To the editor:

It appears that the current City Commission is not old enough to remember why we went to plastics bags in the first place. It was to save the rain forest by not using so much paper from paper bags. However, Lawrence didn’t solve that problem either.

The current alternative now seems to be that we should use thicker, more durable bags. These bags will also go bad in time and could take many more years to decompose than the simple plastic bag. But, hey, they are reusable. To use the term “one-time use” for the average plastic bag is unfair and highly prejudicial. No bag from the local grocery store should ever be thrown into the “one-time use” category. That moniker should be reserved for toilet paper, in most cases, and sanitary pads. I reuse my plastic bags for cat scat, wet clothes from the pool, returning borrowed items, etc.

The option to use plastic bags, if governed, should remain governed by a higher organization than our city government. If not, there will be chaos in the state as each city tries to enforce its own plastic bag referendum. Local control of something that needs to be governed by a higher authority (in this case the state) should seem obvious after what is now happening in the U.S. by allowing abortion policies to be governed at the state level instead of the federal level. Utter stupidity. Keep plastic bags available under current standards. The city can’t fix the rain forest, global warming or any other worldly problem.

Roger Powell,

Lawrence