Letters to the editor for the week of July 31, 2008

Staff
Published: July 30, 2008

Customer service

We have a serious problem with many who are employed in Amherst County government, and it’s time for it to be addressed. Most are not taxpayer-friendly. You can call or e-mail and no reply ever comes, with the exception of the Sheriff’s Department, one nice lady at the Board of Equalization and Chris Adams of the Board of Supervisors. Since we pay their salaries, they should be eager to get back to us quickly. They are not serving the citizens of Amherst County, with the exception of “their” friends. The rest of us are left out in the cold.

When you go out there, have you ever noticed how many look at you as if you are their worst nightmare? I can understand that if they know who I am, but most don’t and they still give you that glare.

It is time for the department heads (and some under them) to be “people friendly” and serve the people like they do each other. If not, they need to be replaced.

A word of advice: Take time to be useful and friendly towards your “employers” … that would be us taxpayers. The elections are looming.

We need people out there that make you feel welcome and will bend over backwards to help you. That has not been done. Enough of the “good ole boy” mentality.

If I worked out here, you would see a big difference, because I would be very aware of who was paying my salary. I would treat those I served with respect and give them all the help they could ever want. I would find answers for them and not just leave them stranded. Where have all the good public servants gone? They sure aren’t in Amherst.

Mary M. Nash
Amherst

Defending the bear

During a public meeting held on July 18, I was accused of harassing the bear hunters, by writing on my chalk board about illegal activities that took place on my property without my permission.

The harassment allegations, by some bear hunters, included the fact that I had appeared on TV telling about these and other illegal activities. The harassment allegations also included the fact that I had helped to have a program presented to the general public about the black bear, which argued that baiting bear is not good for the bear or people who come in contact with baited bear. The program also expressed in detail why baiting bear is harmful not only to the bear population but to their future, and showed why bear sometimes must be killed due to the fact they have become dependent on human feedings.

All of these activities I did in the open, in front of the public, not trying to hide or conceal anything that I did.

None of these activities is illegal, and many were done only after I had consulted the local law enforcement authorities.

What I did was to help stop illegal activities from occurring, that most people know nothing about because it was done secretively and hidden from the public and the law. I do no believe that openly and legally trying to defend the law is harassment, but I do know baiting bear on private and public lands is illegal.

Clinton Curtis Crump
Amherst