Dear Editor, I have read and want to comment on the pending bag
ordinance. My wife and I have been following this environmental
issue since the implementation of our own bag abatement program two
years ago. We are strong advocates of

reuse and reduce.

Our goal has been to recycle every material we came in contact
with during our normal business day such as cardboard, glass,
plastic and foam packing materials. Our soup and ice cream cups can
be composted and we personally use washable plates and glasses at
work and home. I’ve even reused my Styrofoam cups from the drive-in
until the bottom falls out. We don’t put anything in the landfill
until it’s used up. My wife is known around work and home as
the

Recycling Nazi.

We do everything we can to manage our business in a responsible
manner and remain extremely conscious of what we do to our
environment.
Grocery bag tax is a bad idea

Dear Editor,

I have read and want to comment on the pending bag ordinance. My wife and I have been following this environmental issue since the implementation of our own bag abatement program two years ago. We are strong advocates of “reuse and reduce.” Our goal has been to recycle every material we came in contact with during our normal business day such as cardboard, glass, plastic and foam packing materials. Our soup and ice cream cups can be composted and we personally use washable plates and glasses at work and home. I’ve even reused my Styrofoam cups from the drive-in until the bottom falls out. We don’t put anything in the landfill until it’s used up. My wife is known around work and home as the “Recycling Nazi.” We do everything we can to manage our business in a responsible manner and remain extremely conscious of what we do to our environment.

After attending a workshop two years ago we started our march toward bag reduction by asking employees to bring us the bags they had at home to be reused in the store. Once they were tapped out we started asking customers. We also shifted paradigms and asked customers if they “needed” a bag. It’s made a huge difference. Our bag supplier thought we went out of business. Some customers are amused when they get a Macy’s or Target bag at our store. Fellow retailers asked “How can you do that with the importance of appearances, branding and such?” The answer? Being smart is our brand!

Given our success with bag reduction the complicated and unnecessary creation of another taxing authority will increase bureaucracy and be a burden to small businesses. We would be smarter to advocate for education than taxes. Another layer of governmental paperwork is unrealistic unreasonable and darn right mean. It’s a thin disguise to collect more revenue in the name of environmentalism to be levied on already overstressed business owners.

I offer a simple solution to retail bag use. It proposes to think outside the box and could set an example for the future. It’s called “City Bags.” Every retail store provides a station at the front of their business where reusable bags would be available. We would ask everyone to bring in reusable bags that have been collected and leave them at any store that participates. These bags would be used over and over and customers won’t have to worry about remembering to bring a bag with them when they buy more than was planned. Those customers who don’t like used bags are welcome to bring their own reusable bag.

Large companies might take the marketing opportunity to restock our supply of bags when the supply is diminished or we could send out a message asking citizens to dig out their bags and bring them to any store for re-use. Those local and regional programs whose job it is to reduce waste can help us set up such a program.

In summary, I am against making all retailers charge for bags and pay a tax. I encourage you to take an educational approach that prompts responsible bag usage recycling and alternative merchandise conveyance. Give businesses a choice provide a bag recycling station or collect the bag tax.

Brad Jones, President BookSmart Enterprises, Morgan Hill

Get off the Obama bashing

Dear Editor,

Responding to a letter in the Jan. 16 edition, I would like to humbly ask “Can you folks with the Obama-isn’t-an-American conspiracy obsession just get a grip and move on?” There never was any credible evidence to support the ridiculous notion that he was born anywhere except Hawaii, but if you tell a lie often enough some people assume it must be true. Consider: if Obama was shown to have been born outside the United States it would have handed the Presidency to John McCain on a silver platter, so doesn’t it make sense that the Republican Party and its highly-paid, highly-motivated army of opposition researchers would have moved heaven and earth to dig up something to support the rumor?

Obviously the reason why the charge never went anywhere is because people did indeed check it out in detail and found that there was nothing to it.

How much sense does it make that some rabid amateur anti-Obama blogger could dig up solid, credible bombshell evidence that by itself would determine the outcome of a Presidential election but a major political party with everything to gain from it couldn’t? Or does Mr. Davis believe that the GOP was in on the conspiracy to get its opponent elected? Try a little common sense.

Robert B. Mitchell, Morgan Hill

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