Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 14:28:29 -0800

From: [a friend]

Subject: Marin News - IN - SF Chronicle

Dear Mr. Doyle,

On behalf of many Marin County residents I would like to thank you for your Feb. 22 story,

"Surprising Twist In Illegal Bike Path." As you doubtless know, illegal bike paths are nothing new

to Marin. Acts of vandalism by mountain cyclists, along with trespassing, harassment of local

residents and park visitors, assault, and injuries to horses and horseback riders have also become

increasingly frequent. However, just how extensive and serious these problems are is difficult to

gauge since our own newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal, has demonstrated a bias favoring

cyclists.

To stem the tide of illegal bike path building, the Marin County Open Space District began not long

ago to consider a proposal to increase law enforcement. The Independent Journal subsequently

printed a series of letters to the editor from cyclists highly critical of the plan. Mr. Michael

More, then a member of the County’s Open Space and Trails Committee, also condemned the proposal,

insisting that simple "education" was the only means to bring the problem to an end. Upon learning

of Mr. More’s arrest I e-mailed a letter on February 12th to the IJ’s editor, discussing cyclists’

opposition to the plan, and pointing out that Mr. More’s strident condemnation of the proposal was

easily understood given that he had only just been caught red-handed digging an illegal bike trail

by federal rangers.

It certainly came as no great surprise to me or my friends that while the paper published the

letter, it conveniently omitted any reference to the newly discovered illegal trail, or to Mr.

More’s arrest. Because many of the IJ’s staff are avid cycling advocates, including Mr. Rick Polito,

whose endless bike pieces litter the paper’s pages with such frequency that one could mistake the IJ

for a bicycling magazine, those in Marin not consumed by an infantile preoccupation for bicycle

riding seldom are given an equal voice. Consequently, none of us were surprised by the IJ’s failure

to inform its readers about the Michael More incident - until AFTER the San Francisco Chronicle

released the news the day before.

My friends and I certainly are thrilled that the Chronicle has printed your story. It seems that

although yours is located in another county, a newspaper staffed by grownups who take their

newspaper's responsibility to its readers seriously has far more to offer Marin residents than one

which, although local, is run more as though it were a day care center for spoiled brats. My

friends and I look forward to reading more about what is going on in Marin - in the San Francisco Chronicle.