Bouquets and Brickbats: Cheers for plastic bag ban

Similar stories:

• Don’t fall for 'robo call' campaign

  Don’t fall for 'robo call' campaign

  A last-minute “robo call” campaign against a countywide plastic bag ban is an ugly attempt to bully local officials into changing their minds. They shouldn’t fall for it.

  A recap: Over the weekend, many county residents received calls from a mysterious organization calling itself the Environmental Safety Alliance, warning that reusable bags can be harbingers of bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses. The calls urged opposition to the ban, which comes up for afinal vote today before the county Integrated Waste Manage ment Authority board.

  We don’t know which is more despicable: That the calls are preying on public fears by portraying reusable bags as public health threats — never mind that many, many people have been using them for years, with no ill effects — or that no one will own up to bankrolling the effort.

• Atascadero shoudn't secede from countywide waste agency

  Atascadero shoudn't secede from countywide waste agency

  Two weeks ago, I was stuck in traffic on Highway 101 near Buellton and soon ordered by a CHP officer to turn around and head back to Santa Barbara. Up ahead I saw black smoke.

  I learned hours later that there had been a terrible traffic collision between a passenger car and a big rig.

  The driver of the truck was killed at the scene. But a young mother and her two children, one only 10 weeks old, survived because they were wearing mandatory seat belts and the children were strapped in car seats.

• Letters to the Editor 1/16

  Letters to the Editor 1/16

  Truth about ID laws

  President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have been accused of trying to “scare up some votes” by opposing the voter suppression movement by the Republican right wing across the nation in this election year. Here are the facts to counter the half-truths and outright lies used to justify the new voter ID laws passed in many Republican run states.

  First, The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN, never committed “voter fraud” as the right wing suggests. A few of their paid registration form gatherers submitted their material, ACORN checked the forms, “tagged” the ones found fraudulent and submitted them all as required by law. The Republican propaganda machine called this Democrats’ “massive fraud and corrupt practices.”

• LA Council moves to ban plastic grocery bags

  LA Council moves to ban plastic grocery bags

  Los Angeles is becoming the nation's largest city to ban plastic bags at grocery stores in an increasingly widespread move to conserve the environment.

• Proposed plastic bag ban in SLO County gets unknown challenge

  Proposed plastic bag ban in SLO County gets unknown challenge

  Over the weekend, San Luis Obispo County residents received automated phone calls and emails asking them to oppose a controversial plastic bag ban that will be before the county’s waste management board for a vote Wednesday.

  The calls came from a group that identified itself as the Environmental Safety Alliance. But the identity of those behind the alliance has been elusive to recipients of the calls, and many proponents of the bag ban believe the alliance may be tied to the plastics industry, which stands to lose millions of dollars should bag bans be upheld.

  The Tribune on Monday tracked down two people involved with the calls. Both denied a connection with the plastics industry, but they were vague about exactly who is bankrolling the alliance.