I realize that this is a week late, but it is the first chance I have had to send my comment on your article of Jan. 2, 2008, entitled 'Metropolitan Market First Here to Have Reusable Bags.'

If this is the way you research all your articles, then I wonder if we are wasting our money on your paper! All the stores in West Seattle (Safeway, PCC, QFC, And several others) have had reusable bags for some time. Even Costco, which isn't far from West Seattle, has excellent, large ones for sale. And they all cost much less than the '$2.00 each' that you quote Metro Market will be charging. And they are all sturdy and appropriate. I can't say if they are all made from recycled material, but that is, perhaps, something you could research.

This article is just a cheap stab at free publicity for a store which is behind all its competition in instituting these bags, and free publicity for our mayor, who is always campaigning. We were present at the downtown tree lighting ceremony, when he worried our grandchildren by telling them that the North Pole is melting and Santa and the reindeer will drown. Preposterous!

As for the scare that we won't have enough water for electricity if there isn't enough snow - that will be a very unlikely scenario, as we have so much hydro electricity that we sell it to other states. If the City of Seattle is so poorly organized that they might run out, then the mayor should be using his time not to shop at Metropolitan Market, but to meet with the officials who control the water power, and make agreements to buy some extra power if the city is running short.

Our mayor is trying to portray himself as a green politician, and that might be more believable if he stopped riding around in a limo and rode the bus (or maybe a bicycle). You can likely tell that I am not one of his best supporters, but that isn't the point of this letter. Do your research. Don't give credit to a business for doing something radical and new when all the competition has been doing it for at least several months. Hand out the credit fairly.

Donna Williams

West Seattle