(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.

.Is anyone in the town working on replacement of the many trees that will be shown this spring to be dead or dying? It should be started soon. Trees take many years to g ro w.

.I'm glad to see that the Williamsville School Board is on the job, demanding a whopping .014 percent decrease in the budget. In reality, spending is up, way over the consumer price index. It's time to get some real fiscal responsibility in the budget and stop adding unnecessary things, like more modified football teams.

.Amherst Supervisor Satish Mohan is shortsighted in his plan to turn over all Amherst Industrial Development Agency (IDA) functions and decision making to the folks in downtown Buffalo. The people in downtown Buffalo who work at the Erie County IDA have proven themselves unable to handle even Erie County IDA business, let alone to take on Amherst's dynamic economy. Mohan has learned that it is easy to tear down Amherst's institutions, such as the Amherst IDA, but what he apparently hasn't realized is how hard it is to build these responsible and trustworthy institutions in the Town of Amherst.

.I'm concerned that there is so much hullabaloo over illegal imigrants coming to our country, and yet no one seems to care about the jobs that are going from our country to foreign countries. These are good-paying jobs and people are being put out of work, while other workers around the world are getting these jobs. We are patronizing these companies, and yet the work/services are being provided by foreign countries.

.If we have a fund to purchase new school buses, I'd like to know why they did not get them with the white roofs like the other school buses I see on the road. It's about time we get them equipped with air-conditioning; it's still extremely hot when the children begin school and it's also hot in May and June when they are still in school. There is no air circulating, and the windows open only a couple of inches. Is there a committee in charge of purchasing these buses and, if so, are there any taxpayers on it? I would like to know how to get on this committee.

.I'd like to ask Dr. Mohan if his strategy to save on our taxes this year is recycling our Christmas trees at the curb. On a street with 10 houses, we have four trees still sitting since the first week of January. Come on, Dr. Mohan, it's April!

.Please, please think twice before endangering our family's pets and environment with pesticides lawn sprays. Pesticides are poisons designed to kill living things. Organic treatments are just as effective and won't harm anything. Please, make our neighborhood safe for everyone.

.I'd like to take exception with Fran Spoth's accusation that pressure was put on members of the Amherst Republican Committee to vote for Ed Rath in endorsement for the 15th Legislative District. As a longtime committee member, I'd like to say that no such pressure was ever applied to committee members from the 15th District. A good majority of the people on the Amherst Republican Committee do not even know Fran Spoth. Ed Rath did a lot of work for that endorsement and has been involved in the committee for quite some time and is present at all committee meetings, so people know him.

.I am a Republican committeeman in Amherst and I am offended by the suggestion that my vote was unduly influenced when voting on the endorsement for 15th Legislative District. I was there and there was no undue influence.

.Regarding the Dana Heights candlelight situation, I think it gives the area character. If new lights are installed, I believe people will be complaining because the lights are too bright and they will be shining in their bedrooms at night and they won't be able to sleep. Let's leave the candlelights alone in the Dana Heights area and enjoy the softness of the night.

.Attention all school taxpayers, let's clean house! I have to agree with the comment in the March 25 edition of The Amherst Bee. The superintendent of the Williamsville School District and all his colleagues cost us too much money.

.I remember that one of Satish Mohan's campaign promises was to move all bargaining units to a single health insurance carrier. Here it is a year later and still not all units are moved to a single health insurance carrier. It's outrageous that he did not want former Supervisor Susan Grelick to approve the CSEA contract that has saved the town millions of dollars. And even more outrageous that he has blamed Grelick for a deficit that he created by not settling the contracts and moving all units to the single health insurance carrier.

.I'm so sorry that one of your contributors thinks that electric street lights are more important than the town taking care of the rat problem. It's just disgusting. These rats multiply very quickly, and you don't even need any lights. They'll come out during the day, and we have to worry about our children playing outside. It's terrible. People need to get their priorities straight.

.I would like to know who is responsible - the town highway department or Erie County - for the cleanup of Youngs Road between Maple and Sheridan. It's a mess; it looks disgusting. The branches and downed trees have been there since the October stor m.

.Regarding the 30-gallon totes, I love the idea of the totes as opposed to rats. In my neighborhood, where we do have elderly residents, I will be a good neighbor and ask them if I can help pull the tote out for them. They don't have as much garbage as younger people. Residents should be neighborly and help the elderly in their neighborhood.