Comments of the Week

Some readers criticized the need for banning and asking retailers to charge customers for paper bags.

Connie Action: "This is one of the silliest legal bans I have heard of. I always reuse plastic bags, I [don't] throw them away. I object very much to the idea and consider it government overreach."

Jack Meehan agreed: "What's "evil" about plastic bags? They've been serving us well for many years. This seems aimed at controlling/limiting LITTER by a waste management authority trying to justify its existence. Will it work? Be worth it? Or another government effort to 'protect' us (like banning Happy Meals, etc,.). Speak up!"

Chris Wimmer: "Another thing to charge the poorest of the poor for.
We live in Contra Costa.. not Marin... These bags ARE reusable... I put lots of non-recyclable trash in them."

Audra Holland's column about the prospect of the got mixed reaction.

From Kim: "Pools are important to a community and positive for kids in our world of obesity and video games. All citizens in West County should do anything they can to save the pool!"

Charles Vermette replied: "The swim team should have fundraisers and Facebook, twitter and the community publication should be used to bring awareness of the situation."

Chris Wimmer presented the value of and the challenges for such community resources:

"What is the REAL operating budget for the swim center? Does anyone have a handle on it? What is the REAL operating budget for the Senior Center? What is the REAL operating budget for the Youth Center? What is the REAL operating budget for the Parks and Rec department?

ALL of these are important to those that use them... All of these are important to the taxpayers. In past years I have used ALL of them... but rarely use them today. This does not mean though that it is not important for me to support them through tax revenue.

If we close these... we lose our soul... if we lose our soul... we'll lose our long term well being... Life is full of difficult choices. Each of these areas have people that follow them TODAY... (like I did in the past). I am a proponent of fee for use... not excessive fees... but fees to help offset some of the cost. Look at the Richmond Plunge... they charge a fee ... and they are busy ALL the time...

Before we get emotional... about any one of these important services... and have each special interest group go at these one at a time.... it might be good to look at this in a holistic approach... Each area should be required to recoup a certain percentage of their operating budget from those that use it TODAY.. and let the tax payers carry basic, behind the scenes expenses."

A early Saturday morning generated a couple of light-hearted comments.

From Pinolian: "I was having trouble sleeping, then the house started to shake very much like there was a very large animal (like a bear!) crawling around on the roof. Once I realized it was not a large animal but an earthquake, I exchanged one fear for another. Lasted about five seconds, no aftershocks that I felt. Neighbor dog, that usually bark at anything, slept right through it."

judith wrote: "Crazy - I had the same experience. I was up, reading, and the roof shook violently for 2 seconds. The dogs became alarmed, stared at me, and when there was silence for another 20 seconds, eventually went back to what they'd been doing. Also in Pinole."