Norman’s Nacogdoches, March 13

Written by Norman Johnson, contributing writer

     I read with a bit of interest and a whole lot of fear and trepidation an article in yesterday’s paper (I don’t have to tell you which one). It dealt with a subject that all of us have been concerned about…grocery bags.

     The Austin city commission has passed a ban that will require grocery stores, like it or not, to stop putting groceries in plastic or paper bags. The store cannot, by law, provide you anything to put your groceries in.

     Many years ago, during the hey day of that city, it developed a reputation for being “weird.” The town had a reputation for things such as a beautiful nude bathing area on lake Travis owned and maintained by Travis County. Tourists flocked to it. Austin City Limits developed a reputation for weird music performed by a bunch of hippies with long hair.

     Guess what? It is now the longest running show in television history. And, o’my gosh I now notice that some of those weird bands are now brought in to perform in our dear city. Have you listened to the lyrics of some of these songs?

     They are scarier than that old gospel song “He will set your fields on Fire.” But I digress which is not unusual.

     Back to the subject at hand, grocery bags. If you’ll notice lately, the grocery stores have these tiny cloth bags (decorator bags) for sale to put your groceries in. I think that’s what this is all about—selling those bags. And the tree huggers just love it. It takes several decorator bags to put all your groceries in. Bag sacking at one time was something of an art.

     The young people who performed these tasks with lightning speed, while juggling other items, behind their back. It’s true. My wife, Lill, and her brother, the late Bubba Mayes used to do this very thing at the old Piggly Wiggly.

     Perhaps tourists might rush into Nac to watch the clerks juggle Antiques behind their backs. We have plenty of those—lovely things.

     Remember when laws were passed to keep men from expectorating on the sidewalks? We just recently passed a law to keep folks from smoking within so many feet from a business. I see people breaking thatlaw constantly. Perhaps NAPD could provide us with numbers as to how many tickets have been issued for that offense.

     The big city tree huggers have arrived in our fair city and we must learn to cooperate with some of their weird ideas. Let’s do a little plagiererism. Perhaps our CVB could adopt a new bumper sticker, “Help keep Nacogdoches weird.”

     I’m not worried. City Manager Jim Jeffers is going to watch the Austin law with interest. Now anything that can spark ole Jim’s interest can’t be all bad.