I am amazed to read that the Kirkland City Council is spending time and city resources on consideration of an ordinance to outlaw plastic shopping bags.

Ordinances such as this are an intrusion in the life of every citizen and business in Kirkland and an infringement on our rights to make our own decisions about shopping bags, or any other article in the market place, based on our own economic, practical and moral considerations. Such an infringement by government should only occur when there is a compelling interest in the matter for the protection of the citizens.

By no stretch of anyone’s imagination can my selection of “paper or plastic” be considered one in which the city of Kirkland has a compelling interest.

Council members, please use my taxes and your time for matters of importance to the city and not in trying to run the details of my life for me.

Jim Peterson, Kirkland