To the community,

Today I feel compelled to respond negatively to the proposed ban against plastic straws. The people that propose this ban have obviously not thought this through. If ever there was a threat of unintended consequences, this
is one. If plastic straws were banned in South Lake Tahoe, there would be a negative effect on the cheap restaurants that sell soft drinks in a cup. Those soft drinks are sold with a straw so that the kids can drink in the car while mom
or dad drives.

There are other reasons that would make drinking those soft drinks from those restaurants unacceptable. These restaurants would actually lose business. Imagine going through a drive through knowing that you will not be
provided a plastic straw with a plastic lid over that drink. You probably wouldn’t order the drink.

And another thing, I use plastic straws regularly while I drive. The straw keeps the driving safer. With the straw I never take my eyes off the road in front of me when taking a sip through that straw. And in the summertime, I usually do have a soft drink near me while driving. This keeps me well hydrated during half hour drives to Carson City.

I also like the McDonald’s straws. Those are the best. When I have a drink from a McDonald’s I keep that straw and run water through it when I get home. This allows me to use those straws several times. Just try to find a straw like that in a store. I know that you cannot even find stores that sell those straws; they sell cheep little straws.

This idea to ban plastic straws is beyond foolish. If they want to have a positive effect on the environment they should promote the rinsing of straws for reuse. I do it because I don’t like those puny little straws in the stores. Don’t
take away my plastic straws or I will have to move out of town. (Just kidding.)

Daniel Harvey, South Lake Tahoe