To the editor:

The city of Lawrence, and the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department, in particular, missed one of the greatest opportunities to be a “green city.”

Our granddaughter played softball in the B National Fast Pitch Softball Tournament last week. It was a grand affair with thousands of people attending and a great summertime boon for the area. But there were no recycling bins anywhere to be found in any of the three softball complexes. I saw bag after bag of trash being hauled off to the dump with thousands and thousands of cans and plastic bottles among the trash.

Lawrence, I was so disappointed in the lack of leadership for these young girls. Isn’t there anyone in our local government who really, really believes in and practices recycling to help our environment? It certainly seems as if the city let us all down in that regard.

A plastic bottle takes thousands of years to biodegrade, so Lawrence contributed to that boondoggle big time this week. Recently, as many as six cities across the United States have banned bottled water due to the pollution caused by the plastic bottles.

Get real, city commissioners of Lawrence. If you want to be leaders, you better get busy.

Joleen S. Bechtel,

Lawrence