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'm wondering why there are no plows out on Saturday evening at 9:30. We know there was a 36-hour storm, so wouldn't the highway department think about splitting their crews in half, so half would be out now and half would be out later, so then the roads would be clean?

.The joy of driving has left me. There are too many people on the road who fail to observe a stop sign and think they can roll through, drivers running red lights who will crash into me if I do not hesitate that extra minute when I have the green light (of course, the person behind me is losing his patience and leaning on his horn). Thursday, on Campus Drive, I observed two drivers passing a stopped school bus (red lights blinking) picking up students. Unbelievable the lack of consideration of some drivers too busy talking on their cell phones. Please, let's position cameras at strategic points on Getzville, Sheridan, Harlem, Campus and Main Street. These cameras take a picture of the driver, car and license plate and indicate time and date. Tickets are mailed, no argument. It seems there is money for everything else, except for accidents waiting to happen.

.I really wish the Amherst Police would ticket cars parked in the street overnight. On Joanie Lane, we have had one to two cars all season long whose drivers seem to think it is their right to park in the street. It causes problems when the plows can't properly plow; it's a nuisance for plow drivers and residents. We are tired of it; the town could have made a fortune this year. Please, ticket these parked cars.

.As one of the many residents living on Getzville Road, I want to thank the Amherst Police for cracking down on motorists who choose to ignore the stop and speed limit signs on the street. We hope this enforcement continues.

.It is against the law to take the snow from your driveway and put it across the street on other people's lawns or on property they don't own. I hope Amherst Police look into this, especially on Sweet Home Road. I've seen many people doing this.

.Granted, we had one of the largest snowfalls in several years, but if everyone would remember how the street intersections were prior to the supervisor's budget restraints. There were no icy or slippery intersections with no salt or sand on site; we also put up snow fences whenever drifting occurred on certain streets. I've lived in Amherst for 55 years, and have never had this kind of situation. We need change from the top down; we have cut budgets in the wrong places. Cut out the overtime and take the highway employees out of coffee shops and restaurants. Someone should investigate this blatant abuse.

.Satish Mohan's recent change in party affiliation won't help to make him a leader. It will only help to accelerate the deteriorating relationship between him and town board members. The only change that Amherst needs is a new supervisor.

.Thanks to Council Member Guy Marlette and Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson for the excellent job of plowing sidewalks on Sheridan Drive from Frankhauser to Mill.

.An Amherst Bee editorial from Feb. 20 stated the proposed annual cost to run Williamsville Schools is $37 million more than the 2008 budget for the Town of Amherst. There are three school districts in the town. Please write a news article about the proposed cost for Amherst, Sweet Home and Williamsville schools. Please show the total proposed annual spending for all three school districts. Please indicate the number of enrolled students and the number of Amherst citizens versus what it costs to run the town. If you put this on the front page indicating how the money is spent, hopefully it will make quite an impact.

.I live on Maple Road. It is impossible to keep sidewalks, which are only two feet from the road, open during winter. I shovel twice each day, only to have plows go by again and again and keep filling the sidewalks. A person would have to be home 24/7 all winter long to keep sidewalks open on Maple Road. The town needs to do something to help homeowners, instead fining us for something that is impossible to do.

.To all Amherst residents, we are being shortchanged by the highway superintendent. Was your street plowed on Friday, March 7, through Tuesday, March 11? It seems the highway superintendent favors plowing and treating Fruitwood and Patrice Terrace down to bare pavement while leaving neighboring streets untouched. From March 7 to March 11, we saw no plows or salters.

.When someone is an elected politician, their political party affiliation is the public's business. Furthermore, the big deal about Mohan changing from Republican to Democrat is that the values he ascribes to are not those of the Democratic Party. Wake up, people. Members of neither party want anything to do with him; they know him far better than the general public. The Republicans are thrilled to be rid of him, and the Democrats want no part of him.

.I want to thank the Amherst building code enforcement officers for driving around on March 7 during the height of the biggest snowstorm in three years and then returning to his business and typing approximately 5,000 letters to non-MJ Peterson or non-Benderson property owners and mailing them out the following day. They were received on March 8, requesting business owners to shovel sidewalks or they would be fined. It was a very good way to waste taxpayer dollars.

.I note with great interest that callers to this column in support of Satish Mohan routinely refer to any criticism of Mohan as must having come from town employees who have "ridden the gravy train for far too long and are receiving benefits far in excess of those received in the private sector." This is the farthest thing from the truth. It is Mohan, himself, who sets himself up for this criticism by not doing his homework and expecting to make big news headlines splashes when he decides to change party affiliation. It must have been the happiest day in the lives of Amherst Republican Committeemen that Mohan decided to leave the Republican Party. This is the best news they have had since at least the 1980s.

.In response to the article about police officers in the schools, I hope these are off-duty police officers, because I can't even get police officers to Dana Heights to investigate traffic violations.

.In response to the callers who commented on the use of police officers to patrol the Williamsville high schools after school hours, I found out that it costs the district nearly $32 per hour per officer at a total cost of nearly $300 a day or $58,000 per year. Wouldn't this money be better spent to have the officers in the schools when all students, faculty and staff are in the building? This present arrangement should be reconside re d .

.The Williamsville School Board and administration have an obligation to do what is right at Williamsville South. At most major corporations, this would have been dealt with long ago to let business get back to normal. Enough of this nonsense.