Bee Heard

(Editor's note: Call The Bee at 632-0390 and record a one-minute comment on our Bee Heard line. 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.

.Now that we've voted, we would appreciate the removal of your signs.

.I was really glad that Ed Rath won the primary for the county legislative seat. My only hope now is that he quickly moves on to state-level politics so he can help clean up things in Albany that our current politicians have not been able to handle. My congratulations to Ed Rath.

.We have another Mohan-manufactured debacle; this time the fiasco is the result of Mohan's interference with the town's annual property assessment program. Didn't the three school superintendents warn him not to make a shambles of the process? That didn't matter. Now we will have to pay higher taxes. Didn't Mohan promise to cut taxes? Anyone who believes what Mohan says has been living on another planet for the last two years. Now he is trying to blame the town assessor for this fiasco. This is typical. Every time Mohan makes a mess of something, he blames someone else; he does not have the integrity to accept blame when he is wrong. The assessor has worked for the town for over 20 years; if he is so inefficient, why has it taken this long to find out?

.Once again, I was at the North French soccer fields this weekend and was appalled by the condition of the portable toilets. This is a town park, and I do not understand why the town cannot install permanent bathrooms. Those portable toilets are disgusting; they are not maintained and smell all the way to the parking lot. We need to have this park maintained better and have real bathrooms installed. There are so many teams playing soccer there and people coming from out of town. It's a disgrace to the Town of Amherst.

.We had a wonderful time at the wine festival called Wine, Wheels and Song last Friday evening. I want to thank everyone who attended; it was great to share a community event among Clarence, Amherst and Williamsville. We had a wonderful time learning about New York State wines. It was a fabulous event where money was raised to go toward safety equipment for the Akron/Newstead bike path.

.Bill Kindel needs to understand the voters' message. He finished fifth of five candidates in the Republican primary. He seems to think all those who didn't vote in the primary will vote for him in the general election. He is dreaming. Bill, it's time to retire; citizens of Amherst are voting for changes.

.I live on Wehrle Drive and yesterday, when I returned home, the political sign on my front lawn was gone. To the person who stole it, it only shows how dishonest you are. Apparently, my choice of candidate must threaten your choice. As soon as I can, I will replace that sign with two signs.

.The Thruway wants to cover its shortfall by raising tolls. This sounds like some businesses that, rather than adjusting their expenses, raise prices to compensate and, of course, the income shortly thereafter. It's doubtful this is going to happen to the Thruway, but it's the best way to drive even more business away. They should consider tightening up expenses and lowering tolls.

.While playing golf at Audubon this past week, I couldn't help but notice how many of the trees being cut down appeared to be in perfectly good shape, except possibly for a branch or two. Their interior showed no signs of rotting or deterioration, yet they were felled. Could it be that people are getting paid for every tree they cut down, and the more, the merrier?

.The caller who criticized Barry Weinstein for not doing anything to clear up the county fiscal mess made an erroneous statement. Barry Weinstein served as legislator on a completely Democratic-dominated board who constantly thwarted any positive efforts on his part. You can't accomplish anything when you are outvoted by a political machine.

.Congratulations to The Amherst Bee for its editorial in the Sept. 26 edition. You told it like it is. The council members are all completely out of control, acting like know-it-alls when they really know very little. And, unfortunately, the supervisor is totally disrespectful of department heads and refuses to respect the expertise they have accumulated over so many years. They are educated and well-trained ladies and gentlemen and should be treated with respect.

.Not only do you guys not have the money to grind stumps, but now you're cutting down trees that weren't even labeled to be cut down. You cut down a wrong tree on our street, and no one here is happy about it, and then you left the stump. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I think the town needs to decide how to handle this better.

.Well, it didn't take long to have my blue garbage tote damaged. The part that connects it to be picked up is all cracked now and I have a softball-size hole along the side of it by that handle. It looks to me that it didn't hook on correctly when they put it on the garbage truck. Now, a nice little rat could fit through that hole, if it wanted to. What do I do now? Will the town replace it at their cost, because it was damaged by the person putting the tote on the truck? I'm really discouraged.

.I, too, have noticed that the beautiful Pepsi Center could use a bit of paint on the inside. Also, the trees on the outside of the building and throughout the parking lot were never trimmed after the October storm. A lot of them are small trees and a lot of branches were broken. I would say at least a third are totally dead and should be removed, another third could be trimmed of broken limbs and the last third probably could use shaping and pruning. It's a shame they look so badly when we have people coming in from out of town.

.I feel badly about Chang's Gardens burning; it was such a great restaurant. My only complaint is that they have not removed the garbage from their business and the odor is very strong. I wish someone would get in there quickly to get rid of it. For those of us who live nearby, the smell is getting unbearable.

.Has everyone forgotten the 2005 Amherst reassessment fiasco? Under the leadership of Harry Williams, our Town of Amherst assessment department has attempted to assign assessed values that differ greatly from the actual market value of our properties. I'm particularly disappointed with Dan Ward. As I recall, back in 2005, Dan conducted two community meetings to identify the problems with the town's assessment procedures, yet I have not heard of any initiatives by the town board to ensure fair assessments for all properties. I applaud Dr. Mohan's decision not to renew Harry Williams' contract, and I urge my fellow residents to be receptive to a fairer assessment process.