Shame on you, Gov. Kate Brown and the Legislature, for charging Oregon citizens 5 cents for a paper grocery bag. You chose to make a decision to ban plastic bags, which should have gone to the voters, and yet you make an unpopular decision that only adds hardship to many people of this state. It’s a hardship on the elderly on a fixed and probably less-than-adequate income, the unemployed, and people who make minimum wage or less.

Did you ever stop to think about how unsanitary those other bags are? They are no better than the plastic bags we recently used, and new ones have to be re-purchased every few weeks because they, too, rip, shred and tear. Did you even think about that additional cost? Not to mention the constant hot-water washing of cloth bags to combat cross-contamination. Frequent washing also results in higher utility bills. Voters should be making these decisions, not the state.

Banning plastic bags alone is not going to help the environment; we need to ban all plastic. Next time you go to the grocery store, look at how much plastic is in the cart. Next time you go fishing, hunting or any activity, observe all the plastic you are using, leaving behind or discarding, never to decompose. It’s all plastic that adds to the trash-collecting in the ocean, in the forest, on the beach and along the roads. It’s all plastic that contributes to the deaths of wildlife and marine life. It’s so much more than a bag.

Ann Scarbrough, Gresham