I am happy to say that I wholeheartedly support the bag fee at the big grocery stores, and I especially support the City Council members who are being targeted for merely being sensible in this day and age.

It’s time for the grumblers to really look at what they’re complaining about: America has entered a new phase where we must review how our lifestyles are affecting our environment and to change anything, we must act as a unit rather than just as individuals. As a nation, we are beginning to see the effects of exponential population growth, and that what seems small to one person is actually huge in impact when multiplied by millions.

Bringing our own bags to the grocery store is such a small thing to get used to. We have to start somewhere, so why not do sensible things that don’t infringe on anybody’s constitutional rights? There is so much packaging on groceries as it is, and many opportunities for E. coli contamination besides the bagging area. Clearly, we’ve all survived these dangerous scenarios, because our bodies are designed to fight off these inevitable germs that are in any public place.

So, I thank the council members for representing Durango’s values by making sensible, big picture decisions even in the face of the naysayers. This is not politics – it’s common sense.

Susy Raleigh

Durango