celebrates a century of journalism
by DAVID F. SHERMAN Managing Editor
      One hundred years ago this week, a dedicated printer took a risk by buying the local newspaper from the family that started it. George J. Measer purchased The Amherst Bee from the widow of Adam Rinewalt, the man who founded it on March 27, 1879. Rinewalt died in 1902. Then on March 18, 1907, The ...
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Community service vital part of newspaper effort
By RETIRED BEE PUBLISHER GEORGE J. MEASER
      From dirt roads to paved expressways, from farmers selling their products at home to overflowing supermarkets, from local news in the printed form to still local news in the printed form and the Internet, the Measer family has seen it all. March 18, 1907 was an important date for our family for ...
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