During the December 10 Sumter County Board of Commissioners’ meeting, Commissioner Jim Reid proposed a plastic bag ban.

Before announcing the proposed ban, he first praised the new mowing contractor. “Now this excellent job he’s doing has presented, made us aware, of another problem.” He told how it revealed large amounts of trash. He held aloft a plastic bag.

Reid was adamant. “My question is, Chairman Baldwin, can we, as a Board of Commissioners, outlaw these things? Now I realize I sound like a tree hugger from California, however I’m not. I want to cut the tree down, and make a paper bag out of it.”

He told how the plastic bags were not only unsightly, but negatively affected agriculture. “The problem is they go into a cotton field, they get in the cotton, and if they catch it at the classing office, that bale of cotton is severely discounted. If the classing office misses it, and it makes it to the spinning mill, it will shut the spinner, it will shut it down.”