Portsmouth Herald
Jan. 6 To the Editor:
Although they disagreed with each other, writers Cheri Bach and Mark Brighton both made some valid points about the students who pressured the Portsmouth City Council to change its stance on postponing the plastics and Styrofoam bans, even though this action could have adverse legal and financial consequences.
Ms. Bach correctly praised the students idealism and organizational skills. Mr. Brighton rightly noted that their actions did raise some larger concerns, such as the substitution of indoctrination for critical thinking in our schools.
This incident also highlighted the influence of non-taxpayers on Portsmouth s policy-making, although the consequences of these decisions will be felt more acutely by tax-paying Portsmouth residents and business owners. The students themselves are probably too young to be taxpayers. I noticed that the most outspoken student-activists who were quoted were from Rye and Greenland, so their pa