The MRF Reports - Motorcycle Riders...

Motorcycle Riders Foundation 2221 S. Clark St, 11th Floor Arlington, VA 22202 202-546-0983

The MRF Reports

The MRF does not endorse any products or services other than its own product line. This does not apply to political endorsements. Vol. 22, No 2. March/April 2017

RIDE

WITH

THE L

EADE

RS

MRF Reports - March/April 2017

Motorcycle Riders Foundation

IN THIS ISSUE

Washington Update 3e So-Called “Motorcyclist” Advisory Council

President’s Update 4It Is Not e Critic Who Counts

Vice President’s Update 5Freedom is Full-Time Gig

Your Rights Column (MCN) 7e Road to Zero

Decisions, Reactions & Accomplishments 10

Motorcycle Profiling Project 11TX Biker Movement Alive & Strong after Waco Tragedy

Around the States 12SMRO Legislative update’s

Young Activist Scholarship 20MRF Awareness & Education

Limeaide 24

View Past the Handlebars 25Never Say Never Again

Riding with Phil 26

This newsletter is an official publication of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 2221 S. Clark Street, Arlington, VA 22202; phone (202) 546-0983.

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 solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily representthose 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 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

ON THE COVER

S. 339 VICTORY! 6DeConcini removes reference to “Motorcycle Gangs”Reprinted from the MRF’s American Biker Journal - July 1991

MRF EVENTSBikers Inside the Beltway 8

Event DetailsSMARTrainer coming to Capitol Hill 28

Meeting of the Minds 2017 21Event Details

SSMRO Rep Report 22

MRF Conference Report 22

State Reps Report 22

Secretary’s Report 24

MRFPAC Report 25

MRF Election Committee 27

New Congress, Same Mission 27

Treasurer’s Report 28

Would you rather receive your MRF Reports via email? You can opt out of the paper mailing by contacting the office at (202) 546-0983 or [email protected]


e So-Called “Motorcyclist” Advisory Council

WASHINGTON UPDATE

Motorcyclists across the country were discouraged to find outthat the Federal Highway Administration will only requireone motorcyclist to serve on an Advisory Council supposedlydedicated to representing those who ride. e MotorcyclistAdvisory Council, a newly reestablished group, is supposedto serve and advise the Federal Highway Administration onissues critical to motorcyclists across the nation. By design,the “MAC” would allow motorcyclists the opportunity todiscuss how they are affected by roadway design, barriers,construction, and the emergence of intelligent transportationsystems like driverless vehicles. However, according to a re-cent notice in the Federal Register, the Council is instead re-quiring participants with safety and engineering backgroundsand only indicating room for one representative from themotorcycling community.

e MAC of the Paste original Motorcyclist Advisory Council was establishedin a 2005 highway bill. e 2005 law called for the Adminis-trator of the Federal Highway Administration to have a dia-logue with the motorcycle community on infrastructureissues of concern to motorcyclists. e Council had 10 mem-bers consisting of representatives from the motorcyclingcommunity as well as individuals with professional expertisein national motorcyclist safety. According to the 2005 law,four of the ten council members were to include members ofthe motorcycling community from various state and federalmotorcycle associations. e other 6 members would serve toprovide the necessary technical expertise related to roadwaydesign, safety and other issues.

However, in 2009 the highway bill expired and along with it,so did the Council. Motorcyclists were disheartened – theMAC was the only official forum they had to express to au-thorities at the Department of Transportation the issues theyfaced on the road. at’s why when the Council was reestab-lished in 2016, it was viewed as a positive development toonce again open a dialogue between government officials andmotorcyclists across the nation.

A Short-Lived Celebrationough motorcyclists applauded Congress for reestablishingthe Council, this positivity was short-lived. In January, theFederal Highway Administration or FHWA, announcedplans to officially open nominations for participants to serveon the newly reestablished Council. e Council wouldagain consist of ten members, however unlike in 2005, onlyone representative from a motorcycle association will be re-quired to serve. Many balked including Kirk ‘Hardtail’Willard, President of the Board of Directors for the Motorcy-cle Riders Foundation:

“Despite our best efforts to ensure the motorcycle commu-nity had a seat at the table, the FHWA has dismissed ourconcerns and efforts instead emphasizing councilmemberswith safety and engineering backgrounds without any experi-ence actually riding a motorcycle. Including only one motor-cyclist in this group is not only imbalanced, unfair andcontrary to the mission of the MAC, but it defeats the entirepurpose of the Council. e MAC was supposed to carry thevoice of motorcyclists – having only one member as an actualmotorcyclist will render this Council ineffective.”

Dozens of Members of Congress appeared to agree withWillard; over the summer a letter was sent to the FHWA en-couraging them to adopt similar language as the 2005 MACwhich included at least four motorcyclists in the panel of ten.It appears this letter was largely ignored by the Federal High-way Administration.

Not surprisingly, the motorcycle community remains dis-pleased. During the weeks that followed the announcement,over 2,000 letters were sent to Members of Congress urgingthem to get involved in this classic “we know what’s best foryou” move by bureaucrats at the FHWA. At the time of writ-ing, work towards developing an official congressional in-quiry and involving President Trump’s newly confirmedSecretary of Transportation were being discussed as correctivemeasures.

Megan EkstromVice President of Governmental Affiars & Public Relations



Kirk WillardMRF President

Even after being in the worldof motorcyclists’ rights for 33years, I still am routinely bothsurprised and disappointed bythe actions of some of ourloosely defined “own” people

who will look you in the eye, tell you how dedicated they areto motorcyclists’ rights, and then turn right around and doeverything they can to undermine the positive work and ac-tions of others actually doing the work.

If you have been to a Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF)conference where I have spoken, read my articles, or knowmy personal philosophies even a little, you know I hold thefollowing quote and sentiment in the highest regard. Inter-estingly, one of the co-founders of the MRF opened theMeeting of the Minds conference several times during theinitial struggles of starting a national bikers’ rights organiza-tion with this very quote:

“It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points outhow the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds couldhave done better. e credit belongs to the man who is actuallyin the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again andagain, because there is no effort without error or shortcomings,but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, whospends himself for a worthy cause; who, at best, knows, in theend, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, ifhe fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his placeshall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neithervictory nor defeat.” - President eodore Roosevelt, 1910

I have long contended that if these “critics” would knowinglydo harm to our movement then they are not truly part of it.It is these people that we cannot continue to give influenceor attention to. Rather, my belief is that what we have andwhat we do is so precious that it must be protected at nearlyany cost.

We have a saying in our movement and I’m sure you’ve seenit on a t-shirt at a biker rally somewhere: “Bikers eat theiryoung.” Well, I don’t know about that, but we surely do “eatour own.” It is not a mystery that out of ten million motor-cyclists in this country there are so few that step up to endurethe critic. (I also contend this is why young people aren’tflocking to our movement—who wants to be around abunch of naysayers if there’s somewhere else they can be?) Ifyou look at most successful leaders in the motorcyclists’rights movement, they are the ones who have learned to lis-ten closely to those with them in the arena while ignoring thecritics outside of it. We have lost so many promising and in-fluential leaders in this movement because they did not learnhow to tune out the critic.

In addition to being able to tune out, a leader in this move-ment (and if you’re reading this you are likely a leader) withany longevity must be a self-motivator. Confidence in thework that we do to protect motorcycling and our associatedlifestyle has to be enough. Don’t get me wrong; I love what Ido in motorcyclists’ rights and received plenty of recognitionfor it, but it could never outweigh the continuous barrage ofthe critics if I was in it for the recognition. Again, why thesepeople are being given an audience by anyone in the arena ofour movement is beyond me.With all that said, every once and a while something hap-pens that leaves a lasting impression on me. For example, wehad a couple of our original MRF board members we affec-tionately call “Old Timers” sitting in on our Legislative Strat-egy Planning session at Meeting of the Minds in Oklahoma,and they heard our fairly new Washington D.C. VP of Gov-ernment Relations, Megan Ekstrom, talk about how valuablea legislative software package would be to her work and to usas State Motorcyclists’ Rights Organizations (SMRO). Welearned it could keep us informed on active legislation moreefficiently than a typically utilized e-mail program. It couldquickly issue alerts, and more importantly it could track theactivities undertaken on a call-to-action alert so that we canmake accurate claims to our federal legislators about thenumber of contacts each SMRO makes. is data would beincredibly valuable for Megan as she walks the halls of Con-gress nearly every day. (By the way, since we acquired thissoftware a huge thank you is owed to New York, as they areleading in the call-to-action legislative contacts category by awide margin.) After Megan’s presentation we surveyed theSMRO leader’s in the room and it was nearly unanimous—this was something we needed to put in place. As you canimagine, this type of custom and comprehensive software isexpensive. Without knowing how to cover such a large un-budgeted expense, the leadership of the MRF committed tofiguring out a way to pay for it and get it in place as soon aspossible.

Being a recovering farm employee, I am very frugal (and ourMRF Vice President takes cheap to a whole new level), somy engineering mind started whirring, looking for ways topay for this after making the commitment. Next thing Iknow, I am being invited for breakfast next door at midnightby three former MRF Board members.

Now I have been around long enough to know somethingwas up, and I was right. All old bikers carry bail money withthem, and these guys (along with one of the “Old Timers”riding partners) proceeded to pull bail money out of theirhats, boots, and wallets. ey handed it to me and said hereis your seed money, we believe in what this organization isdoing.

(continued on page 5)

IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS



Jay JackonMRF Vice President

If we are serious about wanting to be able to ride motorcycles, we better get seriousconcerning our grassroots activism to preserve and protect motorcycling.

In the early days, we were a small group of outspoken bikers. What we did have waspassion and dedication to a cause. Our numbers grew and we gained a better under-standing of the legislative process. Our members have truly become experts on the is-sues that concern riders. Some may have been intimidated by the earlierdemonstrations, but virtually all have come to respect the prowess with which grass-roots lobbyists representing motorcyclists have as they walk the halls of Congress.

We've seen several protests, regarding a variety of subjects, across the country since thepresidential election. Some of these have been more successful or more productive than

others. Keep in mind, that it is generally easier to prevent a problem than it is to correct one. Keeping the stove cleanand employing sound cooking principals is a lot easier, and much better, than having to deal with attempting to extinguish a big grease fire.

As the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) continues to say, "Remain Vigilant". You can't just have a little dustupevery few years that makes a 15-minute news cycle. Freedom is not a "once in a while" thing that we only commit toafter our toes get stepped on. Freedom is a full-time gig. We can't wait until something is already "on fire" to address it.We must be informed. We must be prepared. We must be organized. We must be strong. WE MUST BE VIGILANT.

Ride Safe,Ride Free,Jay Jackson

FREEDOM IS A FULL-TIME GIG

So here are these guys who were in the original MRF arena,guys who most definitely have been repeatedly marred bysweat and blood, and they’re handing me money. My firstthought was these guys have done enough, but I didn’t givethe money back. More than the money, though, was the in-spirational act itself of freely giving money for anotherneeded cause. I won’t mention their names as they certainlydid not do this for recognition; they knew what it meant tome and the MRF, and as earlier stated, for leaders of this cal-iber that is enough. eir initials, however, are Gary, Fred,Dave, and Woody—thanks, guys, for the motivation to con-tinue to go all in, continuing the fight you all started for us.

e surprise wasn’t over because, at the end of the live auc-tion after our awards banquet, Fred stood up with Lee andproceeded to raise more than half of the funds we needed.When combined with their bail money, we were going tomake it. And the motivation didn’t end there; I saw ourmembers yet again digging deep, and overheard one membertell his wife to save $50 for gas and give them all the rest.Man, how can you not be compelled to work alongside peo-ple with this genuine level of dedication?

So, ignore the critics, be aware of those Garys, Freds, Daves,Woodys, and Lees in our movement who are standing toe-to-toe and back-to-back with you in the arena, and we’llsurely be sufficiently motivated to win the day.

IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS(continued)




Editor’s Note:is article appeared in the MRF’s American Biker Journal after motorcylists were unfairly added to gang legislation in 1991.

e Motorcycle Riders Foundation remains committed to end the unconstitutional practice of motorcycle profiling. Working with its part-ners within the Anti-Profiling Action Group, the MRF developed a strategy at the national level to help combat profiling, an issue that af-fects ALL riders and is unfortunately increasing.


42 MCN I For Enthusiasts MCNEWS.COM

The Road to Zero

RIGHTS > By Megan Ekstrom

YOUR

IN OCTOBER 2016, 75 organizations were present as the Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and National Safety Council unveiled details surrounding the “Road to Zero” (RTZ). The program’s objectives are lofty but admirable: Eliminate all traffic-re-lated deaths by the year 2030.

There was discussion on coordina-tion and collaboration between the various parties on implementing new legislative and regulatory policies for achieving the initiative’s objectives. Additionally, several new strategies were outlined to address traffic-related deaths, but the devil is often in the details. The proposed steering commit-tee is composed of 12 groups—none representative of motorcyclists. We listened with an open mind, paying par-ticularly close attention to the policies that may emerge, and remain commit-ted to representing the millions of U.S. riders as this process moves along.

After absorbing the RTZ announce-ment, we became interested in how similar initiatives have succeeded or failed. This is not an effort to under-mine the program, but rather to ensure outcomes and policies take into consideration and truly represent all roadway users, especially motorcyclists. The Swedish-led Vision Zero began in 1990 and Claes Tingvall, a Swedish road safety officer, stated in 1999, “Motor-cycles are incompatible with Vision Zero,” words he later recanted. This is an excellent example of why we must not applaud objectives without asking questions about how to achieve them.

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH indicated that simply reducing speed limits helps save lives. Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany have all reduced speed limits in residential areas and on large

arterial city roads and freeways. Speed limits on freeways were reduced from 100 kph to 70 kph, making the maxi-mum speed on some freeways 43 miles per hour. That single action reduced the death toll, according to the February 2014 issue of The Economist. Only three of every 100,000 Swedish drivers perish in traffic accidents—one of the lowest rates in the world. The U.S. statistic is 11.4 driver fatalities per 100,000.

In 2014, New York Mayor Bill de Bla-sio announced a Vision Zero initiative pledging to halve the number of traffic fatalities by 2025. The plan included a number of strategies, including reducing speed limits in New York City from 30 mph to 25 mph. One year later, an analysis done by the New York Daily News showed mixed results. The news organization found that while some roads had large drops in the number of traffic fatalities, there were just as many other roads with increased fatalities and no marked decrease in the total number of fatalities. This begs the question: Does reducing speed limits save lives?

I’M NOT QUESTIONING the success of other countries, nor do I believe that because New York’s statistics don’t match Sweden’s, we should abandon the goal of zero roadway fatalities. Rather, it is another example why we should not blindly accept what govern-ment officials tell us. Instead, we must ask questions, gather facts and, most critically for motorcyclists, weigh the impact it will have on us as riders.

There are many additional Vision Zero elements, including recom-mended changes to road design and increased enforcement, which we are still researching to paint a clearer picture. It is also important to recognize that RTZ does not emphasize reducing speed limits, but rather revolves around proactive vehicle safety, allowing the

NHTSA to issue recalls of cars or parts that may be malfunctioning. Identifying new solutions to address human behav-ior is also central to RTZ, specifically how to discourage distracted driving on our nation’s roadways.

ANOTHER KEY DIFFERENCE between Vision Zero and Road to Zero is the DOT’s emphasis on automated vehicles. The U.S. is one of the more advanced nations when it comes to getting such vehicles to the market, quickly. Though DOT and NHTSA are struggling with how to regulate fully automated vehicles, they are also trying to build a bridge between safety advocates who fear autonomous vehicles aren’t ready for the road and automakers who want to keep innovating and realize the benefits as soon as possible. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said that 94 percent of crashes are due to human error. If automated vehicles managed to correct this, we would be well on our way to the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths by 2030. That is something we can all get behind, but supporting the goal doesn’t mean we lose our right to ask questions about how we get there.

THE MRF MANDATE is to ensure that what is said and done by our elected representatives is not at odds with our rights and freedom as motorcyclists. We were successful in opening a dialogue with National Transportation Safety Board, promoting a positive image of motorcyclists and encouraging the agency to remove motorcycles from their hit list of “most wanted” threats on the roadway. We plan to have the same impact by being a voice for motorcy-clists on the Road to Zero. MCN

Megan Ekstrom is vice-president, govern-ment affairs and public relations for the Motorcycle Riders Foundation - mrf.org

Reprinted from Motorcycle Consumer News


MRF REPORTS- March/April 2017

Tuesday, May 23, 2017 is the 9th Annual Michael ‘Boz’Kerr Bikers Inside the Beltway event in Washington, DC!is is an amazing, once-a-year opportunity to have a last-ing impact on Washington’s policymakers. Hosted by theMotorcycle Riders Foundation, this is YOUR opportunityto inform, educate and encourage our legislators about themotorcycle community and the issues we care about.

Read below to get more information on what to expectand how to sign up or visit us at http://mrf.org/events/

Why Should I Attend?

ough it might be hard to believe that one trip to Wash-ington, DC can have a lasting impact on our lawmakers,it’s a proven fact that it DOES make a difference. During2016’s BITB event, the MRF network visited delegationsfrom 25 states and held over 300 meetings to discuss ouragenda, 100 of which were sit-down discussions that re-sulted in 79% of those legislators either supporting or co-sponsoring legislation we care about. Lobbying really doeswork!

Where Will I Stay?e MRF has booked a room block at the Holiday InnNational Airport/Crystal City for a rate of $135 a night.Call 703-684-7200 to book. e hotel is metro accessibleand a 5-minute walk to the MRF’s new offices in CrystalCity and is 3 miles from our Nation’s Capitol.

What’s the Schedule?Plan to arrive to the hotel by late afternoon on Monday,May 22. e MRF will host a prep session that evening togo over expectations and provide a deep dive of the issuesand will host a dinner immediately following. Kickstandsup early Tuesday morning for the ride into Washington,DC followed by a full day of meetings with legislators andstaff.

What Do You Need from Me to Sign Up?Your commitment! Contact [email protected] or call202-546-0983 to register for this event. ough there isnot a cost to attend, you will be expected to make ap-pointments with your lawmakers, attend the prep sessionand report back on your meetings. is year we will alsobe asking for State Leads to help coordinate meetings andserve as the main point of contact for the MRF staff. Ifyou are interested in attending BITB and serving as a lead,please let us know.

IN ORDER TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL LOBBYDAY, PLEASE SIGN UP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT WILL CLOSEON MAY 1ST AFTER WHICH SPACE WILL NOTBE GUARANTEED.

SEE YOU IN WASHINGTON, DC!

BIKERS INSIDE THE BELTWAY2017


BikersInside the Beltway

2017

BIK

ERS INSIDE THE BELTWAY

MAY 2 3 , 2 0 1 7 W A S H I N G T O

N, D

C

MO

TOR C YC L E R I D E R S F O U N D ATIO

N


9th AnnualMichael “Boz” Kerr Memorial

Washington, DC——— ———

TuesdayMay 23, 2017

Join motorcyclists from across the nation for this day of

grass roots activism

Free motorcycle parking will be available adjacent to the Capitol

Sponsored by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation

for more, visit www.mrf.orgor call 202-546-0983

The 9th Annual Michael “Boz” Kerr Bikers Inside the Beltway is the ONLY National Motorcycle Lobby Day held in our nation’s Capitol. Motorcyclists from around the country ride to D.C. to help educate Members of Congress about the issues facing motorcyclists today. Free secure Motorcycle only parking available near the Capitol just steps from the halls of Congress. Lobby materials and leave behind packets will be provided the MRF during the prep session. Lobbying Prep. Session Monday, May 22nd at 7:00 pm

(one block from the host hotel) Lobby Day Tuesday, May 23rd (KSU: to be determined) Group ride into DC and to the motorcycle parking area Hotel Information Holiday Inn National Airport/Crystal City




Decisions, Reactions, and AccomplishmentsDoc D’ErricoMMA, Vice ChairmanMRF Director of StateRepresentative Program

e challenges we face inthis movement are many.e opportunities we ex-plore and open are rich.

All too often we listen to ideas and we think, “that’s crazy – itwould never work”, or “we’ve tried before and failed”. Insome cases, we soldier on, in other cases, we watch as our ef-forts wane and our ranks dwindle.

Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try.” While we can allattempt to master “the Force”, it’s also clear that without theattempt, there is no achievement.

Every Accomplishment Starts With the Decision to Try

Without a first step, the journey never really begins. But thehard part is not always the act of taking the first step, it’s thedecision to do so. Some first steps are easier than others, andthe repetitive path to success is paved with easy first steps. It’sthose steps along the paths not trodden, and the paths thathave been blasted in defeat that are the hardest.

Even challenges to past successes are easier paths. Momen-tum is usually on your side and the path, well paved, leads toan almost entropic slide to yet another success. Little new en-ergy needs to be exerted in the new journey – lessons fromthe prior journey include work products, collateral, stories,relationships – the recipe for repeating that past success. Per-haps new blood needs to be infused, but the inertia exists.

New journeys are often arduous; the uncertainty of thelength and direction can cause many to pause, to perhapsover-plan, and hesitate. For those who target these newroads, be prepared for a long, lonely trip. Develop a strategywith checkpoints, tests, and check-ins along the way. Eachchallenge can be evaluated to see whether it can be overcome,or whether a bypass is necessary. Each success can be sharedand leveraged as chits towards strength for the next steps.

But whether a new road or an old, a lack of success can oftenbe a bigger de-motivator than the uncertainty of unpavedpaths. e pain and disappointment of those previous at-tempts leave little optimism for future success. Choosing thesame path guarantees future failure and attracts no support.

In all cases, it’s not just about the plan, but the leverage, theassistance, and the journey itself.

Life is 10% of what happens to us, and 90% about how wereact to it.

New ideas often need to come from new people. e hardestpart of recruiting new blood is listening to it.How many times have we scoffed at new people’s thoughts,their ideas, their inputs? How many times have we listened tothem pontificate, at times in what we perceive to be a pedan-tic tone, only to dismiss their inputs as somehow not worthyof our time and consideration?

True, the onus is also on them. Certain personality typeshave a natural tendency to be aggressive while tenacious.While most in our movement are “type A” personalities(competitive, outgoing, and aggressive, but also impatient),we don’t often see the common ground because we see theconflict with our own ambition.

True leaders, however, learn to tame the impatience and un-derstand that competition is best faced in teams.Once the adversity with potential allies is tamed, we canfocus, together, on the adversity that are our previous obsta-cles.

What you have accomplished in the past is a much strongerexample than talking about what you are capable of doing inthe future.

Whether in professional sports, or life, people want to playfor winners. People have natural tendencies to be attracted tosuccess. But it starts with a seed.

e more success, the more likely to attract more talent.ere are values to having some fun along the way, too, butit’s critical to drive towards smaller victories that can bringnew, fresh opportunities for more, and can snowball intogreater victories down the road.

Sometimes even those potholes blasted into the road by pastfailures, can be overcome by larger rolling tires that can spanthe crevasse.

Open your mind, open your eyes, and open your ears. Beprepared for disagreement along the way, and help groomand aim that energy toward the correct enemy – outward notin.

Yours in Freedom,

Doc

Opt out of the receiving the MRF Reports? Please contact the MRF Office if you would like to nolonger receive a hard copy of the Reports. 202-546-0983 or [email protected]



Texas Biker Movement Alive and Strong After Waco Tragedy

Reprinted from the Motorcycle Profiling Project

e motorcycle rights movement is alive and thriving in thestate of Texas. Although many motorcyclists conjectured thatthe tragedy that occurred in Waco on May 17, 2017 wouldreduce participation in the Texas Confederation of Clubs andIndependents, over a thousand club members and independ-ents showed up for the bi-annual Rally held at the Capitol inAustin every other year. On January 23, 2017, the Motorcy-cle Profiling Project joined select motorcycle rights advocatesfrom around the country and a contingent representing theNational Council of Clubs (NCOC) in a show of supportand solidarity that clearly communicates that clubs and inde-pendents from across America support the Texas COC&Iand Texas bikers in their struggle against motorcycle profilingand discrimination.

Crisis creates opportunity

After Waco, many in the biker community worried that themotorcycle rights movement in Texas would become frac-tured and lose participation. is logic was based on a coupleof factors. ere was supposed to be a Texas COC&I meet-ing at the Twin Peaks where the tragedy occurred. Wouldclubs and independents stop participating for fear thatmerely being present at a political meeting could get you ar-rested without individualized suspicion and given a 1-mil-lion-dollar bond? Would law enforcement start surroundingall TCOC&I political gatherings with a multi-agency taskforce with high powered rifles?

But Texas bikers have made another choice. e manpowerbehind the movement to protect motorcycle rights is stillmobilized and politically active. TCOC&I meetings havecontinued to peacefully assemble statewide as they have fornearly 20 years without any incidents or violence.

In the face of crisis, Texas bikers have not laid down and sur-rendered to fear or complacency. Instead, they have chosen tostand up and fight for their liberties as demonstrated by themass gathering at the Capitol on January 23rd. And this mo-bilization is nationwide as evidenced by the support fromstates coast-to-coast represented in Austin.

Bikers from Across America Show Support for Texas Bikers

After Waco, many motorcyclists view the state of Texas asground zero in the effort to preserve motorcyclist’s civil liber-ties and the fight against profiling and discrimination. Al-

though there was some discussion relating to pending motor-cycle safety legislation like lane-filtering, the clear messagefrom the community was that motorcycle profiling and dis-crimination is the most important issue currently facingTexas bikers.

In search of support and sponsorship, the mass of bikersgathered at the steps of the Capitol to deliver their message.Impressively, many of them were not from Texas. Indeed, theNCOC showed their support with a contingent from Wash-ington State, California, New York, Maryland, NevadaNorth Carolina and Utah. Long Island ABATE was alsopresent and displaying a banner declaring support for Texasbikers. e Motorcycle Riders Foundation, another organiza-tion dedicated to the fight against profiling, was also present.

Guest speakers included Dr. Will Dulaney from North Car-olina and David “Double D” Devereaux from WashingtonState, as representatives of the NCOC and MPP. Double Dspoke about Texas being at the epicenter in the battle againstmotorcycle profiling. “Texas showed us all that grassrootsmanpower worked when they brought the country the USDefenders program. Now it’s time to use the model to pro-tect Texas bikers!”

Dulaney introduced a new program from the MPP providingconsultation and expert witnesses to bikers with public de-fenders facing criminal charges. “Public defenders are oftenoverwhelmed with caseloads and uninformed about issuesspecific to the biker and club community”, explained Du-laney.

Russell Radke, representing the MRF, discussed the nationalorganization’s commitment to pass federal legislation address-ing motorcycle profiling. Radke explained that the MRF isone of the only organizations with an infrastructure firmlyrooted in Washington DC.

Finally, recently elected District Attorney Mark Gonzales, amotorcycle club member himself, confirmed that even he hasbeen the victim of motorcycle profiling during his recentcampaign. Gonzales explained that his named popped up asa gang member during a traffic stop. He’s the newly electedDistrict Attorney! Gonzales is proof positive that motorcycleprofiling impacts everyday bikers simply based on a stereo-type. ere is obviously a problem when the District Attor-ney has been labeled a gang member with NO due process.

www.motorcycleprofilingprotect.com



AROUND THE STATES

Alaska“Big Dave” MonroeMRF State Rep

ABATE of Alaska kicked off the new year in 2017 with ourAnnual Meet and Greet dinner at La Cabana in Anchorage,AK on Saturday, January 21st, 2017. is dinner is wherewe thank our membership for their support and introducethe newly elected officers and board members for ABATE ofAlaska in 2017.

e dinner was well attended despite the heavy snowfall andlow temperatures. is event is a popular time for manymembers to renew their annual membership. We had 20members renew and 25 new members join ABATE of Alaskawhich are good numbers for us. We also take this time tothank our volunteers for 2016.

We spent time discussing ABATE membership, volunteerparticipation, MRF membership and the most recent MRFcall-to-action regarding the Motorcycle Advisory Council.Members were told about the amazing response on Facebooksharing the MRF Call-To-Action information, but the mea-ger response to using the website to send the letter to theirfederal legislators. Many members responded that theywould make sure they had used the MRF engagement site torespond.

We also honored three of our Business Members who did somuch for us last year. ese businesses did more than justhelp us keep the lights on, they stepped up and furthered ourmessage and donated time and materials to our trainingcourses and ABATE members. e businesses honored:Alaska Leather, Ron Webb Paving & Neighbors Windowsand Doors

ABATE also awards the ABATE of Alaska Warren Garrisonaward, our highest honor to an outstanding member for theirwork in 2016. Warren Garrison was an outstanding memberof ABATE of Alaska. ough he did not hold an office or aboard position, he was always there with his insight, knowl-edge, and helping hands. Upon his death in 1993, ABATE ofAlaska decided to honor him by creating an award in hishonor. is is ABATE of Alaska’s highest award and is givento the person or persons that the membership feels exempli-fied and promoted ABATE of Alaska and its volunteer mis-sion to the highest standards for the past year. is award isopen to anyone that is a current member of ABATE ofAlaska.

is year, the ABATE of Alaska members elected to awardlong time ABATE member, former Officer and Board Mem-ber Bobbe Reilly. Bobbe was not at the dinner but we calledher to present the award over speaker phone. She was verygrateful and excited when she thanked everyone.

ArkansasRodney FarleyMRF State Rep

e Arkansas 91st General Legislative session convened onJanuary 9, 2017. As of this writing, no bills have been filedwith motorcycle or helmets in any of the bills language. Lastday to file a bill is March 6, 2017. e SMRO has their fin-gers cross none will be filed. We already are a helmet freestate and hope to keep it that way. Let those who Ride De-cide.

ABATE of Arkansas elections for state officers have alreadybeen held and have some new officer’s. ank you for step-ping up. We have had to make some changes based on lowermembership and cost of printing and postage we had to goto every other month newsletter starting in March. We havethe 32nd Annual Swap meet and bike show coming up withmany district events planned and the state event “Circle theState Ride” coming on September 30 thru October 1st.

Arkansas will be hosting e Mid-South MILE this year sohope many of you can make it to Arkansas.

ArizonaDale “Animal” DederickMRF State Rep

Greetings from Arizona! e lobbyists of the state MRO’shave been busy in Phoenix building solid relationships withour legislators for the over 200,000 registered motorcyclistsin the state.

State Rep. Friese, out of Tucson, re-introduced his “helmetfee” Bill for the third time. is year the TransportationCommittee decided to hear it, letting the motorcyclists de-bate it. Among those who testified against the Bill were:Mike Infanzon (ABATE), Bobbi Hartmann (MMA) andJohnny D (ACMC). e opposition was so strong in the ar-gument that the legislators voted no 8-0 to stop it.

ABATE, MMA and the ACMC of Arizona are currently run-ning a bill (SB1082) to re-establish the Motorcycle SafetyFund and remove the Advisory Council. ese funds areused to award grants to non-profit organizations to subsidizemotorcycle training.

e Arizona Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Fund(ASMAF) provides scholarships to beginner and advancedriders. We have many single vehicle accidents and this train-ing should help riders prevent or avoid injury. e SenateTransportation Committee passed this Bill 7-0 and now it isthe Rules Committee before a Senate floor.

February 15th was our Annual Motorcycle Day at the Dome,hosted by the MRO’s and COC’s of Arizona.We provide lunch for our legislators and they get to enjoy themotorcyclists of their districts which helps us achieve ourgoals with motorcycle legislation in our state.



CaliforniaKeith JohnstonMRF State Rep

Greetings from California. Since this is my first article fore MRF Reports let me take a quick moment to introducemyself. My name is Keith Johnston and I am a member ofABATE of California. I have just recently been appointed asthe State Representative to the MRF. I've been riding for over40 years, starting out in the hills of southern California andgraduating to the street as soon as I was old enough to getmy license. Enough about me.

As most of you are aware, California was able to pass a lanesplitting bill last year making us the first state to actuallymake this practice legal. e California Highway Patrolalong with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Depart-ment of Transportation, the Office of Traffic Safety and amotorcycle organization focused on motorcyclist safety arenow tasked with developing guidelines for lane splitting.ABATE of California is throwing their hat in the ring to bethe motorcycle safety organization and has attended the ini-tial meeting, which was really just a meet and greet and out-line of the task at hand. To date no requirements have beendetermined. ere has been some discussion that no regula-tions will be established and it will be left to the officers’judgment.

is year, following on the success of Maryland and Wash-ington, California has decided to take on an Anti-Profilingbill. e Legislative Director for ABATE of California,Chuck Pedersen, working with our lobbyist James Lom-bardo, David "Double D" Devereaux of US Defenders whodrove the Washington bill, supported the Maryland bill andis actively supporting profiling legislation in Texas and herein California and many different motorcycle organizationsthroughout the state have formed a steering committee forthis effort. ey have developed language for the bill andsubmitted it to legislative council for review and critique. Wehave contacted different assembly members to solicit author-ship and backing for the bill and as I am sure many of youhave experienced this can be a challenging task. It is a bighelp that the AMA also just recently released a statement re-garding profiling. It’s always good to have them as an ally.e bill must be ready and submitted by February 17th sotime is short but we have a very dedicated and knowledge-able team working every aspect. I will keep you posted as theyear progresses.

One of the main keys to getting an anti-profiling billthrough legislation is the evidence presented to show theneed. If you have not done so it would be great if everyonewould go to the Motorcycle Profiling Project website andcomplete the survey. ere is no personal information takenand this is a nationwide survey. e link is: http://www.mo-torcycleprofilingproject.com/national-motorcycle-profling-survey/

ColoradoDale “Bear” MeadeMRF State Rep

e Colorado Legislature is back in session and has beenquite busy so far. ere are a few bills that are of direct con-cern for motorcyclists.

HB17-1044 - "AUTOCYCLE CHARACTERISTICS andSAFETY REQUIREMENTS" is scheduled for the Trans-portation and Motor Vehicle Committee. is is a bill con-cerned more with child safety-- helmet use for kids, seatbelts,safety seats etc. We also want a clearer definition of an Auto-Cycle and the registration requirements so their crash statsaren't lumped in with motorcycle crash stats.

e Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST)bill is a concern because it is supposed to sunset this year. Wedon't know if the MOST program will be continued,

dropped or modified. Or if Colorado motorcyclists' moneywill continue to be stolen and not used as originally in-tended; as a stipend for rider trainees.

ere was a bill brought up titled as "May Is MotorcycleSafety and Awareness Month". We hope this passes with noproblems.

SB17-027 will "Increase the Penalty for Texting While Driv-ing". Currently the fine is $50. is bill would raise a first of-fense to $500. Colorado had at least two motorcycle deaths,maybe more, and I'm sure there were many more close calls.

We have a possibility of a helmet law coming up under latestatus. Last year Representative Rosenthal talked of bringingup a helmet bill. e Colorado COC went to work. anksto the COC's efforts Rosenthal decided he had bigger fish tofry than messing with the bikers of Colorado. He is backagain. Hopefully the COC can convince him again to leaveus alone. anks Colorado COC for your efforts.

Last year our ABATE State Legislative Officer, Stump, askedCDOT if they would back us on some sort of red light bill.Stump was told "absolutely not!!" is year bill SB17-093has been brought up, "Operation of Bicycles ApproachingIntersections". is would allow bicyclists to blast throughred lights and stop signs without even slowing down. Got tobe the dumbest bill brought up so far. e legislature would-n't support motorcycles so hopefully they won't support thisbill and it will receive the trash can fate it deserves.

Lots going on here in Colorado. anks to Stump for thework he does staying on top of the issues

Connecticut has a motorcycle helmet bill and a scooter hel-met bill. It’s a mixed pair of arguments as to how to fighteach one or together. Well, it has been agreed that theyBOTH need to be fought, BUT the main fight NEEDS tobe focused on HB 6048 "To require the use of helmets bymotorcycle operators and passengers.” erefore, HB 6281 isthe scooter helmet bill and will be discussed/fought sepa-rately.

ConnecticutSandra “Little Sister” ClarkMRF State Rep

Connecticut Motorcycle Riders Association’s Rich Pauknerwill be heading up the testimony at the time of the hearing.is will be my first one (attending and testifying!). As manyof you may know, Rich was also an MRF Treasurer. He fellinto the position with the MRF during an awkward time. It’sa blessing that his 37 years of experience in Cnonecticut hel-met battles is still able to be gracing the grounds of Hartfordin this hearing.

e State House has been receiving phone calls, emails, andletters like mad in expression of opposition to this bill.anks to all of you that may have helped in any sort of way!By the time you read this, we may or may not have the re-sults. Committee voting could happen on the day of thehearing, days after the hearing, or no voting may happen atall and the bill could get lost or buried…and so on.

e timing of this event is almost weird! A few of us fromCMRA signed up to attend the L & L months ago. e billhit the Connecticut General Assembly website on January19th. e Legislative Committee scrambled into action.Numbers and information were missing to complete testimo-nial data, but the L & L happened the weekend of the 27th.Part of the wanted information pertained to MI and PA, thetwo most recent repeal states. So, I’m at the L & & standingthere looking at Vince Consiglio of ABATE of MI, CharlieUmbenhauer of ABATE of PA, and Imre Szauter fromNHMRO (formerly AMA). I can’t thank you all enough foryour guidance, teamwork, and assistance both prior to thatweekend and during that weekend! I also have to thank



AROUND THE STATESConnecticut (continued)

Frank Carbone for translating “Excel” into my truck driverlanguage. Frank, you basically said “looks good” and I said“cool” and you said “you need those numbers" and I said “I’llgo find Imre." anks to Steve Zurl for making some veryphilosophical statements that I promise not to repeat. Andy,John & Lisa Bilotta, Radar, and everyone…great to see you!!!

I can’t thank everyone that was at that seminar enough forthe support, hugs, conversations, kindness, and somewherein there was some fantastic peach stuff someone handed tome in an elevator in a mason jar! It was a great weekend thatI will never forget! I’ve been attending the seminar for years,but this one will be most significant with my having to pre-pare for my first helmet battle in CT. (Of course, I won’t for-get 2014 either! I had a bundle of steel fall off of my flatbedat work and land on me in a bad way on the ursday beforethe seminar. I still went to the seminar...someone went tohug me and it hurt really bad, so I ended up getting wrappedin “caution” tape within minutes of arrival…too funny!)

Finally, I have to say: Great presentation from Megan!!! Wealso heard from Marie Wuelleh from AMA about getting onboard with the MRF initiated “anti motorcycle profiling” po-sition. Great biker chicks in politics right there! Also, Imredid a fascinating analysis of fatalities that I do not want tomisquote, but his data and research caused the whole audi-ence in that session to be in awe!

IllinoisJim “Legs” KorteMRF State Rep

ABATE of Illinois held its annual Seminar January 20-21 inSpringfield. Friday evening the room smelled like a bakery, abake sale along with live and silent auctions were held asfundraisers for the ABATE of Illinois FEDPAC.

Saturday Morning, we heard from Guest Speakers Paul Gru-gin of the AMA, Rod Taylor of ABATE Legal Services andTerry Redmond from the Cycle Rider Training Program.Since we were celebrating our 30th Anniversary, we had for-mer State Coordinators Charlie Preston (88-91), Bob ‘Go-pher’ Goffinski (91 – 92), Dave ‘Hisser’ Hissong (96 – 98),Jim ‘Legs’ Korte (05 – 09) and Current State Coordinator,Ryan Hubbard in attendance. After Lunch, there weretwenty-three workshops covering various subjects of interestto ABATE members to help them grow their skills andknowledge to help the organization accomplish our goal of auniversalsafe and unrestricted motorcycling environment.Saturday evening after the banquet, State Senator Sam Mc-Cann spoke to the crowd. e ABATEPAC followed withtheir silent and live auctions which had many great items.

HB 2372 was introduced by Rep. J. Costello Jr to amendsthe Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occu-pation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act andprovides that, on or after July 1, 2017 and on or before De-cember 31, 2018, the taxes imposed under the Acts apply to90% of the proceeds of sales of gas and 80% of the proceedsof sales of mid-range ethanol blends. It amends the IllinoisRenewable Fuels Development Program Act and providesthat grants may be awarded for the following programs: anext generation renewable fuels program, a majority blendedethanol and blender pump infrastructure program, and a re-search and development program for sustainable corn pro-duction and corn-based renewable fuel production and setsforth the maximum aggregate amount of grants that may beawarded under each program. In the past few years, we haveteamed up with the IL Petroleum Marketers & ConvenienceStore Assoc. and the IL Petroleum Council in regards to E-15.

Illinois (continued)

Next up will be the ABATE of Illinois Swap meet in Spring-field on February 19th and will be followed by our Legisla-tive Day at the State Capitol March 8th.

IndianaRoberta MeyerMRF State Rep

ABATE day at the State Capitol has come and gone in Indi-ana. We had a good turnout with about 100 attending. I'msure we got some attention! ere were three issues that weare interested in this year, so far. e first one is HB 1200 in-troduced by Representative Lloyd Arnold from District 74.e bill would require off road vehicle operators and ridersless than the age of 18 to wear a helmet. e current law inIndiana for street riders under the age of 18 is the same andincludes anyone riding with a permit to wear a helmet. erewas some talk about adding an education amendment butthe bill was heard in the House Roads and TransportationCommittee today and passed through Committee withoutan amendment. Now it’s back to the House for the secondand third reading.

LouisianaDonnie BrownMRF State Rep

We are looking for an amendment to correct some languageconcerning anti-lock brakes on Autocycles. ere is muchdiscussion this year about Motorcycle Riders Education as Iam sure many of you have experienced too. We are not goingto contract with the BMV this year and there is a lot to ironout. More to come on that!

We will begin signing up students for our rider course at theMotorcycle Expo February 17th in Indianapolis. After that,you can sign-up online at abateonline.org for classes. Haveall of you taken a rider’s course? I strongly urge all riders totake a class. Even the most experienced riders can brush upon their skills. Newer riders may learn a thing or two. Youcan never be too safe when it comes to riding a motorcycle.But I feel like I am “preaching to the choir” on that subject. Ihave seen a ton bikes out the past two weeks. e weatherhas been mild off and on and it seems like everyone is gettingcabin fever early this year. I hope each of you can get out onthe road soon.

We have had some nice weather down in Louisiana this pastweek. We just got back from our Louisiana COC meetingwhere our guest speaker Slider Gilmore presented his class on“Accident Scene Management.” He did a great job and itwas very informative!

We are promoting are 4th Annual Rally at the Capitol andvisiting our State Representatives to push our Anti-Profilingagenda. is includes a proposal to add an exemption tocurrent law allowing for the use of facemasks while riding.Hiding your identity in public is illegal except for a few in-stances including Mardi Gras, Halloween, and religious pur-poses. While the law is not intended for bikers, we have hada police officer use it to profile. e amendment will be ashort term fix so we are pushing a comprehensive profilingbill as well. We are also looking to build additional supportfor a “Freedom of Choice” bill for the following session in2018. Louisiana is still suffering from a large deficit of $308million and Governor Bel Edwards is about to call a specialsession. We argued last year in committee that allowing for“Freedom of Choice” would increase motorcycle relatedtourism and we came really close to passage in the House.We will be continuing the fight!



MassachusettsDoc D’erricoMRF State Rep

Something about winter that brings on the doldrums formany of us in Massachusetts. For some it’s the bitter coldaround February, for others it’s the short hours of daylight…For me, personally, it’s black ice; I simply won’t ride my bikein the dark because of it, which means I’m on 4 wheels toand from work. I’m sure you all know what I mean – there’ssomething about the long day that somehow magically getsbetter when you have an hour or more of wind therapy to re-lieve the stress.

Keep in mind, of course, that my commute is about 8 miles– so the hour is an estimate – depending on which turns Itake…

But the winter here is the time we spend mostly on our Leg-islative Agenda for our Massachusetts Motorcycle Associa-tion. In the last issue of these pages, I reported that ourmembership had met to develop our updated LegislativeAgenda for the next General Session, and were hard at workon developing the Bill text.

Your Massachusetts Motorcycle Association is pleased to an-nounce the bills selected for the upcoming 2017-2018 Leg-islative Session have been filed and assigned DocketNumbers. As of this writing, a Call-to-Action asked ridersand supporters to help seek out formal co-sponsors for thesebills. Quite a few had signed-on in the last couple of days,but more were expected by the time this goes to print.

Additionally, we’re already in full swing with our “show sea-son” from Boston to Springfield. Largely a showcase for ourannual Harley-Davidson Bike Raffle ticket sales, it’s more anopportunity for us to speak with riders directly on the issuesfacing us in and around the Commonwealth. Many of thesetopics and tickets are, of course, available on our website,www.MassMotorcycle.org

And lastly, we’re in the preparation stages for our annual Mo-torcycle Safety Awareness Period, and our annual LegislativeLobby Day, the MMA “Storm the State House” which is al-ways held around the same time as the MRF “Bikers Insidethe Beltway”. is year, thanks to a schedule shift on theMRF’s dates, there is no overlap, so we expect to attend bothevents!

is year, many of the bills are re-filed variations of the lastsession’s bills, but we’ve added interest in Lane Filtering atthe behest of a number of sport-bike riders who attended ourLegislative Agenda day. In addition to that, filed and sup-ported by a bipartisan selection of legislators, the MMA Billsare:

SD.661 – “An Act establishing a motorcycle safety fund”seeks to create a dedicated Motorcycle Safety Fund and re-bate not less than $150.00 for Junior Motorcycle Riders whosuccessfully complete the MREP BRC - Motorcyclists pay a$2.00 premium during their annual registration that is sup-posed to be allocated to a Motorcycle Safety Fund. oughthis fund technically exists, it’s under control of MassDOT;details are kept from the public. is Bill seeks to ensure thatthis money is fully accounted for and stays in a dedicatedMotorcycle Safety Fund and is accounted for.

HD.2479 – “An Act regarding Motorcycle Sound Emissions”seeks to direct Law Enforcement usage to MGL 90-7S, 7T,and 7U - Massachusetts has two different set of laws that ad-dress Motorcycle Sound Emissions. One of them is com-pletely subjective and allows Law Enforcement too muchleeway when determining how loud is “too loud”. e otheris completely objective and requires a series of controlledtests specific to Motorcycles. e Bill seeks to eliminate useof the subjective law when dealing with Motorcycles.

SD.379 – “An Act relative to standards for protective head-

gear for operators or passengers on motorcycles” seeks to pro-vide Helmet Freedom of Choice for motorcycle riders withinthe Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Citizens across theCommonwealth of Massachusetts have the right to beararms, serve in the Military, and a plethora of other freedoms,yet they are not allowed to ride helmet-free if they so choose.At the same time, 4 New England Border States offer “Hel-met Choice” and motorcyclists are leaving or by-passingMassachusetts to spend their tourist dollars each weekend.e MMA estimates that if only 10% of Massachusetts’ rid-ers stayed home each weekend, $1.25million per day wouldremain in the Commonwealth. is Bill creates “Freedom ofChoice” for motorcyclists riding in Massachusetts.

HD.211 – “An Act relative to motorcycle safety with mal-functioning traffic signals not detecting motorcycles” seeks tosafely allow motorists to pass through a red light that isn’tworking correctly. roughout the Commonwealth, Motor-cyclists, Bicyclists and other roadway users find themselves“stuck” at Traffic Actuated Control Signals that do not recog-nize their presence resulting in often illegal and potentiallydangerous results. is Bill creates a set of guidelines like“Right on Red” which can create consistent behavior and safepassage should a traffic signal malfunction in the Common-wealth.

HD.2886 – “An Act regarding Right of Way Violations”seeks to increase the penalties associated with Right-of-Wayviolations. In MA, if a motorist violates another’s Right-of-Way they receive nothing more than a $35 citation – a slapon the wrist; the potential penalty to a Motorcyclist, Bicy-clist, or Pedestrian could be a DEATH SENTENCE at theCemetery! In MA, 65% of the time that a Motorcycle is in-volved in an accident with another vehicle, it’s because theother motorist turned left in front of the oncoming Motorcy-cle. is Bill seeks accountability for motorists who injure orcause the death of other roadway users due to Right-of-WayViolations.

HD.2466 – “An Act regarding Special Regulations for Vehi-cle Specific Checkpoints” seeks to eliminate the practice ofroad-side vehicle stops for specific motor vehicles. eseRoadblocks and Vehicle Checkpoints are periodically usedfor Safety Purposes, but are being misused. Although theMassachusetts Constitution has specific processes and regula-tions for how and when “safety” checkpoints can be oper-ated, it didn’t stop some local municipalities from violatingthe Constitution with State Police support. is Bill elimi-nates checkpoint stops based on the type of vehicle, oradornment of the vehicle and/or its operator.

HD.2289 – “An Act regarding Equal Access for Motorcycles”seeks to remove and bar limitations for motorcycles on cer-tain roadways, parking facilities, and similar locations. InMA, motorcycle operators are prohibited from parking incertain structures. is Bill seeks to eliminate this discrimina-tion from all structures and roadways that receive monies forbuilding, maintenance, and/or operations from the State andthe Federal Government and excludes motorcyclists.

SD.673 – “An Act regarding Equal Access for Motorcycles”seeks to remove and bar limitations for motorcycles on cer-tain roadways, parking facilities, and similar locations. InMA, motorcycle operators are prohibited from parking incertain structures. is Bill seeks to eliminate this discrimina-tion from all structures and roadways that receive monies forbuilding, maintenance, and/or operations from the State andthe Federal Government and excludes motorcyclists.

HD.1898 – “An Act relative to Motorcycle Safety” seeks tochange language changing “Motorcycle Safety Foundation”and “Motorcycle Safety Fund” to the “Massachusetts Motor-cycle Rider Education Program”. With significant advance-ments in training curricula and the increase of ridership inthe Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Rider Education Pro-gram requires more flexibility in selecting criteria than to belimited to that only available through the Motorcycle SafetyFoundation.


MichiganTom “Jinx” RahnMRF State Rep

Well to start, Michigan weather has us guessing! One day we ride then next we shovel! Come on spring.

Ok back to business, we just had our State Seminar and it was the best one ever. To start things off on Friday night was our MRF REPAND RC meeting. e big topics were membership and the national helmet law. I was lucky Jay Jackson came to help me out! We toucheda little on the Meeting of the Minds event and Bikers in the Beltway. With the help of our sales ladies, ABATE sent a check to the PAC for$870.

Our guests Congressman Walberg and Matt Danielson put on a great presentation as always. I'm asking that everyone contact your Con-gressman and Senators and request they support more riders on the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee.

ABATE supported in 2016: HB 4853 & 4854 which raised the fee for the Rider Safety class from $25- $50, the first increase since the 80'sand now gives a waiver for the states written test. Both were passed! HB4651 & HB 4905: penalties for riding without a cycle endorsement.$500 fine and possible jail time. SB 496 could impose jail time for unendorsed riders to match penalties for car drivers, this is the senateversion of HB 4651 which passed and is now law.

We don't support SB 527 Helmet bill, which will reverse the present law.


AROUND THE STATESMinnesotaMike BergerMRF Assistant Rep

Minnesota held its annual Biker Day at the Capitol this past January. e Capitol building in St. Paul has been undergoing a multi-yearmassive renovation, and for the past few years it was impossible because of the work to have everyone gather in one large group. Instead,small groups had converged on the Capitol to conduct their own mini lobbying days. Construction wrapped up this year, however, and bik-ers from all over the state were once again able to come together in force.

Of particular importance are HF 122 and SF 77, the House and Senate ver-sions of A.B.A.T.E. of MN’s Motorcycle Awareness bill. Introduced by Rep.Jim Nash and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, this legislation would provide for threethings:

• Require insurance companies to offer a 10% motorcycle policy discount tothose who take a motorcycle training course.

•Require that all motorcycle training funds, which Minnesota motorcyclistspay into when obtaining or renewing a motorcycle license endorsement, beused for motorcycle training and awareness. Currently, a portion of these feesis credited to the Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Fund up to $750,000. Afterthat cap is reached, only 90% goes into the motorcycle safety fund. e other10% goes into the general fund. Over the last three years this cap has beenreached and the 10% has equaled roughly $20,000 per year. is is a signifi-cant amount of motorcyclists’ money that would be better disbursed by theMinnesota Motorcycle Safety Fund than the state general fund.

•Establish a motorcycle awareness license plate (for all vehicles up to one tontrucks). Unlike other specialty plates, these plates have a message that wouldreinforce the importance of driver responsibility. is would be voluntary,with all costs covered by the user and a portion of the purchase price going tothe Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Fund.

In addition to this legislation, bikers who attended the lobbying event askedstate legislators to:

•Support no change to the adult motorcycle helmet law, which requires those under 18 and those on a learners permit to wear a helmetwhile allowing endorsed adults the choice to wear or not to wear a helmet while operating a motorcycle.

•Oppose changes to motorcycle insurance requirements that would require motorcyclists to carry so-called “no-fault” insurance, a changethat would cost the average rider as much as $1500 per bike per year.

•Curtail profiling of motorcyclists in Minnesota by ensuring that chief law enforcement officers, at the state and local level, establish andenforce a written policy governing the conduct of peace officers engaged in stops of motorcycle-riding citizens and forbids pretext stops thatuse supposed traffic infractions as an excuse to pull over a motorcyclist simply because they are riding a motorcycle or are wearing motorcy-cling apparel.

MissouriAmy “Sunshine” AllmonMRF State Rep

e Missouri session has begun and we are optimistic. We have a new Governor and several new legislators. Helmet modification bills, HB235 & 535, have been filed, for riders 18 years old and older with health insurance. ere could be adjustments when it reaches committeehearings. A companion Senate bill has been filed, SB 323, so keep your fingers crossed. We need a strong showing of motorcyclists all ses-sion long as well as for the “Motorcycle Awareness and You” rally on May 2. And of course, call and visit your Senator and Representativeto let them know your position.

Another focus of lawmakers will be texting and driving. HB 378 has passed second reading: Prohibits text messaging while driving unlessthe device is equipped with technology allowing for hands-free texting and is being used in that manner. My concern is that it is specific totexting. HB 312: Restricts the use of handheld communications devices while driving unless the device is equipped for hands-free opera-



Missouri (continued)tion and is being used in that manner. Wording is the key. We all know that texting is not the only issue with Distracted Driving. Otherbills relating to helmets and distracted driving have been filed and we will be monitoring them.

Lincoln/Reagan Days will be held February 24-26 in Springfield, MO. is is the Missouri Republican Conference. Demo Days has not yetannounced a date but Freedom of Road Riders® will sponsor a hospitality at both events.

FORR® will also hold our own training seminar, FORR® Ever Working or FEW. Officer and lobbing training are on the agenda. It is sched-uled for March 11 at the Lodge of the Four Seasons at the Lake of the Ozarks.

North CarolinaCindy HodgesMRF State Rep

Are Helmet Laws Effective?

1) ere is NO discernible difference in motorcycle accident or fatality rates between states with mandatory helmet laws and those whichallow for freedom of choice. In fact, states which support voluntary use routinely achieve accident and fatality rates equal to or lower thanstates with mandatory helmet laws for all riders. (AMA, 1995)

2) Helmets are minimally effective in preventing most injuries. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report to Congress, theCODES Study, 1995)

3) ere are no appreciable differences found relative to fatality rate, severity of injury, hospital stay, and discharge status between motorcy-cle accident victims who wore helmets and those who did not. (Arizona’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety Study, 1990)

4) Helmet use is not associated with overall injury severity, discharge status, or insurance status. (University of North Carolina HighwaySafety Research Center, June 1992)

5) Relative to the number of registered motorcycles, states with mandatory helmet laws had 12.5% more accidents and 2.3% more fatalitiesthan free choice states for the 14 year period 1977-90. (Accident and Fatality Statistics, analyzed by A.R. Mackenzie, M.D.)

6) "It is concluded that: 1) motorcycle helmets have no significant effect on probability of fatality; and 2) past a critical impact speed, hel-mets increase the severity of neck injuries." (Dr. Jonathan Goldstein, Bowdoin College)

7) Injured motorcycle operators admitted to trauma centers had lower injury severity scores compared to other road trauma victims. eyaccrued lower hospital charges. ey were less likely to rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and they had the same level of commercial or pri-vate insurance as other road trauma victims. (University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, June, 1992)

8) e average inpatient charge for a helmeted motorcyclist receiving a brain injury was equal to that of an non-helmeted motorcyclist re-ceiving a brain injury. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report to Congress, the CODES Study, 1995)

9) Motorcyclists are no more dependent upon public sources for medical costs than motor vehicle operators. (National Highway TrafficSafety Administration report to Congress, the CODES study, 1995)

OhioJim “Snafu” ElginMRF State Rep

Hello All, Heads up from Ohio! We had our semi-annual Motorcycle Ohio Stakeholders Committee Meeting 1.18.17 @ the Ohio Depart-ment of Public Safety. At this meeting, we reviewed all 2016 “Crash Data” available at this time, with 192 confirmed Motorcycle Fatalitiesin 2016; the 2nd highest fatalities total on Ohio roads since statistics have been recorded.

NO mention of any proposed Mandatory Helmet Law Legislation was introduced. But!!! At the end of the meeting and off the record,Robert Wakefield (Director of Ohio Transportation Safety Office) did ask me if it was OK to start tracking motorcycle helmet use this year?I replied that ABATE has unofficially tracked helmet use at “Bike Nights” around the State and our observation is about 60% usage bychoice of the riders in attendance. ABATE of Ohio, Inc. would vigorously oppose any Mandatory Helmet Legislation if introduced.

NOTE: Ohio has been a “CHOICE” State since 1977.

PennsylvaniaMary DixonMRF Assistant Rep

ABATE of PA held its 32nd Annual Leadership and Legislative (L&L) seminar on January 27th & 28th in Grantville, PA. is was my 4thyear attending and it certainly was another great one! I not only enjoy the workshops but my most valuable moments are those spent talk-ing, sharing and brainstorming with other members and officers from across the state. is year it was sold out with approximately 400people attending! I had the opportunity to meet Megan Ekstrom and she shared her passion and dedication for the MRF and where we areheaded in 2017.

As I have written before, I am a member of both ABATE of PA and the MRF serving in a leadership role in both organizations. Leadershipis important but takes time, effort and dedication. Being a part of a motorcycle rights organization is one of the best ways to be involved inwhat matters to us most as a rider/passenger. At the L&L we had a Friday night panel discussion and a few representatives from PA spoke.It makes me feel good when our representatives commend ABATE of PA for our dedication and passion in fighting for our personal choiceand freedoms and showing up for important events. Some legislation we are considering in PA: motorcycle profiling, lane splitting/lane fil-tering, passenger age limits on motorcycles and group ride safety.

With all that being said, I hope to introduce more people to the MRF this year. I look forward to attending my 2nd Bikers Inside the Belt-way and hope to meet new faces in the MRF. As Ryan Hubbard said in the last issue of the MRF Reports, "e more successful we are, andthe more we communicate those successes, the more members we will attract to join the cause."



South CarolinaMichelle HolcombMRF State Rep

January 10th was our annual lobby day at the capitol. Wehad a good turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy them-selves. Afterwards, we had an awards ceremony with speak-ers. It was a good day to start out the New Year. January10th was also opening day for the 2017 session. At this time,ABATE has not had any bills introduced. We continue to bevigilant and watch for any bills introduced which could affectmotorcyclists. We will address those issues as they come up.

We had a little shake up here in South Carolina recently.Nikki Haley, our governor, was selected by the Trump ad-ministration to become the UN Ambassador. We are so veryproud of her. She has always supported motorcyclists in thisstate. We are very sorry to see her leave but happy for herand her new adventure. Henry McMaster (R) has taken herplace. ABATE looks forward to working with him in the fu-ture.

With summer right around the corner, ABATE chapters areplanning their schedule of events for this riding season. Wewill also be working on an event to support the MRF. OurMRF reps will be working hard on increasing our member-ship and getting the MRF name out into the motorcyclingcommunity. We are looking forward to another good yearfor ABATE and MRF.

TennesseeEd DomineMRF Assistant Rep

e New Year Kick-Off Party was a great time! e vision ofall those leather-clad guys dancing is one that I will neverforget (but believe me…I’m trying!). For those of you whomissed it . . . there’s always next year.

I received my membership reminder letter today. If you gotyours, please return that as soon as you can. And take a goodlook at the calendar that is enclosed – there are a lot of eventson the schedule already! It’s going to be a busy summer.

Our legislative team reported on the new committee ap-pointments in the state House & Senate. ere have beensome changes in the memberships and we will need to ensurewe develop good relationships with these new committeemembers. ese committees are the gateway for any legisla-

AROUND THE STATEStion we are interested in to move into the full chamber, butthey can also be the wall that keeps it from ever getting there.Having one or two more committee members that we canhave a good discussion with can be exactly what we need toget a fair hearing on the bills we support or to squash theones detrimental to our lifestyle. is is a good time for youto make contact with your state Representative or Senator. Ithelps to already have that friendly relationship before youneed to ask them to take action on a bill.

On the topic of developing relationships, our legislative teammet with the Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee De-partment of Safety & Homeland Security. It was basically anintroduction meeting just to let him know who we are, andwhat CMT/ABATE is trying to accomplish. But it turnedout better than we had hoped. e team got a commitmentfor the department to provide some funding for our Safety &Awareness programs. e team also opened the door at thedepartment so we have an influential friend that will listen tous when the need arises.

ose relationships are already paying off. At the last boardmeeting, it was reported that we had a legislator reach out tous to get CMT/ABATE’s opinion on a bill that was being in-troduced. is is exactly the situation we want to be in. Butit took a long time to build the relationships with the legisla-tors, and the reputation that CMT/ABATE has, to allowthis. But it’s well worth the effort if it opens some doors thatmay have been closed to us in years past.

TexasSkee DodsonMRF State Rep

As the new MRF state representative for Texas, I would liketo start by saying thank you to the outgoing state rep—RickBoland. ank you Rick for everything that you have donefor the MRF, for Texas ABATE, and for the motorcyclingcommunity in general. ank you! We are going to promotethe MRF everywhere we go, and we are going to double thenumber of active members in Texas!

As many know, January is the beginning of a new legislativesession in almost every state. Texas is one of only three stateswhere legislation meets every other year—in odd numberedyears. e Texas 85th legislative session will meet for only140 days, and it will move at a very fast pace. As a matter offact, if a bill isn’t pre-filed, or filed early, it is quite conceiv-able that it will run out of time. Whenever possible, we try tocontact our members of Congress early, and persuade themto pre-file our bills. Texas is fortunate that she has manygroups of freedom fighters--like the COC&I, US Defenders,the Legislative Strike Force, COIR, Texas ABATE, and manyothers --working together for a common cause. Everyoneworking together in unity, for motorcycle legislation, is abeautiful thing! Anyone who had the opportunity to make itto Austin on January 22nd and 23rd, for our MotorcycleLegislative Day, would have to agree! We were represented inunity by hundreds, if not thousands, of bikers that suited upand showed up! Not only were there a countless number ofclubs and independents represented from the entire State ofTexas, but we were also joined by clubs and organizationsfrom all over the United States--from California to NewYork! ank you for your support! A special thank you alsogoes out to MRF Director Russell Radke, who spoke in frontof our Texas-size crowd, and recognized the importance ofour proposed anti-profiling bills.

As of Jan. 27th, Texas has three motorcycle bills filed: SB288, SB 346, and HB 1240. SB 288, filed by Sen. Kirk Wat-son, relates to lane sharing/filtering (controlled access, 20mph traffic, and motorcycles sharing lanes at no more than

ABATE of South Carolina at work



Texas (continued)

5mph faster); SB 346, also filed by Sen. Watson, relates tomalfunctioning red lights (if traffic light fails to recognizemc, one cycle); and a companion (house) bill, HB 1240 filedby Representative Bill Zedler--also relates to a malfunction-ing red light (similar to SB 346, but would require two com-plete cycles).

Texas is still very optimisticthat a bill will be introducedto create a separate classifica-tion for autocycles, and regis-ter autocycles as such. TexasABATE has worked dili-gently to bring this misclassi-fication of a motor vehicle tolight. Autocycles should notbe classified and registered asmotorcycles! Texas hasworked hard to reduce mo-torcycle fatality rates, and weshould not group autocycleand motorcycle statistics to-gether! Also, only after auto-cycles are classified as such,will we be able to establishsafety requirements—such aschild restraint requirements,

licensing requirements, and vehicle equipment requirements.

Most importantly, the time has come for us to have a coura-geous conversation with our elected representatives concern-ing motorcycle profiling in Texas! With a recent Federalresolution promoting awareness of motorcycle profiling,(114th) H.Res 831, having 18 cosponsors—and with anti-profiling laws passed in Washington, and most recently inMaryland, it has become a top priority to pass similar legisla-tion here in Texas! We are very optimistic that Texas will bethe 3rd state in our Union to pass a law to condemn and pre-vent motorcycle profiling!

WisconsinJoe StanekMRF State Rep

Greetings and Salutations from the Cheese Capital.

In 2016, we worked very hard to pass legislation on our threemajor issues; Black Box, Autocycle, and Enhanced Penaltiesfor ROW violations. We were close with two of those and re-alized that we would need to do more work on the third one.So now the fun begins!

Black Box – is bill made it through both the Senate andthe Assembly committees, but we ran out of time prior togetting a full vote from the legislators. Moving forward forthis year, we have a good start with a bill draft from the pre-vious year so our hope is to work with the legislators involvedlast year and see how we can get this piece of legislation toadvance to the next level. Since the bill is already started wewill be able to start the process early and we hope that byLobby Day for ABATE of Wisconsin we will have the draftto present to our representatives. As was done last year, wewill work with Senator Stroebel and Representative Kremeras the lead authors, but we will be working to increase thenumber of co-sponsors so that there is more weight behindthe bill. We have not heard of any legislator that is opposedto this bill, but we need to make sure that the language iscorrect and that all understand what we want to accomplish.

Autocycles – In 2016 we were quite optimistic that we wouldget the autocycle bill passed because the proposed lawseemed like good common sense. is bill became a lot morecomplicated than we expected and ultimately, ABATE andHarley-Davidson did not come to an agreement with Polarison what the language should be. For 2017 we will continueto work with all interested parties trying to find a solution.We will reach out to any interested legislator to find the best

way to move this piece of legislation forward. It will remaina high priority for us so that we can set the tone for not onlywhat is available to drive on the streets today, but also whatmay be developed in the future. If we are going to get some-thing passed legislatively, motorcyclists will need to be loudand heard for this one. January 26 ABATE’s own crack “SealTeam” went to the capitol in Madison to seek supportthrough the budgeting process and our Joint Finance Com-mittee members. Every single committee member’s officecommented that this seems like common sense where an au-tocycle is certainly not a motorcycle, and it is not an automo-bile, and that a separate class of licensing would be good forall. Now we need to find a champion to start the legislation,and know that almost all will easily support this issue andvote accordingly. We hoped to use the state budgetingprocess to get it wrapped up before our Lobby Day later inFebruary. If not completed, this will to be an important dis-cussion topic during Lobby Day. We will need to get the leg-islators to look at this bill as a long term solution to vehicledefinitions (meaning motorcycle for sure). Not knowingwhat is around the corner, we have an opportunity to fixwhat should be classified as a motorcycle and ultimately whatcarries a motorcycle license plate.

Enhanced Penalties for Right of Way (ROW) Violations – In2016 we were able to get a bill a drafted that would includeviolations that were previously not considered ROW viola-tions, so they did not include the enhanced penalties. Wemet with opposition from other interested parties that wereconcerned with the number of driver licenses that could besuspended which in turn raised concern from our legislators.We have been working with those parties (ok…let’s just putit out there….the insurance companies were the opposition)to address concerns and we believe that we found a solutionthat is acceptable to both groups. Now we are working on anew draft that should accomplish our goals and yet, satisfythe fears of the insurance institution. We are hopeful to havea final draft and an assigned bill number that we can take toour Lobby Day meetings.

As you can see from where our bills are, Lobby Day 2017will be an important day for motorcyclists. Please, makearrangements to be in Madison on February 23rd. e busroutes are set and we will have a meeting place at Inn One Park (across from the capitol building) for any final in-structions. is is the most important day of the year for mo-torcyclists in the State of Wisconsin, so I hope to see manypeople there. You do not need to be an ABATE member toattend, just have the same beliefs that we do. We will all needto keep on track and all deliver the same message to be mosteffective.

We have been holding our Grassroots Lobby Training semi-nars around the ABATE Districts this past month . e in-structors, Steve Panten and Chubby Charlebois, reportedgreat attendance and feedback. e mission is to give the at-tendees a better understanding of the legislative process andthe importance of being involved.

It looks like we are going to be hitting the road at full throt-tle in 2017. We have an aggressive agenda, but I believe weare in a good position to get things accomplished.

VirginiaWes HurstMRF State Rep

On January 30, 2017, in the House of Delegates Transporta-tion Sub-Committee, HB 2235 for full appeal of Virginiahelmet law was defeated in a 4-3 vote. e bill was presentedas a clean bill without the amendment of being an organdonor. Many had hoped the amendment would be addedbefore the vote. No delegate would add such language insub-committee.

Now Virginia SMRO members will work in the focus ofMOTM 2017 in Williamsburg VA.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!



WANTEDYoung Activist to attend the Meeting of the Minds in Williamsburg, VA

All Expenses Paid.

What is a Young Activist? A Young Activist is a person between the ages of 18 and 30 who have expressed an interest in, and de-voted some time to, their chosen passion. For purposes of this publication, motorcycle rights. MRFAwareness & Education would like to be able to present this award to one, or more, Young Activist thisyear. But we need candidates.

In addition to the age requirement mentioned above, the successful candidate for this Scholarship alsoneeds to be nominated by a State Motorcycle Rights Organization. e young person must be a mem-ber of that organization and have a valid motorcycle endorsement.

e nominee must also submit a minimum three hundred (300)-word essay on why biker's rights areimportant to them. A well-written essay from the heart is like a picture or blueprint of who the candi-date is; coming directly from the candidate, this gives the committee members a better perspective of theindividual.

After all the work what does the winning nominee(s) receive? • One-year membership to the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, effective the first full day of the Meeting of the Minds during the year of award. • Round-trip airfare to the MRF's Meeting of the Minds conference. • Hotel accommodations at the Meeting of the Minds conference. Accommodations will include the hotel room only. Telephone, food, movie rentals, etc. will be the sole responsibility of winning candidates. • Meeting of the Minds conference registration and banquet fees waived. • Special recognition at the MRF's Meeting of the Minds conference. Said recognition will include a plaque, presentation of one-year membership, and other items or activities as approved by the MRFA&E Board of Directors.

What is the time frame? All applications must be submitted along with a Young Activist ScholarshipFund Nomination Form no later than July 15th. You can find the form at www.mrfae.org.

Submitted by Carol Downs, Treasurer, MRFAE



SSMRO Rep ReportJ. Ryan HubbardSSMRO Board Representative

Brothers and Sisters,In a time where political correctness and diverse thinking are at their most extreme, it is importantfor us to be well-informed on our priorities and be able to effectively discuss our stances with oth-ers. With a new Congress and Executive Branch now in place and many agencies getting new ad-ministrators, we need to ensure we can confidently communicate to them our position onmotorcyclist’s rights issues.

Along with the weekly update emails from Megan, the MRF website now provides a great way foryou to stay informed on federal and state issues. Not only are all of the issues listed there for you to read about, there are talk-ing points for you to use when talking with your legislators. Here is a little more on how to use these tools.

On the mrf.org website hover over the Legislative dropdown, move to the Legislative Action Center, then click on either Fed-eral Legislative Issues or State Legislative Issues to find links to the topics we are watching. On the Federal page, you will findlinks to the bills we are watching and others to take action. is function will take you to a page where you can fill in your in-formation and send a letter to your Federal Representative and Senators. While this is a pre-written letter, you can add yourcomments as well, before sending the email.

e State page will allow you to choose from a list of topics to see what is going on. You can look at what’s happening specificto your state, or see how other states are dealing with the same issues. For example, your if your state is working on autocyclelegislation, you can see how other states are handling or have handled it. is information can be used to guide your discus-sions with your state legislators.

We must use all of the information and resources available from our DC office and lobbyist to ensure the messages we provideour legislators and the regulating agencies are consistent and relevant. If you have questions on any of the information, youcan contact the office for clarification.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns with the MRF or any issues we can possibly help you with in re-gards to your SMRO.

MRF Conference & Event NewsJim CannonMRF Conference Director

By now I’m sure all of you have made your plans for Bikers In e Beltway, so I’ll justsay I’m looking forward to seeing ALL of you in May!

On to September: things are shaping up nicely for Meeting of the Minds in pictur-esque and historic Williamsburg, VA. Williamsburg is home to the original VirginiaHouse of Burgesses, which later became the Virginia General Assembly, making it the

oldest legislative body in the US. For those with an interest in history we’re a short drive (or long walk) from ColonialWilliamsburg, where you can view it live as it was in the 1600s. ey have restaurants, blacksmith shops, butchers, bakers andcandlestick makers all performing their tasks in period-correct clothing, shops, and equipment.

Slightly further away on the banks of the mighty James River is the Jamestown Settlement. As one of the earliest settlementson this side of the pond, you can witness colonial life and tour replicas of the old wooden sailing ships that these brave soulscrossed the ocean in. ere is about a 5-mile loop through the property at Jamestown that is gorgeous from the seat of a bikeas well.

If you want something a little lighter and thrilling, Busch Gardens is in Williamsburg if roller coasters and theme parks blowyour skirt (or kilt) up. I’m sure nobody in this group would want to tour the Giant Budweiser facility in Williamsburg.

Remember the dates, September 21-24 2017 at the Doubletree Williamsburg, 50 Kingsmill Road, Williamsburg, VA 23815.e rate for the conference is $109.00 a night so call (757) 220-2500 and book your rooms. It’s gonna be an enlightening andfun time!



Doc D’ErricoMRF State RepresentativesProgram Director

e Pointer Sisters sang, “I’m so excited”, but if you really listen to the lyrics, you’d knowit’d be highly inappropriate for me to think that way, but I can’t stop this feeling, thisfeeling inside of me…

OK, that’s enough… You get the idea, and it’s getting corny. Or creepy…

What’s got me excited? You.

Although not every State has re-appointed their State Representatives, at least 28 have, and of those we’re seeing not only ex-cited re-engagement, but newly appointed Representatives. e new blood, whether State Representative or Assistant StateRepresentative, brings great expectations of progress this coming year.

In the past couple of years, we challenged our Reps to bring a new focus on membership retention, while expanding the infor-mation sharing of the MRF’s mission. In large part, we’ve been quite successful – our membership retention numbers were upin 2016, but sadly at the expense of new membership growth. Also, it’s not clear whether our messages were being morebroadly shared.

At Meeting of the Minds 2015, we introduced a new piece of collateral, the “Did you Know?” trifold. It expands on some ofthe history and successes of the MRF, in a summary form that makes it easy to explain to current and prospective members.And thanks to improvements in our Communications and PR departments, we also now have simplified talking pointsaround the higher-priority issues of our expansive shared Legislative Agenda.

As we begin 2017, I was concerned that some complacency had set in among the State Representatives relative to the willing-ness, certainly not the ability, to continue the drive – this newly invigorated ranks tell me that the importance of the missionis as strong as it ever was and the willingness is newly invigorated.

Our shared mission is clear – protect our States first. Be vigilant, and watch the “front door”. Share and communicate the suc-cesses and challenges within your localities so that others might benefit, learn, or even help you. Our federation isn’t as strongunless that combined power comes together second. We need to assure that we bring the messages from the MRF’s DC officeto our membership and to our prospective membership – first and foremost via our Sustaining States’ Motorcycle Rights Or-ganizations. e “back door” in DC is vigilantly watched from our DC office, but it relies on our help within the States todrive not only awareness to the grassroots populace, but that we leverage that strength by communicating to our Legislators inDC through them. Our membership needs to know what’s going on in DC, and we need them to in turn let their Represen-tatives and Senators know that we need, no, we DEMAND, their action.

And thirdly, we need to protect the cracks, the mouse-holes, and the other fronts. e fronts that we may not always see.ese are closed by expanding our reach, not by merely looking over our shoulders. We need to continue to protect the cracksby communicating with our members and assuring they not only have our positioning and messaging, but that they renewtheir support annually in it.

e hidden fronts by expanding our membership – sharing the messaging in places we haven’t been, and growing the generalawareness of the larger mission.

If you’ve not been reappointed for 2017, please contact me at [email protected], or have your senior executive of each Sustain-ing Motorcycle Rights Organization in your State do so ASAP. Please make every effort to attend the MRF Bikers Inside theBeltway and/or the Meeting of the Minds. But most importantly, please read, learn, and understand the talking points aroundour issues, and SHARE THEM!

Remember that supporting the MRF means protecting your “back door”. Preventing issues in your State from becomingmoot, or perhaps creating new opportunities. Without you, our State Representatives and Assistant State Representatives, andwithout your driving our membership, we cannot be successful.

State Reps Report


Paulette KorteMRF Corporate Secretary

Some dates to mark on your calendar for the upcoming riding season:

Bikers Inside e Beltway May 21-25, 2017 in Washington, DC. Committee meetings will begin at noon on Sunday, at the Arlington office, just blocks from thehost hotel. Board meeting which will begin Monday 9am at the Arlington office. Bikers Insidethe Beltway prep session will begin at 7pm on Monday, for those who are visiting their delega-tion. Check out the flyer on page 9 for more details.

Meeting of the Minds September 21-24, 2017 in Williamsburg, Virginia.e MRF board of director’s committee meetings and board meeting are open to members. If

you would like to attend, the committees will begin at noon on Wednesday the 20th. e Board meeting will start at 8am onursday morning which will wrap up before the Meet and Greet ursday night.

As always looking forward to seeing everyone at either of these events. ank you for all you do as motorcycle enthusiasts.All of us have different personalities that make a great blend in all what we do in concerning motorcycling and motorcyclingissues.

A great friend of mine says, “Different paths but all need to get on the same highway.”

As far as the secretary duties to the organization, all by-laws and policy & procedures are up to date. Notices will be sent outif any changes are made.


Secretary’s Report

LimeaideCindy HodgesMRF Member Representative

So, we've all heard the old adage,"When life gives you lemons, makelemonade"… right?

I've been rolling something to thateffect around in my brain housingmember group assembly of late.Mainly in conjunction with thisnew phrase "alternative facts".

Now... Stop Right ere. I'm notabout to say anything bad, or good,about the POTUS. It's that phrasethat has my attention.

We (motorcyclist's rights activists) have dealt with "alterna-tive facts" all along. For decades! Sometimes it's folklore,urban legend, assumptions, weasel words, and sometimes it'sthe truth that others don't seem to have the perspective tosee as truth.

We - and in this case I mean e Motorcycle Rider's Foun-dation, are a bipartisan organization. e assumption some-times is that we are more right-wing than not because manyof our issues center around personal liberties. Isn't that crazy?Everyone to the Left & the Right believe in their personalfreedoms - at least their interpretation of it, right? We oftenfind ourselves holding legislators' feet to the constitutionalfire, so to speak. So, some feel we are "to the right" morethan not. Could that assumption be viewed as an "alterna-tive fact?"

Certainly, our membership base spans the political spectrum.Ensuring personal liberties isn't something that stops at oneperson's desires. I don't know about everyone else, but Iwould feel a bit ridiculous working to ensure my personal,

constitutionally granted liberties whilst turning my head toignore those of others who are my fellow citizens. at's whyI think I might make some good out of this "alternativefacts" phraseology.

How many times have you tried to talk to someone about amotorcycle issue only to have them tell you can't do "that"because it infringes upon their rights? For example, the hel-met issue. So many think helmetless riders pose a financialburden on society. Clearly, the Chapel Hill study provedthat isn't so. Or take the profiling issue, many people do notbelieve this is a problem when we absolutely know different.

Sometimes things seem to make logical sense, and people be-lieve it without considering real data. is is what we'vebeen up against, always. Perspective - we don't all originatefrom the same space so we couldn't possibly have the sameperspective. But we could, and should, look past what seemsobvious and seek the truth.

It's up to us to decide whether there is truth in these studies.e truth of so many biker's personal experiences - are alter-native facts, or if what we feel to be untrue - what is beingused against us - are the alternative facts.

But we ARE armed with truths we can PROVE when mak-ing our point. And that IS a FACT.

So... I'm kind of glad that I can take this phrase that is jingo-ing all over social media, the news, etc., and take it, like theproverbial lemons, and make lemonade. In fact, I preferlimes to lemons so I'm gonna use the power of alternativefacts and call it limeade.

is year, when faced with a barrage of assumptions againstmy fill-in-the-blank issue du jour, I'm pouring limeade ALLover it and making MY truth known! I'm gonna get somemileage outta this new phrase. Let's make some limeade!

It's limeade or Kool-Aid folks. Work it.



e View Past the HandlebarsNever Say Never Again

In an angry fit, Sean Connery once proclaimed he wouldnever again play James Bond after the 1971 release of Dia-monds are Forever. He even once quipped, “I have alwayshated than damn James Bond. I’d like to kill him!” Be carefulwhat you say, Sean, for the universe has a perverse sense ofhumor.

Turns out that Sean was slated to play Bond one more timeafter all, this time in the Bond flick Never Say Never Again.It’s a long and convoluted story as to how and why thismovie came into being, but the important thing to remem-ber here is to never make absolute proclamations to the uni-verse at large. It will take your words, laugh at you, and thenhave its way with you. Trust me, I know.

Remember a while back when I wrote about selling my rarelyridden hot-rodded Harley Sportster? Like Sean before me, itseems I spoke much too soon. Either that, or my Sportster isgoing to be my proverbial Albatross and forever hang aroundmy neck.

So here I had what I thought was a guaranteed buyer. isperson made me promise not to sell the bike to anyone else.She swore she wanted to buy the bike—we even negotiated aprice, all sight unseen. And after a few failed attempts tocome over and close the deal, she showed up to finally see mybike and take possession. My Sportster, however, had otherideas.

I’m an ethical kinda guy, and the last thing I wanted was topass any problems onto someone else, so to make sure thebike was ready to go I took her to a local shop to be goneover from forks to tail lights. ey gave her a tune-up, pro-nounced her sound and sent me on my way. And I think tomyself I’ll never again need to get her fixed.

So the day of the sale comes around, I have the bike out onthe driveway all polished up and ready to go. e new ownershows up, and in no way was she dressed to take the bike fora ride. Still, I start up the bike—heck, maybe she has ridingclothes she plans on changing into. And a minute into idlingmy Sportster gives up the ghost. Stone cold dead as if she ranout of gas. Which she didn’t. And no amount of effort couldget her restarted.

After a fit of choice words (I may have thrown the spare seatacross the driveway) I pushed the bike back into the garage,my sure-thing buyer left, and I was left with a dead bike andno one to buy it.

Turns out the local shop who supposedly “tuned up” the bikedid no such thing. In fact, I’m not sure if they did anythingat all while they had it. ey claimed they would pick it up,take a look and make it right. Apparently “make it right”meant screwing up the jets so badly that now I need to com-pletely rebuild the carb. And I still own the damned thing. Itis my white albatross, my curse, my tormenting demon.

I never did get the bike running again this past fall. I ran outof time and put her into storage in my backyard shed. I’ll rollher out in a few weeks, pull the carb and rebuild it myself. (Ifsomeone’s gonna screw up the bike it might as well be me.)After that she’s fair game. I will try once again to be rid ofmy albatross, and hopefully this time the universe will be alittle kinder. So if you’re interested in a really fast Sportster,send me a note; I’ll make you one hell of a deal.

And I’ll never say never again.

e MRF PAC, via requests from our members, helped support motorcyclist friendly candidatesat a rate of over 75%. With the help of active members in the following states winners wereelected to Congress from Arizona, Louisiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.We had a few races coming up short in Illinois and a Senate race in Arizona. All friendly incum-bents won except one. One challenger lost, but we helped pick up three open seats with favor-able candidates. If you are glad that the elections are over, just think, it all starts over again inDecember this year.

For now let’s focus on the issues.

MRFPAC News

Opt out of the receiving the MRF Reports? Please contact the MRF Office if you would like to nolonger receive a hard copy of the Reports. 202-546-0983 or [email protected]


As I am starting my column for March, the month of Febru-ary is just beginning which of course is the shortest monthon the calendar. e weather has been pretty nice lately andsome of the snow has melted in the last few days. I reallyhad a great time at Legislative Days in Pierre last week. I ar-rived in Pierre on ursday afternoon and went to Peterson’sMotors to buy my grandkids some much needed gifts. enI drove Darlene and Barbie to the restaurant where the foodwas very tasty and the conversation was very interesting. Weheaded over to the American Legion where we had anIMPAC meeting. Dianna Miller spoke to us about what wasgoing on at the Capitol. I am really impressed that sheknows how to explain to us what is going on in the differentsessions and how it applies to us as motorcyclists. I knowthat she likes to give me a rough time especially when I askher a difficult question. She is a very hard lady to confuseand she does know what she is talking about! After thatabout 40 legislators came to meet and greet with us. BobGlanzer and Jim White from my district 22 spoke with me.Since Bob is my boyhood friend, he said that the first coupleof weeks have been a real learning experience for him. I dohope to get to some of the legislative coffees they will behaving on Saturday’s in Huron during the legislative session.

On Friday, I didn’t go tothe State Capitol as mywalking has a lot to be de-sired. I have done somerehab in order to get mylegs to work better and ithas helped. e Sioux FallsChapter served us somelunch at the American Le-gion. Todd Riba, who isfrom Minnesota and a Mo-torcycle Riders Foundationboard member, spoke aboutmotorcyclists being profiled

by law enforcement and other things that the MRF organi-zation is doing for us. Todd’s wife Dawn presented me withan award as a token of their appreciation for my years ofmeaningful contributions to the MRF reports. All the MRFboard members signed a card that was presented to me. eaward was a clear piece of hard plastic glass with my namesomehow imbedded in it. I have never seen anything likethat before. To tell you the truth, I was one surprised indi-vidual to receive that award.


RIDING WITH PHILat evening, our dinner was served by the Oahe Chapter.Our State Coordinator, Jiggs Cressy, presented individualawards. I had the privilege of presenting the “Member ofthe Year Award” from the Windriders Chapter to our VPSteven “Mudd” Lovett. Jiggs also had some graphs madeshowing us how South Dakota ABATE is improving overthe years. One of the more interesting graphs was showingthe member retention the various chapters have. As themembership secretary from our chapter, I feel that beingable to keep members is as important as getting new mem-bers. Later, Wayne Lettau ran the Chinese Auction which isalways a fun thing to watch and bid on items one dollar at atime. Wayne always does a fantastic job and is humorous atthe same time. Even though I didn’t have my belovedNorma with me this year I still enjoyed being with all myfriends and I even learned a few new things.

A couple days ago, I had an experience I feel I want to sharewith you. I had checked the post office box that my brotherfrom California has in a nearby town. I had put the impor-tant letters on the dash of my pickup and then picked up mygranddaughter Ellie from school. After running some er-rands, I noticed the letters were gone from the dashboard. Ifrantically looked in my pickup for them but to no avail. Iasked her about the letters and she said that she saw methrow them away when we stopped for gas. I just couldn’tbelieve I actually could have done that. So, I went throughthe trash box by the gas pumps and couldn’t find them. Iwent inside and asked the gal working there if the trash hadbeen put somewhere else. She said it might be in the bigtrash bins behind the store. So, I went out there looking forthem and couldn’t find anything. I went back into mypickup to warm up and the lady from the store came out tohelp me try to find the letters. I got my flashlight out and injust a few minutes we found the letters. I was so excited thatI gave the lady a big hug and some kisses on her cheek. atwas maybe a little more that she expected but I was onehappy camper. Before that, I just didn’t know how I wouldexplain to my brother how I threw his important lettersaway. I did give the good Lord a big thank you for helpingme out of a bad situation. Have a great and safe winter!

Until next Month,Phil Hohm

Advertising in the MRF Reportse MRF Reports reaches approximately 5,000 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 Dawn Riba for more [email protected]



Glenyce JakcsonMRF Elections Chair

What? It’s not time forelections again is it? Yes,time flies but there is novoting in the near futurein the Motorcycle RidersFoundation (MRF).Phew! at was a closecall…. It is time to thinkabout elections nowwhen there’s still cold

and winter to get through. While you are busy polishingyour chrome, replacing the wind shield or pipes, or addingthat shiny new bling, spend some of your energy thinkingabout working on one of the committees or stepping up foran office or volunteering to be a Rep or Assistant Rep for theMRF in your state. I believe it is true that more helpinghands make any task go better. Do some self examination tosee where you can add your skills to help the organizationrun smoother. A fresh mind can bring new ideas to makethe group more successful. Make 2017 your year to shine!

Since this is an odd-number year the Secretary and VicePresident will be elected by the MRF Board of Directors(BOD). e Administrative Board Members will have threepositions up for election. ey are: Director of Conferences

and Events, Director of Communications, and Director ofMotorcycle Safety. is election is conducted by the Elec-tion Committee at the beginning of the BOD meeting atMeeting of the Minds.

ere will also be elections for one Member Representative,one Rep’s Rep, one SSMRO--Sustaining State MotorcycleRights Organization-- Rep, and the Sustaining MemberClub Rep this year. Details for these At Large board mem-ber elections will follow in the next issue of e MRF Re-ports. Now is the time to think about how YOU cancontribute to the MRF.

During the January Board of Directors Meeting, the boardmembers elected in 2016 were seated. ey were SSMRORep, Lenny Holcomb(SC); Rep’s Rep, Glenyce Jackson(WA)and Dave Monroe (AK) to fill Doc’s position; and MembersRep, Cindy Hodges (NC). e MRF Board was also glad toadd Fred Harrelson as an ex-officio member. Ex-officiomembers are retired board members who may work on com-mittees and perform other duties as requested by the Presi-dent.

ank you for stepping up to an active position on theBoard. And ank You to thosere-elected for your continued work on the MRF Board ofDirectors.

MRF Election News


New Congress, Same MissionLenny HolcombSSMRO Representative

I don't know what's beencrazier that last few months,the weather or the election?Earlier in January were gotsix inches of snow here in"e Upstate" of SC. atwas followed by two weeksin the upper 60's & 70's.Hell, it's going to be in the

70's today! I think I'll jump on the scoot and go for a rideafter I finish writing this.

As for the election, that was the craziest thing I've seen in allmy years of voting. I'm sure almost all of you would agreethat regardless of whether your candidate won or not, you'rejust glad it's over. I know I couldn't take any more of thesmears and bickering from both sides. And especially thosedamned commercials! I wanted to throw a brick though theTV.

As for what we do, nothing really changes. Sure, there's anew face in the White House, a few new faces on CapitolHill and lots of new faces in all the departments that we

must deal with. But, for us, our mission is the same. TOTALVIGILANCE!

For those of us with new Congressional members, we needto go meet with them and their staffers. We need to let themknow what our concerns are as motorcyclists. We need to getthem on board with the bills we're behind. It's a lot of workbut, it's what we do. We also have Megan working on thehill and behind the scenes making our jobs that much easier.ank you, Megan.

Already this session we've had the RPM Act reintroduced.at's beginning to pick up some steam. As of this writingthere is a letter being sent to NHTSA by the House and onebeing worked on in the Senate to correct the snub we re-ceived regarding the number of seats we are to occupy on theMAC. We are working on bringing another anti-profilingbill. And so much more.

As always, there is a lot of work to be done and we needeverybody's help to get it done. So, write thoseletters/emails, make those phone call and be known to yourCongressional members. is is the greatest democracy inthe world.

It is your right to have your voice heard. So, make it heard!


Treasurer’s ReportFrank CarboneMRF Trasurer

Well 2016 is in the books(pun intended) and as Ihad predicted, we finishedthe year on a positive note.at dear member, is twoin a row. So much for theESPN folks that say it ishard to repeat and they areright - it is hard to repeat.

I guess it would be easy tojump up and down and celebrate our net income. Do not getme wrong, this is a wonderful thing. But even winning teamshave bad plays that they wish did not happen. e goodthing is we won the game. Our good plays were higher thananticipated SMRO donations, doubling conference sponsor-ship monies, higher freedom fighter donations and expensesthat were lower than previous year in almost every category.(most notable was payroll as we had no lobbyist for fourmonths)

So, the bad plays? Individual donations down, recruitingcosts to find a new lobbyist, office rent due to maintainingtwo locations (this ends in April), and last, but certainly notleast was membership that was off last year by 4.4%. We didspend some monies to purchase some programs that will alertus to motorcycle related legislation on both the federal andstate levels (40% of which was funded by extra donations atMOTM).

And that pretty much sums up our financial year. But thatgame is over and we now need to concentrate on the nextgame, 2017. e game plan, or more properly named, is theBudget. e budget calls for a slight increase in membershipand continued watchful eyes on expenses. As a referencepoint, membership represents about 44% of our income.Last year, we were way down in recruiting new members andto make next year's numbers. We desperately need newblood. Ain't going to say any more about that! I did gift ajoint membership to some friends from my HOG group.Hopefully, they will see the merits of the MRF and we canrecruit more members.

On a closing note, we are in a healthy cash position to start

At the MOTM in Oklahoma City, we introduced ourSMARTrainer. We have decided at that time that we wouldtry to make it a part of Biker’s Inside the Beltway. anks toRep. Dave Loebsack (D) Iowa, it will be in room 201 in theCannon building May 23rd from 10am-5pm. e trainer isan interactive traffic simulator with conventional motorcyclecontrols with 15 different scenarios and various hazardsfound in normal situations. We plan to display a Share theRoad program, also.

Please look us up between your meetings, and help us spreadthe word to your representatives that it will be available foranyone interested in some of the tools we use to promotemotorcycle safety.

MRF Awareness & Education

SMARTrainer coming toCapitol Hill



SMRO’s in Action

MRF VP of Governemnt Relations, Megan Ekstrom, at theABATE of PA - L & L

Panel of Speakers at the ABATE of PA - L & L

Have you been receiving the “Riding Free from DC” in your email?

If not, please email the office at [email protected] to make sure we havethe correct e-mail address on file for you.


PRESIDENTKirk “Hardtail” [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTJay [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS &PUBLIC RELATIONSMegan Ekstrom202-802- [email protected]

SECRETARYPaulette [email protected]

TREASURERFrank [email protected]

Dawn RibaCommunications [email protected]

Jim CannonConference [email protected]

Lenny HolcombSSMRO Board Member443-398-1193 [email protected]

J. Ryan Hubbard SSMRO Board [email protected] (309) 267-0606

Cindy HodgesMember [email protected]

Todd RibaMember [email protected]

Jay JacksonMotorcycle Safety/Rider [email protected]

Jim “Legs” KorteMRFPAC [email protected]

Doc D’ErricoState Reps Program Director508-954-8881 [email protected]

Glenyce JacksonState Reps Board Member253-884-1909 [email protected]

Dave MonroeState Reps Board Member907-360-5170 [email protected]

Russell RadkeSustaining Member MotorcycleClub [email protected]

Tiffany Cipoletti DC Office [email protected]

MRF A&E Board of Directors

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

Carol Downs, [email protected]

Mary Berger, [email protected]

MAIL TO BOARDMEMBERSmay be sent to the MRF of-fice and will be forwarded.If you must mail time-sensi-tive material to a boardmember, contact that personby phone or email first tomake arrangements.

Motorcycle Riders Foundation Board of Directors

Board AssistantsTiffany Cipoletti Assistant to the PresidentAssistant to Communications Assistant to Reps [email protected]

Helen WessonAssistant, [email protected]

Polly SchoellerMembership [email protected]

Bob LetourneauAssist. Motorcycle [email protected]

Keith BallAssist to Board [email protected]

Paulette KorteMRFPAC TreasurerAssistant Motorcycle [email protected]

Carol DownsAssistant to ConferenceAssistant to the [email protected]

Mike BergerAssistant to [email protected]

Lenny HolcombAssistant to MRFPAC [email protected]

Dave CondonAsst. to Reps [email protected]

Todd RibaAsst. to Reps [email protected]

For your convenience, we canaccept memberships, dona-tions, conference registrationsand product orders by phoneor via our website, usingVISA, MasterCard, Discoveror American Express.

Ex-Officio Board

Mark Buckner, [email protected]

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

Fred Harrell, Nevada928-308-1117 [email protected]

MRF Reports Interim EditorTiffany [email protected] all submissions forpublication to: [email protected]

DEADLINE The 1st of every even-numberedmonthNext Deadline: April 1, 2017

ADDRESS CHANGEPlease send in writing to:2221 S. Clark StreetArlington VA 22202

orPhone: [email protected]

Website: http://www.mrf.org

Mission StatementTo continue developing an aggressive, independent na-tional advocacy for the ad-vancement of motorcycling

and itsassociated lifestyle, which is fi-

nancially stable and exceeds theneeds of motorcycling

enthusiasts.



COMMITTEE LIST AS OF September, 2016

AFTERMARKET: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Keith Ball, Jim Cannon, FrankCarbone, Jay Jackson

AUDIT COMMITTEE: Lenny Holcomb (Chair), Frank Carbone, Tiffany Cipoletti,Carol Downs, Glenyce Jackson, Paulette Korte, Dawn Riba

BY-LAWS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Carol Downs, Paulette Korte, Jay Jackson

COMMUNICATIONS: Dawn Riba (Chair), Mike Berger, Deborah Butitta, Jim Can-non, Tiffany Cipoletti, Darla Hampton, Eric Hampton, Michelle Holcomb, Doc D’Er-rico, Beth Gorman, Lenny Holcomb, Cindy Hodges, Paulette Korte

CONFERENCE AND EVENTS: Jim Cannon (Chair), Garry Canaday, Tiffany Cipo-letti, Frank Carbone, Dave Condon, Carol Downs, Megan Ekstrom, Cindy Hodges,Lenny Holcomb, Michelle Holcomb, Paulette Korte, Dawn Riba, Todd Riba

CORPORATE RESUME: Doc D’Errico (Chair), Dave Condon, Paulette Korte, DawnRiba

ELECTIONS: Glenyce Jackson (Chair), Ryan Hubbard, Doc D’Errico, Cindy Hodges,Lenny Holcomb, Dave Monroe, Russell Radke, Todd Riba

FINANCE: Doc D’Errico (Chair), Deborah Butitta, Frank Carbone, Dave Cazel, CarolDowns, Paulette Korte, Dawn Riba, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard

FUNDS STEERING: Cindy Hodges (Chair), Darla Hampton, Michelle Holcomb,Glenyce Jackson, Andy Kelly, Jim “Legs” Korte, Russell Radke, Dawn Riba

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE-Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Dave Cazel, DaveDwyer, Megan Ekstrom, Lenny Holcomb, Ryan Hubbard, Jay Jackson, Andy Kelly, Jim“Legs” Korte, Boyd McFail, Bob Myers, Todd Riba

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: Ryan Hubbard (Chair), Tiffany Cipoletti, Dave Con-don, Beth Gorman, Michelle Holcomb, Glenyce Jackson, Denny Lange, Russell Radke,Dawn Riba, Todd Riba, Polly Schoeller

MRFPAC: Jim “Legs” Korte (Chair), Megan Ekstrom, Lenny Holcomb, Ryan Hubbard,Andy Kelly, Paulette Korte, Dave Monroe, Bob Myers, Todd Riba

MRF REPS & GROWTH GROUP: Doc D’Errico (Chair), Garry Canaday, TiffanyCipoletti, Michelle Holcomb, Glenyce Jackson, Andy Kelly, Jim “Legs” Korte, DaveMonroe, Polly Schoeller, Russell Radke, Todd Riba

NHTSA QUARTERLY HOST COMMITTEE: Jay Jackson (Chair), Jim Cannon, DocD’Errico, Carol Downs, Megan Ekstrom, Paulette Korte, Todd Riba, Kirk “Hardtail”Willard

PRODUCTS: Frank Carbone (Chair), Jim Cannon, Carol Downs, Beth Gorman,Helen Wesson

RESEARCH & STATISTICS: Jay Jackson (Chair), Matt Danielson, Doc D’Errico,Paulette Korte, Bob LeTourneau

STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE AWARDS:

STATE& FEDERAL: Lenny Holcomb (Chair), Megan Ekstrom, Ryan Hubbard, ToddRiba

AWARDS:

Aftermarket: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Dave Dwyer

Appreciation Awards: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard, Paulette Korte

FARMERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Mark Buckner, Deborah Butitta

FOUNDERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Mark Buckner, Marc Falsetti, Jay Jack-son, Gary Sellers

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Deborah Butitta,Paulette Korte

MRFPAC: Jim “Legs” Korte (Chair), Dave Dwyer, Megan Ekstrom, Todd Riba

MEMBERSHIP: Ryan Hubbard (Chair), Tiffany Cipoletti

RON SHEPARD SAFETY RECOGNITION: Jay Jackson (Chair), Jim Cannon, CarolDowns, Doc D’Errico, Paulette Korte, Bob LeTourneau

THOMAS PAINE: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Eric Hampton, Cindy Hodges,Dawn Riba

MRF CHAMPS: Ryan Hubbard (Chair), Megan Ekstrom, Todd Riba, Kirk “Hardtail”Willard

REPS BY DESIGN: Doc D’Errico (Chair), Glenyce Jackson



grassrootsadj., Also, grass-roots

of, relating to, or involving the common people, especiallyas contrasted with or separable from an elite:

a grassroots movement for motorcyclist rights.a grassroots movement for motorcyclist rights.

A term the Motorcycle Riders Foundation doesn’t take lightly,A term the Motorcycle Riders Foundation doesn’t take lightly,and the only way to define the MRF!and the only way to define the MRF!

Motorcycle Riders Foundation2221 S. Clark StreetArlington, VA 22202

Attention Postmaster: Time Dated Material NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDSPICER, MN.Permit No. 3

The MRF Reports - Motorcycle Riders...

Documents

Transcript of The MRF Reports - Motorcycle Riders...