Plenty of people worthy of positive press
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
Twice in the past month I've received phone calls from people who wanted to ask me why I don't write more about topics that would best be categorized as "good news."

One of these faithful readers told me that all I write about "is crooked local politicians and those scoundrels in Albany," while the other told me, "All you do is cry and complain about those jerks."

Both phone calls then ended with requests to show some love to some of the folks who make us proud to be from Western New York.

Duly noted.

Are all local politicians "crooked"? Are all of our elected officials in Albany "scoundrels"? Should any of the above be labeled as "jerks"? I'll let you, the reader, decide because this week it's time to present some positive press.

So we will now hit the pause button and step away from the ugliness that ensued from the Democratic primary for Erie County executive, ignore the latest exchange of barbs between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and take a breath before the Jim Keane vs. Chris Collins war of words really gets rolling as we move closer to Election Day in November.

Never one to let down my fan base, here are a handful of local folks most worthy of some positive press:

• Keith Bender: This local elected official recently resigned from his post. But he didn't do so because he was accused of embezzling money or using his power to get friends and family village jobs or was found to be tapping the foot of someone in the next bathroom stall.

Bender stepped down from his position as a trustee on the East Aurora Village Board because he recently began a 400-day deployment in Afghanistan. A 10-year veteran of the military, Bender is now serving on a transition team to help train the Afghani army. While Bender's work as a village official is to be commended, it's the work over the next year serving our country that is truly noteworthy.

• Donald Quinlan: Orchard Park Town Supervisor Mary Travers Murphy tapped Quinlan to serve as the spokesperson of an advisory group that is researching possible ways to streamline local government and make it more efficient. The six members of the ad-hoc committee have been busy studying how the town and village governments function and offering suggestions to town officials on how they may be able to work with their village counterparts to make local government agencies more efficient. As the man in charge of Graphic Controls, a multimillion dollar company based in Buffalo, Quinlan is working on a volunteer basis with the five other members of the advisory group to watch the bottom line for taxpayers. The discussion of shared services, possible consolidation and the potential dissolution of the Village of Orchard Park has proved to be controversial at times, and Quinlan has worked admirably to present the facts and eliminate the rumors associated with their study.

• Beth Obad: The president of Erie County's chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving was recently selected to participate in their radio and television public service announcements for the Armed Forces Broadcast Network. The PSAs, which were filmed and recorded this summer, will be aired to our troops here in the states as well as abroad. Obad's son, the late George Obad, was a sergeant who served in the Marines until he was killed by an impaired driver following an automobile accident in 1994. Obad also recently traveled to West Point to give her life-saving message of how more than 17,000 individuals are killed each year in needless and horrific crashes that are totally preventable.

• Dorothy Hanson: The recent recipient of an award presented jointly by the State Assembly and Lions Club International, this Hamburg resident was honored for her work as a volunteer for the town's Adult Day Care Program as well as the services she provides as a health insurance information counselor. Well into her 90s herself, she truly enjoys helping others.

(Daniel Meyer is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. For more information on WIN, or to provide feedback on this column, visit our Web site at www.wnynewspapers.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)