Letters to the Editor 11/9

Support ban on bags

Today at 1:30 p.m., the 13-member Integrative Waste Management Agency will consider banning plastic bags in this county.

Unfortunately, Californians still use about 18 billion plastic bags each year, according to the nonprofit group Environment California. Too many of them find their way into the ocean, where they pose a fatal threat to wildlife and add to the Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling gyre of trash in the Pacific Ocean that’s already grown to twice the size of Texas. A study by researchers at UC San Diego found that nearly one in 10 small fish collected in the Pacific had plastic in the stomach.

Please come and be heard. So-called “free bags” are not free, and they are not benign.

Richard Kranzdorf

San Luis Obispo

Bag ban is idiocy

Aside from the economic idiocy of the proposed bag ban — particularly in such distressed times, which have been made worse by so many of the local and county governmental actions in this county in the past few years — on what constitutional or moral basis do you folks believe you have the right to dictate this aspect of our lives and choices as individuals and businesses? Really, I’d love to hear a real answer to that question. This is infuriating.

People are very concerned about all this overreaching, and I can tell you many folks will be working hard in the upcoming elections to make sure we have elected officials who represent the people, not special interests and baseless ideas.

Vote “no” on this egregious proposal. We’re watching!

Laurie Alexiev

Templeton

Let voice be heard

Please make a commitment to come out today and show your support if you care about reducing single-use bag waste in your community. If you know you can’t make it and you’d like to put your comments on the record, please send them in to the Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA) and find their contact info at iwma.com.

The next IWMA meeting is today at 1:30 p.m. at the County Chambers on Monterey and Santa Rosa streets in San Luis Obispo. This is a very important meeting. They will be conducting the first reading of the single-use bag ordinance, which will ban plastic bags and put a 10-cent fee on paper bags. If it passes, then in January it will go to a final vote before the IWMA board.

There are corporate groups against this ordinance and running misleading advertisements in the local media, a shame to the environment and our local community. We need everyone to weigh in on this issue, for our future and livelihood.

Are we honestly going to let the corporate interests stomp out the chance for our local community to be leaders for moving one step closer to a less disposable society? We hope to see you out there, in solidarity.

Victoria Carranza

San Luis Obispo

Cost of low interest

I certainly do not want to get into any confrontation with Mr. Bill Letson, who on Nov. 2 responded to my letter of Oct. 22. In fact, I commend him for volunteering with AARP and preparing “hundreds of tax returns for seniors.” May God bless him for his volunteerism!

I have no doubt that the folks who seek free help with their taxes have minimal interest income, but I also believe there is a greater number of seniors who do have assets that supplement their Social Security, who now are more dependent on SS than before.

The old rule of thumb was a sum of money invested would double every 10 years if nothing was taken from it (about 7.2 percent average return); it now takes 100 years to double. Very tough on folks saving for a home, college, retirement (especially with the trend to 401(k)s and IRAs rather than company pensions). People who work hard and save for their future are being heavily penalized by the federal government’s low interest rate policy — a policy necessitated by heavy borrowing to pay its bills. Again, I ask, does anyone care that the U.S. is headed for bankruptcy?

Hugh Robinson

Nipomo

And on, and on ...

Heaven help SLO if some disaster destroyed many of our roads. A work crew has taken over three months to repair about 100 feet of road on Highland. Every time we think it can’t possibly go on any longer, they manage to find another reason to continue this roadwork 101 fiasco.

My tax dollars at non-work, if you ask me.

Norm Borin

San Luis Obispo

Oily suspects

Although it will never be known exactly what happened to the more than 3 million gallons of crude oil that were onboard the tanker Montebello when it was sunk in December 1941, the greater mystery is who or what sunk the ship. Was it Don Miguel? New Zealand Jack? Timor Tom? One candidate in “The Affidavit” in “Moby Dick” cannot be mentioned in The Tribune in connection with the Montebello, or I would add, “Morquan! King of Japan!”

Hershel Parker

Morro Bay

Destruction’s no joke

Prank? Damaging and destroying grave markers is not a prank, Halloween or otherwise. Prank is defined as a practical joke. There is nothing funny about such destruction. What it is, plain and simple, is desecration. I hope the perpetrators have heard of karma. It is much more serious when spirits are involved.

Rick Tibben

Nipomo

Brave Ms. Launders

Kudos to Patti Launders! On Oct. 20, she wrote a letter to the editor about the Occupy Wall Street movement, after which various people contacted her with other information and opinions. She then changed her mind and noted so in these pages (Oct. 26). That took courage, especially these days, when the prevailing ethic compels a person to forever stick to their guns, as if we are all perfect geniuses the moment we open our mouths. That was a brave action by Ms. Launders, and I admire her for it.

Bonnie Thompson

Los Osos

Took time to get here

I do take issue with Richard Placak’s letter (Nov. 4) in which he writes: “Because of this president, the economy is in the toilet.” Mr. Placak must either be recently returned from a long vacation or have a short memory. Having been reading The Tribune for many years, I remember well the front pages of September 2008, reporting that the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were collapsing, Lehman Brothers was filing for bankruptcy, taxpayers were going to have to rescue the insurance giant American International Group as well as General Motors and Chrysler.

Bush 43 proposed a $700 billion bailout, essentially to salvage the bankers on Wall Street. As many economic pundits have noted, recessions do not happen overnight, and this one began some 10 years ago with the increased deregulation of the banking industry. And getting out of this recessionary mess will take more than three years.

Clement Salvadori

Atascadero

Act appreciated

Thank you to the kind person who returned my wallet at the Atascadero Albertsons. I will most likely never meet you, but I will remember and appreciate your act of kindness forever.

C. Peracca

Templeton