Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for April 6, 2025
Don’t let our beautiful parks become unprotected
I would like to give many thanks to Elizabeth Connell Nielsen, who wrote the achingly beautiful Marin Voice commentary regarding the protection of treasured native land (“Don’t let administration strip our beloved protected lands,” March 31).
My family spent many summers camping in state and national parks on our trips to visit relatives in Canada. What fond memories I still have of breathtaking views of mountains, forests, lakes, oceans and deserts.
I was a grant-writer and fundraiser for the California State Parks Foundation years ago. I spent many happy hours with park rangers, volunteers, staff and donors who tirelessly spent their time and lives continuing to make our parks beautiful, affordable, clean and safe for future generations to enjoy.
It was not unusual for just a handful of rangers to be responsible for “policing” and protecting large, vast areas in some of our parks. They had limited resources and many challenges, but I never heard them complain.
As I get older, I see these treasured gems and the people who cherished and protected what we enjoy today starting to slip away faster than ever.
On April 22, I am looking forward to celebrating the 55th anniversary of the first Earth Day. Actually, right now, we should treat every day like it’s Earth Day. We need to do more than just give thanks for our glorious lands. We must do whatever is possible to protect them for tomorrow.
The classic lyrics by the band Cinderella in 1988 warned: “Don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.” Unfortunately, that’s not just a line in a song anymore, it is becoming a reality.
— Janet Lee Benjamin, Tiburon
Padilla, Schiff, Huffman need to be visible now
I am a 63-year-old Marin resident who voted for senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, as well as Rep. Jared Huffman, in 2024. Now, in 2025, I see that our country is in a dire state. I believe the rule of law is being overwhelmingly compromised by the Republican Party, as well as by many within the Democratic party.
I am counting on my elected representatives to step up and fight like hell for us. I urge Padilla, Schiff and Huffman to hold as many town halls with constituents as possible. I urge them to hear us out.
I may not always agree with those three on all of their policy choices, but I will support them 100% when it comes to the fight against the dismantling of our democracy. I want to support them through this anti-democratic, anti-working class, pro-billionaire time in America.
— Alexandra Topper, Greenbrae
State must limit qualified immunity for officers
Many social media channels are replete with videos of police misconduct and corruption. In the past (before security cameras, dashcams, cellphone video and body-worn cameras) if law enforcement was accused of impropriety, the public was nearly always pushed to trust the officer’s account. Surely, before the video revolution, many officers lied.
American taxpayers pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for police misconduct. Civil juries are rightly angered at seeing police kill or cripple unarmed subjects while shielded from criminal prosecution by “qualified immunity,” which shields law enforcement from civil lawsuits. It was created in 1982 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Behavior that would send others to prison often does not even cost a police officer their job, yet the taxpayers are on the hook for millions in civil settlements.
A few years ago, Marin County paid $650,000 in a settlement when a deputy shot a motorist who was attempting to flee a traffic stop over a suspended license. The deputy was reassigned. In my opinion, the officer did not truly pay any debt to society for shooting a man that the vast majority of people agreed did not pose a threat, nor did he pay for shooting his weapon in a residential neighborhood. From my perspective, the Marin Sheriff’s Office did not feel the pain; the taxpayers did.
If there are no repercussions, corruption is inevitable. When public servants carry deadly weapons, their behavior must be subject to more stringent control, not less. In 2020, Colorado passed legislation limiting qualified immunity. California is overdue to do the same.
— Charles Kelly, Fairfax