MRF Reports - January/February 2011

WHAT’S INSIDE:

The 95/5 Rule

Page 2

NHTSA Discriminates

Against Motorcyclists

Page 3

Motorcycle Roadside

Checkpoints

Page 4

MRF By-Law Amendment

Page 6

MRF Legislative Strategy

Agenda for 2011

2

The MMA Turns 35!

Page 19

Is It Magic?

Page 20

Why All Bikers Need

the MRF

Page 24

Why Did They Hang

Horse Thieves?

Page 25

MRF “Club Dude” Update

Page 45

The�MRF�does�not�endorse�any�products�or�services�other� than� i ts�own�product� l ine. �This�does�not�apply� to�pol i t ical �endorsements

Vol. �19, �No.�1� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �January/February�2011

Motorcycle Riders Foundation January/February 2011

What Does a Bulldozer and the 95/5 RuleHave to Do with a Sphere of Influence

Kirk “Hardtail” Willard

MRF President

During Sturgis Bike Week thisyear I specifically sought outmotorcyclists that didn’t havea great deal of knowledgeabout the world of bikers’rights. I wanted to get a per-spective from them of howthey are viewing the current

political environment. Emotions ran from very angry, to disillu-sioned and disenfranchised, to plain having given up on thesystem. Not surprising to me at all, the other opinion I got thatI also expected was that so many of the loud ones out therewere considered very extreme regardless of the side of the po-litical debate they were on, and that universally seemed to turnfolks off to the entire process. It got me thinking about the pastin my own State Motorcyclists’ Rights Organization (SMRO).There certainly was a time in history that we were seen as theextreme ones, riding in and marching on the capital during ournow legendary and incredibly effective helmet law protests,hanging politicians in effigy in trees on the Capital grounds, rid-ing around the Capital while they were in session with rider ed-ucation range cones on our bikes to protest the isappropriationof motorcycle safety funds. All very necessary and very effec-tive, and I am confident we could pull off another 50,000 bikerhelmet protest rally should we need one. Those events right-fully earned us a seat at the table as a grass roots activist forceto be reckoned with.

Fast forward to today; we are fully engaged in the politicalprocess and have made many political friends and allies insidethe Capital. We have learned the process as well as they haveand we have become a group that they can trust to give themreliable and credible information. In other words, we do ourhomework and do the research to get the necessary informa-tion in hand prior to acting or requesting action on our behalf.We treat our relationships with respect and most importantlyhesitate to hang them out to dry (unless they’ve really earnedit) on every single issue we face together. I appreciate theideal, and I know through many conversations that they do aswell, that we judge them by their entire body of work and their

support of us over many issues as we build our clout and politi-cal capital together. So we are no longer seen as extreme, buta well-reasoned and influential player in the process, and mostoften the ones armed with relevant facts and a compelling casethat we can proficiently make.

What that affords us in today’s political environment is a gen-uine increase in our sphere of influence; with politicians, bu-reaucrats, and both the riding and non-riding public. So ratherthan being frustrated and sitting this one out for awhile asmany will likely do, I suggest we give it all we’ve got this round,for this well could be the greatest time for the motorcyclists ofthis country as our sphere of influence is on rise.

And to take full advantage of this influential rise, I will repeat aconcept I shared during our most recent MRF Meeting of theMinds Conference in Illinois that I know struck a chord as Ihave received several requests for it to be repeated. In busi-ness we often talk about the 80/20 rule, and that is for a busi-ness to succeed, or any entity for that matter, one must focus80% of their energies; time, money, and other resources, whichis a vast majority of what we have available to us, on the top20% of things most important to realizing the desired success.A struggling business or organization upon reflection will oftendiscover the opposite, that they in fact are spending only 20%of their time on the most important things and the other 80% onall kinds of distractions that don’t deliver and in fact detractfrom the desired and necessary results. What I suggest insidethe Bikers Rights Machine is that we aspire to achieve a 95/5rule. With the passion, expertise, and desire to protect the fu-ture of motorcycling, our freedom of the road, and its associ-ated way of life, using a familiar and honed single minded,focused, and united approach, I firmly believe the 95/5 rule iswell within our reach. Imagine how effective the sphere of in-fluence we have earned would be if we considered our missionstatements, vision statements, and agendas in every action we

continued page 7

Advertising in the MRF ReportsThe�MRF�Reports�reaches�approximately�5000

motorcyclists�six�times�a�year.�Even�more�visit

our�web�site�(www.mrf.org)�every�month�and�this

is�a�prime�location�to�get�the�word�out�about

your�product�or�service�to�motorcyclists.

Contact�Margie�Ferrucci�for�more�information.

[email protected]

Contact Your Congressmen and Senators

U.S. Senate:You may phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Aswitchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate officeyou request.

U.S. House:You may phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. Aswitchboard operator will connect you directly with the House Repre-sentative office you request.

Information about your Federal, State and Local Senate and Repre-sentatives is also available from a link at the top of the MRF website’s home page (www.mrf.org). You will need your Zip+4 numberwhen running this search.

January/February 2011 Motorcycle Riders Foundation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Thumbs Nose at Congressand Discriminates Against Motorcycles

Jeff Hennie

Government Relations and

Public Affairs

The Motorcycle Riders Foundationhas learned from a source at theUS Department of Transportationthat they have funded the motorcy-cle only roadside checkpoints.

NHTSA decided to fund the pro-gram despite being asked by Con-gress to not fund the program until

the merits were explained. In a letter sent by James Sensenbrenneralong with ten other Members of the House of Representatives lastmonth, Sensenbrenner and his colleagues specifically asked NHTSAto respond to the letter before funding the program; they did not.

Read the letter here:

http://www.mrf.org/pdfs/nhtsa_roadside%20_checkpoint.pdf

The recipient of the money for the demo project was the GeorgiaDepartment of Public Safety, which oversees the day-to-day opera-tion of the Georgia State Patrol. The Georgia State Patrol will con-duct a series of roadside motorcycle safety checks in accordancewith what was outlined in the Request for Applications. The amountof NHTSA funding is $70,000.00.

“Not only is this an injustice to the motorcyclists of America, it’s acomplete waste of taxpayer money,” said Jeff Hennie, Vice Presidentof Government Relations and Public Affairs for the MRF.

The MRF will keep you informed on this issue and any actions youcan take to defend your freedoms at stake in Washington.

Focus and UnityJay Jackson

MRF Vice President

This is an important messageand I'm going to make it mymission to deliver it repeatedlyduring the next year. At theMeeting of the Minds in Peoria,we spoke about staying fo-cused and not becoming dis-tracted by those things whichare not our real purpose. In In-diana I'm trying to reemphasize"what we're about" and remindour membership why we were

created. The scary thing is that the greatest threat to the motorcy-clists rights movement comes from within. We can ill-afford to havedissension, as that will be the unraveling of "the movement".

We have been successful for the last 30 years or so because of thepassion we have for our cause, which is to ensure that motorcyclingexists for future generations so that our grandchildren, and theirgrandchildren, can experience and enjoy the freedom of the road.While the passion is what drives us to be successful, the unity andfocus are what have harnessed the passion and delivered on suc-cess.

The membership of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and ourSMRO partners, is quite diverse and has many interests. I know fora fact that a great number of our folks are supportive of secondamendment rights and I'm certain that there are plenty that are af-fected by labor issues. Of course, every American should be con-cerned about what is currently going on with health care. However,while we may have interest in these subjects as individuals, we mustremain pure and stay focused on issues relevant to motorcycling. If

you want to stand up for gun rights, join the NRA (in addition tobeing an MRF member and standing up for motorcyclists' rights ofcourse). There are plenty of groups that represent all different seg-ments of the population and special interest groups, but we are a"motorcyclists'" rights organization and must stay true to that task.

SMROs around the country are involved in all kinds of activities fromawareness campaigns and social events to raising money for charityand everything in between. While I truly believe that each of theseactivities has a place in our movement, we need to make sure thatthey somehow support our primary mission and do not overshadowor dilute that mission. Charity events, for example, help to promote apositive image of motorcyclists and may create relationships thatcan be beneficial. Additionally, it is heart-warming, makes us feelgood and, as human beings, helping others is something moremembers of society should be doing. However, that's not why weexist.

Having parties and events is a lot of fun (and a load of work forsome). These events raise money to fund our efforts and also bringpeople into our organizations, but neither is this why we exist.

Let's keep our eye on the prize and not get so excited by riding thehorse that we forget to reach for the brass ring. OK, maybe enoughof the metaphors, basically let's remember that we must stay fo-cused on our goals, such as working legislatively to protect motorcy-cling, if we wish to attain them.

I'll get more into the unity aspect in the next article, but I suspectmost of you already understand that.

Ride Safe,Ride Free,Jay Jackson


Jeff Hennie

Government Relations and

Public Affairs

The Senate Committee on Com-merce Science and Transporta-tion held a hearing on theNational Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration’s endeavors. Thehearing featured NHTSA Adminis-trator David Strickland. Stricklandreferenced the overall decline intraffic fatalities from 2004-2009.

He also suggested that the rise in seat belt use and child restraintuse are contributors to the decline. He then went on to point out therise in motorcycle fatalities over the same time period.

Strickland’s direct quote:“However, you will notice that there is one indicator that is moving inthe wrong direction, motorcycle fatalities. Between 2004 and 2009,the number of motorcycle riders killed increased from just over 4,200to almost 4,462, an 11 percent increase. The number of motorcyclefatalities did fall between 2008 and 2009, the first time we have seena decrease in more than a decade. We need to work to build on lastyear’s progress. The most important step we could take would be toassure that all riders wear a DOT-compliant helmet, which are 37percent effective in reducing fatalities. We estimate that helmets pre-vented over 1,800 fatalities in 2008, and that more than 800 addi-tional fatalities could have been avoided if all riders wore helmets.NHTSA will actively work with Congress to promote helmet use”.

The MRF will be contacting Strickland to remind him that accidentavoidance over safer crashing is the best solution to motorcyclesafety.

Senate Safety Hearing Mentions Motorcycle Helmet Use

Congress Expresses Concern with Federal Motorcycle Roadside Checkpoint Grant ProgramJeff Hennie

Government Relations and Public Affairs

US Representatives called for the suspension of federally fundedmotorcycle-only roadside checkpoints. US Representative JamesSensenbrenner (WI) took the lead on a letter to Ray LaHood,Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation,asking him to address the benefits of motorcycle-only check-points. As previously announced by the MRF, LaHood’s DOT re-cently asked for applications from law enforcement agencies toconduct federally funded motorcycle-only roadside checkpoints.

The letter goes on to encourage Mr. LaHood to suspend fundingfor National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strick-land's program until the questions are answered. Sensenbrennerwas joined on the letter by Representatives Petri (WI), Jones(NC), Schock (IL), Lanborn (IA), McCotter (MI), Ryan (WI), Re-hberg (MT), Terry (NE), Paul (TX), and Wilson (SC). Of note areShock and Wilson who respectively keynoted the MotorcycleRiders Foundation’s Meeting of Minds and BEAST of the East in2010.

The MRF would like to thank all of those who heeded the call togather support for this important matter. Should you be fortunateenough to have one of these outstanding Members of Congressthat signed onto the letter, the MRF encourages you to contactthem and thank them. Ralph Bell of ABATE of SC had this to sayto his Member of Congress, Joe Wilson: "I not only appreciateyour signing on this letter but applaud your no nonsense under-standing of what Freedom is. This grant is definitely against all ofour Freedoms and discriminates against us because of what weride. Thanks again for your support."

Wall Street Journal attacks California’s Motorcycle Aware-

ness Month.

Editors at the Wall Street Journal are not so fond of the GoldenState’s decision to honor the motorcyclists of California. Theopinion piece claims that the awareness month bill is part of apile of legislation that should not have been passed before theState balances its growing budget crisis. Assembly RepublicanLeader Martin Garrick defended the legislation pointing out theneed "to honor motorcyclists many contributions to the commu-nity." At least those in power have the right idea. We at the MRFhave our opinion of journalists who attempt to diminish motorcy-clists. Take a guess what that would be.


The 2011 Conference Season:Another Promising Year

Carol Downs

MRF Conference Director

Another new year has started.Last year was a great one. I gota new granddaughter; everyoneis healthy. We spent more timetogether as a family; thankful forwhat we did have and are some-how learning to do with less.But that doesn’t mean we

haven’t still prioritized other things that are important to us. Likecontinuing to work to protect our right to ride; keeping our mem-berships in MRO’s current, makingdonations to further the cause, andattending all the Conferences wecan that teach us how to protectthose rights, and motivate us to doso.

The 2011 Conference and eventyear is already planned. You cango to the MRF website and get reg-istered for all events.

We will start in May with a combina-tion of the Spring Board of Directorsmeeting, Bikers Inside the Beltwayand BEAST of the East all the samelong weekend. ABATE of MD will be our host that weekend. TheMRF Board Meeting will begin on Wednesday, May 11 with ourcommittee meetings. On Thursday the entire Board will jointhose who ride into DC for Bikers Inside the Beltway. Friday theBoard will hold their Spring BoardMeeting followed immediately Fri-day evening with the kickoff ofBEAST of the East.

For those who will be riding into DCfor Bikers Inside the Beltway, roomsare available at our host hotel justoutside of Baltimore. A group, ledby ABATE of MD, will be leavingearly Thursday morning to ride intothe Beltway. We will have reservedparking near the Capitol. We doencourage everyone to make ap-pointments with their Representa-tives, both to talk about the issueswe are facing and to have a photo opportunity with the motorcy-cles. If you need additional information please feel free to callJeff Hennie at the MRF office. Since we realize not everyonecan ride to DC (myself included) a group will also leave the hotelby train to head into the Capitol. No one needs to be left out.

BEAST of the East will start Friday evening, May 13 with ourMeet and Greet session. We will spend Saturday morning ingeneral session followed by breakouts Saturday afternoon. TheConference will culminate Saturday evening with the banquetand auctions. Here’s a thought for those men who must fly in.Since you will be bringing your kilts for the banquet anyway, whynot wear them through the airport? Who knows you may makesome TSA agents’ day. Or maybe not.

In June we will be going to Ogden, UT for BEST of the West.This event will be hosted by ABATE of UT. The Conference willtake place June 10-12. Details regarding the host hotel can befound on the MRF website.

September and the Meeting of theMinds (MOTM) will take us to Ro-mulus, MI. If you have never heardof Romulus pull out a Michigan mapand find Detroit. It’s right there.ABATE of MI will be our host for thisevent. Something I want to encour-age you to do while at MOTM is tohave a picture taken with your bikein front of the giant American Flagwe will have hanging. My husbanddid so in IL this past MOTM and it isa great picture. Something he isproud to have hanging in his office.

Again, all the information about the Conferences is posted on theMRF website. You can register for the Conferences, get hotel in-formation and even make your hotel reservations from our web-site. I’m not sure we could make it any easier for you.

One last comment on supportingour causes: The MRF Awarenessand Education is a not-for-profit or-ganization whose purpose is topromote motorcycle awarenessand education. One of our maingoals is to be able to send youngactivists to the annual Meeting ofthe Minds. Your tax-deductible do-nation helps us to do that. If youare concerned about getting youngpeople involved in this movementdo your part to get them involved;make a donation today. Go on-lineto www.mrfae.org or send a check

to the DC office made payable to MRF Awareness and Educa-tion.

Happy New Year to all and I look forward to seeing not just thefamiliar faces in 2011, but also some new ones.


MRF By-Law AmendmentAmending an MRF By-Law: These articles (By-Laws) may beamended only a a 3/4 vote of the total number of the Board of Di-rectors then qualified to vote and after thirty (30) days written no-tice and publicized in the then MRF publication for its generalmembership prior to any meeting requesting amendment of the By-laws, which notice shall contain the specific language showing theproposed By-Law amendment.

The following is a By-Law change that the MRF By-Laws Commit-tee developed and proposed to the Board of Directors. A motionwas made and properly seconded to offer this up to the votingBoard at which time discussions and revisions resulted and it waspassed by a 3/4 majority vote of the Board. (The shaded area con-tains the change).

(Amendment in underlined text)

VIII. STATE REPRESENTATIVE PROGRAM:

The State Representative Program shall be coordinated by the Di-rector of the State Representative Program. The goal of the StateRepresentatives shall be to increase communication between theMRF and the States Motorcyclists’ Rights Organizations and to re-cruit members for the MRF. All State Representative candidatesshould be approved by the State Motorcyclists’ Rights Organizationin the state where the proposed state Representative resides. Inthe case where more than one Sustaining State Motorcyclists’Rights Organization (SSMRO) exists in a state, it is expected that

the highest ranking Officers of these SSMROs submit to the MRFan agreed upon and approved candidate. If the SSMRO or SSM-ROs desire and have a relationship in good standing with theStatewide Confederation of Clubs, and the Confederation is also aSustaining member of the MRF, the SSMRO or SSMROs can allowthem a vote in the selection of the MRF State Representative intheir State. The MRF State Representative must maintain mem-bership in the MRF while serving in this capacity.

BACKGROUND: Recently the MRF Board of Directors took actionwith intent to change an MRF By-Law to capture what had been apast practice on occasion and to openly encourage collaborationand cooperation amongst motorcycle organizations where theiragendas were aligned on key legislative, safety, and education ini-tiatives. In this case specifically to formally recognize we wouldsupport Confederations having a "vote" on who would representthem in their state in the position of MRF State Rep, given that theywere a Sustaining Member Organization of the MRF, and with theapproval of such a practice by the MRF Sustaining State Motorcy-cle Rights Organization or Organizations in that State. This is ulti-mately a recognition that a working relationship exists between theMRF Sustaining State Motorcyclists Rights Organization or Organi-zations and the Confederation, which we have openly encouragedfor some time. This does not carry over into any other voting atthis time other than individual votes by individual members for theMembership Representative to the Board which of course hasbeen in place since this became an elected position.

Black Motorcyclists - Even in Helmets - MoreLikely to Die in CrashesRelease Date: 09/23/2010

New Johns Hopkins research suggests race plays a factor in ac-

cident survival

African-American victims of motorcycle crashes were 1.5 timesmore likely to die from their injuries than similarly injured whites,even though many more of the African-American victims werewearing helmets at the time of injury, according to a new study byJohns Hopkins researchers.

Results of the research revealing these racial disparities, publishedin the August issue of the American Journal of Surgery, suggestthat injury-prevention programs — like state laws mandating theuse of motorcycle helmets — may not be sufficient to protect all rid-ers equally.

“For reasons that we are still trying to figure out, one size of injuryprevention does not fit all groups of people and just wearing a hel-met is not enough,” says Adil Haider, M.D., M.P.H., an assistantprofessor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School ofMedicine and the study’s senior author. “Helmet for helmet, African-Americans have more lethal injuries.”

Haider, who is also co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center forSurgical Trials and Outcomes Research, suspects several factors

may combine to account for the gap in survival between black andwhite victims. Previous studies of other accidents and illnesseshave shown that lack of health insurance, reduced access to care,poorer quality of care and a greater number of pre-existing ill-nesses or injuries contribute to racial differences in survival. It isalso possible, he says, that riders of different races may prefer dif-ferent types of helmets or more dangerous types of motorcycles.More research is needed, he says, to determine what role, if any,these issues may play.

Motorcycle crashes injure roughly 88,000 people a year in theUnited States and kill 4,810 annually. The rate of fatal motorcyclecrashes has been steadily rising for the past decade and now ac-count for nearly 1 in 8 motor vehicle deaths.

In the new study, Haider and surgical resident Dr. Joseph Cromp-ton reviewed National Trauma Data Bank information on 68,840people involved in motorcycle crashes between 2002 and 2006.Along with the finding that even after controlling for factors such asinsurance status, gender and injury severity, black crash victimswere 1.5 times more likely to die from their injuries than similarly in-jured white victims. This was so despite the fact that black motorcy-cle crash victims were 30 percent more likely to be wearinghelmets when injured than were white crash victims. The researchalso found that whites who were not wearing helmets were less


What Does a Bulldozer and the 95/5 RuleHave to Do with a Sphere of Influencecontinuedtook and spent 95% of all we have on accomplishing against them and only 5% of our time on the things and issues that havelittle or nothing to do with why we exist.

As a youngster growing up in the grasslands in North Dakota,prairie fires were a real life-changing threat, so from a young agewe were taught how to fight them. I’ll never forget being told andlater seeing it happen that if someone exhausted themselves run-ning around sprinkling water cans on hundreds of little grass firesbehind them they would likely crest a butte and find a raging full on

fire coming for them head on. Thankfully someone usually had amassive bulldozer running and engaged that could plow throughand stop that raging fire. So we have a choice, we can get it back-wards and employ a 5/95 tactic and exhaust ourselves putting outa bunch of pesky little issues behind us and get consumed by theraging issue in front of us, or preferably we embrace the 95/5 ruleand crush any threat in our path with the bulldozer we that we haveproperly maintained, gassed up, and already running. The choiceis up to us, and our freedom and way of life depends on us makingthe right one.

Black Motorcyclists - Even in Helmets - MoreLikely to Die in Crashes continuedlikely to die than African-Americans who were wearing helmets,and that the highest mortality rates were among African-Americanmotorcyclists without helmets.

Helmets have been proven to reduce traumatic brain injury deathsfollowing motorcycle crashes and reduce the cost of hospital stays.

But with this new study in mind, Haider says, more focus should beplaced on injury-prevention programs that go beyond imploring mo-torcyclists to wear helmets, since they alone do not appear to bedoing enough to protect some crash victims — particularly African-Americans — from death.

Funding for the research was provided by the Johns HopkinsSchool of Medicine Deans Stipend Award to Crompton and theJohns Hopkins Department of Surgery New Faculty Research Sup-port Grant to Haider.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study includeKeshia M. Pollack, Ph.D., M.P.H.; David T. Efron, M.D.; and ElliottR. Haut, M.D.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/surgery/faculty/Haider


I Got Nothing...Graydon Wheeler

State Rep Board Member

You would think that with theamount of time between is-sues and all that is happen-ing right now, coming up withsomething to write aboutwould be a breeze. You

would think.

And as much as my mind wanders from subject to subject, it's notnormally an issue. Usually all it takes is a long ride along the bluffsand prairie and something fills the creative void. Usually.

Only thing I think of when I ride this time of year in Wyoming is KeeKee birds. You see them hopping about wrapping their wings aroundthemselves saying, "Kee-Kee-rist it's cold".

Sittting at my computer playing games doesn't help. AgathaChristie's character, Hercule Poirot, would build a house of cards tofocus his mind on solving a problem; I play Minesweeper. Still, notopic comes to mind.

So I go out in my backyard to the edge of my property where there'sa line of brushy trees that serve as a wind-break. It's kinda peacefulthere, and there's a few branches low to the ground that make for acomfortable seat. Perhaps I'll find my muse here.

Plus, I've brought along some...ah..."natural herbal incense" that anative-American friend of ours gave the wife to help her relax on oc-casion. Who am I to argue with traditional medicinal ways?

I sit there amongst the trees, breathing in the "herbal" smoke, eyesclosed, leaning back slightly so the sun will warm my face a little, lis-tening to the breeze in the branches above, and think that occasion-ally, during moments like this, life is good.

And then I open my eyes and about jump out of my skin when I seethis...creature, not three feet from me, watching intensely.

He was dressed in buckskin leather and atop his head was a hatdecorated with a couple of feathers. He was also so small that hehad to reach up to the branch where I was sitting to pull himself upto have a seat.

I looked at the smoke rising from sweet-scented leaf that I held be-tween my fingers in new-found appreciation. Damn this was goodmedicine!

I turned back to see the tiny man still sitting, watching. I offered a"Hello".

"Howdy" came his reply. I looked back down at my fingers. Dayum!This is good medicine!

I offered him the smoke. He nodded his thanks and pulled a smallbone pipe from a pouch, tapping some of the burning embers intothe bowl. He handed what was left back to me but I held up my

hands. "Keep it. I think I've had enough."

He nodded his thanks once again and pinched last the burning partinto the pipe, then place the unburned portion in his pouch. Drawingdeep from the pipe he paused for a moment before exhaling throughhis nose. "So, what's troubling you?' he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked back.

"You only sit out here when something's bothering you."

"You've been here before?"

"I've been here since before your people came from the east."

"How come I've never seen you?"

He smiled and patted his pouch. "You've never brought this withyou."

I thought to myself, "Yeah, and the smoke is probably the reason I'm'seeing' him now".

He adjusted himself, getting comfortable on the branch. "Is thisabout the motorcycles?"

"What do you know about that?"

"You leave some of the stuff you write lying around the times whenI've been in your library; you have a nice book collection by the way.

Anyway", the little guy said as he puffed on the pipe and gave a mo-mentary pause before releasing the cloud, "What's the story?"

"That's the problem, I don't have one. I promised my editor I'd havesomething before deadline, but I'm stuck. I know I should write aboutwhat's happening around the country, about the threat to ourlifestyle; I can't come up with any ideas."

"A threat to your way of life?" The small man, even though it washard to say exactly how old he appeared, seemed to briefly age a lit-tle more as he said those words. " Lose one's way of life" He lookedat the ground, lost in thought, lifted his head to stare off in the dis-tance, past the fields and rolling sandhills, staring off to see whatwas no longer there, things that were lost in the past.

He raised the pipe toward his lips, paused, then set the pipe backdown and said, "I can tell you a story of loss.

I've been around for so many years, I can't say for sure just when Iarrived. It's been long enough to see the changes in this country. Notsaying it's good or bad, It's just not what it was. Along the way I'vehad to adapt, learn new languages, learn to read, I managed.

The people that once lived had their way of life, following the herds,trapping, fishing. Some years it was good, some years they strug-gled, but they survived. They had their culture, their spirits, they hadtheir life.


I Got Nothing... continuedI remember when the horses first came. This was a change that wasgood. Hunting became easier, travel, the horse changed things forthe people. It was good.

But with the horse came the others. The ones who claimed thelands, brought disease and starvation. It wasn't the battles that tookthe people as much as the illness and starvation. The others usedthat to their advantage, killing the herds for sport so there would beno food, spreading illnesses to which they had immunity.

It happened slowly at first, and when the people realized what washappening, many fought back, even though it seemed hopeless,they would fight for what they had rather than lose it to another falsepromise.

There was one battle I witnessed..."

He stopped speaking, as if he could still see the scene in front ofhim, I waited. He continued.

"One battle...I was following a hunting party, not a war party, not war-riors out for coup, just five men seaching for game. I followed be-cause I could usually get a bit of whatever they shot. Bison, deer,antelope, always made a nice change from rabbit and prairie dog.

They stopped by a creek to water the horses and while there, werediscovered by a group of about twenty-five soldiers. The soldiersfired at them without warning killing one instantly, the rest fightingback as best they could. The horses had spooked and there was noescape. The hunting party fought. They fought hard. They fought notfor themselves, but for their kind. They fought with the small hopethat perhaps the others might finally decide it wasn't worth it. Theyfought...they fought..." The small man choked a little on these words,"They fought, for they had nothing to lose that wasn't already stolenfrom them.

And when it was down to one warrior - at this point to call them any-thing less would not honor their spirit - the warrior sang his deathsong. He accepted that he would never go back to his life, but hewould welcome his death with glory. He charged into the soldiers,something they had not expected. Before the soldiers had time toreact the warrior killed four and wounded three, I counted sevenshots that brought him down. One for each man he attacked on hislast assault. It was fitting.

When it was over, the soldiers had lost twelve men with another fivewounded. I've tried to find the story of that battle in the history booksI've had the chance to read. I found an account of an incident at thesame location, but the official reports state that the soldiers wereambushed by a band of fifty warriors. If this was the same fight I wit-nessed, I guess that proves that history is indeed written by the vic-tor."

He finished talking, picked back up his pipe, and tapped out the nowcold ashes. I wasn't sure what to say, or if I should say anything atall. I felt around in my coat pocket, pulled out a piece of candy andunwrapped it while I thought about his story.

"Is that peppermint?" The little man was watching the candy in myhand.

"Yeah I...hold on". I pulled out the last two pieces that I had stashedand held them out.

He once again nodded his thanks and placed one of the pieces inhis pouch. "For later." He smiled as he opened the other one. " I dolike peppermint."

We sat, quietly enjoying the candy, but his story haunted me. I brokethe silence.

"I'm surprised that a nation of people, fighting that hard, would havebeen defeated, even with the insurmountable odds that were againstthem."

This got me an odd half smile from the little guy. "You think they allgave up? Have you ever been up in the hills, walking through thewoods by yourself, and get this odd feeling you were not alone? As ifthere was someone watching your every move and yet, you lookaround and no one is there, that you can see, but that feeling ofbeing watched just won't go away?"

I could feel the hair standing up on my neck as he described some-thing I've encountered often. I leaned toward him. "Are you tellingme that some of the...people still roam free in the hills, living their lifeas they have for centuries?"

The small man leaned toward me, and flicked his finger painfullyagainst my nose!

"No you dumbass. I'm telling you you have a vivid imagination. Whydon't you use it to write a story?"

I rubbed my nose as he hopped down from the branch and startedwalking toward my neighbor's field.

"Hey wait!", I said as I stood, "if you're hungry or something, I'd behappy to bring you inside to the kitchen..." I stopped as he held uphis hands.

"Listen, don't get the idea we're friends or anything. I only appearedto you because I know good smoke when I smell it. You got yourworld and I got mine. I leave now."

At the edge of the grass he paused, "Although, if you take to alwayscarrying peppermint candy in your pocket,.." He looked over hisshoulder, smiled and shrugged.

I watched as he walked into the tall grass, his movement making thegrass flow as if the wind was passing through...or maybe it was onlythe wind.

Back in the house I sit at my computer,awaiting my muse. I think ofthe little man's story of a people fighting for their lifestyle, but I can'tthink of how to adapt it for my use.

I sit at the computer staring at the keys. Deadline come. Deadlinego. Still I can't think of anything to write about.

That's why, for this issue, I got nothing.


YAS GrowingMiles France

MRF A&E Marketing

Assistant

The 2010 Meeting of theMinds met another goal forthe future of our motorcy-cling rights and freedoms.Three more Young Activist

Scholars were added to the folks who we’re depending on tokeep motorcycling as free and enjoyable as it is today. This yearswinners were Jeremiah Parent (Idaho), Katie Gross (MN), andLori Butler (SD).

As I’ve said before this is a starting point for these younger folksto go home and spread the word what our government can do tous if they are not watched daily. Think if no one cared and wehad no choice as to what we wear or what our motorcycle cus-tomization would be, none. Luckily we do have SMRO’s and oth-ers who do care and keep a close eye on our government.

These younger folks are the ticket to carrying on what so manyfolks have fought to keep in line.

As an SMRO you need to look deep into your organization andfind that next YAS candidate for 2011. Maybe you have the dia-mond in the rough right in front of you. Watch them and preparethem for what lies ahead of them and how much better our worldwill continue to be if only they step up and continue the battlethat is always going to be there.

Tomorrow there could be another politician telling us all a newlaw will make it against the law to ride without a windshield. Thinkit couldn’t happen, sit back do nothing and watch the results.

THANK YOU to all the SMRO’s who took the time over the yearsto help build the force that is going to keep our government inline with our riding freedoms.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation Awareness and Education isasking you to dig deep and find more of the future freedom fight-ers for the Young Activist Scholarship program.

Letter from a 2010 YAS WinnerKatie Gross

2010 Young Activist Scholarship Winner

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the opportunity toreceive the Young Activist Scholarship and attend the Meeting ofthe Minds in Illinois. I had a great time meeting all of you andhearing all of the struggles you are facing and, more importantly,the triumphs. It was an eye opening experience.

There is one phrase that sticks in my mind from the weekend. Iwas talking with some people after the panel discussion Fridayafternoon. Someone walked up to me and said “Thank you forgiving a shit.” Folks, thank YOU for giving a shit. It is people likeyou who have fought the fight so people like me can have thefreedoms we do and also join you in the fight and eventuallyhave to take it over. It is hard for someone my age to fully under-stand how hard it is to fight a helmet law or to have to talk loudenough to get your point across to a politician. Us young peopleneed your experience. Take us under your wing and teach us.Try and put things into our perspective. There are people my agewho do understand and care about freedoms. Most of them don’t

know where to go to learn more or do more. When someonenew, old or young, comes to a meeting or an event, make themfeel wanted and important. The best way to get people to stickaround is to make them feel like you want them there and thattheir ideas and opinions are worthwhile.

I hope to attend events like the Meeting of the Minds in the fu-ture. I also hope that there are more people who have “beenthere, done that” who are willing to help me understand whatfights are being fought and what I can do to help. Remember,anyone who rides is someone who can help the cause. Approachpeople, tell them what you stand for and are about. You neverknow what might happen. There are a lot of people who are unin-formed. You might make a lifelong friend or even find the nextstate coordinator of your organization.

God bless you all and I hope you find the courage you need todo what you do every day. Thank you for fighting the fight so Ican chose when and where and how long I ride my bike. I hopeto carry the torch someday and I really hope I don’t disappointanyone. Folks, Thanks for giving a shit!


MEP Bernd Lange Supports FEMA PositionsAline Delhaye, General Secretary of FEMA, met Member of Euro-pean Parliament (MEP) Bernd Lange to discuss current topics ofthe European agenda which are related to motorcycling. The Ger-man MEP is a motorcycle enthusiast, and has been supportingFEMA activities for many years.

During the meeting Mrs. Delhaye presented to Mr. Lange the on-going FEMA campaign against the harmonisation of periodicaltechnical inspections (PTI) for motorcycles. According to Mrs. Del-haye, such harmonisation of testing standards would lead to theforced introduction of PTI for motorcycles in countries where theyhave been left out so far. Because the proportion of motorcycleaccidents caused by technical failures remains as low as ever, re-gardless of the implementation of PTI, many riders considermandatory periodic testing as an unnecessary administrative bur-den.

Mr. Lange stated that he would not oppose PTI for motorcycles ingeneral. In Germany vehicle testing has been introduced over 60years ago and its benefit is hardly put into question. Neverthelessthe MEP highlighted that riding conditions vary significantlyacross Europe, which warrants action country by country ratherthan an extensive European system. Mr. Lange concluded that"safety matters should be addressed by member states, this isnot the time to harmonise PTI in Europe".

Low emissions require high durability

While it is claimed that PTI improves road safety, arguments infavour also underline the importance of pollution control. Support-ers of mandatory inspections argue that it is the only feasible wayto check vehicle emissions on a regular basis. "I consider currentemission measurements for motorcycles as inadequate and unre-liable. Up to my knowledge no valid testing procedure has beenintroduced yet" said Mr. Lange.

In line with FEMA, the German MEP pledges for high durabilityregulations whenever motorcycle emissions are discussed. MrLange added: "I have been reported a number of cases already,where motorcycles were unable to pass an emissions test despitefairly low mileage. Whatever will be agreed upon, emissions dura-bility is not the responsibility of the user, it must be guaranteed bythe manufacturers".

"The upcoming months might include some major threats for theusers of powered two wheelers. For the motorcycling communityit is very important to be in contact with decision makers who re-ally know about motorcycling and its specific characteristics.Bernd Lange is one of them" says Aline Delhaye.


The MRF Legislative Strategy Agenda for 2010-2011At the recent 2010 Motorcycle Riders Foundations (MRF) Meet-ing of the Minds held September in Peoria Illinois, a LegislativeStrategy Session was hosted by the MRF’s Legislative Commit-tee. As has been done for the past several years, the MRF re-quested that it be attended by Sustaining State MotorcyclistsRights Organizations (SSMRO) Legislative and/or Executive Offi-cers. The goal is to set the MRF’s Federal Legislative Agenda forthe coming Meeting of the Minds “to” Meeting of the Minds cycle.Our Sustaining SMRO partners responded once again and theLegislative Committee was extremely pleased at how alignedand clear the direction from our SSMRO partners was. This levelof alignment will allow for a solid and focused Strategic Actionplan to be developed, disseminated, and effectively employed.An additional featureof the session thisyear was to have thesession moderated byMRF Vice PresidentJay Jackson and sup-ported by MRF Presi-dent, Kirk “Hardtail”Willard, and MRFVice President of Gov-ernment Relationsand Public Affairs, JeffHennie. Also insti-tuted this year was aone vote per organiza-tion policy and thosevotes were thenrecorded. Shownbelow in the orderraised by ourSSMRO’s is our up-coming Federal Legislative Strategy Agenda followed by therecorded votes on each. Where “consent” is listed it is on leg-islative issues that were brought up by those in attendance fromSMRO or MRF Leadership and once initial discussion was heldand a position explained no further discussion ensued regardingstated position and no vote was called for.

- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Reintroduce bill, stay the course, build on HR1253 which re-quires health insurance companies to disclose the list of “sourceof injury” exclusions in the policies they issue

80% Favor, 0% Oppose

- NHTSA Checkpoint Grant Program

MRF to carry out a full effort to cut off specified use funding forthis motorcycle based discriminatory practice, work with States toexchange information on passing anti-checkpoint laws


- 2010 Motorcycle Grant Funding

MRF to pursue continuation in upcoming highway bill and work totighten up language for qualification and use


- Motorcycle Advisory Council (MAC)

MRF to pursue continuation of MAC in upcoming highway bill

100% Favor

- NHTSA to States

Lobby Ban

MRF to work to main-tain current NHTSABan with an attempt toexpand it to the Fed-eral Department ofTransportation, todate no members ofCongress from anystate has been willingto include NTSB inthis ban, until suchtime the MRF will con-tinue to closely moni-tor the activity of theagency and respondaccordingly

100% Favor

- Crash Causation Study

MRF to allow the current study to take its’ course and respondaccordingly, disappointed with the reduced scope, pursue no ad-ditional funding

- Monitor MSF alternate Naturalistic Study

Consent

- House Resolution 1498

MRF to promote our theme of Crash Avoidance versus SaferCrashing using HR1498 which “supports efforts to retain the banon the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA)ability to lobby state legislatures using federal tax dollars andurging NHTSA to focus on crash prevention and rider education”


The MRF Legislative Strategy Agenda for 2010-2011 continuedConsent

- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-Motorcycle Sound

-MRF to “fiercely” oppose EPA Federal Certification mandatoryexhaust system stamping if proposed

-MRF to oppose any federal legislation following CaliforniaSB435

-MRF to encourage State and Local motorcycle sound activities,not considered a federal issue at thistime, if it becomes one we’ll reconveneon it

-MRF to oppose any suggested decreasein allowable decibels

-MRF to oppose federal agencies en-couraging state activity, leave up tostates

80% Favor,

5% Oppose (opposition sought decibelincrease)

- Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA)-Motorcycle Emissions

MRF to monitor any future proposals oractivity, none at this time

Consent

- Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA)-Exhaust Study

MRF to continue to investigate EPA exhaust manufacturer studyrequest initiative

Consent

- SAE Motorcycle Roadside Sound Test

MRF to promote adoption of the SAE Sound Test as a NationalEnforcement Standard

0% Favor, 30% Oppose,

55% No Opinion (at this time, revisit if it becomes a federalissue)

- Distracted Driving Laws

MRF to take a position against distracted driving howeverstrongly oppose any federal blackmail or withholding of funds forit as related to motorcycles

100% Favor

- Right to Repair

MRF to continue current course of action


- Definition of a Motorcycle

MRF to pursue current course of action inWashington D.C. to enhance and furtherclarify the definition of a motorcycle

Consent

- Motorcycle and Motorcyclists Dis-

crimination

MRF to continue to watchdog all federallyproposed “gang” legislation to prohibitany impact on motorcyclists for non crimi-nal activity


- Consumer Product Safety Commis-

sion (CPSC)

MRF to work to pass legislation to ex-empt youth bikes and ATV’s from CPSCLead Ban, support Rehberg HR1587


- European Union and United Nations Activity

-MRF to continue presence and working relationships Interna-tionally

-MRF to share costs of European Lobbying/Meeting attendanceas needed and within budget

95% Favor, 0% Oppose, 5% to Increase Activity

MRF LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Dave Dwyer, Jeff Hennie, Cindy Hodges, Jay Jackson, Jim“Legs” Korte, Boyd McFail, Larry Nielson, John Pierce, ToddRiba, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard


ABATE of Minnesota is Proud to Host the22nd Annual Heartland STEAMMarch 25th - 27th, 2011Canterbury Inn, Shakopee, MN

Heartland STEAM is a regional seminar for motorcyclists.STEAM stands for “Seminar ToEducate And Motivate.” Its pur-pose is to educate motorcyclistson motorcycle rights and safetyissues. All profits benefit theMotorcycle Rider’s Foundation(MRF).

The Heartland STEAM regionconsists of motorcycle rights or-ganizations from Minnesota,Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota,South Dakota, Illinois and Ne-braska. All motorcyclists arewelcome to attend.

The Heartland STEAM confer-ence will feature seminars toassist motorcyclists in defend-ing, building and strengthening our grassroots organizations. At-tendees will also enjoy true “Minnesota Nice” hospitality all

weekend long.

Friday March 25th – 5:00 pm – Registration begins, followed by asocial time and entertaining fundraisers.

Saturday March 26th – 8:00 am– Registration table opens. 9:00am – General Session. Followedby break out seminars, live andsilent auctions, and the banquet.

Heartland STEAM registration is$50 per person before February28th and $60 after February28th. Registration fee includesfull access to all seminars, breakout sessions, and lunch and din-ner on Saturday.

For more information:Call ABATE of Minnesota at 1-800-224-6570Check out our website at

abatemn.orgOr e-mail [email protected]

US House Resolution 1498Copied below is the summary and status of US House Resolu-tion 1498. This resolution strongly supports the ban on NHTSAlobbying and tells NHTSA to focus on safer driving. After face toface discussion, my US Representative gladly signed on earlierthis week. I urge every politically active biker to ask their USRepresentative to sign on to this resolution. It will re-enforce ourposition to the returning repre-sentatives and be a springboardfor discussion to the newlyelected members when the112th Congress convenes inJanuary.Note: This is a resolution not abill and should be referred to asH Res1498 (not HR1498).

Thanks and keep throwingthose punches,

Mack BacklundAsst Rep - Minnesota

H.RES.1498Title: Supporting efforts to retain the ban on the National High-way Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) ability to lobby Statelegislators using Federal tax dollars and urging the NHTSA tofocus on crash prevention and rider education and training.

Sponsor: Rep Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [WI-5] (introduced7/1/2010) Cosponsors (12)Latest Major Action: 7/2/2010 Referred to House subcommittee.Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

COSPONSORS(12), BY DATE

Rep Lamborn, Doug [CO-5] -7/1/2010 Rep Rehberg, Denny [MT] -7/1/2010Rep Petri, Thomas E. [WI-6] -7/1/2010 Rep Ryan, Paul [WI-1] -7/1/2010Rep Biggert, Judy [IL-13] -7/15/2010 Rep Marshall, Jim [GA-8] -7/20/2010Rep Schock, Aaron [IL-18] -9/15/2010 Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G.

[MI-11] - 9/15/2010Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] - 11/16/2010 Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] - 11/16/2010Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 11/16/2010 Rep Bachmann, Michele [MN-6] - 11/29/2010


The View Past the Handlebars The Upstream Threat

I want to tell you a short story I heard on the radio the other day.Seems that two couples got together one day for a hike. Theydrove to a local park and, as they were taking a stroll along astream, they heard a sharp cry for help. Down the stream came asmall child, caught in the current and obviously unable to swimwell. One of the husbandsquickly jumped into the currentand swam out to the child. Helatched on and began pullingher to safety, but just as theyneared the shore, they allheard another cry for help.

Amazingly, another child camedrifting down the stream, alsoin danger of drowning. Thistime one of the wives jumpedinto the water and swam out tothe second child, but just asshe reached her, yet a third cryfor help was heard. Actingquickly, the other husbandjumped into the stream andswam to the aid of the third child.

As shocking as it may seem, one more terrified cry for help camefrom upriver. But rather than dive into the stream, the remainingwife took off at a sprint upstream. Her husband yelled at her,“What are you doing? Can’t you see that there’s another child in

the water?” She yelled back, “Of course I can see that.” “Wellthen,” the husband fired back, “why are you running away?” Sheshot back, “I’m going upstream to stop whoever is throwing thechildren in the water!”

The moral of this story? You can’t wait until the crisis comes toyou – you have to act proactively to get to the cause of the crisis.

For us motorcyclists, it’s notgood enough to rally togetheronce a helmet bill or othersuch nonsense legislation isfloated our way. Think about it– the National TransportationSafety Board (NTSB) has an-nounced its intentions to wagewar on the freedoms of motor-cyclists. In other words,they’ve started throwing chil-dren in the water. But insteadof waiting for the children tofloat downstream, or in thiscase for the draft of mandatoryhelmet legislation to be intro-duced, we have to run up-stream and stop the cause of

the problem. Work proactively. Get involved. Get in the faces ofyour politicians before the crisis hits and let them know how youfeel. For if you don’t, it may be you that’s thrown downstream. Ionly hope there’s someone there to save you.

The Ghostrider

Lawrence of Arabia and the Helmet LawReprinted from http://motorcycleminds.org

By Elaine Hardy, PhD

United Kingdom - 11th October 2010: “Boa and I took the Newarkroad for the last hour of daylight. He ambles at forty-five andwhen roaring his utmost, surpasses the hundred. A skittishmotor-bike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the ridinganimals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties,and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyeduntiring smoothness. Because Boa loves me, he gives me fivemore miles of speed than a stranger would get from him”.

This 1000cc motorcycle was the prized possession of T ELawrence, better known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, and the ma-chine on which he was killed in May of 1935.

Lawrence’s Brough Superior was tailor-made by George Broughhimself and cost 170 pounds in 1932.

This was the seventh Brough that Lawrence had owned. Henamed each in succession ‘George 1′ to ‘George VII’, and alsoreferred to some of them, including this model, as ‘Boanerges’ or‘Boa’ (Son of Thunder). His seventh motorcycle is on display at

the Imperial War Museum.

The Brough Superior was the fastest and most expensive ma-chine on the road at the time. It easily reached speeds of over100 mph and was at the cutting edge of 1930′s design. The mo-torcycle was Lawrence’s constant companion on the desertedcountry roads of pre-war Britain. Long distance visits to friendssuch as Winston Churchill or Lady Astor were achieved in recordtime. ‘It is the silkiest thing I have ever ridden…’ Lawrence wouldfamously say.

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 Au-gust 1888 – 19 May 1935), was a British Army officer renownedespecially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt against Ot-toman Turkish rule of 1916–18. The extraordinary breadth andvariety of his activities and associations, and his ability to de-scribe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame asLawrence of Arabia, a title popularised by the 1962 film based onhis life.

At the age of 46, two months after leaving the service, Lawrence

continued page 17


Download this ad to run in your SMRO newsletter at www.mrf.org

Lawrence of Arabia and the Helmet Lawcontinued

was fatally injured in an accident on his Brough Superior SS100motorcycle in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, nearWareham.

A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicy-cles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control and was thrown overthe handlebars. He died six days later on 19 May 1935.

The spot is marked by a small memorial at the side of the road.

One of the several doctors attending him was a young neurosur-geon, Hugh Cairns.

He was moved by the tragedy in a way that was to have far-reaching consequences. At the beginning of the Second WorldWar, he highlighted the unnecessary loss of life among army mo-torcycle dispatch riders as a result of head injuries. His researchconcluded that the adoption of crash helmets as standard byboth military and civilian motorcyclists would result in consider-able saving of life.

It was 32 years later, however, that motorcycle crash helmetswere made compulsory in the United Kingdom. As a conse-quence of treating T.E. Lawrence and through his research atOxford, Sir Hugh Cairns’ work largely pioneered legislation forprotective headgear by motorcyclists and subsequently in theworkplace and for many sports worldwide. (…).

It is ironic that Lawrence, a man so passionate about motorcy-cling was, through the manner in which he died, responsible forthe Helmet Law.Fred Hill and the Helmet Law

A former army dispatch rider during WW2, Fred worked for manyyears as a mathematics teacher before leaving to enjoy what hedoubtless expected would be a quiet retirement. Incensed by thecompulsory helmet law, Fred rode everywhere in an old beretand collected hundreds of tickets, which he stored in a large suit-case. Fred’s refusal to pay the fines for helmet-less riding consti-tuted ‘Contempt of Court’ for which he was given thirty onecustodial sentences.

With the passage of time, police in Fred’s neighbourhood fre-quently turned a blind eye to his indiscretions, though when hewent further afield he would invariably be stopped. In order tocover the necessary distances Fred replaced his Honda 50 witha 250 and on one occasion, he battled all the way to the GowerPeninsula in Wales and back, a distance of about 500 miles inone day despite appalling weather.

Fred Hill was seventy four years old when in 1984 he died from aheart attack suffered whilst in custody in London’s Pentonville

continued page 18


Lawrence of Arabia and the Helmet LawcontinuedPrison. His final sentence of 60 days, proving too much to take,was half completed. The prison governor had warned Fred thatthe harsh prison environment could be the death of him, to whichFred replied that, ‘it didn’t matter where a man died but how.’

In 2010, the wearing of a helmet is considered a normal state ofaffairs in Europe and in most other countries throughout theworld, with the exception of the USA where the helmet law is de-cided by state legislators and not all states have legislation mak-ing motorcycle helmets mandatory.

Within Europe there is how-ever one organisation that stilladheres to the principle offree choice.

Ian Mutch, President of theMotorcycle Action Group andeditor of The Road, MAGUK’s members’ magazine ex-plains the founding principleof this Riders’ Rights organi-sation in an interview in 2003.

“What MAG started out as

was something extremely

simple, it was a bunch of peo-

ple who didn’t like being told

what to wear and the helmet

law was really the founding

issue. Up till then – I’d been

riding bikes for four years

then in 1973 and the helmet

law came out. Now I wasn’t aware of any anti biker problems

whatsoever, or there may have been some prejudice but I wasn’t

aware of it. But when that came out it seemed to me like the end

of the world, it was certainly a dramatic change in the world.

I used to wear a helmet probably 70% of the time, but on a day

like today if I was riding around in the sunshine, slow old bike

that I had then, I wouldn’t wear one and I still wouldn’t today

even though I’ve got a much faster bike – although I don’t go that

fast but this isn’t really the point.

The point is that what had been challenged was a fundamental

civil liberty. Because what the government was saying was “We

have the right to make you do what we think is right for your own

good” but to neglect that proportion which we’re advocating is not

going to harm anybody else and I couldn’t think at that time of

another law which in the same way fundamentally attacked the

civil liberties of an individual – not in quite the same way.

My feeling was then as it is now, for a law to be legitimate it really

has to satisfy a number of criteria. Number one it has to be nec-

essary and if you took a look at the situation just prior to the hel-

met law about 88% of people were wearing helmets voluntarily,

so the number of people being affected was very small”.

Trevor Baird, General Secretary of MAG UK resigned in 2008and in his farewell speech to the Annual General Conferencesaid:

“We talk about helmets and whether this debate still has a pur-

pose for MAG. The way I see it, helmets keep out the cold; they

keep out insects and the occasional pigeon. Whether helmets

save lives or not, I don’t know, I ride because it gives me pleas-

ure, and I don’t waste my

time worrying about the con-

sequences.

The principle of MAG’s objec-

tion to the helmet law is not

an umbilical attachment, but

a philosophy that underpins

MAG’s existence. Thus,

every action we have taken,

every action we should take,

centres around this one fun-

damental principle. It’s not

about whether you wear a

helmet or in fact any form of

protection, it’s about whether

you choose to do so. It’s a

way of life that I share with

my friends and fellow riders.

The culture of safety and se-

curity eats away at every-

thing we do and dinosaurs like myself, find it harder to explain

that each of us must stand up and be counted. Helmets, protec-

tive clothing, leg protectors, electronic safety devices may or may

not save us. Our wits and God’s favour might. But in the end, we

must have the right to live our lives as we see fit, respecting our

fellow man, but in freedom”.

The death of Lawrence was a catalyst that had profound conse-quences for motorcycling throughout the world. From Lawrence’sdeath and over the years, doctors, policy makers, insurers andmore recently, motorcyclists themselves, have decreed thatsafety legislation should now replace the freedom to choosewhether we wear a helmet, how we ride our motorcycles andeven what motorcycles we should ride: we must be saved fromourselves and consequently, we may see in the not too distantfuture that all that remains are our dreams.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the

dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was

vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they

may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible”.

(T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars Of Wisdom)


Massachusetts Motorcycle Association Turns 35!Doc D’Errico, MA State Rep

Dateline – November 14, 1975… Incorporation papers are filedfor the Modified Motorcycle Association as a business entity inMassachusetts. With Bob Doiron as the first Chairman, the smallband of riders had a mission –to stop the harassment of rid-ers by law enforcement and tore-establish the freedoms ofthe open road.

Fast forward to 2002 – by asweeping majority, the entiremembership voted to changethe name from Modified Mo-torcycle Association to Mas-sachusetts MotorcycleAssociation to reflect itsbroader scope and reach. OnJuly 31, 2003, then MMAChairman Jimi Ricci andABATE of MA Chair, DaveCondon, signed merger documents joining these two prestigiousorganizations together. A logical step given significant overlap inmembership and a completely aligned vision.

With the power of one voice in Massachusetts, the MMA has ac-complished a lot in its 35 years thanks in no small part to its lead-ership, but mostly the strength and dedication of its membership.

Indeed, many of those mem-bers are still voices within theMMA today and continue thefight they started. One high-light for me, personally, is theMMA annual “Storm theStatehouse” where ridersfrom across the Common-wealth converge on our StateHouse in Boston to discussour Legislative Agenda andmeet with our State Senators and Representatives. The eventsbefore the ride and afterwards are almost always attended byMMA members sporting old patches and regaling stories of thoseearly days.

One story, shared by current MMA chairman Dave Condon, toldof his first interest in merging the MMA and ABATE. Dave talkedabout fighting a long series of tickets being issued by a law en-forcement officer on the north shore of Massachusetts. Davecommented, “we had both ABATE of MA and MMA memberswritten up so we joined forces to beat the tickets. It was the firsttime I realized that working together and staying united what abunch of riders could do while standing up for their rights. Con-vinced me the system works if you work the system.”

The strength of the power of all those riders wasn’t just a flash inthe pan, either. Dave continued, “the second time I really real-ized this was the first Storm the State House in 2003 of which theformer ABATE members helped organize and coordinate -- it was

very impressive seeing ridersall go to the State House tobring their agenda in front ofthe legislators. They reallycan't ignore you when youshow up with 100 or so otherpeople all dressed funny inleather. Although my StateSenator shut his door in myface when I walked into hisoffice as he didn't want to bedisturbed while he ate lunch.This sparked me even moreto stay involved and I work tothis day to vote him out of of-fice.”

While the MMA has yet to successfully defeat the mandatory Hel-met Law in Massachusetts, we’ve come close several times –the last time at the end of the Legislative Session in 2008 whenthe bill was only pending a vote in the House. But while we’venot yet won that war, we’ve won many battles along the way, in-cluding:

· The right to chooseNOT to wear a helmet duringa permitted parade.

· Defeated legislationmandating full-face helmets

· Defeated legislationmandating horsepower limita-tions

· Defeated legislationmandating passenger age minimum limits

· Convincing every Governor since 1990 to declare a state-wide Motorcycle Safety Awareness Period

· Establish Veteran and Handicap Motorcycle License Plates

· Allow more than one Motorcycle per Parking Space

· Overturned the “Brockton D. Fields Park” Motorcycle Banthrough the Massachusetts Supreme Court, a victory that set aNational precedent!

continued page 21


Is it Magic?Cindy Hodges

Member Representative

Board Member

Where do you invest? And what do youinvest? With the economy in the state ithas been in the past few years, thosequestions seem to be pretty moot whereI'm concerned. All financial investments

have gone the way of the do-do bird. And if you get that refer-ence you are getting up there in years, like me. At my age, its asad thing to realize.

Ever the optimist, I have been casting about trying to find some-thing to feel good about. What have I invested in that is going toyield a positive result? I have no children. I have no savings. Ihave no retirement. I no longer own a big nice house. So whatdo I have to show for the years of my life?

The answer wasn't long in coming. If you are reading this, youare part of that answer. Like you, I've invested in my future andthe future of those who come after me, by trying to keep this onecorner of my freedoms and liberties where they should be.Some things in life are not in our control but we can stand up andbe counted. We can resolve to never quit trying to make a differ-ence. That costs something that has no price... time. Our time.

Our time is the most precious commodity we have. You canspend it but you cannot get it back. You cannot earn more. Youget what you get. Some folks might find us odd, if not out rightcrazy, to spend so much of our lives heavily involved in the mo-torcyclists' rights movement. When you look around at yourbrothers and sisters who are likewise engaged, you see peoplewhose passions run deep about the same things. And if you stay

involved long enough you really come to appreciate that they arein there with you. There are no “stars” in the motorcyclists rightsmovement... not really. There are those who give more than oth-ers or achieve more than others, but the truth is, anyone whostays involved for more than a nanosecond is giving of their life.They are making an investment in their prosperity and there is nogreater value or cost.

It is the motorcyclists' rights movement that taught me civics. Inthis “life”, I learned how a bill becomes law, how committeeswork, how bureaucracy works, how taxes work, how governmentworks, what my role as a citizen is and more to the point, whatmy responsibilities as a citizen are. It is the motorcyclists' rightsmovement that has birthed my friends and the family that I selectas my own. More importantly, the family that selected ME astheir own. They sent me to school, put me to work, gave mefocus. They keep me from falling and if I do fall, they pick me up.

As we start a new year, I'm recommending we all look around us.Your SMRO or your club, or both; is giving you something. Thinkabout what that is. For so long I thought I was there to give theorganization something. It was only when I got older that I real-ized that I was the one on the receiving end.

Having hundreds of people in your state, and thousands acrossthe nation stand with you as you continuously step up, speak up,and move forward to maintain the pursuit of happiness and liber-ties accorded us as American citizens isn't a right. It isn't a job,and it isn't a one-man/woman show. It's a gift. An invaluable giftwith various intricacies and meanings. In this one thing, I'vemade the right investment.

So have you. Thank you.

European Commission Proposes New TypeApproval Rules for MotorcyclesThe proposal defines the technical provisions new motorcycleshave to fulfill in future in order to be used legally on public roads.Following the suggestions of FEMA, the Federation of EuropeanMotorcyclists' Associations, the Commission proposes the abol-ishment of the 100hp limit as well as the introduction of strongdurability requirements for emissions. But the proposal also in-cludes harsh restrictions regarding engine modifications andmandatory ABS.

Last week the European Commission proposed the so-calledRegulation on the Approval and Market Surveillance of Two- orThree-Wheel Vehicles. The regulation aims at improving thesafety as well as the environmental performance of these vehi-cles and has now to be approved by the European Parliament aswell as by the Council before coming into force. While many ofthe proposed changes are favouring the position of riders, FEMAalso hopes to disarm the few elements which jeopardise riders'rights and consumers' freedom of choice.

A first point to be highlighted is that the Commission finally ac-knowledges what FEMA for many years has been campaigningfor: the anticipated correlation between safety and maximumpower limitation is misleading. Therefore the Commission pro-poses to no longer allow member states to ban motorcycles witha maximum power of 74 kW (the 100 hp limit). The only EUcountry which is still restricting motorcycles to 74 kW is France.

Stricter emission rules and stricter liability

The emission limits for motorcycles and scooters will becomestricter. The Commission suggests a stepped approach to makenew bikes comply with the Euro 5 and Euro 6 norms until 2020.FEMA was pushing for the early introduction of these steps aswell as for making the manufacturers responsible for the durabil-ity of the required emission level. Indeed the Commission

continued page 23


MMA Turns 35! continued· MMA fought to pass legislation for State-Funded Rider Edu-cation and Motorist Awareness Programs. Later, the MMA alsosuccessfully appealed to the Governor to transfer the Massachu-setts Rider Education Program to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

· Obtain discounts on Motorcycle Insurance

· Helped eliminate "mo-torcycle" and "motorcyclist"references from U.S. Sen-ate Bill 339, The OutlawStreet and MotorcycleGang Control Act of 1991.

· In 1982, began the“Check Twice – Save aLife” awareness programled by then Chairman, BobDoiron.

· Established Motorcy-cle Parking in the city ofBoston and Town of Ply-mouth

· Worked with the Mas-sachusetts Attorney General’s Office to help restore over $21 Mil-lion in Motorcycle Insurance Premium overpayments toMotorcyclists to date

· Worked with localtowns to establish volun-tary sound testing pro-grams and the MMA’s“When in Town, ThrottleDown” campaign.

Over the last 2 years theMMA has also been hardat work fighting soundordinances at both theState and Local levels –in numerous towns andcities around the Com-monwealth this has be-come an increasinglychallenging issue, butthe MMA has defeatedall of them with the ex-ception of Boston whichwas passed withoutcomment by Motorcyclists. In one case, the MMA fought a Mo-torcycle-only checkpoint and defended all riders who were issuedtickets, defeating 100% of those which were fought in court.

As a result, the MMA has increased our membership by 71%over the last two years and retention is at an all-time high!

With great pride, the MMA was honored to receive two awardsfor our accomplishments over the past year at this year’s MRF“Meeting of the Minds”. The first was for the MMA's continuedsupport of the MRF’s national agenda and the second was aState Legislative Award for defeating local noise ordinances

across the state –

To be recognized nationallyby our fellow motorcyclerights organizations is quitean accomplishment and weare extremely proud of ourmembership, their vigi-lance, team effort, and theircommitment to MotorcycleRights.

On December 4th, theMMA Celebrated its 35thAnniversary during an an-nual holiday event inChicopee MA. Nearly 200people including fellow ac-tivists from the CMRA andNHMRO enjoyed a night of

laughter, entertainment, and reminiscing. Numerous life mem-bers were in attendance including several who have been withthe MMA during the entire 35 year journey.

Dave Condon, currentMMA chairman, pre-sented several awardsfor achievement andread commemorativenotes from past chair-men Bob Doiron andKevin Griffin thankingthe current board andmembership for theircontinued dedication tothe mission.

As we celebrate our35th Anniversary, theMMA today is thou-sands of riders organ-ized into 4 districtsacross the Common-wealth. All with an eyeto the future, a commit-

ment to carry the torch of the past, but all with a singular mission:to be vigilant in order to protect the rights of the Motorcyclist.

Ride Proud, Ride Safely, Ride FREE!


SMROs in ActionConnecticut

Santa’s Little Helper Sandra Clark arrives at the CMRA toy

run.

Walt Rogers, the 1st candidate ABATE of Iowa has endorsed

along with 4 folks from ABATE District 16 which is in his leg-

islative district. l-r: Mike (Mohawk) Stone, Dawn (Lips) Wes-

sels, Walt Rogers, Theresa Swingen & James (Bulldog) Will

Iowa

Some of the participants from the 2010 ABATEof Wisconsin

Lobby Day

Wisconsin

Today (10-29-10) as a representative of NHMRO and MRF,

Bob Letourneau presented a check to US Senate Candidate

Kelly Ayotte from the MRF PAC. The MRF believes that Ms

Ayotte is a freedom loving patriot and will defend our free-

dom in the US Senate. (She has won her election and is

now the US Senator Elect from NH)

New Hampshire


Mid-South M.I.L.E. - Texas, 2010I had always heard that things were bigger in Texas, but being adude from the Show-Me State, you have to “show me” to makeme a believer. Guess what? Texas showed me, and this past Oc-tober, in Texas, the biggest Mid-South M.I.L.E. in the 19- yearhistory of the conference became reality. Over 200 motorcyclistsfrom 5 states and Europe were in attendance, in Sherman, Texasto rejuvenate their noggins on the finer points of motorcyclistrights.

The conference kicked off on Saturdaymorning with Slider Gilmore presenting hisnew seminar: LESSONS OF LIFE. Thiswas not the usual “Two-Wheel Trauma”type seminar that we are used to fromSlider; rather some key points that will helpyou attain happiness and success in yourlife, from lessons Slider has learned overthe years and thru research. Well worth thetime.

We were given updates about this pastyear’s legislative sessions and what we canlook forward to in the upcoming year fromthe 5 states (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,Arkansas, and Missouri) as well as theMRF, AMA, NCOM, and our friends in Eu-rope.

The folks in Texas provided a great luncheon and then it wasdown to the nitty gritty of the conference. Presentations weremade by the MRF (Thank you Hardtail), AMA (Imre Szauter),NCOM (South Dakota State Senator Jim “Putter” Putnam) TheoBeeldens and Bart Cocquet (MAG Belgium) gave us some in-sight to what is going on in Europe as it eventually gets to this

side of the Atlantic and affects us as bikers. Other seminars in-cluded: Share the Road (Wayne Wierson, ABATE of IOWA),Women in Motorcycling (Connie Thompson, ABATE of Texas),Civics 101 and Effective Leadership (Terry Cook, FORR, Mis-souri), Magic and Toxic Members (John Pierce, ABATE of Okla-homa and MRF Board Member), Letter Writing (Andy Stoody,ABATE of Texas) and more.

The day’s business concluded with the banquet and auction ofState Baskets (not of your Easter variety).Then it was off to the hospitality room andwhat happens in Texas stays in Texas.

The Texans set the bar and as we makeplans for the 2011 Mid-South M.I.L.E. in Mis-souri we anticipate it being bigger and betterthan the one just concluded. If all goes well,be looking in the MRF Reports for informa-tion inviting you to attend the 20th AnnualMILE, in Missouri in mid-October.

The Mission Statement: the Goal of the Mid-South M.I.L.E. (Motorcyclists Improving Leg-islative Effectiveness) is to share ideas,techniques, strategies, and enthusiasmusing the format of an annual educationalconference. The MILE has been meeting that

goal for the past 19 years and it is our hope and belief we will behere for the long term.

Submitted byWayne “Tip” TiptonVice-Chairman, Mid-South MILE

European Commission Proposes New TypeApproval Rules for Motorcycles continuedproposes a durability requirement of 50.000 km for motorcyclesthat will comply with Euro 6. This means that for the first time themanufacturer can be held liable in case emission values degradeover time.

Starting from 2017 all powered two-wheelers will be equippedwith on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems to monitor failure anddeterioration of engine and vehicle management systems. FEMAmade clear that OBD could represent a benefit for the con-sumers only if the information provided would be freely accessi-ble. So far the Commission promises "reasonable andproportionate fees for access to vehicle repair and maintenanceinformation" for dealers and repairers. FEMA already advised theCommission that "repairers" must include individuals whichwould not have an additional cost. Commission officials have sig-nalled their support.

No more engine modification, no more braking without elec-

tronics?

Commission wants to prevent or at least to strictly hamper anyprivate technical modification of the "powertrain" aimed at im-proving torque, power or maximum speed of road legal bikes.Before the development of any detailed measures, a study willbe conducted in order to clarify whether modifications have beenrepresenting any significant danger to the environment or to thesafety of riders so far. FEMA claims that the responsibility to en-sure that a machine is appropriate to a given driving licence sta-tus should remain to the rider which would maintain thepossibility to modify any part of the bike. The Commission agreedto consult delegates of FEMA once again regarding this issue.

Disregarding FEMA's objection, the Commission decided to intro-duce mandatory anti-lock brakes for all new motorcycles with an

continued page 43


Join the MRF Groupon Facebook!

The�MRF�has�been�striving�to�

become�more�accessible�online

and�this�is�the�latest�thing�to�take

the�net�by�storm.

Get�all�the�latest�motorcycle�news

out�of�Washington,�D.C.�and�hook

up�with�some�old�friends�while

you’re�at�it.

See�you�there.

Why All Bikers Need the MRFWayne Wierson

Member Representative

Board Member

Everyone is talking about the NTSBreport that puts motorcycles on their“Most Wanted” list.

This is quite a change from how theNTSB usually conducts business.

Whenever a plane goes down, a train derails or a bus leaves theroad they send a highly trained crew to analyze and evaluateevery aspect of what happened. This is the signature of how theNTSB works. They study data, documents and hold interviews todetermine what happened, why and how to prevent this crashfrom ever happening again. With motorcycles they just say “Weara helmet”. This is equivalent to having a person stand on a threestory building ready to jump off and the NTSB says “Go aheadand jump, you’re wearing a helmet”. (I got that from John Pierce).

Some of you might remember that I actually got to testify at anNTSB hearing on Motorcycle Safety In 2006. The presentationcan be found at:http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_motorcycle_safety/Public%20Education%20and%20Awareness%20Panel/Wayne%20Wier-son%20-%20ABATE%20of%20Iowa/Wayne%20Wierson%20-%20ABATE%20of%20Iowa.pdf

They didn’t listen when I talked about how awareness programslike Share The Road can make a difference by talking to driversand soon to be drivers about being aware of motorcycles, theydidn’t listen when I told them about how rider education canmake a difference in riding skills, they didn’t listen when I talkedabout “Riding Straight”. All of these programs and efforts on the

part of individual states to make riding safer fell on deaf ears.Their answer is to wear a helmet.

This is a prime example of why we need the MRF. The MRF isnot only our voice in Washington D.C., but a united voice acrossthe nation. We need people to make a commitment not only totheir state motorcycle rights organization but to step up and beheard at a national level.

We need to talk about how the figures that are thrown out tomake their case are bogus. Facts like: More than 12 motorcy-clists die in crashes in the USA each day, and the leading causeof death in those fatalities is head injuries, NTSB Vice ChairmanChristopher Hart said Tuesday in urging states without laws cov-ering all riders to adopt them.

The only way the NTSB Vice Chairman could know that thecause of death was head injuries was if autopsies were per-formed on all motorcycle fatalities and those autopsies weremade known to the NTSB. What are the chances of that? This isa statement without substance but because someone in a gov-ernment positions says it the public just swallows it whole.

We have become a society of instant solutions, have aheadache, take a pill, need to lose weight, take a pill, stop motor-cycle fatalities, wear a helmet.

How do we stop this from continuing? Join your state’s motorcy-cle rights group; attend the meetings get involved on a state andlocal level. Join the MRF your voice in Washington and yourvoice to all of the politicos in DC. Make a commitment that wewill not go quietly into the night, they will not force us to wear ahelmet simply because the NTSB thinks it’s a good idea.


Why Did They Hang Horse Thieves?Is Forfeiting a Right Worth $6.28; Or Worse: $3.68??

Larry NielsonSSMRO Board Member

“A man coveted his possessions

in the west in this order: first his

horse, second his rifle, third his

dog, and fourth his wife. Steal his

wife but beware of the wrath ren-

dered if one was to steal his

horse.” (Ellis County Texas His-

tory).

That oft repeated quote placed the “right” to transportation equalwith survival.

Fast forward: If you do a search on the internet today using thewords “right to drive” the first selections you will find are all aboutthe exact opposite, that driving is a “privilege”.

Interesting how public perception changes depending on yourcurrent environment, isn’t it?

What is the value of a life? What is the value of freedom? Whatcost (or inconvenience) are you willing to pay to travel, which isstill a requirement for most citizens in this country (to at leastprosper if not survive)? The usage or value of safety equipmentis not the point of this discussion, rather the actions of govern-ment to impose its will on its citizens. As an example, I will use anon motorcycle related example, not necessarily to advocate thatissue; but because the process used in that example could verylikely be used against our motorcycling community in the verynear future:

The following is a brief synopsis of the history of the nationwidepush for seatbelt laws, condensed from the National MotoristsAssociation website: In the 1980s auto manufacturers werefaced with a federal mandate to install “passive restraint” devicesknown as the “air bag mandate”. Problem was, airbags at thetime were not perfected, and needed additional safety equipmentto prevent even more injury to the passengers resulting from theactual airbag deployment itself..i.e. seatbelts… as required byFederal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 208 (49

C.F.R.571.208). Today 31 states have primary enforcement laws(19 states do not) (GHSA report on seat belt laws). Today, auto-mobile related fatalities AND fatality rates are both down signifi-cantly compared to 1980 (US DOT FHA Trends in Highway

Fatality Rates, 1980-2006). Not satisfied, to further “encourage”compliance, a variety of campaigns funded by groups such asNHTSA and the insurance industry continue to this day to further“persuade” and “encourage” motorists to wear seatbelts…i.e. ad-vocating 100% primary enforcement seatbelt laws and perpetuat-ing a “nagging public relations campaign”.

The aforementioned push resulted in South Dakota statute 32-38-1, a seatbelt requirement with adult secondary enforcement,which was a compromise but agreed by both parties to be goodenough at that time. Then, no longer contented with that, propo-nents reneged on their deal and have continually tried tostrengthen the law in SD, the latest attempt being in the 2010legislative session: HB 1256 attempted to tighten that state’sseatbelt enforcement from a secondary to a primaryoffense….and the current proponent’s primary argument (be-sides lives hypothetically saved of course) was $5.1 million one-time money from a Safety-Lu grant program (SD House

Transportation Committee testimony). House Floor testimonylater reduced the promised amount to only just over $3 million.

What is the value of a right? Or more importantly, a right lost? Ifthat bill had passed, in South Dakota the right of otherwise lawabiding adults to not be stopped for choosing to not wear a seat-belt would have been lost, for a payment equal to- at most- $6.28per resident. Thankfully, our legislators once again resisted thetemptation of forfeiting another right for temporary (and paltry)monetary gain…but in 2010, 8 legislators were willing to sell outSouth Dakota’s 812,000 residents for a sum of up to 5.1 milliondollars-“pieces of silver”- or 6 dollars and 28 cents per person,in truth adjusted down to actually only $3.68/head useable fund-ing (considering House floor testimony). We have already beenwarned to expect similar activity this year…what price is yourfreedom worth today?

But seatbelts are an automotive issue, not motorcycle related!Well, yes, but the same people (organizations) that advocatedthat issue are now focusing their sights on motorcyclists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) haslong been advocating mandatory helmet laws, but is by law for-bidden from lobbying in any given state unless invited. A trou-bling new development has surfaced, however. The NationalTraffic Safety Board (NTSB), the “independent” agency that usu-ally investigates aviation, railroad, marine, pipeline, and generalhighway design concerns, but until very recently never individualmotorcycle crashes, recently announced a new recommendationfor mandatory state helmet laws…despite their lack of expertisein the arena of motorcycling. Coincidentally (or not?); the NTSBis not governed by the same rules as the NHTSA so their repre-sentatives COULD enter a state, without invitation, to lobby fortheir positions advocating a mandate. Yes, each agency is tech-nically separate, but the NTSB website itself has a direct link tothe NHTSA site, so decide for yourself if any collusion could existin this instance??

The government has already demonstrated its desire to exercisemore control over its citizens, with multiple specific issues that

continued page 27


Technical Inspections for Motorcycles

All Over Europe

In some countries in the EU, motorcycles have to be presentedperiodically to technical inspections. Even though there is noclear evidence of the safety benefit of periodical technical in-spections (PTI) for motorcycles the EU plans to harmonise PTIin Europe also in consideration of motorcycles. Motorcyclists inEurope would therefore have to invest over one and a half bil-lion Euros for inspections biannually. Protest among riders isgrowing continuously.

In order to improve road safety the European Commission ispreparing a proposal to harmonise PTI in Europe. The Com-mission's Road Safety Action Plan already indicates that therewill be a call to include motorcycles into the PTI regime. Incountries where motorcycles have to be inspected regularly al-ready the tests are likely to become stricter and therefore moreexpensive for the consumer. FEMA is campaigning for theCommission to leave the decision, if and how to test motorcy-cles, to the member states.

There is no proven safety benefit of PTI. An independent studyby the two scholars Peter Christensen and Rune Elvik(1)showed that tighter inspection rules for cars in Norway did in-deed result in an improvement of the technical conditions ofthe car but, opposite to expected, the desired effect of loweringaccident rates was not observed. Since riders tend to maintaintheir motorcycles frequently the effectiveness of PTI for motor-cycles can be expected to be even less than for cars, particu-larly when all PTI guarantees is that the vehicle conforms on aset date, but not for the intervening period.

Evolution in the number of motorcycles, killed motorcy-

clists and total road deaths

Source: OECD.

The pictured table provides numbers from the OECD about

killed motorcyclists, total road deaths and the evolution in thenumber of motorcycles from 2000 to 2009. The countriesmarked do not require PTI for motorcycles. The table showsfor example that in Great Britain between 2000 and 2009 therate of motorcycle fatalities fell by 23% while at the same timethe number of motorcycles on British roads increased by 42%.The numbers for the Netherlands are similar: 24% decrease ofmotorcycle fatalities while the number of motorcycles in-creased by 41%. Unlike in the UK, in the Netherlands motorcy-cles do not have to be inspected.

A similar comparison can be made between the Germany andNorway. Both countries show a similar decrease in motorcyclefatalities around 32% but in Norway the number of motorcyclesrose by 59% compared to merely 7% in Germany. Germanyhas a long lasting tradition of severe testing while Norway stillexcludes motorcycles from its PTI regime. Of course, based onthis exercise it would be oversimplified to conclude that PTI isuseless. But it can be taken as a clear indicator that the pre-sumed positive effect of PTI on motorcycle accidents is farfrom striking. Other factors must play a more prominent role.

Why is the introduction of PTI for motorcycles a Europeanissue?

The reason why PTI does not have a significant impact on mo-torcycle safety is that technical defects hardly contribute to mo-torcycle accidents. Additionally DEKRA, the leading vehicletesting organization in Europe, finds in its Motorcycle RoadSafety Report 2011(2) that inaccurate tyre pressure is the mostcommon defect of relevance to an accident. But tyre pressureis not part of the technical inspections carried out by DEKRAmembers which is due to the fact that the pressure of tyresshould be checked at least biweekly instead of biannually.

According to the European Commission there are more than32 million powered two wheelers registered in Europe. Assum-ing a low estimate of average cost of around €50 per inspec-tion, riders would end up paying at least €1.6 billion every twoyears in case PTI became mandatory for all kinds of poweredtwo wheelers. This might be the main reason why testing or-ganizations like DEKRA, TUEV or CITA persistently promotePTI for motorcycles as an indispensible safety measure. Thementioned €1.6 billion still exclude the costs of the expenditureof time arising from presenting the vehicle to an inspection orfor possibly unnecessary remedial work.

Riders' protest grows steadily

continued page 28


Why Did They Hang Horse Thieves? continuedaffect the motorcycling community. In several states motorcycle-specific roadblocks are being implemented even though such po-lice actions are known to be a violation of civil rights.Discriminatory noise regulations continue to be pushed in manylocales. Our vehicle designs are becoming less and less ownerfriendly (also aggravated by government mandate) making itmore difficult to try to even perform our own basic maintenance,much less repairs. “Livability” proposals have been put forth withthe naïve concept of making travel more difficult to force peopleback into crowded inner cities closer to their jobs under the guiseof reducing pollution but also restricting what type of vehicle wecould drive. When these programs are tied to funding legislationlegislators are faced with a no win situation-a budget shortfall; orforfeiting a right; and moving toward that socialism powered vac-uum which seems to have begun to overwhelm our country oflate.

How does this apply to you and what if anything can be doneabout it? The recent election once again expressed the public’soutrage at government action, for the second time in consecutive

election cycles; hopefully the legislators will now begin to heedthe call for reform. ABATE and MRF have been in the trenchestrying to turn this behemoth, and both have achieved several no-table victories; but we continue to need all the help we can get.We need your membership and participation; and your friend’smembership and involvement also, to add strength to our voice.We also need your support, if possible more than just your mem-bership dues. Please consider additional contributions and par-ticipation in our political fundraising activities. We HAVE hadsignificant success stopping and even reversing the horde ofgovernment intrusions in our world, but we are also on the eve ofperhaps our worst battles to date….and the threat is very real.

"Erosions of liberty do not come in giant leaps, they come in

miniscule encroachments often hidden to the trained and edu-

cated mind. Like a thief in the night, language can steal a liberty

deeply ingrained in the fabric of the American way of life. I am

afraid of each little encroachment on the liberty of my fellow

Americans on the highway." (former South Dakota Supreme

Court Justice Henderson)

A Letter from Chopper Charlie,Recipient of the 2010 John“Farmer” Eggers Award atMOTM in Peoria, Illinois


A.B.A.T.E. of Michigan, Inc.2010 Legislative Candidate Survey

1. Would you support “Adult Choice” on the issue of voluntarymotorcycle helmet use?YES__________ NO__________

2. In a recent Legislative session, funds were diverted from theSELF-FUNDED Motorcycle Safety Program while, at the sametime, classes for the program were cut in many areas of Michi-gan. Would you support legislative action to protect this Pro-gram?YES__________ NO__________

3. Would you support legislation for penalties similar to “Con-struction Zone Penalties” for FATAL pedestrian, bicycle, and mo-torcycle accidents?YES__________ NO__________

4. Would you favor adding a “motorcycle awareness” section todrivers education courses to make new car drivers more awareof motorcyclists?YES__________ NO__________

5. Would you support action to limit local jurisdictions (cities,townships, etc.) from prohibiting motorcycles from accessingpublic roads in their areas?YES__________ NO__________

6. Have you ever ridden or been a passenger on a motorcycle?YES__________ NO__________

7. If “YES”, have you ever had formal training on a motorcycle?YES__________ NO__________

Would you seek an endorsement letter from ABATE?YES__________ NO__________

**************************************************************************

Name_________________________________Present Legislative Position________________________

(Please Print Candidate Info)(Rep., Senator, County, “None”, etc.)What office will you be seeking in the 2010 General Elec-tions?__________________________________Which Legislative District?___________________ Party affiliation?____________________________(Optional: Dem., Rep., Libertarian, etc.)

Technical Inspections for Motorcycles All Over Europe continuedFEMA is campaigning for the European Commission to leave thedecision about how and whether or not to inspect motorcycles tothe member states. Speed limits, differing riding styles and roadconditions do not justify the implementation of German testingstandards all across Europe. Instead of making riders pay billionsof Euros for inspection engineers, just to let them know that theirheadlamp may not be working once every two years, more finan-cial resources should be dedicated to rider training and motorcy-cle friendly crash barriers.

A facebook group, originally created by FEMA to invite riders toparticipate to the Commission's internet consultation on PTI, al-ready exceeds 2,600 concerned motorcyclists. The public con-sultation has been closed since September 24 and besides theupload of contributions to the consultation (click here and accessthe folders at the bottom of the page) the publication of its finalresult is still pending.


Questionnaires and Election Strategies (Kind of!!)For the first ten years of ABATE of Michigan’s activity, we be-lieved that we knew how to get things done in the political arena.Being “involved” was simply having the vast majority of our mem-bership VOTE in the election cycle and contacting legislatorswas all we needed. We would have some legislator sponsor a billfor us. We would have an annual rally at the capital, burn a hel-met on the capital steps, several calls to various representatives,miscellaneous meetings with a bill’s sponsor and POOF, wewould convince the legislature that we should have our way.

I remember when “WE” as representatives of ABATE and themotorcycling community were given our first major “epiphany” (orRUDE AWAKENING if you will) as to how we should be involvedin the political system and “process”.

At some point, members of the legislature asked us if we wereinvolved in “party politics” – didwe participate in the individualparty organizations. Were anyof our members active in thecongressional districts? Werewe “Precinct Delegates”? Are

we working with the “party” inpower? Did we really under-stand how legislation getspassed? WOW! What was thisall about?

So, we set up meetings withpeople in power who would ex-plain the whole thing to us. Weresearched EVERYTHING. Weasked questions. We went “head-first” into to becoming PrecinctDelegates, the most basic and important positions for any organi-zation to become relevant in the political arena. Fiz became oneof the first delegates followed by hundreds of other ABATE mem-bers. We went on from there to become RELEVANT in the politi-cal process.

From this we developed a grass roots involvement that we arevery proud of today. Over a decade ago, we developed a legisla-tive questionnaire to help us find out who supported us on thevarious issues including rider’s education, insurance concerns,safety issues, and the mandatory helmet law. This questionnaireoriginally went to the legislators in office to help us generate a“supporters” list.

Later, this would lead to our first “Legislative Survey” for candi-dates running for state office during the election cycle and intoour first “Motorcycle Riders Voters Guide”. The latest guide wasposted on our ABATE website and was available on-line to ALLmotorcyclists. During the Primary and General Election cycles,we had dozens of “would be” public officials requesting that theyget a copy of our survey to fill out and asking for our support andendorsement.

Throughout the years we have had between 80-85% of thesesurveys returned from candidates. Of those surveys returned wehave had between 80-85% of the candidates we support actually

WIN an election. That’s a pretty good success rate. Unfortu-nately, we haven’t had the same success rate in choosing a gu-bernatorial candidate.

We have based our support for candidates on this “survey” andour endorsement is now greatly sought after. We have been toldthat we are one of the most successful grass roots organizationsin the state and a model for how grass roots politics should work.But, alas, we still have a mandatory helmet law! So much forhaving a good Governor. And NO, legislators didn’t offer theirsupport just because they knew that the Governor wouldn’t sup-port us. Once we have a commitment from a legislator, how canthey back out!

Well, now that the latest elec-tion cycle rhetoric, propagan-dizing, advertising, posturingand etceteras have ceased andthe smoke from the processhas subsided, we have an op-portunity to review what hap-pened and where we asmotorcycle riders stand for thenext session.

Over the past decade we havetaken an active role in becom-ing “relevant” to the politicalprocess. We have developed

relationships with the legislative body that are coming to fruition.This is our time!!

Former freshman candidates that we helped over the years arenow in leadership positions. Candidates who ran for Governorand LOST are now in positions of legislative authority. Legislatorswho we have worked with in the past are now in a position tohelp us and they want to. I sincerely believe in my heart that therelationships from the past will help us to reach our goals of adultchoice on the helmet law, car driver awareness programs, and

motorcycle rider education and that our voice is relevant. This allstarted with a simple questionnaire.

With the appointments of our new Lt. Governor, the new Gover-nor’s Legislative Director, and many of the new leadership mem-bers in both the House and Senate (all of whom have been past

supporters) and the efforts of our membership, THIS IS OUR

YEAR.

To repeat what is tattooed on me, “LIVE FREE OR DIE”, JimRhoades – Legislative Director – ABATE of Michigan


Around the StatesArkansasConnie ShepherdMRF State Rep

The 2010 United States Senate elec-tion in Arkansas took place on No-vember 2, 2010 alongside otherelections to the United States Senatein other states, as well as elections tothe United States House of Repre-sentatives and various state and localelections. Incumbent Democratic U.S.Senator Blanche Lincoln ran unsuc-cessfully for re-election against Re-publican John Boozman. Arkansashad previously only elected one Re-publican senator since the Recon-struction, who was defeated after hisfirst term in 2002 by Mark Pryor. Lin-coln faced Lieutenant Governor BillHalter and narrowly won the primarycontest.

U S Congress Distrist 1, 2, and 3 seats were termed out and allthree were replaced with the Republican candidates.In the state house elections, Senator Shelby (D), who introduceda helmet bill in the last session was defeated by Bill Sample (R)who had termed out as a Representative.

We did lose a few "friends" on the Democrats side, but hopefullythe replacements will become our new "friends".

If you didn't get to know your candidates during the elections,NOW is the time!! Discuss with them the issues that affect youas a motorcyclist, your concerns and your visions.Hope everyone has a wonderfulNew Year!!

Ride Safe, Ride Free,Connie

ConnecticutRon TroiaMRF State Rep

Election season is finally behindus and the results for Connecticutwere pretty much the same oldthing. On the Federal level ourentire delegation of 2 Senatorsand 5 Congressmen are mem-bers of the Democratic Party. Al-though that in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing none ofthem has ever proven to be motorcycle friendly. The only na-tional candidate that the Connecticut Motorcycle Riders Associa-tion BikePAC endorsed was popular news anchor Janet

Peckinpaugh and even she could not fight off the Democraticmachine that runs our state. Unfortunately we in Connecticut willhave to continue to depend our counterparts in the rest of thecountry to try to keep a lid on unjust federal legislation. Ofcourse we will do all we can to keep up the pressure from our po-

sition but it will be an uphill battle tosay the least.

In the state races we lost some goodfriends to defeat and also were ableto retain some allies through the elec-tion process. Although early reportsreported him to be the winner, ourclose friend David Pia from the 22ndSenatorial District was declared onthe wrong end of the vote after the fi-asco in Bridgeport was “resolved”. Itis difficult at best to make any com-ment on that situation but it sure doesmake you wonder! The good news iswe still have solid friends and ridersin the Connecticut General Assembly

who we know we can always count on when the chips are down.

Reports circulating that State Republican Chairman Chris Healyis being considered for the national chairmanship is certainlygood news as he has proven to be a friend of freedom loving rid-ers. We will have to stay tuned to see how that plays out.

Finally on November 12th the CMRA sent 8 representatives tothe debt retirement party for our very close friend and ally JimAmann who early on made a run for Governor. He is a greatasset to the CMRA and we look forward to working with himagain in the future.

Since it appears there is a strong possibility that the helmet lawissue will be heating up in Con-necticut the CMRA will be up-dating its position papers toinclude more current statisticsso that we will be prepared todo the battle once again.

Several CMRA board membersand area reps are making pre-liminary plans to attend theMRF’s BEAST of the East thiscoming May. That is a wonder-ful seminar and the investmentin our time and money is wellworth it. We will also be dis-cussing sending some to the

Meeting of the Minds in September. Of course that is a long wayoff so there is still more than ample time to square that away.

The annual Legislative Dinner is in the works again this year andwill be held on March 19th at Aldario’s in Milford so watch the


Around the Statesnewsletter and the web site at www.thecmra.com for further de-tails as we get closer to springtime!!!

On November 14th the CMRABoard and Area Reps held nomi-nation proceedings for officersfor the upcoming two years.Running for co-chairman areMary Stuart, Jim Whitney, andDave Hutchins. Elections will beat the all important Decembermeeting. The nominees for theother officer positions are run-ning unopposed so it looks likeour new secretary will be JeffHill, our Sergeant at Arms willcontinue to be Neil Clark, andmembership coordinator will asalways be the illustrious Mike Joyce. I personally want to thankall of the nominees for stepping up to the plate to tackle the is-sues that are coming our way. It is a tough and basically thank-less job but without people like you it would not get done.

Enjoy the holidays and God Bless America

Ron TroiaConnecticut

IdahoDave CazelMRF State Rep

Here we are in the New Year and all the states and the feds havea new group of legislators. In about a week or so they will allmeet, many for the first time and get down to the basics of gladhanding and back slapping. Most of them will eventually go alongto get along and turn to the bu-reaucrats whom hold the pro-fessional government jobs.Most of the newly elected willnot rock the boat and upset thebureaucracies. Here in Idaho,the head of the State HighwaySafety Office blames Idaho’s fa-tality rate on a lax seatbelt law,inappropriate child boostersafety seats, lack of anti-texting

laws and of course, no motor-

cycle helmet law for those

over 18.

As I have mentioned in prior ar-ticles, Idaho is a special place regarding individual freedoms andpersonal responsibilities. However the bureaucrats never give upand we as MRO members must maintain the constant vigilancebecause no matter how well the battles are going the war is

never over. Everyday, every week, every month and every yearwe must continue to monitor the bureaucrats and elected officials

who want to protect us from our-selves.

Idaho has a headstrong state leg-islature but it isn’t enough to relyon this to maintain the status quo.The coming pressures fromWashington D.C. through the De-partment of Transportation and itsunderlying agencies can betremendous and we must main-tain an equally strong position re-garding choice. Idaho like all theother states is under enormous fi-nancial pressure and Idaho, con-stitutionally, has to have a

balanced budget. The legislature meets for only 90 days begin-ning early January and they will be looking for all sources of rev-enue to help balance this budget and to maintain the servicesexpected by the citizens of Idaho. Transportation infrastructure isa very big portion of these services that are provided to Idahoansso we can expect tremendous pressure.

On a lighter note, Idaho’s nationally acclaimed Motorcycle Edu-cation and Safety Program, Skills Training Advantage for Riders(STAR) is amending its curriculum in 2011 with an additionalskills course with a precision clinic. This is for experienced riderswith many miles in the saddle and will be the most extensive ofthe courses offered through the program. I will write more aboutthis course as time progresses. First we have to get through thedormant riding season of snow. In the meantime keep the shinyside up and your powder dry.

Dave CazelMRF Rep-Idaho

IllinoisJim ConleyMRF Asst. State Rep

The last Saturday in Septemberfor some unknown reason I an-swered a phone call from anumber that I did not recognize,something I never do.

A shaking female voice asks, “Isthis Conley with ABATE?”” Yes,can I help you?” “I hope so mybrother, J.R. Clay, was killed

yesterday in a motorcycle crash“…….……That was enough, shehad my full attention. That sinking feeling came over me, youknow the one, with it’s own distinct taste, giving you that hardswallow? I think it comes from knowing the instant pain family


and friends felt at the moment they were delicately informed orrudely made aware of their loss. How the news reaches youdoesn’t seem to matter. It’s the pain that may haunt them fordays and or years, at timeslying dormant then erupting atthe most inopportune of timesfor no apparent reason, orknowingly as in the case ofthis writer with the simplehand full of words over thephone from a young girl.

Surely few in this organizationhave escaped it.

She went on to explained thatthe family wanted to get theword out about seeing motor-cycles and asked if I knew where she could acquire ABATE “Start Seeing Motorcycles” bumper stickers for the funeral proces-sion.

Not a problem, that night she picked up a number of stickers andtold me more about her brother and some of her father’s plansfor the funeral. I mentioned that Southern Freedom andShawnee Hills Chapters had 20 foot long “ Start Seeing Motorcy-cles” banners they could borrow if they wanted to increase theirvisibility and impact. She called back later and said “yes, that iswhat we want,” and in a few days I delivered them to RichardClay, JR’s father. He spoke fondly of his son, a Cowboy, Trucker,and a Biker and inquired about a banner to faithfully display eachriding season, and one was donated by chapter members. Mr.Clay asked that we use the passing of his son to help with ourmessage of motorcycle safety, in hopes of saving other ridersfrom injury or death.

“ Life is so valuable and it can be gone in an instant. Slow down!Pay attention! Please, start seeing motorcycles!” JR’s fatherRichard, said.

Make sure you are known in yourcommunity as an ABATE memberand are there to help,

ConleyShawnee Hills ChapterABATE of IllinoisMRF ASR

IowaJodi CainMRF State Rep

This year, for the first time,ABATE of Iowa endorsed a candidate running for office. Everyyear we send out a survey and donate through our PAC funds

depending on the candidates answers. We publish the results ofthe survey and ask our membership to get informed and vote forthe candidate of their choice. During the last session we had a

Representative in Des Moinesintroduce a bill that would havemade it illegal for anyone underthe age of six to be a passen-ger on a motorcycle. Althoughthe bill died, that is not the rep-resentation we want in theStatehouse. Fortunately heropponent shared our views andwe made the decision to notonly support him with PACfunds but to endorse him aswell. I am happy to report thathe won the election and we willhave another friend in Des

Moines when they go into session in January.

ABATE of Iowa Seminar To Motive And Educate (STEAM) washeld November 10-12. The breakout sessions covered Leader-ship, Share the Road, Legislative Involvement, Treasury, Mem-bership and Rider Education. All were well attended and a lot ofknowledge was shared. Featured speakers included newlyelected Walt Rogers and former Senate candidate Bill Salier.This year the Steven B. Rector “Heart” Award was presented toWayne Wierson. This award is given to an individual who hasgiven their heart and soul going above and beyond the call ofduty in furthering the goals of ABATE of Iowa. CongratulationsWayne!

Although the handlebar height restriction was removed in IowaCode several years ago, the Administrative Rules had neverbeen changed and still reflected a restriction on custom bikes.That has now been corrected.

I wish all of you a great holiday season and look forward to see-ing you in the New Year.

Respectfully submitted, Jodi CainIowa State Rep

MaineJoshua HerndonMRF State Rep

The elections are a done dealand the state of Maine has TheDemocrats lost the House ofRepresentatives, the Senate,and the Governor’s office. Inmy opinion the health of the

state is suspect, but it is great news for motorcyclist’s rights. Therepublicans have always been more likely to respect our freedom

Around the States


Around the Statesof choice.

The current working groups for the two noise bills have just aboutwrapped up their proceedings. A third meeting for LD 1675 washeld in November. During dis-cussion on EPA labeling apower point presentation of asurvey done in New York Citywas shown to illustrate that theEPA label was not readily visi-ble on a large number of newmotorcycles right on a dealer-ship’s showroom floor. Thispresentation was obtained fromthe New York City MotorcycleAdvocacy Group with the helpof the New York Motorcycle &Scooter Task Force. A motionwas made to not recommend EPA labeling as an enforcementtool. The motion passed by an overwhelming majority so EPA la-beling will not be one of the recommendations to the legislaturewhen the working group reports to the Transportation committeein January 2011. The SAE J2825 noise standard was exploredwith different ideas suggested for implementation ranging froman enforcement tool to an inspection requirement to an affirma-tive defense. The one idea that got a lot of attention was the vol-untary use of the standard for enforcement purposes by localmunicipalities with the cost of equipment and training to be borneby the municipality. In fact, draft language is being drawn up bythe group chairman that could be added to the existing law. Thiswill be discussed at the final working group meeting in Decemberand voted on whether to use it as a recommendation to theTransportation committee.

The temperature is consistently in the thirties here now, but therehave been a few hearty souls seen getting in that last late ridebefore winterizing the machine. Until next spring and another rid-ing season, be well.

MarylandLenny HolcombMRF Asst. State Rep

Well, the election here in Marylandwas pretty uneventful. All of our in-cumbents kept their seats - as ex-pected. Unfortunately, the wave ofdispleasure wasn't enough tochange things here. Even our liberalgovernor was able to retain his seat,dispite a very close and hard foughtfight. Couple that with a some veryanti-biker state legislators that wereable to keep their seats and it lookslike were in for another up hill battle in the upcoming legislativesession that begins in January.

A couple of the isues on slate for us are the helmet modificationbill & the stop & proceed red light bill. This bill will allow bikes toproceed through red lights when they won't turn green after a pe-riod of time. This has already passed in a few states across the

country. We put it in last year forthe first time and got a mixed re-sponse. So, we'll refine it and tryagain.

Also during the session, we'll befocusing on next years BEAST ofthe East, being held in Baltimorenext May. As many of you know,we were able to coordinate thiswith the Bikers Inside the Beltway.So, it should prove to be a veryproductive, educational & hope-fully fun weekend. We'll start

working with Carol & co. soon after the holidays to iron out thedetails. We look forward to a BIG crowd.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great holiday season andhope to see ya in May.

Lenny HolcombMaryland State Rep.

MinnesotaMike BergerMRF Asst. State Rep

Now that the National Transportation Safety Board has declaredwar on the freedoms that all Minnesota motorcyclists enjoy, it’sabsolutely essential that every one of our motorcycling citizensgets involved to protect our way of life and our rights. And thebest way to do that is to attend Minnesota’s Bikerday at the Capi-tol.

Held this coming February 2, Bikerday at the Capitol is the bestopportunity that Minnesota’s motor-cyclists have to be heard in onestrong, unified voice. If you’ve neverattended this event before, here arethe basics: the day begins with reg-istration at 8:30 in the Great Hall ofthe Minnesota State Capitol Buildingin St. Paul. If you pre-register for theevent (which you can do atwww.abatemn.org), you’ll have pre-arranged meetings set up for youwith your state representative andyour state senator.

Everyone in attendance from yourdistrict will go together in group to those meetings to state ourpositions. Our first issue is that the Minnesota Legislature needs


Around the Statesto leave our right to choose whether or not to wear a helmet in-tact, despite the bullying from the National level.

Our second issue is that the Minnesota Legislature needs to es-tablish increased penalties that would properly punish those whoharm or kill others through inat-tentive or distracted driving.Each year, motorcyclists, pedes-trians, bicyclists, vehicle driversand passengers are killed byother motorists who enter theroadway into their path, turn leftinto their path, or otherwisecause accidents by failing toyield right of way. Currentlythese are misdemeanor citationsif the vehicle operator is found tobe sober and licensed. ABATEof Minnesota feels that Min-nesota should strengthen the penalties for those who kill otherswhile driving in a negligent manner, when not alcohol or drug re-lated, and raise the offense to the level of gross misdemeanor.

Additionally, we’re asking the Minnesota Legislature to safeguardthe Motorcycle Safety Funds which are used for motorcyclesafety training, motorcycle safety promotion, and public aware-ness campaigns. This program is funded with the money motor-cyclists pay when they apply for or renew their motorcycleendorsement. Since this money is paid solely by motorcyclists formotorcycle safety, ABATE of Minnesota opposes any efforts to"raid" the Motorcycle Safety Fund to balance the state budget.

Politicians pay attention when large groups of black leather-cladfreedom-loving citizens stride the Capitol hallways, and we needevery motorcyclist in Minnesota to attend. We want a sea ofleather, a thunder of boots, an overwhelming chorus of voices alldemanding that freedoms be protected, that motorcyclists betreated with respect. For more information on Bikerday at theCapitol, go to www.abatemn.org or call 800-224-6570

Respectfully, Mike BergerAsst. State Rep

MissouriTip TiptonMRF State Rep

Freedom of Road Riders andABATE for Missouri are gear-ing up for what hopes to be asuccessful legislative season.Elections are over and motor-cyclist will have to be in theCapitol making new friendsand getting reacquainted with the old. Bills will be getting pre-

filed in early December. Once again we will be working on a hel-met modification bill for those 21 years of age and older. Gover-nor Nixon vetoed this bill in 2009 and it will take a lot of hardwork by the bikers to get it to his office then convince him wewant the freedom to choose.

This year we are going to belooking at ways to fund motorcy-cle awareness in classrooms andwithin the Department of Rev-enue. Lots of ideas being tossedaround and we will let everyoneknow what we were able to comeup with and how we got it doneas well as the stumbling blocksalong the way.

Until next time, hope you have ahappy and successful New Year,

support the MRF and we hope to see ya on the road!!

TipMRF State Rep

NevadaJohn BlandPresident ABATE Northern NevadaMRF State Rep

Elections have come and gone. We’re very disappointed here inNevada that Senate candidate Sharron Angle lost to incumbentHarry Reid. Sharron was endorsed by the Tea Party, is astaunch constitutionalist and has a long history of supporting mo-torcycle rights issues. Northern ABATE member Janine Hansenlost to ABATE member John Ellison for Assembly 33. Having twoABATE members running for the same office caused some ten-sion between candidates and ABATE. John Ellison may be dis-appointed that ABATE did not endorse him during the election.Hopefully John understands the situation of two members run-ning for the same office. ABATE will introduce a helmet repealbill again next legislative session. We expect John Ellison will in-

troduce bills, and supportbills, that uphold our state andUS Constitution. We will beworking with John Ellison dur-ing the upcoming legislativesession and we believe Mr.Ellison will uphold and protectour personal rights and free-doms in Nevada.

ABATE member, Ken Welling-ton ran for Elko County Sheriffand lost to Jim Pitts. Unfortu-nately not enough voters at-

tended the open debates that were held between Mr. Wellington


Around the Statesand Mr. Pitts. Wellington beat Pitts hands down; there was nocomparison in knowledge, professionalism and presentation.Unfortunately, name recognition and the good-ole-Boy networkswayed the vote to Pitts. Thank you Northern ABATE membersJanine Hansen, Dale Andrusand Ken Wellington for runningfor office; you have our deepestadmiration and respect.

We have some serious freedomfighters in Southern Nevada.ABATE member David Stillwellis one of the most aggressiveand persistent. David is chal-lenging law enforcement in thecourts over helmet enforcement,David has started a websitecalled Guerilla Lawfare to edu-cate the public about their rightswhen being encountered or de-tained by an officer and how to know the difference. Tiger Lily isa writer for the magazine “Quick Throttle”. Tiger Lily uses herwriting skills to expose the injustices that are all too commonagainst motorcyclists in the Las Vegas area and throughout thestate. Mike Davis “Bones” president of Southern ABATE is com-mitted to changing Nevada’s mandatory helmet law as well, nomatter what it takes. These are the types of people that will fightinappropriate and unjust laws in Nevada. We who fight for free-doms appreciate those who devote themselves to the never end-ing battle.

New HampshireBob LetourneauMRF State Rep

Breaking News: Also we are once again under attack on thesound issue. The people from North Hampton have decided tosue in US District court on the issue of the stamp on the exhaustsystem of your motorcycle.

This could have serious conse-quences for us if they were tosucceed as it is a federal court.This issue has been an on-goingbattle between the state and thistown for a number of years. NorthHampton is a seacoast town andmany motorcyclists travel there inthe warmer months for a nice rideup the seacoast. Some of thesefolks like to make noise at allhours of the day and night bring-ing the wrath of the communityupon all motorcyclists. There is a large Harley Davidson dealerthere that has many events during the year attracting motorcy-clists from the surrounding three states, NH, MA and ME. This

dealership has been fighting alongside NHMRO and others.

History tells us that this goes back many years with bills beingfiled at the state house to change our law. When all this failed,

they decided to implement a localordinancethat would have allowedlocal police to ticket a bike that did-n't have a sticker or EPA stamp onits muffler system even if it wasparked. We checked with attorneysand found that local law could nottrump state law over vehicle in-spection requirements. Imaginethe confusion if that was allowed.The ordinance passed by a largemargin, (of course) who doesn'tlike noise? The H-D dealers andother got together and began op-position, the local police chief saidhe would not enforce the law at the

advice of his attorney, (state law trumps local ordinance) thetown could be setting itself up for a lawsuit.

This brings us to the present. Last week the newspaper reportedthat they were going to federal court and the local newspaperwebsite has an ad for donations to help pay for the action. Theyare going to federal court because they believe that because it isa federal requirement to have the stamp on the pipes that thefeds can enforce it. I do not believe they will have a successfuloutcome, but it is federal court and all kinds of things can hap-pen. Plus, all of the controversy will attract others to join in. Re-member we are a minority when it comes to vehicle ownership.Other bad things can result from the federal lawsuit action suchas a suggestion to the congress that they act, while I still believethat the 10th amendment applies here (states rights), when wasthe last time you saw congress worry about a little thing like theconstitution?

Folks, the moral of this story isone that I have been talkingabout for years. The sound issuewill not go away and it is our re-sponsibility to fix this before theyfix it for us. If you or a friend hasextremely load pipes it needs tobe unacceptable at all of ourevents, it needs to be unaccept-able period. I know these areharsh words and I have beentrashed because of this view, butthe fact remains this is one ofthe largest issues we will face. Itaffects our ability to customize

our machines, it affects the dealerships from doing the same, itaffects the ability for dealerships to inspect motorcycles, it willcertainly affect the aftermarket manufacture of exhaust systems,


Around the Statesit could also affect our ability to ride in residential areas. It wouldalso have an effect on our events. One of the largest complaintswe hear about our Laconia Rally each year is the"loud motorcycles" coming into town.

Think about it. Would you like tohave a neighbor who has a loadstereo blasting at all hours? Wouldyou want to live next to a rockcrushing plant? Noise is a seriousproblem and has led people to doall kinds of crazy things. Police useit as a method to keep criminalsawake during stand offs, the militaryuse it for interrogation. What is driv-ing these folks in North Hampton tofollow this up is the basic feeling ofbeing safe in their own homes, in the end it is a quality of lifeissue... As individuals, we need to be proactive...or lose our rightto ride.

Bob LetourneauNHMRO BODMRF State RepAMA

New YorkProspectorMRF State Rep

Here in New York the harassment continues, but we're fightingback. In our class-action lawsuit against motorcycle-only road-blocks, our AIM attorney, Mitch Proner (representing bikers pro-bono) informed me on 10/22/10 that we have been granted classstatus which gives us standing to proceed. Mitch is hopeful thecase will be heard in court in Manhattan by spring.

We have had some confiscations of note: in May 2009 an indi-vidual was stopped at a motorcycle-only check while pulling aclosed trailer. He was intimidatedinto opening the trailer and 2 of the4 bikes inside were taken for 'inves-tigation'. He was told repeatedly forthe next 14 months that he was stillunder investigation, although nocharges were ever filed nor any tick-ets issued, only to learn that hisbikes had been auctioned off byDMV less than a year after theywere taken because the VIN num-bers were found to be 'unidentifi-able'. It took letters from an attorneyand a State Assemblyman to DMV to finally learn the fate of thebikes.

In another case, a motorcycle was seized for alleged VIN tam-pering (the VIN had been painted over by a previous owner). A

week later the owner was arrested on felony tampering charges.The case went to trial, he was found 'not guilty', and DMV wasordered to return the bike. DMV's response was to sue the judge.The case then went to Supreme Court where the judges deci-

sion was upheld, and DMV finally re-turned the bike after defacing the VINthemselves and issuing a new VIN.This of course devalues the vehicle.DMV officials are now facing contemptcharges and are due in court shortly.The owner of the bike is now filing aclass-action suit on behalf of severalmotorcycle owners who have lost theirbikes.

If you or anyone you know has had amotorcycle confiscated in New York,

please contact Prospector at 518-239-4560 or [email protected].

We need to bring these incidents to light.

PennsylvaniaSteve ZurlMRF Asst. State Rep

New Beginnings! That’s the way I look at each New Year. It’s atime to spend a few hours cleaning my desk, organizing what I’vechaotically saved on my PC, and thinking of what I need to ac-complish over the next twelve months. Naturally, this includesplanning long rides for the warmer weather!

Looking ahead at the next 12 months, and even at the next 5years, I wonder about the “business” of the Motorcycle Rights ef-fort. There are some challenges ahead – Motorcyclists made theNTSB’s Most Wanted List! Translated, this simply means theNTSB and others in DC are frustrated by the effectiveness of theSMRO’s commonsense approach to motorcycle safety and hel-

met laws, and want to crush thestates at the federal level. We needto let them know they just poked astick in a hornets’ nest!

With regard to my comment aboutthe “business” of the motorcyclerights effort, I thought about man-agement and funding. At a recentABATE of PA Board Meeting, one ofour Members, Diane Shaw, gave anupdate on her investigation of fund-ing through grants. ABATE of PA

got its first grant! It will be used by one of our chapters for a spe-cial project. Diane also reported that after a year’s work, shemanaged to get enough information to formulate a blanket pro-posal to seek funding for ABATE of PA’s Operation Save A Life(OSAL) initiatives. In my opinion, OSAL is the best program initi-


Around the Statesated by ABATE of PA, promoting motorcycle awareness andsafety. It’s also underfunded.

I began to think about what grants actually mean to an organiza-tion, and how they would affect the current accounting systemand the required reporting.Even the timing of the moneyreceived would affect manydecisions. There’s fundingavailable for non-profit organi-zations such as ABATE of PA,but you have to be prepared tomanage the funding once it’sreceived. As a “business”,are we ready? Do we havethe office systems in place?Will the grant initiative be de-pendent on only one person’sknowledge and expertise (andcommitment)?

If we succeed in our goals of receiving state or federal funds torevise our OSAL program, and even get our OSAL program ap-proved by the Department of Education, ABATE of PA would ac-complish a couple things. It would allow us to “catch up to thetimes”, and have an interactive and interesting program to pres-ent to elementary, high school, and adult audiences. It would re-inforce ABATE of PA’s commitment to motorcycle safety, andgalvanize the relationship with PennDOT to achieve a team-ap-proach to motorcycle safety and education.

Diane noted that there’s grant availability for impaired driving pre-vention education from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.She’s exploring the opportunities to work with them to get fundingto promote ABATE of PA’s position on impaired driving. The re-quirements are a bit more complex with regard to funding, butnot impossible.

The major significance of pursu-ing grants is that it raises thelevel of expertise necessary tosupport the organization. Itcomplements our traditionalfundraising methods, andmakes our organization morereliant on paperwork and officesystems. It forces us to “think”harder than we “work”. In thelong run, the grant applicationprocess will open new doors,and allow us to work WITH gov-ernment to promote motorcyclesafety.

Personally, I like being a member-supported group. In the per-fect world, everyone in the MRF and in SMRO’s would simplywrite a check for a hundred bucks to each organization, annually,

and shift their efforts from fundraising to lobbying and riding. But,in a perfect world, we wouldn’t need MRO’s at all. Until we per-fect things, we have some work to do, and some bills to pay.

Wishing US a successful 2011,

Steve ZurlAssistant MRF RepresentativePennsylvania

TexasRick BolandMRF State Reps

Well this is my second reportfrom the great state of Texas. Ihave just gotten back from agreat toy and food drive run andthought, how much it reallymeans to us bikers. You get to

talk to riders that don’t know what ABATE is and get to tell themwhat we are about. Of course you get to meet the ones you havenot seen in years also. The ride also gives us a chance to dis-cuss issues to motorcyclists. What a great feeling it gives you todonate food and toys and all the thanks you receive.

Well in January we are starting our next legislative session inAustin. We go every two years and just getting started on thenew session by the time you read this. January 24 2011, all ofthe state of Texas riders plan on being at the Capital.. TMRA2and ABATE and COC are planning on getting 10,000 bikers inAustin for Legislative Day. Now that would make an interestingsession to start with and would send a great point to our repre-sentatives of our issues.

Legislative Update for the82nd Session, 2011Basically TMRA2 met all of ourgoals last session after 19years with the help of all theTexas Motorcycle RightsGroups. More than likely wewill be in defensive mode andkilling bills instead of introduc-ing them. We were told at theCapitol the changes from theelection are not good. Not onlydid it take out a lot of experi-enced representatives thatknow the system, it took outtheir experienced Aids, Chief

of Staff, etc.. It will be like starting all over again. The house isexpected to grid lock this session over redistricting again, budgetproblems, and Voter ID, just to mention a few. So many bills are

continued page 39


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In a hearing in July held by the United States Senate Environ-ment and Public Works Committee Senator Frank Lautenberg(D-NJ) repeatedly called for a national mandatory helmet law.The hearing entitled “Opportunities to Improve Highway Safety,”focused on just that, places that need improvement when it

comes to the landscape ofhighway injuries and fatalities.

In his opening statement Laut-enberg said that there shouldbe a mandatory motorcyclehelmet law for all riders inAmerica. This is typical for theeighty six year old senator. Hehas routinely attempted to puta mandatory helmet law inplace before. Lautenberg cur-rently chairs or sits on everysingle senate committee thathas jurisdiction over roads and

road safety.

However, Lautenberg was not alone in his quest for all rider hel-met law, as expected the spokesperson for the Advocates forHighway Safety also voiced their opinion that a national helmetlaw was a good idea.

The hearing didn’t only focus on helmet debate, in fact very littleof it did. There were other issues covered such as impaired driv-ing, distracted driving, and big trucks to name a few.

The MRF will keep you informed on this issue and any other ef-fecting motorcyclists from Washington DC.


Around the Statesexpected to be delayed and killed due to time restraints.

TMRA2 will be opposing: Road Blocks/Alcohol check points (ille-gal and bills introduced), discriminatory Gang Laws, MotorcycleInsurance law changes (The Department of Insurance is up forSunset Review), any helmet bill, and anti-gun laws.

Law SB1967: Needs to stay in-tact without having it re-openedfor amendments. SB1967 isworking. For 2009 according toTXDOT, the motorcycle injurieswere reduced for the first timeby 15%, and deaths were re-duced by 20%. So we don'twant this bill touched for anyreason. Most of the money al-lotted for PSA’s and radio adswon’t kick in until the spring of2011. When it does, we expectthe numbers to drop signifi-cantly. We are currently track-ing the rest of the DPS ridertraining fund and the TXDOTPSA money allotted for SB1967 to be sure it is spent as agreed.

Budget: We went to a press conference with Senator Kirk Wat-son last Monday. Below is what the senator’s plans are to cleanup the budget. This directly effect’s our motorcycle safety bill be-cause we already experienced problems now and in the pastwith dedicated funds being allocated, then taken for other useswithout the biker community knowing.

Texas Budget by Kirk Watson:The agenda will include a seriesof "accountability" reforms to re-build trust with Texans by open-ing the state’s appropriationsand finances to the public andrequiring real transparency forthose in control of the budget.I’ll also offer a “stability” pack-age of reforms that will modern-ize government and restore itso legislators, and voters, canhave faith in major policy andbudget decisions that will setthe course of the state and itsfuture.And I’ll fight to make sure thatthose in charge set out a pathfor cleaning up this fiscal mess and building a responsible, truth-ful, truly moral state budget by taking the time (more than just thefive months of a session) and getting the expertise (includingsome folks from outside the Capitol) to rebuild the budget fromthe ground up, implementing the values that Texans hold dear.

Houston Noise Ordinance: Below is the plan of action to deal

with the Houston Noise Ordinance problem. Topic: NOISE ORDI-NANCE VIOLATIONS, Houston, TX Current Situation: OfficerHoltsclaw unfairly profiles motorcyclists by pulling over and issu-ing an inordinate amount of tickets to riders. The majority of tick-ets are for so-called ‘noise violations‘, city code 30-3 and 1400,and primarily on Hwy 6 in between I-10 and Westheimer. Main

Objectives/Issues:

A. Rewrite City of HoustonNoise Ordinance Code1. City is liable for lawsuitssince city code pre-empts statelaw.2. Code is too vague, needsclarification and a means forapplication to all Vehicles.

B. Have Officer Holtsclaw re-lieved of his duties in a patrolcar.1. Establish and document hisharassment and profiling ofMotorcyclist’s.

2. Establish and document that he is no longer able to carry outthe duties of his Position as a patrol car officer in a rational, fair,and unbiased manner.Suggested Protocol to Achieve Objectives:1. File formal complaints (incident reports) with Houston PoliceDepartment. Contact Officer Holtsclaws supervisor.NOTE: If you get pulled over, immediately request that a superiorofficer be called on the scene and present before proceeding.Also, do not pay the fine. Request a trial by jury.

2. Contact HPD Citizens ReviewCommittee 713-308-8933 [note- will have to confirm that this isthe correct entity to contact, i.e.,that they monitor police behav-ior]. Find out who is in chargeand file a formal letter/complaintwith that person.3. Contact the City Attorney,David FeldmanCity of Houston Legal Depart-ment 900 Bagby, 3rd FloorHouston, TX 77002PHONE: 832.393.6491E-Mail the City Attorney:[email protected]. Contact Mayor of Houston,Annise Parker

Mayor Annise D. ParkerCity of HoustonP.O. Box 1562 Houston, TX 77251Phone: 3-1-1, or 713.837.0311Email: [email protected] or [email protected]. Contact ACLU6. Get letters written from business owners whose businesses


Around the Statesare suffering financially because of Officer Holtsclaw’s actions, inparticular, The Dam Ice House.7. Generate a record/list of tickets issued that includes names,dates, incidents, violations.8. Try to capture on video the officer in the act of issuing ticketsto bikers only.9. Contact the State Representative for that area and inform himof the situation. Texas U.S.Representative Congres-sional District 7--Congress-man John Culberson10. Create contact list ofmain people involved. Afterthese steps have been takenand documented we can thensubmit to Paul a request for aUS Defenders CTA (Call toAction)

For more info about TMRA2go to our web site tmra2.org,or contact us at the state of-fice, Terri Williams, 512-971-1377 or Paul Landers512-276-0681.

So we are going to be pretty busy in our next legislative sessionand we will all work together to stay Free. Everyone enjoy theholiday season and ride safely.

Rick BolandTexas MRF Rep

WisconsinDave DwyerMRF State RepABATE of Wisconsin Readiesfor Lobby Day 2011

The Legislative Committee andthe Board of Directors alongwith the Region Reps andMembers are gearing up forABATE Lobby Day, February22, 2011. We have had over500 participants in each of thelast three years and are ex-pecting over 500 again thisyear. Members will be meetingwith their state legislators to get a bill passed to fix the problemswe are seeing with the enforcement of our Right of Way law.Under Act 466 that took effect October 1, 2006 any driver that vi-olates the right of way of another roadway user and causes injuryor death should see an increased fine, have their drivers licensesuspended by the court and be required to attend a Share theRoad class if they injured a motorcyclist, pedestrian or bicyclist.

Unfortunately the police are not writing the tickets for the en-hanced penalties, judges are not ordering the suspensions orShare the Road classes. The bill that is being drafted closes theloopholes in the court system by making the suspensions andShare the Road requirements a function of the Department ofTransportation when a conviction notice is received by the DOT.

That will still leave us with theproblem of the police not writ-ing the ticket for the higherfines. We are working withboth the Courts system andthe DOT to find ways to betterinform the police that there isa higher penalty for causinginjury or death.

We will also be asking ourlegislators for more money forthe DOT Motorcycle SafetyProgram. Over the last 20years the motorcyclists ofWisconsin have agreed to $5in increases in their biennial

motorcycle registration fees. Currently that increase is putting inexcess of $2 million into the Registration Fee Trust fund and only$1.4 million is being spent in the two year budget. That leavesover $600,000 that is being siphoned off for other uses, uses notagreed to by those the money is being taken from.

ABATE of Wisconsin has a new Executive Director, Deputy Di-rector and 7 new BOD mem-bers. It was apparent at ourfirst meeting after the electionthat all the new officers andBOD members are ready andable to take on the task ofmaintaining and growingABATE of Wisconsin. One ofour first orders of businesswas approving a lobby trip toWashington DC to go alongwith the MRF Bikers Inside theBeltway and National Motorcy-clist Lobby Day on May 12,2011. ABATE will be sending 6members on their motorcyclesto Washington DC for thisevent and to spend two days

lobbying their members of congress. We have one new Senatorand two new House members to bring up to speed on motorcyclerelated issues. With the team that has been picked I have nodoubt that there will be a positive impact. Following the NationalLobby Day all 6 citizen lobbyists will be attending the BEAST ofthe East conference that weekend before riding home Sunday.


Get Involved Anonymous

"What should I do?" Get involved!

"How should I do this?" Join a motorcycle rights organization.

"Why should I do this?" Ummm...because you should?

Like many in this organization, I find it difficult to get riders to takean interest in their rights as a motorcyclist. And one of the hard-est questions to answer is, "Why?"

"Because you should" is the best answer, but when the personyou’re speaking with asks you to explain, this is where we havetrouble. Why? Because no twopeople are alike. One may wantyou to go into great detail aboutwhat is happening on the motorcy-cle rights front, asking questionsand taking notes as you answerthe best you can. Another personmay be the product of today’ssound-bite/Twitter/brief text/instantmessaging/want it NOW! genera-tion, and as such you may have toconvince this individual within onesentence.

There is no one-size-fits-all re-sponse that works, but here’s acouple that may help.

First, the long version for thosethat appreciate a detailed explana-tion:

We live in a nation that proudlycalls itself "The Land of the Free",yet with every passing day new re-strictions are added to how we go about our daily business. Notjust those involving the motorcyclist’s lifestyle, restrictions seemto be affecting all of us, everywhere.

Every day the media has information about new laws and regula-tions designed to protect us, the citizen.

Think about it, when you were a child, were there as many re-strictions in place? I grew up in a world where I could ride my bi-cycle without a helmet. I could play unsupervised on metalplayground equipment located on a concrete pad. I could ridewith my dad in his car in the front seat without a seat-belt, or rideon the rear dashboard and wait for him to hit the brakes hard sothat I would go flying through the air and maybe land on some-thing not too hard.

And occasionally, I would get bruised. I survived. It was part ofgrowing up.

But when I got older, I knew no one would tell me what to do. Ex-cept, they do. Even more so now.

In addition to all the regulations and testing I must endure atwork, I was notified today that the federal agency that governsmy job has issued an emergency authorization allowing for thetesting of synthetic marijuana in my saliva. I don’t drink, smoke,or do drugs, yet I have to put up with this because at some point,someone must have screwed up, which in the authorities’ eyesmeans we are all doing something wrong.

Understand, I am all for safety. If you are operating heavy ma-chinery while under the influence of something that affects your

judgement and physical capabil-ity, then you are an idiot. Andworse, you may harm an innocentas well because of your actions.But because you are a jerk does-n’t mean I or anyone else is.

And that’s why motorcyclists willbalk at most bills that will restrictour freedom. We are out thereevery day on our machines. Weunderstand the dangers. Wemake our choices. And most ofall, we fully understand personalresponsibility; we accept it.

We have many in our organiza-tion that wear their helmets at alltimes when riding. That is theirchoice. Tell them they have towear it, though, and you’ll get anargument. We are adults, we canmake our informed decisionswithout the help of lawmakers.

You’ve seen how it works. The ones that would restrict ourlifestyle come out and say, "We aren’t demanding you do this, butwe would like you to do that little thing. And once you accept thefact that that is here to stay, then they come back and say, "Sincewe’ve had success with that, how about we now try this?" Everyinch of ground you give up is near impossible to get back.

Here’s a bit of paranoia as an example: The nannies will say,"We just want helmets on minors. Okay we just want helmets onnovice riders as well. Okay we just want helmets on everyone.Okay we just want minors not to ride as passengers. Okay wejust don’t want novice riders having passengers. Okay we justdon’t think motorcycle passengers are safe. Okay many acci-dents happen with large bikes so we just want graduated li-censes. Okay many accidents happen with large bikes so we justwant to allow 1000cc and less on the roads. Okay 750cc and

continued page 42


Get Involved continuedless. Okay 500cc and less. Okay we’ve decided that if we don’tallow motorcycles on the road, then there will be no more acci-dents. It’s for your safety, you understand".

We hear the fallacy of, "Why should my taxes support you be-cause you weren’t responsible enough to wear a helmet?" Firstoff, most of us carry plenty of insurance should such a tragedyoccur, because we know that even though we accept responsibil-ity for our actions and are vulnerable when we ride, that car thatjust pulled out in front of us may not be as disciplined. Anotheranswer I offer is that it’s our taxes too.

Plus, as columnist Steve Chapman has pointed out, the same ar-gument could be made about why should my taxes pay for asmoker’s oxygen, an alcoholic’s medical issues, a meth addict’srehab. I don’t push these issues because those folks made theirown choices and have to live with them. Also, I’m compassion-ate. Sometimes we make a bad choice we can’t handle on ourown, and it’s good to know you can get help.

If you are okay with the way things are, then you don’t need tojoin your local MRO. If you believe that what your lawmakers aredoing is in your best interest, then you don’t need to join yourlocal MRO. If you don’t feel you need a voice in proposals thatwill affect you, then you don’t need to join your local MRO. If youjust don’t care, then you don’t need to join your local MRO.

But when the Government of the People, for the People, and bythe People forgets that it answers to and is controlled by thePeople, that is when we need an advocate in our Capitals re-minding the players how the game is played and who makes therules. That is when belonging to a motorcycle rights organizationmakes sense.

And by belonging to an established MRO, you already havetaken a step in getting yourself heard by your representatives inoffice. Two things get a politicians attention: money and num-bers. We may not have much cash as individuals, but togetherwe are able to pool our resources to purchase the needed adver-tisements and air time to get our views across. And together weare a large number of voters, passionate voters. Many a candi-

date has learned this.

Which candidate to promote can be a difficult choice. One mayshare your views as a motorcyclist, but oppose your opinion onlabor, taxes, health care and so on. This is one of those timeswhen we have to make our choices and accept the responsibilityof whether or not it was a wise choice.

Here’s something else to consider: Since 1972 the average num-ber of eligible voters participating in presidential elections hasbeen around 55% and 37% during the non-presidential elections.Got that? During the last few decades, respectively 45% and63% of voters were willing to allow someone else to select thecandidates. In 2008 the estimated U.S. population was accordingto my research was just over 300,000,000, voter turnout wasroughly 132,000,000. 44% of the population selected the nextfour years of government for the other 56%. Ask yourself if youare satisfied with the results. Only you know that answer. Askyourself that every election.

But there is something we can emphasize to our politicians: Asmotorcyclists we are not all one group with one mind, we are Re-publicans and Democrats; we are business owners and unionlabor; we are from the cities, suburbs and farms; we are youngand old; we are male and female. And we are every race.

In short: We are their constituents, their employer; we expect tobe treated with respect.

If you wish to be part of this political experiment that has beengoing on for the past two hundred and thirty-four years and makesure your motorcycle rights and lifestyle do not disappear, thenheed these two words:

Get involved!

Here’s the short version for the today’s sound-bite/Twitter/brieftext/instant messaging/want it NOW! generation:

Guv wants UR ride - GET INVOLVED!


European Commission Proposes New TypeApproval Rules for Motorcycles continuedengine bigger than 125cc being sold from 2017 onwards. Scoot-

ers and light motorcycles between 50cc and 125cc will have tobe equipped with combined braking systems or anti-lock brakes.ABS has many advantages and FEMA believes that manufactur-ers should provide optional ABS for every model they are offer-ing. However, there are still questions to be clarified regardingadditional costs for purchase and maintenance of the bike aswell as durabililty and reliablity requirements. In any case, theremust be an on/off button for rides on non-paved roads.

Eco-labelling, automatic headlights and exemptions for small se-ries

Manufacturers will have to clearly indicate fuel consumption aswell as the amount of CO2 produced by the models they are of-

fering as campaigned for by FEMA. Another new provision is thatthe headlights of new bikes will have to switch on automatically.The measure has been suggested by the major manufacturersand has been implemented already. FEMA advised the Commis-sion to link the mechanism to the start of the engine instead ofbeing switched on by the ignition.

FEMA has always supported the individual riders and businessesengaged in the well established tradition of customizers and pro-ducers of small batch series of motorcycles. The Commissiontook notice of the special requirements of such niche productsand included exemptions for small series into the proposed regu-lation as well as the perpetuation of single vehicle approvalschemes.

Shooting the Messenger!Reprinted from http://www.righttoride.co.uk

As many of our supporters and fellow riders know, we at Right ToRide have carried out a campaign to raise awareness about the de-velopment of an ITS product named the “Force Feedback Throttle”in the project SAFERIDER.

Our concerns were shared by many throughout the world includingwell known experts and riders that have been in the “business” ofpromoting and protecting our interests over many years.

Trainers who were initially involved in the project raised their objec-tions, not because of any “Luddite” mentality. That was never theaims or objectives of our campaign. After all, riders use technologyof sorts on motorcycles and generally welcome any device thatmakes riding easier and more comfortable.

Even so, any motorcyclist, car or truck driver is fully entitled to raiseconcerns about ITS devices being developed in any given project,that in their view, may “take control”, “restrict riding”, or “enhancevisibility for big brother’s eye”. In fact the former Federation of Eu-ropean Motorcyclists, Federation (FEMA) President Hans PetterStrifeldt made FEMA’s views clear to the Consortium at theSAFERIDER User Forum in 2008. “The purpose of FEMA’s involve-ment in the project was to ensure that any device developed in theproject would not take control away from the rider”.

We argued in our correspondence to the Consortium and to the EUProject Officers that the Force Feedback Throttle would do exactlythat.

We and those who supported us objected to the “Force FeedbackThrottle” for one simple reason. Because we argued that any re-striction on the throttle is dangerous and we gave well constructedreasons for our objections.

SAFERIDER Consortium

The SAFERIDER consortium published a number of articles about

their project and given that these documents were in the public do-main, we felt that it was appropriate to open a dialogue with theConsortium and EU Project Officer.

Therefore to learn of comments about so called individual riders at-tacking the project is in our view, short sighted and suggests thatthe consortium had no interest in the views of expert riders whomay tell them something different to their own opinions.

The trainers involved in the project provided their opinions and ex-pert comments on the devices that the project consortium aimed todevelop in early 2008 and overall, they were somewhat scepticalabout some of the devices and gave their reasons.

We also raised our concerns about the time required for the devicesto signal a warning of a potential crash scenario, we did this in theknowledge that the average crash scenario occurs within 2 sec-onds. In this case, all considered, we felt that this was reasonableand accordingly, we published an article of that very topic.

Spending 5 million Euros

What that comment suggests is that the 5 million Euros spent onthe project was a waste of time and money. That is regrettable, be-cause Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can and do play an im-portant part for motorcycles and motorcycling. ITS have a place interms of providing support and information.

Whether the Consortium’s inability to produce a viable and work-able device of any kind summarizes its own shortcomings is a mootpoint. What it does suggest however, is that for the next time, be-fore embarking on a project to develop “life saving” devices for mo-torcyclists, perhaps they may wish to heed a word of advice: speakto trainers and “real” experts before putting together a proposal.

Nobody likes to say “I told you so”, but in this case, if the hat fits,then in our view, the SAFERIDER Consortium should well and trulywear it.


2010 IFZ Conference in Cologne"Safety, environment, future" - for its 8th International MotorcycleConference, the German Institute for Motorcycle Safety (IFZ)chose to set ambitious objectives. Aimed at scientists, re-searchers and practitioners, the event was held on the premisesof Intermot in Cologne, Germany, just before the official openingof the famous motorcycle fair; a great setting to discuss hot mo-torcycling topics.

With a strong emphasis on research, both in vehicle technologyand human factors, the conference touched upon many issuessurrounding motorcycle safety.

The variety of topics and fields of research showed the active in-volvement of the research community in promoting motorcyclesafety. However, most of these developments are still very theo-retical, requiring further testing to properly assess their potentialin saving riders' lives. The most successful trend, showcased bythe advances of the PISa project (Powered two-wheeler Inte-greated Safety), promotes an integrated approach where all ac-tive and passive safety systems are integrated with assistanceand information systems, maximising efficiency and comfortwhile reducing the risk of interference with the riding task. Hope-fully, more advanced innovations in this field will be developed inthe coming years.

But the more traditional technology was in the spotlight too, andno less advanced either. Critical advances in suspension,dampers and brake-by-wire technology showed a glimpse of thenext big things to hit the motorcycle market.

The core of all safety strategies, the human factor, was alsolargely addressed. In particular, training and human factors andexperience affecting riding test results received a detailed cover-age with a dedicated presentation of the work of the OttawaSafety Council in Canada.

Accident research, offering an international perspective with astudy on single motorcycle crashes in the United States and thework on Australian accident victims. While some factors could beisolated and related to similar situations in Europe, at first glancesome differences between the continents remain.

A more detailed analysis was presented, focusing on accidentscaused by infrastructure, looking at road defects - potholes,cracks and ridges. The detailed video-based experiments under-lined the problems raised by bad infrastructure design and main-tenance, underlining the need for further improvements.

Delegation from the United States SeeksFEMA's Input on Road SafetyFEMA representatives met with a delegation of road safety ex-perts and infrastructure managers from the United States to dis-cuss the state of motorcycle safety in Europe and gather bestpractices in the field.

Held on September 17th, the meeting was part of the MotorcycleSafety Scanning Tour, where a delegation of high-level adminis-trators and researchers from the United States met with their Eu-ropean counterparts to discuss applicable experience and dataon two-wheeler safety.

American roads have experienced a rise in motorcycle accidentsin the past few years, in part due to an increasing motorcyclingpopulation. As a result, the Federal and State governments havebeen looking abroad for solutions, looking into ideas from Eu-

rope.

The tour included meetings in Norway, France, Germany, Bel-gium and the United Kingdom. Each stop included demonstra-tions, presentations and discussions with local and nationalofficials, researchers and members of riders' rights organisations.Biker Union in Germany and NMCU in Norway, in particular, pro-vided the point of view of the users as well as a showcase oftheir own initiatives to better understand and promote motorcyclesafety.

The meeting in Brussels focused on initiatives and issues at Eu-ropean level, providing an overview of current activities from the

continued page 46


MRF “Club Dude” Update“Still Ray” Fitzgerald

Sustaining Member Motorcycle

Club Representative

The Motorcycle Riders FoundationSustaining Members Club Committeehas been busy across the country. Notsurprising, we have good news andsome not so god news. Here in Ari-zona I am very proud to say we havehired a professional lobbyist to work

for our Confederation on Club related issues ie;, equal access,criminal street gang legislation, profiling, etc.Dave Kopp hasagreed to represent us at the Capitol on these issues while ourdesignated lobbyist ,Sky Pilot, works in conjunction with theMROs.

Rick ’Animal’ Henry has done a great job setting up our web siteand BTW was recently elected to ABATE of Az Board of Direc-tors. I am also pleased to announce the Patch Holders of Yava-pai County have stood up and filled the officer’s positions in thatABATE Chapter.

I attended the Region IX NCOM in Salt Lake City, it was disap-pointing in that no one showed up. There were a few people fromAZ, no one from the three COCs in Nevada, no one from Col-orado’s CoC, nobody from New Mexico, none from California.Friday night my bike was the only one in the parking lot. Satur-day by the time they got to the time set aside for the Clubs, theysent everyone home. Utah did give a report, there were someUtah Clubs there, but not enough to hold a meeting.

Rather than me going on about how we are doing, I’m going toshare a couple of emails I’ve received from other regions .Feelfree to send me anything of interest for this spot in the paper. It isanother tool for sharing what works and what doesn’t ,as well asletting folks know we aren’t goofing off.

Lynn Wesley -PennsylvaniaSome great news! The Ohio Confederation of Clubs has decidedto become a sustaining member of the Motorcycle Riders Foun-dation. The OHCOC met recently and, after a presentation byHairy George, the OHCOC Legislative Agent and Midwesternrepresentative of the MRF Club Committee, determined it was intheir best interest to become a supporter of MRF.

In November Hairy George attended the Mid-West RegionalNCOM conference with clubs attending from Indiana, Ohio,Michigan, Kentucky and West Virginia. During his presentationhe discussed with participants the benefits for the individualclubs and state COC's on becoming a Sustaining Member of theMRF; more informal discussions were held, as they always are,after the presentation with representatives of several clubs thatwere very promising.

And some not-so-great news. At it's November meeting, the

A.B.A.T.E. of Pennsylvania Board of Directors reaffirmed a defacto “no colors” policy for Hazen, A.B.A.T.E.'s annual state party.The policy is based on Article X, Section D of the organization'sCorporate Operating Procedures, which reads:

“For the general good, it is requested that personal relationshipsand personality conflicts with other members, etc., be left at thedoor when attending A.B.A.T.E. of PA functions. Participantsshould recognize A.B.A.T.E. of PA functions as neutral groundsand it is requested that colors not be flown at A.B.A.T.E. of PAfunctions.”

In discussion at the Board's July meeting, it was stated that“Hazen has been a 'no colors' event for about 27-28 years,” andthat the policy was a response to one incident involving a fewmembers of one club.

Many long-term activist members expressed surprise at this. Asa two-term former state coordinator, whose years in office ac-count for a fair portion of those 27-28 years, said:

“I have no recollection of that particular policy, but as I read it, allwe're doing is making a 'request.' My version of the English lan-guage doesn't suggest to me that this policy means 'absolutelyforbidden.' Asking someone to do something does not requirecompliance on their part if they are otherwise so inclined.”

In line with this, Hazen has never been advertised as a “no col-ors” event. However, in spite of the Board's “no colors” vote, thiswill continue, since a majority also voted down a motion to put“No Colors” on Hazen advertising.

Proponents say that “no colors” is the reason there have been noincidents involving club members at Hazen since that first andonly one almost 30 years ago. But, when asked to define “col-ors,” the Board was unable to do so.

Quiet Mike Gypsy Jokers M/C From the Oregon CoC also wrote,Still Ray, We had a OCOC meeting Sunday and the new OregonMRF rep came and gave his sales pitch. He will need some guid-ance as he was pretty nervous. We will help him get establishedand ask him to come to the meetings. Washington did not bringup the MRF at their last meeting, so I asked Michael Campbell,the MRF rep there, to go to the next one and I will contact theboard and make sure they get a move on this. I sent out a link tothe MRF website to some of the club reps to get them motivated.The In Country Vets M/C issued a challenge at the meeting tosign up and I am sure they will. Another club signed up as I amwriting this. I will continue to press the rest till they get tired of myshit and sign up. The OCOC also signed up as a member of theAdvisory Board with Bike Pac of Oregon. Some thing else I havebeen going after and am very proud that we did. Bike Pac hasacted as the leader for us this past year where Abate has let usdown. I am shaming Abate at their state meeting to either get in-

continued page 46


This newsletter is an official publication of the

Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510, Washington, D.C. 20002-4980; phone (202) 546-0983;fax (202) 546-0986. All rights reserved. Portions may be reprinted with proper attribution. MRF Reports is published six times a year and distributed nationwide. Opinions expressed herein are solelythose of the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of the

Motorcycle Riders Foundation, its officers or representatives. The

Motorcycle Riders Foundation will not knowingly contract with or do business with any entity that discriminates against

motorcyclists in any way, shape or form.

MRF “Club Dude” Update continuedvolved or quit calling the organization a MRO. I think it's working.We had a Town Hall in Portland, to move forward with a study onlane sharing and over two hundred motorcyclist's showed up.Every different kind of rider was there, people from travels fromaround the globe. Pretty cool and it actually galvanized the mo-torcycle community. We did not put out a Call to Action as we donot want to show our hand or alienate people with a massive show of Patch Holders. Had twenty OCOC members show upand six of them came incognito.

We are working with Kevin Starrett of the Oregon Firearms Fed-eration on a couple of gun issues. One to get rid of CHL like Ari-zona did. Our new governor is our old one from eight years agoand is a piece of work. I have spent a lot of time with Kevin at theCapitol and we are fortunate to have him working with us. He at-tended our OCOC meeting and everyone thought that was greatas he is the man when it comes to gun rights. No Compromise. Iwill keep you up to speed as we move on. Legislative session

begins in January and I hope we are on the offensive, but thatcan turn the other way in a heartbeat.

We gave a real nice plaque to Tim and Bonnie King of SalemNews.com for all that they have done for us over the past years.They got us a lot of national exposure and we are good friends oftheirs.

Our best to you and yours during this Holiday Season along withthe members of the MRFCC.

Quiet, Gypsy Joker M/C

Thanks again for all that you doStill Ray, JOURNEYMEN M/CChair, AzCMCMRF Ass’t State RepMRF Club Dude

Sign Up for MRF News Releases at www.mrf.org

Delegation from the United States SeeksFEMA's Input on Road Safety continuedorganisations most involved

in motorcycle policies: the Eu-ropean Commission, FEMA,the motorcycle industry(ACEM) and the EuropeanTransport Safety Council(ETSC).

Officials in the US delegationincluded the Director of theFederal Highway Administra-tion's Office of Safety Design,in charge of safe infrastruc-ture and guardrail design;representatives of the FederalHighway Administration andState Administrations fromTennessee, Virginia and Mis-sissippi; members of motorcyclists' associations as well as senior

researchers from transporta-tion institutes and universi-ties.

The series of discussionshighlighted the needs forheightened exchange be-tween the two sides of theAtlantic, while showing thediscrepancies existing inuser culture and demo-graphics, geography, cli-mate, road infrastructuredesign or traffic patterns.But the tour underlined thepotential in establishing reg-ular talks to share findings inresearch, results of positive

actions or feedback on successful awareness campaigns.


PRESIDENTKirk “Hardtail” [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTJay [email protected]

GOV’T RELATIONS ANDPUBLIC AFFAIRSJeff [email protected]

SECRETARYPaulette [email protected]

TREASURERFrank [email protected]

Eric HamptonCommunications [email protected]

Carol DownsConference [email protected]

Dave DwyerSSMRO Board [email protected]

Larry NielsonSSMRO Board [email protected]

Cindy HodgesMember [email protected]

Wayne WiersonMember [email protected]

Jay JacksonMotorcycle Safety/Rider [email protected]

Steve ZimmerMRFPAC [email protected]

Todd RibaState Reps Program [email protected]

Graydon WheelerState Reps Board [email protected]

Jim “Legs” KorteState Reps Board [email protected]

John PierceMembership [email protected]

Tiffany LatimerDC Office [email protected]

MRF A&E Board of Directors

Deborah Butitta, Chair928-308-1117 [email protected]

Carol Downs, [email protected]

Stacy “Ax” Axmaker, [email protected]

MAIL TO BOARD MEMBERSmay be sent to the MRF officeand will be forwarded. If youmust mail time-sensitive mate-rial to a board member, con-tact that person by phone oremail first to make arrange-ments.

Motorcycle Riders Foundation Board of Directors

Board Assistants

Chuc Coulter

Asst. Treasurer

[email protected]

Tiffany Latimer

Assist. Communications [email protected]

Helen Wesson

Assist. Products

[email protected]

Polly Schoeller

Assist. Membership

[email protected]

Sarah Muckenhoupt

Assist. [email protected]

Michael McGuire

[email protected]

Dave Condon

Asst. to the

State Reps Program Director

[email protected]

Mike Berger

Editorial [email protected]

Teri Stobbs Ricci

Conference [email protected]

“Still Ray” Fitzgerald

Sustaining Member Motorcycle [email protected]

Miles France

Marketing [email protected]

Margie Ferrucci

Advertising [email protected]

Bob Letourneau

Assist. Motorcycle [email protected]

For your convenience, we can accept

memberships, donations, conference

registrations and product orders by

phone or fax, or via our website, using

VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American

Express.

Ex-Officio Board

Mark Buckner, [email protected]

Deborah Butitta, Arizona928-308-1117 [email protected]

Chuc Coulter, [email protected]

MRF Reports EDITOR

Eric Hampton, [email protected]

Send all submissions for publication to:

[email protected], 602-367-9524

DEADLINE

The FIRST of every even-numbered month

ADDRESS CHANGE

Please send in writing to:

Motorcycle Riders Foundation

236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510

Washington, DC 20002-4980

[email protected]

MRF Office

236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510

Washington, DC 20002-4980

Phone: 202-546-0983

Fax: 202-546-0986

[email protected]

Website: http://www.mrf.org

Mission StatementTo continue developing an

aggressive, independent nationaladvocacy for the advancement

of motorcycling and itsassociated lifestyle, which is fi-

nancially stable and exceeds theneeds of motorcycling

enthusiasts.

It’s

tim

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MRF Committees

ALCOHOL AWARENESS: Steve Zimmer

(Chair), Frank Carbone, Jeff Hennie, Jay

Jackson, Lynn Oldenburg, Carol Simpson,

Graydon Wheeler, Wayne Wierson

BY-LAWS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair),

Carol Downs, Paulette Korte, Jay Jackson,

Larry Nielson, Todd Riba

COMMUNICATIONS: Eric Hampton

(Chair), Jeff Hennie, John Pierce, Cindy

Hodges, Tiffany Latimer, Deborah Butitta,

Mike Berger, Michael McGuire, Graydon

Wheeler, Margie Ferrucci

CONFERENCE AND EVENTS: Carol

Downs (Chair), Mary Berger, Frank Car-

bone, Jeff Hennie, Paulette Korte, Graydon

Wheeler, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard, Steve Zim-

mer

ELECTIONS: Dave Dwyer (Chair), Cindy

Hodges, Jim “Legs” Korte, Larry Nielson,

Graydon Wheeler, Wayne Wierson

FINANCE: Carol Downs (Chair), Frank

Carbone, Chuc Coulter, Paulette Korte,

John Pierce, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard

FUNDS STEERING: Todd Riba (Chair),

Mark Buckner, Still Ray Fitzgerald, Cindy

Hodges, Jim “Legs” Korte, John Pierce,

Graydon Wheeler

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE- Kirk “Hard-

tail” Willard (Chair), Dave Dwyer, Jeff Hen-

nie, Cindy Hodges, Jay Jackson, Jim

“Legs” Korte, Boyd McFail, Larry Nielson,

John Pierce, Todd Riba

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: John

Pierce (Chair), Mike Berger, Still Ray

Fitzgerald, Eric Hampton, Cindy Hodges,

Paulette Korte, Tiffany Latimer, Sarah

Muckenhoupt, Polly Schoeller, Todd Riba,

Wayne Wierson

MRFPAC: Steve Zimmer (Chair), Chuc

Coulter, Dave Dwyer, Jeff Hennie, Jim

“Legs” Korte, Larry Nielson

MRF REPS & GROWTH: Grady Wheeler

(Chair), Dave Condon, Cindy Hodges, Jim

“Legs” Korte, Tiffany Latimer, John Pierce,

Polly Schoeller, Todd Riba, Wayne Wier-

son

PRODUCTS: Carol Downs (Chair), Mary

Berger, Frank Carbone, Polly Schoeller,

Helen Wesson, Graydon Wheeler

RESEARCH & STATISTICS: Jay Jackson

(Chair), Jeff Hennie, Paulette Korte, David

Tuschel, Thomas J. “Doc Ski” Wasileski,

Graydon Wheeler, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard,

Steve Zimmer

STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE

AWARDS:

STATE & FEDERAL: Dave Dwyer (Chair),

Jeff Hennie, Larry Nielson, Todd Riba

AWARDS:

FARMERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair),

Mark Buckner, Deborah Butitta

FOUNDERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard

(Chair), Mark Buckner, Marc Falsetti, Still

Ray Fitzgerald, Jay Jackson, Gary Sellers,

Steve Zimmer

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Kirk “Hardtail”

Willard (Chair), Deborah Butitta, Paulette

Korte, Steve Zimmer

MRFPAC: Steve Zimmer (Chair), Dave

Dwyer, Jeff Hennie, Larry Nielson

MEMBERSHIP: John Pierce (Chair),

Cindy Hodges, Tiffany Latimer, Todd Riba

RON SHEPARD SAFETY RECOGNITION:

Jay Jackson (Chair), Chuc Coulter, Carol

Downs, Paulette Korte, John Pierce, Wayne

Wierson

THOMAS PAINE: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard

(Chair), Eric Hampton, Tiffany Latimer, Sarah

Muckenhoupt, Graydon Wheeler

MRF CHAMPS: Dave Dwyer (Chair), Kirk

“Hardtail” Willard, Jeff Hennie, Larry Nielson,

Todd Riba

Mission Goals* Maintain and improve our ability to act asan advocate before national, state and local legislative, executive and judicial bodies, andwith private or public entities, regarding is-sues affecting motorcycles, motorcyclists ormotorcycling.* Maintain and improve our financial baseand ensure financial stability.* Maintain and improve our capability to meetand exceed the needs of our membershipbase and all state motorcyclists’ rights organi-zations.* Maintain and improve our capability to bethe national information center for motorcy-clists’ rights information.* Enhance the training of national, state andlocal motorcyclists’ rights activists.

Motorcycle Riders Foundation236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510Washington, DC 20002-4980

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