Vo l . 1 7 , N o . 1 2
T h e M R F d o e s n o t e n d o r s e a n y p r o d u c ts o r s e r v i c e s o t h e r t h a n i ts o w n p r o d u c t l i n e . T h i s d o e s n o t a p p l y t o p o l i t i c a l e n d o r s e m e n ts .
November/December 2008
THE MRF’s VALUE
PROPOSITION
Kirk “Hardtail” Willard
MRF President
Many of you know I work for a large agricultural cooperative that is owned by growers and farmers and the concept of delivering on a Value Proposition gets discussed
and reviewed frequently. For the growers
and farmers, it means that we as cooperative
employees are proposing and have clear set
expectations to deliver a value for them
when they belong to the cooperative, beyond
what they can achieve as individuals or even
as growing regions. This concept is essentially the same for those of you who belong
to and support the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation (MRF). The MRF as a functioning entity, and being made up of a collection
of Sustaining State Motorcycle Rights
Organizations (SMRO’s), related organizations, and Individual members alike - expect
results against a clear Legislative and
Political agenda be delivered on in
Washington D.C and in the International
arena beyond what we as Individual
SMRO’s, related organizations, or individuals could attain acting independently. The
MRF’s value proposition; that we can be the
independent national advocate for motorcycling and its associated lifestyle.
At the recent Meeting of the Minds in
Denver this September, I reviewed the
MRF’s past year’s performance to illustrate
the value proposition one can realize and be
a participant in when joining and supporting
the MRF.
For a couple years now we have seen many
of the Federal Agencies in Washington D.C.
that consider motorcyclists, begin to align
on their messages to “fix” motorcycling and
this of course concerned us as to the necessary resources it would take to cover them
all and get them to move off of the “safer
crashing” theme and onto the much more
successful theme of “crash avoidance” that
we so strongly support. The MRF spent
considerable time developing strategic plans
to make certain we had the resources available and the necessary relationships with all
these agencies in an attempt to get them to
understand and consider our positions, suggested initiatives, and ultimately to work
with the motorcycling community.
First out of the box last fall, was the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). After
the NTSB held a meeting with various
motorcycling stakeholders the prior summer
and upon the review of a few motorcycle
accidents, they basically ignored the motorcyclists they met with and the very basic
principles of research they stand on and simply defaulted to recommending mandatory
helmet use as the silver bullet answer without recognizing any of the positive developments in the areas of motorcycle safety, education, awareness nor any motorist awareness programs or any motorist responsibilities. Based on this NTSB recommendation
the MRF organized a first of its kind Press
Conference inside a Federal House building
in D.C. that was well attended by our SMRO
partners and by Congressman to bring adequate attention to our Crash Avoidance versus Safer Crashing efforts. This is also what
inspired the MRF Fact or Fiction piece that
has been used so effectively to this end. As
of late I have seen no further foray by the
NTSB into the world of motorcycle safety.
Clearly they missed the mark and a golden
opportunity to promote crash avoidance and
without a doubt, our Press Conference pointed that out as well as the fact that when you
suggest something as a “fix” for motorcyclists, you need to do it with the vigor and
integrity it demands.
Next came the saga of the Secretary of the
Federal Department of Transportation, Mary
Peters. It went a full gamut of her recommending helmet mandates and using federal
2010 Motorcycle Safety Grant monies to do
so, then softened following our outrage to
using 2010 monies to support voluntary helmet use, and when we wouldn’t let up it
finally led to an apology to the MRF, AMA,
and MIC and an offer to write to our
Governors stating that while they should
promote voluntary helmet use, they shouldn’t use 2010 Motorcycle Safety Grant
monies to do it with. The MRF was there
every step of the way with the resounding
support of our SMRO partners. This one is
very personal to us, since motorcyclists
through these 2010 funds have a mere $1.00
spent on their safety and the FedDOT felt
they should take some of that away to promote helmet use and once again ignore all
the positive work being done in the field of
motorcycle safety, awareness, and education.
Then on the list is our following of these
2010 Motorcycle Safety Grant monies designated in the most recent Transportation
Bill, TEA-LU. This remains an important
item for the MRF as we continue to follow
the distribution and use of these monies
within state motorcycle safety programs. In
most states this program, initiated and lobbied hard by the MRF with strong support
by our SMRO partners, has been a resounding success. Also within the TEA-LU bill
was the creation of the Motorcycle Advisory
Council within the Federal Highway
Administration (FHwA) which also originated out of the work the MRF and our
SMRO partners collaborated on, and it too
has been a success as it gives motorcyclists
another avenue to work with those that oversee our federal roadways to consider motorcyclists’ needs first hand. When it came
time to review these TEA-LU programs this
July in Congress, the MRF was the only
motorcycle organization called in to testify ,
and long time MRF member and New
Hampshire Senator Bob LeTourneau was
contacted to testify on our behalf. It is
important to note that Senator “Radio” Bob
Chairs the New Hampshire Transportation
Committee and is so well respected in that
body that he is the only Republican
Committee Chair in a Democratically controlled Senate. Once again the MRF was
there with a qualified resource and soundly
delivered. As you all know by now the
Motorcycle Advisory Council’s Charter was
extended without issue.
The MRF continues to have the goal to be
everywhere motorcycles are being mentioned in D.C. and with the help of our
SMRO’s we are confident we are delivering
on this initiative as well. The MRF has representatives in all quarterly meetings with
the National Highway Transportation Safety
Association (NHTSA), are members of the
aforementioned
FHwA
Motorcycle
Advisory Council, has representation in the
Transportation Research Board (TRB) meetings, FedDOT meetings, and a working relationship with the Environmental Protection
Agency.
We continue to work on HIPAA as we have
for many years running. We continue to
support and work diligently on HR 1076 that
makes it illegal to deny benefits for any
injury that occurs during legal transportation
or recreation such as riding a motorcycle.
We did see a small victory in the HIPAA
arena when HR 6908 known as the Health
Insurance Source of Injury Clarification Act
passed in September. It basically says if an
insurer is going to deny benefits to a motorcyclist that they must clearly inform you
prior to issuing a policy that they intend
denial based solely on mode of transportation. While this certainly isn’t what we ultimately want, it certainly documents a problem exists if congress felt it necessary to
pass a bill that says an insurer must at least
inform us when they intend to not pay benefits. This will become a strong platform
from which we will continue to push for the
full repair, which of course is no denial at
all.
We continue to be active in the Right to
continued page 9
Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510 - Washington, DC 20002-4980
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Phoenix, AZ
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Page 2
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
Bikers Inside the Beltway
have given states and organizations much
needed capital to do everything from purchasing new motorcycles for rider safety
training to producing “watch out for
motorcycles” signs and banners.
Michael Kerr
MRF Vice President
At this year’s Meeting of the Minds in
Denver, a new effort by the Motorcycle
Riders Foundation was announced. It is
called “Bikers Inside the Beltway” with
the sub-title of “Motorcycle Lobby Day.”
The event will give motorcyclists an
opportunity to park their motorcycles
within a normally restricted area in the
United States Capitol complex. They can
then visit with their own member of
Congress in one of the nearby house
office buildings.
We will be securing a date for the event
sometime after the next Congress (111th)
convenes. Our Vice President of
Government Relations, Jeff Hennie,
already has been working with influential
congressional staff members on this project. They have assured us that motorcycle
parking can be obtained within the complex. We will be securing an area just outside of one of the house office buildings.
Participants in the event can then invite
their member of congress to have their
picture taken together by their motorcycles.
There are no requirements to attend –
everyone is welcome. For those not familiar with the maze of hallways and tunnels
that make up the house office buildings ,
we can help. Volunteers will be available
to help newcomers work their way though
the buildings. Jeff will also be at the capitol to give political guidance, should the
need arise. The MRF will provide a lobbying packet with bullet point informa-
At some point during the day a member or
members of the House of Representatives
will speak briefly on the re-authorization
of the bill that funds the interstate system.
We will be inviting the current Majority
Leader of the House, Steny Hoyer of
Maryland, in addition to other prominent
congressmen to address the motorcyclists
in attendance. The press will be invited,
but this will be a lobbying, not a press
event. The MRF will be issuing a press
release concerning “2010 funds” during
that time frame.
tion and a general overview of our issues
to the attendees for their reference and to
pass along to their congressman.
Because Congress is rarely in session on
the weekend, the event will be held during
the week. We are targeting a mid-May
date. While we would love to be able to
announce the date at this time, we must
wait until the schedule for the new congress is released. When that occurs, we
will begin to negotiate the actual date and
location.
The focus of this event will be to encourage the Congress to continue and expand
the “2010” program, which provides federal funding for motorcycle awareness
and safety programs. Those “2010” funds
In the late afternoon we hope to have an
informal unity reception. All motorcyclists and motorcyclists organizations will
be invited to attend. We are looking for a
place near the MRF office where we can
get a pizza and share the highlights of the
day with each other.
Bikers Inside the Beltway will be the ceremonial kick-off of our lobbying efforts
to see that language contrary to the best
interests of motorcyclists is not included
in the bill commonly referred to as TEA
(Transportation Equity Act). Of course,
we will have been monitoring that bill
from the day that it is introduced.
MRF Office Manager and Assistant to the
Director of Communications, Tiffany
Latimer, will be handling much of the
event’s advance press/communication
work inside Washington. She should be
able to point people in right direction in
regard to questions that they may have.
We hope to have a list of reasonably
priced accommodations and even campgrounds in the Greater Washington area
after the first of the year. It bears repeating that this is a motorcycle event and riding will be encouraged. An MRF stalwart
has a repair shop in the area and help can
be obtained at reasonable price.
To our knowledge, this will be the first
time a motorcyclists’ rights organization
will have its members and supporters
actually ride into the capitol complex in
Washington to meet with their own members of Congress.
Bikers Inside the Beltway is part of a well
thought-out strategy to raise the profile of
motorcyclists and the MRF inside
Washington, DC. Even in the internet age
of almost instantaneous long distance
communication, personal contact is still
highly effective. Our press conference
that was held to call into question the
NTSB’s helmet law recommendations to
the states had a measurable effect on that
issue in the opinion of many.
Bikers Inside the Beltway has the potential to get the attention of congressmen
and staff that we have had difficulty in
reaching, in addition to our many friends
that serve in congress. Let’s start a buzz
back home and start thinking about making the trip to Washington in 2009.
Together, we can make history.
THIS IS YOUR BALLOT—Cut It Out, Vote, Mail It Today
Member Representative Board Member
Vote For One Candidate
Please see Statement of Candidacy in the last MRF Reports
Voter #1
Voter #2 (Joint memberships only)
Cindy Hodges (N. Carolina)
Please return your ballot to:
ELECTIONS
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave NE #510
Washington, D.C. 20002
Ballots must be postmarked no later than December 15, 2008.
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
NHTSA Proposes New Helmet
Standards
The Membership Guy Says:Jeff Hennie
MRF VP of Government Relations
NHTSA also called for some changes to the
testing of helmets. None of the changes provide for a more real world condition, just
adjusting some of the allowable ranges for
helmet puncture and retention.
What is troubling about the proposal is the
underlying theme of "safer crashing". We at
the MRF believe that it is best to focus on
crash prevention instead of injury mitigation. Helmets do not prevent crashes, educated riders and motorists do.
In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)
on September 29th, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) set
forth its proposal to modify the current safety standard for helmets, Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard 218 (FMVSS 218).
The proposal focuses mostly on the least
important part of any helmet, the DOT label.
The NPRM outlines what NHTSA would
like to see on the back of your helmet. A new
label to replace the current football shaped
sticker with the letters DOT printed in a contrasting color to the background. NHTSA
claims that due to entities printing and selling "Doing Our Thing" that closely resembles the DOT sticker the federal standard has
been undermined and needs an upgrade to a
bigger better sticker.
The changes the proposal outlines will
require including the word "certified", the
manufacturer's name, and the model of the
helmet. The proposal also calls for the sticker to be larger and placed higher up from the
bottom of the helmet. The new sticker has
one other change, it's not a sticker. The
NPRM calls for the new label to be a "water
decal" to be applied under the helmet's final
clear coat.
A few problems arise with this portion of the
proposal. What about helmets that don't
have a clear coat such as leather clad or the
popular matte finish? What about the cost to
manufacturing, which will certainly be higher than the government estimates? Lastly,
how does this affect the 30 helmet choice
law states? The answer to that one is, it doesn't – other than the fact that when you
choose to wear a helmet it would have to be
DOT certified.
U.S. Senate:
You may phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard
at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will
connect you directly with the Senate office you
request.
It's true that motorcycle fatalities are near
historic levels, but so are new unit sales and
registrations. With the soaring price of fuel,
expect that to continue for the foreseeable
future.
So what does NHTSA expect this proposal
to do in the real world? Let us refer to some
of NHTSA's own numbers from the proposal. First this only really affects the 20
mandatory universal helmet law states and
the District of Columbia where, according to
NHTSA's numbers, 15 percent of the riders
in those jurisdictions use "novelty" helmets
that don't meet the current FMVSS 218.
Reading further NHTSA says that this proposal, if enacted, would realistically reach 5
percent of the 15 percent of riders who now
use "novelty" helmets in universal helmet
law states. Using NHTSA's method of
guessing at helmet effectiveness, that
amounts to about 17-32 lives a year. Now
we can certainly all agree that any life saved
is a huge success, but the original reason for
this proposal was to bring down fatalities
significantly. The low double digit decreases
don't really dip the numbers down enough to
make this necessary. Again, all life is precious but with government resources running on empty, The MRF believes this is
time and money better spent on motorcycle
safety programs that focus on avoidance of
the crash.
The MRF encourages you to provide your
own public comment to this NPRM.
You can read the entire 66 page proposal that
includes instructions on how to apply. The
comment period is open for 60 days from
October 2nd 2008. Use the link to view the
document:
http://tinyurl.com/4zcg7x
U.S. House:
You may phone the U.S. Capitol Switchboard
at (202) 225-3121. A switchboard operator will
connect you directly with the House
Representative office you request.
Information about your Federal, State and Local Senate and Representatives is also available from
a link at the top of the MRF web site’s home page (www.mrf.org). You will need your Zip+4
number when running this search.
Page 3
The Membership Guy Says
John Pierce
MRF Membership Director
Not being one to mince words, the MRF needs
your help so that we can continue the vital work of
making federal lawmakers and administrators
aware that we are an organized motorcyclist lobby
and that we have and will exert political influence
that they will feel, either positively or negatively.
It's certainly no news to any of you that we all face
hard economic times. The same downturn in the
economy that affects us individually, also affects
your MRF. Donated revenue from our Sustaining
State Motorcyclist's Rights Organizations
(SSMROs) is down dramatically. Other than to
bolster the state organization's operations in any
way we can, there's not a lot the MRF can do to
improve their individual financials. In order to
continue the level of service the MRF has provided, (including this newspaper) we must have an
increase in membership. We need to grow by 600
members by January of '09. Notice I wrote
"increase in membership", not 600 new members.
We need new members but there's another, easier,
way for us to grow. We need to keep the members
we already have. It's like trying to fill a bucket that
has a hole in the bottom. If what we pour into the
top is only equal to what's flowing out of the hole
in the bottom, the volume in the bucket will not
change. That's been our history for the last several
years. We may take in 1,000 new members, but
roughly the same number of members do not renew
each year, so we have very little growth. Those
thousand members who do not renew already have
a good idea of who we are and what we do.
To bring in new members, we must first inform
people as to who we are and we must then convince
them that the MRF's work is vital to maintain the
current level of freedom that we now enjoy.
Current members already understand that, so how
do we convince current members to renew? In the
same way we gain most of our new members through personal contact. Every month your State
MRF Representative or Representatives are sent a
list of the members in
your state. On that list are also the names and contact information for people whose memberships
have expired or are about to expire. One of the
greatest services you could perform right now
would be to contact your Rep or Assistant Rep and
ask for the names of people in your area whose
memberships are about to expire. At any time, but
particularly right now, the Rep's many jobs can be
crushingly time consuming. In many cases, the
Reps do not personally know all of the MRF members in your state. Motorcycle rights activists
being the gregarious people that we are, you probably know most, if not all, of the members in your
area. That puts you in the unique position of being
able to reach out and touch these members and former members. As I see it, that is the most important key to providing the MRF with the resources
needed to continue our vital efforts on your behalf.
Make no mistake here, gaining new members is
very important but the quickest, easiest, way for the
MRF to grow and be financially solid is through
the retention of the members who are now or who
have been members.
As a parting thought, please consider this: without
effective federal representation, all of our state's
organizations and motorcyclists are vulnerable to
the bad choices of federal legislators and administrators. Without a voice at the federal and international level, very few, if any, of the good things
that Hardtail writes about in his column in this
issue would have happened. Please help your MRF
in its mission to make this a safer better country in
which to ride motorcycles. Help us retain the
members we already have.
HOW IT WORKS:
EPA/ARB RULES 2008
Revisiting the old regulations
and examining the new ones
Reprinted with permission of American Iron Magazine
duction. Dealer showrooms are full of new
V-twin motorcycles and waiting lists are a
thing of the past. American Ironhorse has
temporarily shut down production and is
restructuring. Even the offshore motorcycle
manufacturers are reporting declining US
sales. Is this just the economy or are other
forces at work? It is our belief that our
industry is experiencing the same downturn
as many other industries in the present economic climate, but with a little more severity. This is because the cost of everything is
rising and leaving consumers with less
money for discretionary purchases, such as
motorcycles.
Dave Dwyer
SSMRO Board Member
There is little doubt that the motorcycle
industry as a whole is currently seeing a
downturn in new unit sales. Harley-Davidson
has announced lay-offs and decreased pro-
Since the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced the new motorcycle emissions requirements in late 2003, taking effect in 2004, there has been much concern by the V-twin aftermarket manufactur
continued page 5
Page 4
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
MRF Young Activist Scholarship Candidate Criteria:
1) Candidates must be between the ages of 18 and 30 with a valid motorcycle endorsement on their drivers license. 31st birthday must fall after MOTM that year.
2) Candidate must be a member in good standing of a State Motorcyclists' Rights
Organization (SMRO). Length of membership required in SMRO to be determined by its
members if candidate is qualified.
3) Candidates must be nominated by their SMRO. Nominations will be accepted from
either state or local (District/Chapter/Local) SRMO groups, and must be submitted on an
MRF-approved application form.
4) Nominations must be submitted between October 1st and July 15th and postmarked
no late than July 1st of the year for which the application is submitted.
5) Candidates are to submit a minimum three hundred (300) word essay on why biker's
rights are important to them. A well-written essay is like a picture of who the candidate is,
and it gives the committee members a better perspective of the individual.
Winning candidates will be announced via an MRF e-mail news release on or about
August 15th. All candidates will be notified with a letter of thanks and encouragement to resubmit their candidacy for the next year if they are not the selected winner.
Projects and Pleas…..
Cindy Hodges
Member Representative
How Winning Candidates Are Chosen:
MRF Young Activist Scholarship Fund Committee will be responsible for:
1) Promoting the program.
2) Reviewing all applications and choosing winner(s)
3) Chairman of MRF YAS Committee will notify all candidates of their decision.
4) In conjunction with appropriate MRF personnel, ensuring that all financial, travel,
lodging and conference issues are addressed in a timely and professional manner.
Projected Cost: Estimated not to exceed $750.00 per winning candidate. Number of winners will in part be determined by available funds.
MRF Young Activist Scholarship Fund Nomination Form
Date: ___________________________________________________________
Candidate Name: _________________________________________________
Candidate Address: _______________________________________________
I have a request.
Send me your links. Send me the blogsites,
the message boards, the websites, the vendor sites, the opinion sites, the email lists,
the SMRO URLs, the online motorcycleoriented magazines that are in your
favorites. I know you have them because I
have them too. And I know there are more
out there than we all realize. So send them
to me at cindy@mrf.org.
I ask for several research reasons. I’m
looking to see what people are saying, and
thinking. I’m looking to see who has the
same interests we do, and who might be
open to listening. This information will be
shared with various MRF committee groups
for their use in research and information
gathering.
Let me give a thank you to Ken
Bingenheimer‘s Passes and Canyons blog
found on his website, http://www.motorcyclecolorado.com/. It’s very encouraging to
see the work of our SMROs and the MRF
on a site whose focus is not the motorcycle
rights movement. ANY person who loves
Candidate Date of Birth: ____________________________________________
Member of (SMRO): _______________________________________________
Please provide the following information on a separate piece of paper.
Candidate Qualifications:
1) Please explain why you feel this person should be selected.
2) Other considerations: Explain any circumstances you feel are appropriate.
Submitted by: ____________________________________________________
Signature / Position________________________________________________
(State / Local SMRO Presiding Officer)
Mail to: Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE,
Suite 510, Washington DC 20002-4980; mrfoffice@mrf.org
Help me find those URLs to glimpse into
the entire biker nation. We are still building that ever widening circle.
Now, Meeting of The Minds (MOTM). Yes
I know everyone has something to say
about their recent experience at MOTM.
So shoot me, I’m having my say too.
This was the best MOTM I’ve ever attended. There was more straight talk from all
quarters than I’ve ever seen. From the
MRF, the AMA, industry, media, SMROs,
all in one place. The response was, to me,
overwhelmingly healing and beautiful. I
have great faith in the well-being of the
Biker Nation. I could write for pages about
this year’s meeting.
But I won’t. You just should have been
there. Because of this one, I feel certain
there will be another. And another.
Best,
Cindy “Fre” Hodges
Member Representative to the Board
MOTM in Denver Fuels
Patriots’ Tanks
Lynn Oldenburg
State Reps Board Member
_______________________________________________________________
Candidate Phone Number: __________________________________________
to ride, would love to ride through and
around in Colorado. Ken’s focus is where
our heart is… RIDING. Thank you, Ken
for exposing those who only see the road,
to what affects that road and who is trying
to keep that road open.
All of us – every SMRO member, every
independent rider who monitors what is
going on in his/her state legislature and federal level of government, every patch,
every riding club member, every sport bike
rider who ever dreamed of the perfect kneewarmer curve – we are all affected by two
basic things. 1) The wind that runs in our
veins and 2) The forces that try to still that
wind.
What Do Winning Candidates Receive?
1) One year membership in the MRF effective the first full day of Meeting of the Minds
during the year in which they are selected.
2) Round-trip airfare to MOTM or alternate travel expenses so long as those expenses in
total do not exceed the cost of traveling by air. If an alternate mode of transportation is chosen, candidates will be required to provide receipts in order to be reimbursed (receipts will
be accepted for tickets on other modes of transportation), hotel accommodations, and gasoline. If there is any question about acceptable travel expenditures, it is the responsibility of
the candidate to check with MRF prior to incurring said expense.
3) Hotel accommodations at MOTM. Accommodations will include room and taxes
only. Telephone, food, movie rentals, etc. will be the sole responsibility of candidates.
4) MOTM conference and banquet fees waived.
5) Special recognition at MOTM. Recognition to include a plaque and presentation of a
one-year individual MRF membership.
6) Winners are to submit one article to the MRF Reports telling of their SMRO activities and their experiences on attending the MOTMs.
November/December 2008
Well, it doesn't seem possible that another
one is come and gone so quickly! What a
great time it was with so many new folks
getting the knowledge and taste for more
from so many of the gray-haired set!
I really can't believe that I've attended
either 18 or 19 of the 24 MOTMs. Tom's
only missed two of 'em, so you know how
hard it was for him not to be there this year.
Each and every time I come away amazed
to know the passion I feel is shared by so
many dedicated patriots from all across this
wonderful country we call "home of the
free and land of the brave".
This group of folks put it in perspective
when I start feeling a bit tired and isolated
in my attempts to contine to increase our
membership numbers, both in ABATE of
MD, Inc. and the MRF.
Lets not lose the edge and fire we catch at
this event, but fan that fire and spread it to
our home SMRO'S now.
Lot's of great workshops, from alcohol
awareness programs, no alcohol beer tastings, to membership recruitment and a
workshop done in the speed dating format
even.
It was an awesome weekend with a wild
MRFPAC evening starting with the "kilts
vs. the bibs" and a walk about scavenger
hunt. Just ask some of the participants how
much fun they had! Of course the spectators had a blast as well.
My thanks go out to the State Reps for
electing me to represent them on the board
for the coming two years. I'll do my best to
ensure we have the tools we need to go out
there and do the work of the MRF.
continued page 8
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
HOW IT WORKS: EPA/ARB RULES 2008
ers on the possible detrimental effects this
could have on the custom motorcycle world.
Thankfully, the only increases in enforcement, and subsequent fines, are occurring in
California from the Air Resources Board
(ARB). The good news is that there are more
options than ever to build a truly emissions
legal custom motorcycle than ever before. As
a result of industry negotiations with ARB
and the California legislature, there are even
options to legally increase the performance
of your motorcycle. While the options available to the 49 EPA-controlled states are similar to those from California where ARB is
the authority, there are enough differences
that we need to review them separately.
lations. These are the standards that have
been in effect since 2006 for large manufacturers and since 2008 for SVM. An individual can own as many of the CM exemption
motorcycles as they can afford.
While these bikes are able to be titled and
licensed, there are severe restrictions on how
and where the 24 CM bikes can be used. Use
on public roads is limited to travel for display purposes, such as traveling to and from
motorcycle shows. This could be a local bike
night, or a show on the other side of the
country. The distance does not matter, only
the reason for the travel. The main intent of
EPA was that these were limited-use bikes,
not something that was ridden daily.
Kit Bikes
EPA-Certified Engine Package
The first 49-state option for building your
motorcycle is the “once-in-a-lifetime kit
bike” rule that was a part of the 2004 EPA
rulemaking won by the Motorcycle Rider’s
Foundation (MRF). In this rule, effective
March 15, 2004, the EPA created the opportunity for anyone to build a custom motorcycle, also known as a “kit bike”. This kit bike
does not have to meet any exhaust emissions
standards. You can use the wildest engine
you can find, along with the biggest carburetor made, and not have to worry about getting your bike’s emissions tested. By EPA
definition, “one per lifetime” means for the
lifetime of the rule. Seeing that this applies
only to new construction, your motorcycle
built under this rule would still be legal even
if the rule changes in the future. To use this
option you need to send a letter to EPA stating you have met the requirements of the
rule. EPA will send a letter back stating that
your motorcycle is exempt from emissions
requirements. So far, there have been no
complaints that states Department of Motor
Vehicles are not accepting the letters.
However, there are some disadvantages to
using this process. You are only allowed one
emission exempt kit bike in your lifetime.
You may not sell your kit bike for five years
after its final assembly. You cannot build
your kit bike by modifying a factory built
motorcycle that was certified to meet EPA
emission standards. You must start with a
new engine and frame. A shop or individual
cannot build these bikes and then offer them
for sale as new motorcycles.
An advantage is that you may have someone
else assemble your kit bike for you as long
as you have purchased the components prior
to the start of the assembly. Another is that
an EPA exempt kit bike can be used on the
road without any travel restrictions.
Elaborate Customs
The second 49-state option is for builders
with a manufacturer’s license. It is the limited exemption for what EPA calls “elaborate
custom motorcycles” (CM). This is like the
kit bike in that it does not have to meet the
EPA emissions standards, but different in
several other important ways. A builder may
build 24 or fewer per year and sell them by
notifying the EPA and including a tag somewhere on the motorcycle. This tag must identify the manufacturer and state: This motorcycle is exempt from EPA emission requirements. Its use on public roads is limited pursuant to 40 CFR 86.407-78(c). All motorcycles over the 24 built that year by that
builder must comply with the new emission
standards. If they build less than 3,000 per
year and have fewer than 500 employees
worldwide they are classified as Small
Volume Manufacturers (SVM). The bikes a
SVM builds over the 24 exempt ones must
only meet Tier 1 of the new emissions regu-
The final 49-state option for building a
motorcycle is the new EPA Emissions
Certified Engine Package. Using this option,
an individual can build his own motorcycle,
or, with a manufacturer’s license, you can
build up to 2,999 motorcycles per year and
have all of them EPA-certified without having to do any of the testing and compliance
work. This program is only for individuals
and SVMs, so the engines must only meet
EPA Tier 1. That means the engines can be
equipped with carburetors or fuel injection
and will not need to use catalytic converters.
As long as you follow the engine manufacturer’s instructions, your motorcycles will be
EPA compliant and will have the EPA compliance sticker attached. The instructions
include the maximum N/V ratio allowed,
meaning the maximum ratio of the engine
speed compared to miles per hour in top
gear. Also listed is the maximum weight of
the finished motorcycle, a description of the
required gas tank and fuel line materials, and
the required minimum and maximum
exhaust backpressures. If a catalyst-equipped
exhaust system is required, which is not likely under Tier 1, it must be supplied with the
engine package. The instructions will also
state that any modifications to the engine
package or deviation from the instructions
are not allowed, and would make the motorcycle illegal. The requirements in the installation manuals that I have seen are all similar
to production motorcycles for gearing,
weight, metal gas tanks, and SAE fuel hose.
This is a case where you need to do your
research prior to buying an engine package.
There is a huge difference in the legalities of
an Emissions Certified engine package and
an Emissions Compliant engine. Just because
an engine is Emissions Complaint in a factory motorcycle, or as a replacement engine
for a factory motorcycle, does not mean that
the engine can be legally installed in a new
custom motorcycle. The engine in a production motorcycle is certified only for use in
the specific motorcycle model produced and
sold by that manufacturer. Just because an
engine is advertised as an emission compliant replacement for an engine in a manufactured motorcycle does not mean that it is
legal to use that engine to build a new custom motorcycle under this rule. S&S Cycle,
TP Engineering, R&R Cycle, and Ultima are
the only engine manufacturers that, so far,
offer EPA Emissions Certified engine packages for use in new custom motorcycles in
49 states. RevTech is working on getting its
engine packages setup and certified, and
should be available soon. Other manufacturers may also have packages available, but
would not return our calls.
California Options
As is normally the case, California does not
Page 5
(continued)
follow what the rest of the country is doing
and it’s no different with motorcycles. In
some instances, things are more difficult, but
in other ways, they are leading the way in
making life easier for motorcyclists customizing their rides and enhancing performance.
ing; and exhaust system fabrication. Taking
your project to 11 separate shops for all the
work doesn’t seem like a very efficient way
to build a motorcycle, but at least you get a
custom motorcycle.
California now allows some performance
enhancing parts to be legally installed on
motorcycles. To be legal, the manufacturer
must test the part on a motorcycle in an
“approved” emissions test lab and submit the
results to ARB for its approval. When ARB
decides that the part fits its requirements, it
issues an Executive Order (EO) to the part
manufacturer, which allows that part to be
sold and installed on the make and model
motorcycle the test was performed on.
California is now following EPA’s lead and
allowing engine manufacturers to certify
engines for use in new Highway Motorcycle
construction. The only real difference
between the EPA and ARB requirements is
the need to install an Evaporative Emissions
Control System (ECS) on California motorcycles built with these engines. To ensure
this is being done, ARB is requiring that
photos of the finished motorcycle be submitted to the engine manufacturer before the
Manufacturer’s Statement of Origin (MSO)
is supplied to the builder.
Exhaust systems (headers or mufflers)
intended for installation on non-catalyst
equipped motorcycles are also considered by
ARB to be replacement parts provided all
emission controls originally connected to the
exhaust manifold are reconnected to the
exhaust system and are functioning properly.
Once a part is exempted, the manufacturer is
issued an Executive Order (EO), which certifies that the part is now legal for sale.
However, it cannot be installed on a new
motorcycle until the motorcycle has been
sold to an ultimate purchaser. California law
requires that all new motorcycles be sold in
their original, emission-certified configuration with no modifications. Failure to comply with any of the above requirements for
exemption or sale of such parts can result in
enforcement penalties to the aftermarket part
manufacturer. The federal government does
not have a similar program and recognizes
the parts listed in the ARB EOs as legal
replacement parts for motorcycles.
Some of the companies that have received
EOs include Cobra, Cycle Shack, Dynojet,
Harley Davidson, RevTech, S&S Cycle, TP
Engineering, Vance & Hines, and Victory.
More are working to get their products
approved. For more information, go to the
ARB website at
www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/motorcycle1/motorcycle1.htm.
To find EOs for specific parts, you can go to
www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aftermkt/devices/am
query.php.
Special Construction
Under this ARB rule, Californians can build
their own legal emissions exempt motorcycle. “Special Construction” Motorcycles do
not have to meet emissions standards, but
they cannot be resold. Similar to EPA, they
can be a custom or a kit bike and you may
not start with a certified motorcycle and
modify it. This is available only to individuals, not manufacturers “Special construction”
vehicles may not be made for resale, built
for an owner, or delivered as a complete
vehicle.
When it comes to the construction of the
bike, the rules get a little cumbersome. If the
owner cannot do all the design and construction work by themselves, they can contract
out portions of the work, what ARB calls
“project areas”, to others. Each area, if contracted out must be performed by a separate,
unrelated business. Project areas are design,
material, and component selection; parts and
materials sourcing; components and frame
fabrication; specialty services such as paint,
powder coating, and plating; saddle or other
trim work; electrical; brakes and hydraulics;
miscellaneous trim fabrication; wheels and
suspension; engine and transmission build-
ARB Certified Engine Packages
To be eligible to obtain the MSO the builder
or assembler of the motorcycle must do all
of the following.
1. Install the engine, including any
emissions related components that are a part
of the package including exhaust system if a
catalytic converter is required and evaporative ECS, according to the instructions supplied by the engine manufacturer.
2. Only install the engine in a vehicle
that does not exceed the weight or N/V ratio
limits set by the engine manufacturer.
3. Not modify the engine or emissions
related components.
4. Photos of both sides of the finished
motorcycle showing the evaporative ECS,
must be submitted to the engine manufacturer by the manufacturer’s representative.
5. Photos showing the placement of
O2 sensors if the motorcycle is required to
have them in the exhaust pipes.
6. Finished weight of the motorcycle
must be submitted to verify that the certified
weight is not exceeded.
7. Provide a picture of the label provided by the engine manufacturer affixed in
a location that is readily accessible with the
seat removed.
This may look like an imposing list, but, in
reality, the process should be a pretty painless way for people to keep building the custom motorcycles they enjoy and also provide
an avenue for shops that qualify as SVMs to
build up to 299 motorcycles per year for sale
into the California market. At the time of this
writing, R&R Cycle and TP Engineering currently have the only ARB Certified engine
packages that are legal in California, though
S&S is close to receiving its Executive Order
allowing its engines to be used.
Conclusion
It’s been almost three years since we covered
the EPA and ARB regulations that affect the
sport we love. Much has happened since
those past articles and we felt the need to
bring you this new information. We wanted
to also again cover the older regulations, in
case there was still some misunderstanding
of how they affect your bike or part purchases. The catalyst for this article was a seminar
conducted by S&S Cycle, which was called
to help clarify these very points. Readers of
this magazine will recognize that many of
the regulations covered here are the same as
when we told you about them in the original
articles. And, as you have read, there are
new regulations that actually help our industry and not hurt it. Lastly, thankfully, the
EPA has not repealed the once-in-a-lifetime
and 24 bike exemptions, as it stated it would
its 2004 rulemaking. Let’s hope that continues to be the case.
Page 6
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Meeting of the Minds 2008 Has
Come and Gone It Was a Great Event, Thanks
A.B.A.T.E. of Colorado.
Todd Riba
MRF Director of Reps
I want to thank all of Reps for taking the
time to attend the conference. We had a
very productive Reps meeting and we elected two new board members that represent
the Reps on the Board. Lynn Oldenburg
from Maryland and Grady Wheeler from
Wyoming were both elected as State Reps
Board members. The Board appointed Dave
Condon as an Assistant to the Director of
State Reps Program. This means we have
four dedicated members on the State Reps
team to serve the State Reps and Assistant
Reps. We are going to start reaching out to
the Reps so we can find out how we can do
a better job of serving you. If you have any
ideas please call, all of our contact info
should be in this issue of the MRF Reports.
The MRF Board of Directors put out the
call to the Reps to recruit 600 new members
by January. This is a tall order but it must be
done, the MRF needs new members and we
must focus on retaining our current members, our very survival depends on it. Please
let me know if there is anything I can do to
help, you can call anytime. The street riders
of this great nation face many challenges,
the MRF State Reps Program must guide us
through these troubled waters, are you
equal to the task?
MRF State Legislative Awards
for 2008 MOTM
1. ABATE of Utah; Defeating a Salt Lake
City Helmet bill and a state-wide cities helmet bill.
2. ABATE of South Carolina; Passing a
Red Light Bill
3. ABATE of Missouri; Defeating a child
passenger prohibition bill and a stunt riding
bill
legislation to allow non-use of helmet to
used in a civil suit
8. ABATE of Georgia; Legalizing the
Registration of Custom Motorcycles
9. ABATE of Florida; Defeating a Child
Passenger Prohibition Bill
10. ABATE of California; Legalizing
Aftermarket Parts.
4. Freedom of Road Riders; Defeating a
child passenger prohibition bill and a stunt
riding bill.
Federal Legislative Award for 2008 MOTM
5. KBA/KMA; Defeating a helmet law
reinstatement bill in six days.
1. ABATE of Minnesota; The only state to
have both Senators as Co-Sponsors of the
HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical
Correction Act, S. 616
6. ABATE of Indiana: Repealing the $10
motorcycle registration surcharge for the
Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Fund.
7. Street Bikers United ,Hawaii; Defeating
I want to put out a call to all of the Reps,
let’s make it our goal to do a better job of
communicating with each other. We have
some exciting new ideas that will be coming at you. The Reps email list is the best
way for all of us to communicate with each
other in a timely manner, if you are not on
the list please consider signing up. Shoot
me an email and I will add you to the list.
We have a Reps tool page on the web site
coming, motorcycle day at the nation’s
Capitol is in the works, and a lot more, so
stay tuned. Thanks for all that you do, the
street riders in this country need you.
November/December 2008
2. St. Croix Valley Riders, Minnesota; The
only state to have both Senators as CoSponsors of the HIPAA Recreational Injury
Technical Correction Act, S. 616
HR 6908 - HIPAA Update
Jeff Hennie
MRF VP of Government Relations
that is easily understandable to the participant prior to enrollment."
The United States House of Representatives
passed legislation on September 23rd, that
would make it illegal for insurance
providers to exploit what is known as the
"source of injury exclusion" loophole.
To summarize the legalese, your health
insurance provider can limit payment for an
injury sustained on a motorcycle so long as
it is spelled out to you in simple terms, well
in advance of you joining the plan.
Under current law, insurance providers can
refuse to pay for treatment of an injury
based solely on the source of the injury,
with no prior notice of denial of benefits
for that source of injury simply by pointing
to the “source of injury” law that exists
today.
This legislation does not accomplish the
goals of HR 1076 fully. What it does do is
put Congress on record as recognizing that
this issue needs addressing and this is a
good first step.
Some sources of injury that can be used as
a reason by insurance providers to refuse
payment of medical bills are motorcycling,
snow skiing, ATVs and horse back riding.
This new legislation, HR 6908, known as
the Health Insurance Source of Injury
Clarification Act, does not entirely replace
HR 1076. Where HR 1076 makes it illegal
to deny benefits for any injury that occurs
during legal transportation or recreation,
this bill does allow for limitations of payment if the provider follows some rules.
According to HR 6908, if an insurance
provider wants to be able to put limitations
on payment for an injury from a specific
source, they must meet the following
requirements.
+ "Make such limitations and restrictions
explicit and clear;"
+ "If part of a group plan, must be disclosed to plan sponsor in advance of the
point of sale of plan;"
+ "The plan sponsor and issuer of health
insurance coverage provide a description
The bill's primary sponsor, US
Representative Michael Burgess, had this to
say: "Congress is charged with making
laws to protect people and when they have
the opposite effect, we also have a responsibility to work together to fix them. The
time has come to fix this loophole in the
HIPAA law and this bi-partisan bill does
just that."
Closing the loophole entirely and mandating that insurance companies must cover all
injuries from legal motorcycle use has
always been a lofty goal.
It is still the goal, and it is still lofty, but
HR 6908 at least backs insurance into a
corner and doesn't allow them to hide
behind regulation, rather than being honest
up front and that's a good start.
The bill is now being considered by the
Senate committee on Health Education
Labor and Pensions (HELP). Congress is
scrambling to get a bailout package and
adjourn for the campaign season. A lame
duck session is likely after the election and
will provide a legislative opportunity for
this bill.
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 7
Meeting of the Minds 2008 - Many Thanks for a Great Conference
The weekend ended with a beautiful, warm,
day. Not a cloud to be seen; a perfect day for
a ride. Several took advantage of the day and
joined Karl Long from ABATE of CO
District 17 to participate in the Karen Bolin
Memorial Ride. Karl arranged the ride so
you could either do a short version allowing
the riders to be back at the hotel within a couple of hours or you do the entire route. They
returned to the hotel about four hours later
after seeing some of what the Colorado
Rockies have to offer.
Carol Downs
MRF Conferences Director
Well, the 2008 Conference year is over. We
finished it up with a bang. I am very proud
to say my home organization, ABATE of
Colorado, did an awesome job. We had a
great lineup of general sessions and workshops. While the total attendance numbers
were down a little, participation and energy
were high.
Our total attendance was 391. The participants covered a vast portion of this country.
We had representatives from Alaska,
Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Massachusetts,
Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska,
New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington,
Wisconsin, Wyoming and Washington DC.
Our international contingents this year came
from Canada and Belgium.
My husband Bruce and I had the privilege of
having both groups in our home before or
after the Conference. Jennifer Ross and
Claude Lacasse from Canada arrived a couple of days early for the Conference and
stayed with us. Bruce and I managed to take
a day off and go riding with them; an opportunity to show off our beautiful state just a
little. It was wonderful to have them in our
home. While we have known them from
years of attending either the Meeting of the
Minds or the BEAST of the EAST; you
never get to know someone quite as well as
when you share your morning coffee. When
the Conference was over Sunday afternoon
we had Aline Delhayne from Belgium come
to our house for dinner. It was a brave move
on my part. My father and his wife were visiting, I hadn’t been home in four days, and I
was serving frozen lasagna. But it turned
out well. Aline can not only hold her own
with groups of bikers and politicians, she
does pretty darn well with curmudgeonly
parents. (I love you Dad and Becky, and I
really hope you never read this.)
This was Aline’s first trip to the Meeting of
the Minds. Over the past several years we
had the privilege of having Bob Tomlins join
us. After Bob retired Kees Meijer spent a
few years with us. I will never forget Kees
in his “Heidi” outfit at the tug-of-war last
year. And now we have Aline. It was interesting to talk with her one-on-one over a
glass of wine Sunday evening. To say she
was surprised by us isn’t quite right, but we
weren’t exactly what she expected either.
I’m not sure how she will explain auctioning
off duct tape speedo’s and haircuts.
We had some interesting fund raising events
this year. The Tug-of-War this year was won
by the kilts. But the bibs had the most interesting team member. The same guy from the
past two years who “goes both ways” added
INB Radio was not at this year’s event. Our
financial situation did not allow us to broadcast this year. While you will not be able to
hear the broadcasts, the Power Point presentations are available on line. Go to the
Conference section of the MRF website.
to his wardrobe this year. Red fish net stockings. All I can say about it is that it did raise
an additional $500.00 for the MRFPAC. My
children don’t want to know anymore than
that.
I was personally a little disappointed in the
participation in the Scavenger Hunt. The
money was also designated to the MRFPAC.
While the participation numbers were low,
those who did play had a great time. Some
very unique items were on the list to find.
While the organizers made everything possible to find, the participants were very creative in the ways they achieved their goals.
Not exactly how it was planned, but they did
what they needed to do. One of the items
was to get a donation check from a stranger
for the MRF. That brought in an additional
$76.00. It is also amazing to me how they
managed to talk restaurants into making a
pancake at 8:00 in the evening. I really want
to thank ABATE of Colorado, District 16 for
such a fun event.
This year the Young Activist Scholarship
fund was able to bring three young people to
the Meeting of the Minds. All three were
really good choices. We had Jeramie Barrett
from Iowa; Matt Huls and Mike Salathe
from South Dakota. Two of the three were
already members of the MRF having joined
at other functions during the year. Part of the
award was a one year membership to the
MRF. For the two of them we will be
extending their memberships. Both Matt
and Mike are members of Mountain Shadow
ABATE in South Dakota. This is a chapter
they formed themselves, with the assistance
of others, to better serve the needs of the
younger generation of riders. An additional
part of their award was transportation to the
Meeting of the Minds. I want to thank Matt
and Mike for donating that portion back to
the MRF, Young Scholarship Fund.
The banquet Saturday evening was very special for me. Since this event took place in
my own backyard I was able to invite some
very special guests. I had my grandkids with
me and introduced them to everyone. The
grandkids did bring their parents along as
well. It was nice to share what I do with my
family.
The MRF was very pleased to announce during the Conference that the Motorcycle
Riders Foundation Awareness and Education,
Inc. received our final 501( c )3 designation
from the IRS. What this means is that we
can now accept charitable contributions. We
are also eligible to pursue grants to help fund
the education and awareness programs that
we either already do, or have planned. We
are very excited about this opportunity.
Anyone interested in donating may make
contributions through the DC office. Be sure
the contribution check is made payable to the
MRF A & E. In our little collection jar we
did raise $640.85. It is a start.
Planning is underway for next year’s
Conferences. We already know ABATE of
Delaware will be hosting the BEAST of the
EAST in Rehoboth Beach, DE April 17-19,
2009. As of the time I am writing this article,
I do not have a host for BEST of the WEST.
I am hopeful that by the time you read this
article we will have a site and dates selected.
Meeting of the Minds 2009 will be held in
Bloomington, MN. It will be co-hosted by
ABATE of MN and St. Croix Valley Riders.
It will once again be the fourth weekend in
September. I look forward to increased participation in next year’s events.
Before I leave I want to thank those folks
from ABATE of Colorado who did so much
to make the Meeting of the Minds a great success starting with the State Coordinator, Terry
Howard. Then behind the scenes for the
entire year of planning was Kathy Banning.
A special thanks to Robert Grow for donating
the chips and the MOTM wine labels, and
Peter Wolfe and Tom Kurtz for food donations for the Hospitality Room. All around
helpers were Lee and Ditto Collins, Kirk and
Denise Fry, Fred Keil, Dawn Grow, Erin
Grow, Carolyn and Dave Cawley and Ben
Hochberg. Those who manned the registration area were Ron Hall, Lorrie Sparks and
Steve Turner. The Hospitality Room was
managed by Perrie and Larry Ranburger, Deb
Craig, Ann Layson, Gary Greenwood, Shawn
Bardsley, Charlie and Anna May, Sue
Klukan, Thom Frodl, Lou Cundiff, Cindy
Garnand, Val Amey and Stump, Brad
Lehmkuhl, Joan Savely, and Lisa Archer.
Our lunch on Saturday, which was served
courtesy of Harley-Davidson was prepared
and served by Dave Christy, Maggot, Brad
Lehmkuhl, Andrea Mathews, Sheari
Shoemaker, Tina and Ryan Wilhoite, Rusty
Goodall, Julia Keilman, Gus Keilman, Steve
Dunn, Loretta Dunn, Alan Mason, Tammy
Simons, and Sonya Zentner. Very special
thanks goes to our Security Team of Red
Brown, Jim Bunn, Shaun Robertson.
ABATE of Colorado worked very hard to
raise funds for this event and I want to specially recognize those districts that did some
awesome fundraising. They are District 10,
District 5, District 1, District 17, District 14,
and District 7. Being a part of ABATE of
Colorado I understand the time and hard
work that went into this and really want my
fellow SMRO members to know how much I
appreciate their efforts.
Page 8
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
MOTM in Denver Fuels Patriots’ Tanks
Now onto my next bit
Folks! I’ve got a challenge for each and
every one of us to get over our differences
and become more positive and proactive
outside of our regular motorcycle focused
activities.
We all need to talk about motorcycling to
the people we run into in the course of our
daily lives. As we’re in line at our local
store, bank, or gas station, we can mention
motorcycles or events we’re going to or
have attended.
Let them know we’re regular people who
shop, bank, go to work, pay taxes, and raise
families all while being “bikers” and using
our motorcycles in the course of these
activities. You may be surprised at how
many of them have friends or family who
have ridden motorcycles or wanted to ride.
Try volunteering at your children’s school
November/December 2008
continued
or the library. They always need help, even
an hour or two a week makes a huge difference. It’s another chance to bridge the gap
between us, an opportunity to educate them
about our challenges on the road. Hazards
they never notice or have to consider being
in a car, could be deadly for us. But we all
are in danger from inattentive drivers and
we can share that thought.
ers” as portrayed in popular media even
today. You may even be able to get memberships from some of these non-motorcycling people simply because they share
some of the passion for freedom that we
do. Patriots come in all shapes and sizes
and from all walks of life. There could be
one standing right there in line next to you.
You never know unless you talk to them.
Being friendly and positive can change the
perception that many still have about “bik-
Freedom Fighter Award Remarks
L-R: Former MRF Board Member Gary Sellers (2007 Inductee), former MRF President
Paul Vestal (2008 Inductee) and former MRF Board Member Fred Harrell (2008
Inductee) and current MRF President Kirk "Hardtail" Willard
BY FREDRIC W. HARRELL
Thank you. It’s an honor to receive this
award. I want to thank all of you responsible for getting me off work for two
days. And, since it was probably my
friends Gary Sellers or Dale Gaines who
managed to get my boss to also write the
nominating committee, he definitely
knows that I’m not at a work related seminar!
I don’t believe there is one among the
inductees who started the journey that
took us to having our names nominated
to receive this honor with the idea that
this is where we would end up one day.
Speaking for myself, I just did what
seemed like the right thing to do and
never gave any thought to how my biography would read posted in a museum in
South Dakota. We all just did what had
to be done at the time.
I’ve only been to Sturgis and the Rally
twice that I didn’t have to work in one
way or another – this year and last year.
Although my memories of Sturgis and
the Rally are as numerous as most of
yours, I can say with certainty that there
are not many of you who spent the entire
Rally hustling raffle tickets or handing
out membership applications for the
Motorcycle Riders Foundation.
Regardless of how I chose to spend my
time in Sturgis, I can look back fondly on
those days when my friends Jerry
Thomas and Paul Vestal and I, along with
a handful of dedicated MRF members,
did what Paul called “the Hari Krishna
act” and worked the foot traffic on the
corners of Main & First. We handed out
updates of what the MRF was doing in
Washington, D.C., trying to keep the feds
out of motorcycling and out of our lives –
again!
We used every opportunity imaginable to
get people to buy a ticket on a FXR
designed by Arlen Ness and painted by
Dave Mann – I’m sure we’d sell a lot
more tickets today if we were giving
away the same bike.
My friend Mark Buckner once said when
we were both members of the MRF board
that if there was only one word he could
use to describe me it would be intense.
I’m not sure if I’m as intense today as I
was 15 years ago. However, it was probably because of my intensity that I was
seldom turned loose on a crowd. It’s
been a while since I’ve had a “bully pulpit.” And this may be the last chance I
get.
There are about 400 of us here today and
the one thing I know is that we all have
motorcycling in common. Even the
youngest among us can converse openly
and freely about his or her favorite or
not-so-favorite motorcycle. And, when it
comes to charities we don’t hesitate to
help raise millions for any number of
charities by giving of our time and
money. Yet, for whatever reason, after all
these years, we have an almost innate
disdain for supporting the organizations
that work to protect the freedoms that are
a natural to motorcycling.
These organizations are not staffed by
lames and lops who misuse the funds
generated to protect the freedoms we
love. Most of the state organizations
have been around for over 30 years.
Certainly the national organizations have
multi-track records of success. Twenty
years ago I stopped partying or riding
with people who didn’t belong to a
motorcyclist’s rights organization if they
owned a motorcycle. I’m just as particular today as I was then.
Motorcycle registrations are in the neighborhood of five million. Yet, membership in all the organizations that are
working every day to protect all aspects
of motorcycling is less that five hundred
thousand. I would like to believe that
everyone in this room belongs to at least
one national biker rights organization,
and their state organization as well.
I’m not going to embarrass anyone here
today by asking you to show me your
membership card. However, I will ask
you to ride home safely and, while the
memories of this trip are still fresh in
your mind, pick up the phone and ask a
friend about your state motorcyclists’
rights organization. I’m sure you’ll find
someone who has membership information.
Although I’ve lived in Las Vegas for
nearly 40 years I’m still not much of a
gambler. However, I’d be willing to bet
that less than half of the people in this
room are active card carrying members of
a national motorcyclist’s rights organization and even fewer belong to a state
organization. It would please me if I lost
that bet.
These organizations are in the trenches
defending motorcycling against the
never-ending onslaught of state and federal legislation and regulations. And, it
never ceases to puzzle me why it’s so difficult to get support from motorcycle
enthusiasts to protect the very freedoms
they love so much.
Hell, better yet, go online and plug in
ABATE, or AMA or MRF; there’s got to
be a link to an organization that is there
to protect motorcycling and the freedoms
it represents. If you are a member, give
someone you know a membership or a
membership renewal.
Freedom is not cheap, free, or easy, but
it’s worth every bit of the fight.
Thank you for this honor and thank you
again for what you do to help protect
motorcycling and the freedoms it represents.
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
The MRF’s Value Proposition
Repair area as well. As domestic automakers struggle in this country, this is an uphill
battle but one that the MRF remains committed to. We firmly support the belief that
limiting technology to individuals and aftermarket shops for mechanical repairs is simply not right.
We are well poised to continue our successes we realized in TEA-LU as we enter in a
new six year Transportation bill negotiation. Key will be maintaining and
expanding our NHTSA Lobbying
Ban, a continuation of the 2010
Motorcycle Safety Grant monies and
the Motorcycle Advisory Council program. We are also preparing to make
certain motorcycles are fully considered as Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS) continue to develop
and will undoubtedly be included in
the next Transportation bill. We are
also well prepared through our extensive
involvement
in
Global
Harmonization and Global Technical
Regulation efforts with our European
partners, the Federation of European
Motorcyclists Association (FEMA),
and by being major players in the
International Motorcycle Cooperation
Page 9
continued
Group (IMCG) to deal with any additional regulations that we expect will
be raised here having originated in
Europe and the United Nations.
The MRF recently played a key role
in the International Motorcycle Safety
community by our involvement in the
OECD International Transport Forum
on Motorcycle Safety held this summer in Norway. We intend to remain
involved in these types of forums to
ensure motorcyclists’ voices are not
only heard but that we have a dramatic impact relating to our safety and
lifestyle.
Along these same lines, the MRF has
established themselves as reliable
technical experts when it comes to the
EPA, CARB, certified engine packages, certified parts, etc. See the article updating emissions regulations in
this issue of the MRF reports that was
reprinted with approval from the
American Iron Magazine.
I will wrap this up with another first
for the MRF. I am referring to the
meeting held at the Republican
National Committee headquarters in
Washington D.C this fall. The purpose of this meeting was to make certain our voices are heard and considered in the national campaigns and
platform development underway, as
well as begin to positively influence
any Cabinet appointments that may be
made. We continue to attempt to meet
with the Democratic National
Committee as well to establish the
same considerations. Seeing little
success with this route we won’t stop
there, we are also now attempting to
meet directly with Obama’s campaign
in Chicago to be heard.
A great deal of the credit for these
successes belongs to our solid partnerships and the working relationships we enjoy with our many
Sustaining State Motorcyclist Rights
Organizations that help direct and
support the activities of the MRF.
Your MRF Board of Directors
believes we are delivering a very
strong value proposition to our members. If you agree, the MRF needs
your assistance. Historically the MRF
gets the majority of it’s financial support from our SMRO partners - but
that funding formula isn’t sufficient
any longer to continue to cover the
expenses to maintain our offices and
employees in Washington D.C. in
close proximity to the U.S. Capital
and all the areas we must be active in
to remain successful, nationally and
internationally. To maintain our status
and effectiveness, we must build our
individual memberships, both regular
and sustaining. When I discussed this
at the Meeting of the Minds it seemed
a surprise that our average individual
membership numbers reflect that less
than 2% of those that belong to a State
Motorcycle Rights Organization also
belong to the MRF. Said another way,
less than 2 out of 100 of your paid
ABATE members belong to the MRF
as individual members. It is mission
critical that we must collectively
improve upon this number if the MRF
is to continue delivering on our value
proposition.
The 24th Annual Meeting of the Minds 2008, Denver, Colorado
The Hospitality Room hosted by ABATE of Colorado, before the room filled up.
Steve Zimmer, MRFPAC, was surprised by Legs & Paulette from Illinois with his
“Zorro” costume. Steve seems unaware he is being stalked by the Yeti from Alaska
Carol Simpson (Tennessee) and Imre Szauter of the AMA
MRF State and Assistant Representatives
Page 10
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
Meeting of the Minds “Meet the States” Session Delivers
Kirk “Hardtail” Willard
MRF President
One of the original principles the
Meeting of the Minds was founded upon
was the concept of bringing motorcyclists from across the country together
to share experiences, legislative successes, initiatives underway, problematic
issues being faced, and ideas related to
all of this… the very definition of the
Meeting of the Minds.
The Thursday night “Meet the States”
opening session has become a real highlight of the Meeting of the Minds. This
is where various representatives from
the State Motorcycle Rights
Organizations (SMROs) present what is
going on in their states and this year
certainly delivered on the original concept of a meeting of the minds. I counted 36 states in all that presented and
below is a list of the nearly 50 subjects
that were covered. It would be hard to
find something going on in motorcycling that wasn’t discussed this year and
it is somewhat amazing to stop for a
moment and consider all the subjects
being covered and dealt with by bikers’
rights activists throughout our nation.
This is a genuine value of having
SMROs attend the Meeting of the
Minds. After hearing the presentations,
the attendees are highly encouraged to
get together and discuss similar issues
being faced or worked on back in their
own states, one could certainly find
common ground in this room.
This session also proves extremely valuable to the MRF as it is our intent to
come out of the Meeting of the Minds
with our Legislative and Strategic
Agenda for the coming year. If something here interests you and you weren’t
able to make it to Denver this year,
please contact your MRF SSMRO
Reps., MRF State Program Reps., or
your MRF Member Reps., one of these
departments representatives can hook
you up with a contact with the various
information and we look forward to seeing you in Bloomington, Minnesota for
next year’s 25th Anniversary of the
Meeting of the Minds.
· SMRO Conferences, State meetings,
Officers trainings
· PAC activity
· On-Line memberships and program
registrations
· Share the Road programs
· Rider Education
· Motorcycle Safety and Awareness programs (both for motorcycles and other
motor vehicles
· The impact of International issues
· Muffler bills, sound testing and related
equipment
· Vulnerable user bills
· Helmet bills, City helmet bills, freedom of choice bill updates
· Local ordinance issues, private property use issues
· ATV bills
· Public Service announcements (PSA’s)
· Veterans license plate, license plate
size bills
· 501C3/501C4 issues, grants
· Red light bills
· Use of statistics, impacts of statistics
· Battles with the press
· Skill rated maps for challenging roads
· Bike week bans, overzealous law
enforcement initiatives
· Comparative fault bills
· Motorcycle confiscation bills
· Mandatory rider education
· Civil disobedience experiences
· Suing a Governor for misappropriating
motorcycle safety fund monies
· Right of Way (ROW) bills
· Participating in Motorcycle Safety
Advisory councils
· Auxiliary lighting bills
· Motorcycle registration funds, attached
fees, specific fees
· Lobby day, lobby day training
· Dial a ride programs for motorcycles,
event specific bike trailers made available
· Impaired riding/ride straight campaigns
· Motorcycle CDL’s, lower BAC for
motorcyclists efforts
· Mopeds/scooters-regulations, licensing, training or lack thereof
· Impact of moped and scooter crashes
when considered motorcycles on reports
· Political relationships
· Discrimination issues, “no colors”
issues
· Sound based bans
Letter to the Editor: Problems for Motorcyclists in New York
Editor’s Note:
Normally, I don’t print too many letters
to the editor, but this issue was brought
up by George Gorman (Federal
Legislative coordinator for ABATE of
Monroe County NY) during the “Meet
the States” Session in Denver.
He did not receive much support for his
ideas. Here is his letter and also, hopefully, an explanation as to why it was
not warmly welcomed.
Editor,
In the mission statement of the MRF it
states, "to continue developing an aggressive independent national advocacy for
the advancement of motorcycling...." I
had the opportunity to speak at the legislative session of the Meeting of the
Minds and while at most times my opinion is heard and I believe correctly valued, it is with great distress that I write
this letter stating my inability to communicate my understandings of the current
situation that has ensnared the motorcyclists of New York and soon the rest of
the nation. While some might perceive
that this situation is merely a state issue,
as I read my daily emails I see that it is
becoming more and more an issue
through out the country.
The 402 grants that are distributed by
NHTSA and the GHSA to pay for overtime to policing authorities to enforce
laws upon motorcyclists is an enforcement tactic used solely for the harassment
of motorcyclists, not satisfied with just
stopping motorcyclists on any given road
they take to targeting where motorcyclists
gather for large motorcycle events
(Example Americade). Larger charity
events might seem to have escaped the
brunt of the police enforcement effort and
some might ask why. The long standing
events that motorcyclists congregate at
have not escaped. I find that the actions
by the NY State police and the willing
local police are definitely unconstitutional, certainly this tactic could be fought on
that basis in court. However my suggestion for the motorcycle rights movement
to target motorcycle specific 402 grant
money in the upcoming Transportation
Equity Act (TEA?) is essential to stopping this harassment of motorcyclists.
Taking away the grant money is the
answer to terminating this situation.
There is a new National ABATE, but this
time it is American Bureaucrats
Advocating Totalitarian Enforcement.
Not acting on this issue in this manor is
unacceptable. We are FREEDOM
FIGHTERS, not some political entity
sucking on the tit of 2010 grant money.
George Gorman
Federal Legislative coordinator
ABATE of Monroe County NY
intoxicated, child restraint, speeding,
etc…).
Rebuttal:
Admittedly, George makes some fine
points.
First off, we are indeed freedom fighters.
We do realize that it is better to be proactive rather than try to play “catch up”.
We have also seen that programs viewed
as successful have a way of migrating
across the country. Certainly, we will want
to keep very close track of any activity,
good or bad, that is specific to motorcycles or motorcyclists.
However, we must be careful not to throw
out the baby with the bathwater. I don’t
want to attempt to convince anyone that
these are all absolutely wonderful programs, but neither are they all bad. There
are a great number of people that believe
in and support these programs. Whether
we agree or not, it is difficult to argue
against efforts that target violations of current laws (seat belts, operating while
2008’s MRF
Lifetime
Achievement
Award Winner,
Twiggy from
Easyriders
Magazine.
While we should not, and will not, be held
hostage or agree to programs that have
unacceptable restrictions or requirements,
neither should we bite the hand that feeds
us. There are numerous examples of various grants being used to benefit motorcyclists and we would not wish to endanger
those revenue sources or relationships.
Should we be on the lookout for discriminatory, harassing activities such as what
took place in New York? Definitely. But
rather than attack the funding source and
perhaps negatively impact positive programs, let us dedicate ourselves to identifying and stopping those actions which
are detrimental to our lifestyle and the
American way. That is what freedom
fighters do.
Jay Jackson
MRF Motorcycle Safety/Rider Ed.
Director
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 11
PRESS RELEASE:
From the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA)
12 September 2008
Europe excludes motorcycling
from EU Mobility Week
Why have motorcycles always been
excluded from mobility debates while they
clearly contribute to improving citizens’
mobility, offering affordable and sustainable solution to daily mobility needs?
FEMA - the Federation of European
Motorcyclists’ Associations - does not
have a clue.
The European Mobility Week is no exception to the rule, with the worsening effect
that EU messages are disseminated not
only in Europe, but worldwide and initiatives taken as good examples by numerous
stakeholders. The European Mobility
Week (September 16-22, 2008) only presents motorcycles as a problem
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHY-
gZrhV3M>), completely overlooking them
as a solution
(<http://www.mobilityweek.eu/-Solutions>)
While it is common sense that 2-wheelers
help reduce congestion (use of space), or
else increase social inclusion by offering
an affordable transport alternative when all
other transport means are simply not an
option, motorcycling also offers clear
advantages in terms of CO2 emissions as
shown by the recently adopted CO2 taxation scheme in Spain: over 80% of the
motorcycle fleet gained an exemption
from taxation because of their high performance in terms of CO2 emissions.
In road safety terms, as highlighted by all
motorcycle safety experts in the recent
global ITF workshop on motorcycle safety
(<http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/jtrc/safety/Lillehammer2008/lillehammer08.html>), integrating motorcycling into transport policies - hence,
mobility debates - is the only efficient way
to ensure that motorcyclists are rightly
taken into account in all safety-related
fields (infrastructure, human behaviour,
training). At a time when Europe keeps on
claiming that it wants to “reduce by half
the number of fatalities on roads”, FEMA
is more than astonished by this lack of
consistency between European policies.
tongue language: on the one hand, it singles out motorcyclists in the road safety
debate (always using gross and absolute
statistics) and calls for the usual limitative
and restrictive measures such as limiting
access to driving licences. On the other
hand, it completely ignores the most elementary measure of all: to consider motorcycling as part of the transport mix and
rightly take its advantages into account.
By mixing debates (mobility/environment;
safety/environment), Europe not only disseminates incorrect messages, but it also
creates a lack of understanding and defensive attitude from citizens who only want
to be fairly taken into consideration.
As is often the case, Europe speaks a two-
PRESS RELEASE:
From the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA)
Press Release
30 June 2008
Commission will introduce dedicated
Daytime Running Light (DRL) from 2011 to increase road safety
The European Commission (EC) has
announced today that dedicated Daytime
Running Light (DRL) will be introduced
on all new cars from the year 2011
onwards.
FEMA's position on the issue is very
clear:
- FEMA is in principle not opposed to
dedicated DRL as long as it is strictly different from a motorcycle dipped-beam
headlight.
cyclists - still have reservations regarding
the fact that responsibility to watch out
for other road users is further taken away
from the car driver.
- The adoption of dedicated DRL appears
to be the "least worse" solution in terms
of road safety, even though European
motorcyclists - along with pedestrians and
All in all, FEMA is satisfied that the
European Commission adopted the “precautionary principle" regarding the use of
automatic switch - which has not been
Aline Delhayne from Belgium presented for FEMA
made mandatory - as it previously did by
not harmonising the use of dipped-beam
headlights.
FEMA is pleased by the fact that the
European Commission took the point of
view of motorcyclists into account.!
Deb Creig of ABATE of Colorado won the Farmer’s Award.
Page 12
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
The 24th Annual Meeting of the Minds 2008, Denver, Colorado
ABATE of MN and the St. Croix Valley Riders, Federal
award for being the only state to have both Senators
signed on to S 616, the HIPAA Repair Bill.
L-R: Shar Sonnenberg, Outstanding Rep, Todd Riba,
Dennis Lange, Rep of the Year,, “Legs” Korte,
Outstanding Rep.
Warren Woodward, representing Street Bikers United,
Hawaii, State legislative Award for defeating legislation
to allow non-use of helmet to used in a civil suit.
Jay Jackson, ABATE of Indiana, State legislative Award, Repealing the $10 motorcycle registration surcharge for the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Fund.
ABATE of Utah; Defeating a Salt Lake City Helmet bill and a state-wide cities helmet
bill.
Freedom of Road Riders and ABATE of Missouri; Defeating a child passenger
prohibition bill and a stunt riding bill.
KBA/KMA; Defeating a helmet law reinstatement bill in six days.
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 13
The 24th Annual Meeting of the Minds 2008, Denver, Colorado
ABATE of Georgia
received this honor
because of their
efforts to legalize the
registration of custom motorcycles.
ABATE of SC
received this award
for passing a red light
bill.
Carol Downs, MRF Conference Director and Eric Hampton, MRF Director of
Communications received the President’s Award from Hardtail.
Sunset on the Western Slope
Sturgis Museum Features MRF
Memorabilia in Freedom
Fighters Hall of Fame Display
The Motorcycling Community General Session panel with HD, AMA, MIC, BIKERNET & the MRF: Look for a feature article in the next issue of the MRF Reports for a
full report on the panel’s discussion.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum’s Freedom Fighter Hall of Fame contacted Tiffany in
the D.C. office to see if the MRF could supply some items for a display that was to run
two years.
Michael “Boz” Kerr, MRF Vice President, points out the MRFPAC donation cards on the
tables at Friday’s General Session.
We called on an old friend and founding member of the MRF, Bill Gannon to see what
he could help us with. He supplied his roadworn leather jacket and vest. Thank him
when you get a chance.
Page 14
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
No More Hemorrhoids!
Lynn Wesley
MRF State Representative
For the past decade or so, Western
Pennsylvania has been the hemorrhoid of
the motorcycle rights community! (Gee,
that’s a strange coincidence – just about
the same amount of time as I have lived
in that part of the state. Hmm…)
First was our arch rival, (Senator at the
time, now Auditor General) Jack Wagner.
For those of you who remember the
Senator, I don’t have to tell any horror
stories. For those of you that don’t, let
me sum it up by saying his disdain for
freedom of choice was equal to our passion to achieve it. In Pittsburgh, like most
large cities, the good old boy political network is alive and well. Senator Wagner
ran the show and very few legislators
from the left side of PA (at least of the
Democratic persuasion) dared to rock the
boat.
Then, former conservative talk radio host
and demi-God in his own mind, John
Cigna steps up to the plate. For quite
some time, ol’ John Boy was an outspoken supporter of freedom of choice. Then
one day, he crashed his scoot and saw the
light! You know how the story goes, “If
it hadn’t been for my helmet, I surely
would have died.” Yada, yada, yada… (I
won’t bother on elaborating on issues
like: if memory serves me correctly, I
believe the only things he hurt was his leg
and his pride; his safety-conscious choice
of riding apparel – sneakers; and his lack
of proper endorsement.) Of course the
timing of his crash was impeccable –
shortly before we were to be heard on the
Senate floor after a strong passage in the
House.
When debate was heard on our helmet bill
in the Senate, I actually lost count of the
references made to Cigna. I still feel our
loss had very much to do to Cigna’s
wreck and publicity generated over his
new found love for lids. (The good
Senator Wagner had quite the tale to tell
to the rest of the Senate during debating
our bill. He had a friend who crashed his
bike. God Bless that helmet his pal was
wearing. It must have been the helmet to
beat all helmets because when his boy
went down, not only did it save him then,
but luckily for him he was wearing it
when the semi behind him ran over his
head and the helmet prevented his head
from being “squished”!!!)
Anyway, Cigna retired from every day
radio shows, Jack moved on to more illustrious pastures and the stars lined up in
our favor. We had our 15 minutes of
fame with the passage of SB 259 and after
almost three decades our long sought after
freedom was finally ours! But with every
silver lining, there’s a cloud. When we
modified our helmet law, we also got one
giant bull’s eye on our backs. Every safetycrat in the universe was fixated on us.
Looking, leering, planning, scheming, and
waiting for their opportunity to come in
for the kill.
Fast forward to the year 2006 - the
Steelers win the Super Bowl and it’s
always pretty cool to live in a city where
the home team takes the big one. Then
just a few short months later Big Ben
bites the big one. And we’re STILL not
able to live it down! As a result of his
accident, all kinds of new players come
crawling out of the woodwork, simply
determined to protect me from myself!
Seizing the moment, Representative Dan
Frankle, (D – Allegheny), a name then
unfamiliar to most, becomes the new
poster boy for the safety Nazi regime.
While all the fanfare about the
Rothlisberger crash was at its most rabid
peak, Representative Frankle is the prime
sponsor of the first attempt at legislation
to reinstate the helmet law.
Fortunately, there was not much interest
within our Legislature. Unfortunately,
there was much more interest with the
alphabet soup agencies on the federal
level. Next thing you know, he’s the man
about town in DC with hobnobbing with
the likes of Nicole Nason, Administrator
of NHTSA (National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration) and Deborah
Hershman, Chairman of the NTSB
(National Transportation Safety Board).
Come September the NTSB calls for a
Public Forum on Motorcycle Safety.
Initially, this held some promise. I
thought that just maybe agencies that
carry great weight were looking for real
and viable ways to reduce m/c crashes
other than the almighty helmet. My
hopes were that awareness would play a
significant role in their “safety” forum.
Boy was I wrong! Helmets and then
some! Waaaaaaaaay down the list, a brief
mention was made about awareness programs such as our Operation Save A Life.
Within a year, the NTSB issued a recommendation that all states should impose a
full time helmet law.
Right around the same time when Frankel
introduced his helmet bill, another
wannabe safety star surfaces: Allegheny
County Councilman, Matt Drozd. He just
had to jump on the Ben wagon and propose a resolution to Council that would
ask the General Assembly to reinstate the
helmet law. That resolution was sent to
committee. It became a moot issue with
the introduction of Frankel’s bill and the
lack of steam it had generated.
The next homegrown assault came this
past June, via the University of
Pittsburgh’s study “Major Increase in
Head Injuries Noted After Repeal of
Pennsylvania’s Motorcycle Helmet Law “
The authors, Drs. Mertz and Weiss
claimed, “Even after accounting for
increases in motorcycle registrations that
occurred during this period, a 32 percent
increase in head injury deaths and a 42
percent increase in head injury-related
hospitalizations, raising concerns about
motorcyclists’ safety and the impact of
this trend on health care costs.” The
alarm sounds, out comes the media in
droves, and once again the hype and hysteria about unhelmeted motorcycle riders
runs rampant!
On 22 June 2008, what we have been
claiming all along had been legitimized
with the release of The Legislative Budget
and Finance Committee’s report,
““Motorcycle Injuries and Fatalities since
the 2003 Repeal of the Mandatory Helmet
Law”. Read all about it elsewhere in the
newsletter!) This report ordered by our
Legislature with the passage of SB 259
highlighted that the sky hasn’t fallen since
we modified the lid law. The fatality rate
has remained IDENTICAL and major and
moderate injuries, along with the crash
rate have actually DECLINED! And for
the icing on the cake, the very last thing
this report cites is the credibility of the
Pitt study! (See entire report at
http://lbfc.legis.state.pa.us/ Note
“Appendix C” University of Pittsburgh).
(Side note: If you wish to read an excellent article also attesting to this, check out
Paul Carpenter’s “Helmet Zeal Kindles
Crusade to Cook Figures” at
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all5helmet.6466785jun22,0,7976946.column
) This report was a huge ‘Score one for
the good guys!” Funny, it didn’t generate
any media hoopla. That couldn’t possibly
be due to is stating things in our favor and
not exploiting the carnage all over our
highways theme…
Well, it was a nice feeling while it lasted.
Once again, with the release of the Pitt
study, opportunity strikes and lo and
behold!! Councilman Drozd is there to
seize the moment and was right back
waiving his request for a Resolution to
have to put the helmets back on the riders
throughout the Commonwealth! (They
say timing is everything. In this case it
was. Had it not been for a new friend to
ABATE in county government, this would
have slid right on by and we would have
probably not even known about it until
after the fact! We were informed that this
was being put on the agenda only five
days before the meeting.)
After talking with a few ABATE folks,
Councilman Drozd wanted to come across
like he’s with us, but wants to protect the
tax payers too and decided to amend his
Resolution to the effect of not going after
reinstatement, but instead, he proposed
that if an individual was involved in a
motorcycle crash resulting in head trauma
that could have been proved to have been
prevented by wearing an approved helmet, said individual would not be able to
receive any public health care funding.
WHOA! Hold on a minute there. This
DID NOT have the effect of placating us
that he had hoped for. He managed to get
a bunch of people real p.o.’d real quick.
(Side note, for the best piece of writing
debunking the social burden myths, Steve
Zimmer’s two articles in Volume 7 of the
MRF “White Paper”. It is not yet available on line, but if you’d like to see it,
email me. I provided Council a copy of
this, along with the afore-mentioned Paul
Carpenter article, the LB&FC report and
ABATE’s press release of said report.)
08 July 2008 is a date that will go down
as one of the great days to be alive.
Councilman Drozd brought up his issue
and ended up embarrassed, flustered,
beyond a teeny bit tense, I’d dare to say
humiliated, and obviously not prepared
for the onslaught he had coming at him!
We had 14 people for us and a big, fat
ZERO supporting his position! Council
honored the request to speak to six of our
members, all of which were bright, articulate, well-informed and virtually bulletproof!! It’s been a long time since I’ve
felt so proud to be among a group of people who came together when we needed
to and got the job done! Y’all were
great!!!! Y’all were well beyond great!!!
It isn’t often that you actually get to witness your opposition become visibly
shaken and become progressively more
unglued before your very eyes, but what a
glorious feeling it is when it happens.
Thank you all so much for allowing me
that pleasure! I look forward to Round 2
with great anticipation.
Oh yeah, I guess I should tell you the
final outcome. As with all Resolutions
brought before Council, they are referred
to the appropriate committee for further
investigation. This was referred to the
Committee on Public Safety, the Chair of
which is Councilman James Burn (and he
IS one of the good guys!). He expects
this to be heard before July’s end and
wants us to come back to present our
positions. (This in itself is an oddity, for
generally mere mortals are not permitted
to speak at committee meetings unless
requested to do so.) I’ll certainly keep
you posted.
Enjoy your summer and do what you can
to make the difference. We here in
Western PA certainly are!
Live to be Free!
Lynn
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 15
Missouri & Kansas Thank MODOT for
“Looking Out for Motorcycles”
Deanna Norris
Freedom of Road Riders
Local 5 South Kansas City
need them to. They are going to move them
from sign to sign around the state of
Missouri and Kansas.
I have been working on a project with
MODOT for a month or so now to put
something about Motorcycle safety on the
Digital Scout Boards you see on the highways. I sent out a statewide email asking
for everyone to please send me ideas for
these signs back in March. The response
was outstanding. I had 240 emails full of
Great ideas. I went thru every email personally and pulled out any that I thought
we could use.
I talked to them last Friday April 11th, and
they have the Road Worker Safety
Campaign going on right now, but hope to
have our signs up and running by the time
the weather breaks-maybe the end of this
week.
Then my husband Doug and I went thru the
lists again and again until we twiddled it
down to 20. Top 10 long ones, and the top
10 short ones, since the signs are different
sizes. I presented this to the gentleman at
MODOT on March 21st. Since then,
MODOT has taken our list and worked it
around to fit on the boards the way they
Please be patient though, he is doing everything he can to meet this deadline.
This will all be sponsored by myself and
Freedom of Road Riders. The only way to
cut down on the needless loss of life out
there is to make people aware. Hopefully
this will help do just that.
So keep your eyes out for the signs across
the State of Missouri and Kansas. You
never know, a suggestion you sent might
just be there. Feel free to shoot me an email
and tell me which one you saw and where
it was.
I can't tell you how important this project is
to me and all motorcyclists out there. I
want to thank you all again for all of your
ideas and participation. The support has
been great.
Here is the list of the top 20 that I presented and I will email again when the signs
are up on the boards.
FORR & MODOT Board messages
Long messages
1. Look Twice, Save a life, Motorcycles are
everywhere
2. Be nice, look twice, Motorcycles are
everywhere
3. Motorcycle Awareness begins with you!
4. Share the road Motorcyclists have families too!
5. Be Alert accidents hurt…Watch for
motorcycles!
6. Be Safe, Be Aware, motorcycles are
everywhere.
7. Look, Listen, Let Live, motorcyclists are
everywhere.
8. Be Aware of Motorcycles sharing the
road
9. Save a Life, Be Aware, Motorcycles are
everywhere
10. Motorcyclists see you. Do you see
them?
Short messages
1. Save A Life, Watch for Motorcycles.
2. Share the road with Motorcycles!
3. Start seeing Motorcycles!
4. Look Twice for Bikes!
5. Watch for Motorcycles!
6. Motorcycles are everywhere!
7. Practice Motorcycle Awareness!
8. Please watch for Motorcycles!
9. Look again for Motorcycles!
10. Motorcycles share our roads.
GOOD JOB ALL! Thank you .
The 24th Annual Meeting of the Minds 2008, Denver, Colorado
Deb Butitta announces that the MRF A&E has been offically recognized to do
business.
Thursday night at the “Meet the Board/Meet the States” Session
Carol Downs, MRF Conference Director, makes some announcements before the Panel
Discussion Session
Miscellaneous auction items
Page 16
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
Anti-Gang Legislation: Violating the Right to Freely Associate
of these bills, the General Assembly
reported that the State of North Carolina
was in a state of crisis caused by violent
street gangs whose members threaten, terrorize, and commit a multitude of crimes
against the peaceful citizens of their
neighborhoods, presenting a clear and
present danger to public order and safety.
Doc Ski
SSMRO Rep
There has never been a more urgent need
to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today. Illegal
government spying, provisions of the
Patriot Act, and government-sponsored
torture programs transcend the bounds of
law and violate our most treasured values
in the name of national security. Forty
five days after the attacks of September
11, the Patriot Act was signed into law.
Some of the provisions of this act threaten
our fundamental freedoms by allowing
access to medical and tax records, information about books you buy or borrow,
and the power to break into your home
and conduct illegal secret searches without probable cause.
On the national level, the ACLU and other
citizen advocacy groups are embattled in
legal proceedings to clarify and rectify
elements of the Patriot Act. Only time
and the careful consideration of these
issues will reveal the extent to which our
rights have been violated. Closer to
home, however, we face a more immediate threat to our privacy, and our right to
associate freely. There appears to be a
national movement by state legislatures, to
enact bills to reduce the impact of criminal street gangs within individual states.
This article will report on North
Carolina’s experiences with anti-gang legislation.
At the beginning of the 2007-2008 legislative session, the NC General Assembly
introduced two separate bills related to
street gangs (HB 274, and SB 1358). In
the legislative findings and intent section
The General Assembly’s stated intent was
to insure the right of every person to be
secure and protected from fear, intimidation, and physical harm caused by the
activities of violent groups and individuals. It was not the intent of these bills to
interfere with the exercise of the constitutionally protected rights of freedom of
expression and/or association. In fact, the
General Assembly purported to recognize
the constitutional right of every citizen to
harbor and express beliefs on any lawful
subject whatsoever, to associate lawfully
with others who share similar beliefs, to
petition lawfully constituted authority for
a redress of perceived grievances, and to
participate in the electoral process.
Following such a dramatic introduction, it
was clear that our legislature intended to
pass some sort of street-gang-prevention
legislation. Over the course of two years
CBA/ABATE worked together with The
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
and The Families Against Mandatory
Minimum Sentencing (FAMM) to help
our legislators craft legislation that would
be appropriate to meet their expressed
concerns over the growing street-crime
problem in North Carolina, and yet be
palatable to freedom loving organizations
such as ours.
The final version of the Senate bill (The
Street Gang Prevention Act) provided $10
million in grants to local communities for
establishing social programs to reduce
gang influence on youth. The House bill
(The Street Gang Suppression Act)
focused on criminalizing citizens for exercising their right to freely associate. This
following discussion will focus on the
definitions related to criminal street gangs,
the new crimes created by this act, and the
consequence enhancements that this act
put into play in North Carolina.
Probably the most obvious difficulty in
writing legislation of this nature is defining a criminal street gang and criminal
street gang activities. Definitions in the
original bills were very circular in nature:
“You are a street gang if you conduct
street gang activities.”
After careful deliberations, North Carolina
legislators settled on the following as a
definition of Criminal street gang: “A
criminal street gang is a formal or informal group of three or more individuals
whose primary purpose is to commit
felonies. A criminal street gang may share
a common name, sign, or symbol. A
criminal street gang will have 3 or more
members who engage in a pattern of criminal street gang activity.”
The saving grace of this definition is the
need for the evidence to establish that the
“primary purpose” of the organization is
to “commit felonies”. This “primary purpose” must be established for each incident, and is determined by the trial judge,
not by a local law enforcement agency.
This provision may help reduce the preemptive mis-identification of innocents by
over-zealous law enforcement agencies,
which has been evidenced in other states.
The NC legislature defines “pattern of
criminal street gang activity” as committing, soliciting, or coercing another to
commit criminal acts for the advantage of
a criminal street gang. The specific
crimes cited include all crimes under the
controlled substance act of NC and most
offenses under NC criminal law. Finally,
engaging in or having a conviction for 2,
or more, incidents of criminal street gang
activity, is defined as a “pattern of criminal street gang activity.”
The street gang activity provisions suggest
that if 3 or more members of your organization have engaged in, or committed, 2
or more of the crimes cited (i.e., possession of marijuana, writing bad checks,
and/or spousal abuse) your organization
has conducted a pattern of criminal street
gang activity. At this point, you are still
protected by the “primary purpose” provision of the law, but these violations may
predispose the judge to lean more toward
a conclusion of “primarily felonious purpose” and depending upon other argu-
ments you could be declared a criminal
street gang member.
If convicted as a member of a criminal
street gang, you would face stiffer consequences. A class A1 misdemeanor can be
treated as a class A1 felony. Provisions of
this law may be cause for the state to seize
any declared contraband acquired from
your criminal activity. You could also be
subjected to more restrictive pre-trial
release conditions, and eligible for
enhanced sentencing for your crimes ( i.e.
use/threat of deadly weapon = 60 months
extra).
You are also likely to be charged with new
crimes established by this bill, such as
soliciting or coercing participation in a
street gang, or threats of retaliation for
attempting to withdraw from a street gang.
The consequences are even stiffer for
soliciting or threatening a minor.
If you do not already have an anti-gang
law established in your state, you can
expect to see one soon. Anti-Gang legislation is not necessarily a threat to streetgangs alone. The membership and structure of many SMROs fits the definition
(other than the felonious purpose provision). The way the law is written will
guide its implementation by law enforcement and interpretation by the judicial
system.
The results of two years of collaborative
work in North Carolina did not result in a
perfect law. In fact, the law may be very
difficult to live with, but it is better than
the original draft. It is clear that it will
need further clarification by the courts,
and may well be misused against innocent
citizens before it is completely understood.
It is, however, the best we could do with
the limited resources available to us. If
you do not yet have an anti-gang law in
your state, this discussion may help you to
guide your law in an appropriate direction,
or (better yet) prevent its passage. Good
Luck.
Keep the Faith!
doc ski
Introducing the Motorcycle Riders Foundation Awareness &
Education, Inc. (MRFA&E)
At MOTM we introduced a newly formed
company called the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation Awareness & Education, Inc.
(MRFA&E). A few years ago the MRF felt the
need to form a 501c3 company to help promote rider education, network with the riders
of motorcycle rights community and obtain
grant money from various organizations and
companies who align with the beliefs of the
MRFA&E. A MRFA&E Legacy program will
be formed as well to accept money from a person’s estate after death to continue the work of
educating the motorcyclist of the nation. The
MRFA&E Board of Directors are Deborah
Butitta as Chairperson, Carol Downs as
Treasurer and Chuc Coulter as Secretary;
please feel free to contact any of us. MRFA&E
will be housed in an office at the same location
as MRF office in Washington DC.
Thank you,
We can now accept donations to be used for
awareness and education. We will keep you
posted as the company develops further.
Comments and questions are welcome send to
deb@mrf.org.
Deborah Butitta
Board of Director Chairperson
Motorcycle Riders Foundation Awareness &
Education, Inc.
236 Massachusetts Ave NE #510
Washington DC 20002
202.546.0983 / cell: 928.308.1117
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 17
Fear and Loathing at the Membership Table in Denver
By Polly Schoeller
Assistant to the Membership Director
“Fear and Loathing” at the membership
table in Denver this sounds like an article
from a certain Gonzo journalist, as the 1st
of October approaches and another Meeting
of the Minds has come to a close we do
face fear at the membership table. The
MRF Traveling Road Show made another
appearance in Denver at the Denver Tech
Center Marriott. As we face the fall and
the New Year 2009 ahead Membership in
and to the MRF is a top priority.
The 2008 MOTM Conference went well,
the rematch between the Bibs and Kilts
proved to be a great success, especially for
the Kilts. The auction brought great items
and a few tears as a special quilt was last to
be auctioned off, made from a T-Shirt from
our dear friend and former President Buck
Kittredge. It wil hang in the office in
Washington, DC a fitting home for a
Freedom Fighters
Quilt. Where does the fear and loathing
part come in you ask?
Fear comes from the fact we still need to
build our membership numbers in order to
survive, loathing from the numbers we face
in our membership fight here in the 21st
century. As a nation that is one of the
strongest in Motorcycle riders and ownership, why are we not all Freedom Fighters
and Members of the one organization that
not only fights for your right to ride but
your ultimate right for Freedom? Freedom
to enjoy the liberties we all prize and enjoy.
Freedom to customize and ride a bike of
our own creation and choice, Freedom to
maintain a way of life that we all hold dear,
old school and new school riders alike! We
gained 25 new members who took up the
fight for the right to ride free and we had
38 freedom fighters renew and maintain
their right to ride free.
Year! The MRF needs you to renew your
membership and not only continue the fight
to live and ride free but to help us grow by
inspiring others to take up and join the fight
for Freedom. We are still the nation’s voice
for Motorcycle Rights but we need your
help. Won’t you please reconsider your
membership if it has expired, and join us in
the fight to maintain our liberties and to
ride free and safe on our nations highways!
Polly Schoeller
Assistant MRF Membership Chair
Abate of IA, CO, WI, MN, MI & IL
Yet we still face a fight ahead in the New
MRFPAC Donates to Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp’s Campaign
On Saturday, August 30th, several
CMT/ABATE and MRF members had the
pleasure of attending the annual Zach
Wamp Summer Picnic at Mandeleigh
Farms in McDonald, TN. Zach, as you
may know, is Tennessee’s 3rd District
United States Representative.
Kevin and Chick Elsworth, members of the
Tennessee Valley Charter of CMT/ABATE,
Brooklyn Tom (State Director) & Maureen
Quaranto, and MRF Assistant State Rep
Carol Simpson were there to present a
MRFPAC FUND check to Zach from the
Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF).
Carol Simpson, who works for the
Tennessee General Assembly as a “regular”
job that puts peanut butter on the table,
took pictures of the presentation, with the
folks gathered around her 1984 FXRT. IN
the background is a 1930’s(?) Buick touring
car that had the SAME EXACT PAINT
scheme as the RT! A supporter of
Congressman Wamp had part of his classic
car collection on display.
Zach was easy to talk to, very personable
and more than happy to pose with us for
our pictures. Last November Congressman
Wamp was in the forefront of the MRF
Press Release regarding NTSB. From the
beginning of his service in the House of
Presenting the check to Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp
Representatives, (1994), Zach Wamp has
been an exemplary supporter of motorcyclists and our political issues. Often, Zach
borrows a motorcycle and rides along in the
annual Trail of Tears Motorcycle Ride.
Look for more good things to come from
this statesman—particularly if he decides to
run for Governor of Tennessee in 2010.
We also visited with Kevin and Chick’sTN
State Representative, Eric Watson, a supporter and friend of CMT/ABATE. We
took turns having our pictures taken with
Eric and our motorcycles. Several other
friendly state representatives were there and
shared in the commaraderie. All in all this
was a great day meeting with super people,
and has been stated many times, “all politics is local.” It is so important for all of us
to get out there and talk with the people
who can help us with our concerns and priorities, our state and national representatives.
Many thanks to the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation Political Action Committee for
approving this donation and allowing
CMT/ABATE members in the state to
present it at a local function. I think we got
a lot of bang for our bucks!
Respectfully submitted by Carol Simpson
Carol Simpson and Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp
Page 18
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
Around the USA
Arizona
“Still Ray” Fitzgerald
MRF Asst. State Representative
All,
We have dealt with 'No colors' policies for years.
Last week at an event in Kingman, AZ (Bike
Night) in a local bar, the state Liquor board, in
conjunction with the State and County Police and
Sherriff's office, raided the bar blocking the
streets and alley, detaining everyone while they
went over everyone and everything with the K9
units. The SWAT team would not allow anyone to
leave. They held the owner in the backroom
going over papers, etc. The short version, if the
owner refused to enact a 'No Colors" policy he
would lose his liquor license. The State has
forced him to refuse service to Patchholders. A
Club member asked one of the cops if they could
stay when the police were leaving and was
told,"Only if you remove your colors".
In the past, the problem was the owners unwillingness to give up their "right to refuse service to
anyone" privilege making this a hard case to
argue at the Capitol, as AZ law follows the U.S.
law when dealing with discrimination: race,
creed, religion, etc., not attire. As a resolution to
this, our lobbyists struck an agreement with the
Restaurants and Bar Owner's Assoc. several years
ago (Deb Butitta was our lobbyist at the time).
They agreed to take down their signs on their
own, or at least plead our case to their membership. It certainly wasn't Law but it was better than
what we had.
Now we have the Government shoving this down
our throats.
the problem. We are pleased with the PSA. It is
the car pulling out on to an intersection and the
motorcycle creams into the car. As of this writing
Bikes, Blues and BBQ will run the same time as
the Meeting of the Minds, so I will not see the
pamphlets, stickers, etc until I come back from
Denver. We were a little disappointed in the fact
that time was a factor in what the grant money
went for this year. It seemed that the State Police
had made the decision for everything that was
done, only getting the board to approve what they
presented. It has taken them a lot of time in getting everything set up correctly. We will give
them the benefit of the doubt this first time, but
hopefully the Board will have more input as to
how the money is spent in 2009.
ABATE of Arkansas members have been working on a motorcycle awareness program to take
into classrooms and meetings. It is called Safer
Streets for Everyone or SSFE. In October the
State Board will find out what the proposed cost
of this program will be. Hopefully it can be
worked into the budget for the coming year.
Ride Free Arkansas PAC has sent out the candidate questionaire. We have had some quick
responses. The results of the questionaire will be
posted on the ABATE web-site and newsletter.
To the MRF 'family', I would like to take this
time to Thank everyone for a wonderful job you
each do!!! The knowledge and commitment is
TRUELY appreciated and such an inspiration!!
Thank-You!!
And to everyone--I hope you have a safe and
wonderful holiday season!!!
Ride Free, Ride Safe,
The question, does this occur in your state? If so,
what is being done about it? Legislatively or judicially?
Connie
Thank you for your time, please advise.
Still Ray
Joni Davis-Carter
President, Local 34
ABATE of California
Arkansas
Connie Shepherd
MRF State Representative
Arkansas's motorcycle safety board met in July
and finalized the plans for spending the 2008
2010 grant money in order to apply for the 2009
funds. Among the things that was presented to
the board were billboards in several major cities,
television PSA's, pamplets, stickers and other
paper items. The Arkansas State Police added
$50,000.00 to the $100,000.00 that Arkansas
received, as the Legislature will have to amend
the current law to increase license fees . (In
order for a state to receive the grant money, the
motorcyclist are required to pay into a fund used
to promote motorcycle safety and awareness.) As
most know, our Legislature meets every other
year. They will amend this law when they return
to session in January of 2009.
The billboards were seen in August, the PSA's
started running in September and they are going
to present the pamplets, stickers and other paper
items during Bike's, Blues and BBQ at the end of
September. The billboards were a little disappointing. They show only a part of a motorcycle,
most said you could not really tell what it was, as
it was a side view of only the motor. No full side
view of the motorcycle or motorcyclists. Hard to
tell what you are suppose to look for!! Rodney
Farley, Chairman of ABATE of Arkansas, and
Tom Wewers, Rider's Ed Coordinator for ABATE
of Arkansas are members of this board. They
have asked that the billboards be done in a better
way, so people will understand what they should
watch for. The State Police said they would see
what the firm that made the signs could do to fix
California
Here in Kings County, we have had this CHP
officer Savage, (and he was), He was in the
Coalinga Hills almost a 1/2 hr. away from
Hanford. Well this CHP officer would get you
every time whether you were legal or not and
give you a helmet ticket. His words he preached
were "I CAN SPOT A ILLEGAL HELMET
FROM A MILE AWAY".
et.
Colorado
Miles France
MRF State Representative
First off “THANK-YOU” to each of you who
made the MOTM’s in Denver. The weather was
fantastic as well as the conference. This was
another incredible learning experience and all
that you have learned you can now share with
your brothers and sisters.
ABATE of Colorado did one fine job of hosting
the MOTM’s and all their hard work is very much
appreciated.
Those of you who went on the Karen Bolin
Memorial Ride got to see the beautiful gold in our
majestic mountains.
Each year I ride all over our country and this year
when I returned home I actually questioned why
I keep leaving when Colorado has so much to
offer. Now I’m working on a “Bucket List” to
cover every square inch of my aspiring state.
Welcome to each of our new MRF Members and
“THANK-YOU” to all that support the organization that supports our rights.
Ride with the”EAGLE”,
Miles
From Deb Craig:
Anyone who has known me for more than a few
minutes, knows I am not the best at public speaking. Anyone who attended the 2008 Meeting of
the Minds banquet and awards ceremony certainly knows!
We all know the significance of the John
‘Farmer’ Eggers Award and it holds a special
meaning for each recipient. To be nominated by
one’s peers for this award is an indescribable
honor! Even now, it’s difficult to put into words
what I feel.
I am proud to be able to stand in the company of
those former recipients who, in my mind, are
among the best in the business. After all, I feel I
learned from the best. I hope that I will do as well
for those who learn from me.
All that’s left to say is Thank You... all of you!
Well, he was transferred to Hanford and within 2
weeks he had written about 52 helmet tickets, he
would pull over a pack of riders and give out 8
tickets to that group of 11.
Everyone was coming to me about this to see
what could be done.
Well between a couple of us talking to the CHPs
and trying to get the lowdown on this guy, Oct.
1,08 one of my life time members of ABATE
Local 34 of Hanford, finally got to talk to the
right person. Townsend showed the CHP their
bulletin, policy #59 and also #71. With this information, CHP Officer Mark Karis of Kings
County said CHP Officer Savage, nor will any
other CHP Officer be giving out anymore Helmet
tickets unless you are wearing a Helmet of a different sport, i.e. football helmet, etc.
So what this means is, anyone with a helmet ticket right now will not have to pay it. You will still
need to go to the courts to have them dismissed.
If you paid your ticket, sorry, cause there will be
no refunds.
This info will go to all court clerks and Judges, so
if you happened to not get this info and somehow
got to the judge, he will dismiss your helmet tick-
Connecticut
Ron Troia
MRF State Representative
We are still on the edge of our seats here in
Connecticut waiting to see what our legislature
will do this coming session regarding the possibility of a mandatory helmet law. The summertime talk seems to have quieted down but our legislators go back into session this winter so that
talk may be revived. There is the chance that all
the problems with our financial markets, the high
cost of gasoline and home heating fuel will keep
the rascals busy and not even look at us. We are
keeping our fingers crossed but at the same time
the leadership of the Connecticut Motorcycle
Riders Association is gearing up for the battle
should it happen. We are gathering information
to find out who will be our friends so we can formulate plans and also finding out who our adversaries will be so that we can contact them and
attempt persuade them to change their position.
We are facing our most serious threat in many
years but I do believe we can prevail with a united front. Join the CMRA, MRF, and the AMA!
Protect your right to ride today and always.
The CMRA still has some late summer events on
the horizon. The next one will be on Sunday,
September 28th 12:00 Noon-5:30 at The Cadillac
Ranch, 45 Jude Lane, Southington, CT. Live
music by Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood,
Shovelhead and special guest appearance from
Desiree Bassett. There will be some great raffles
there. After that we have our annual Toy Run on
October 5, 2008 – Meeting between 9 am and
Noon at Hubbard Park in Meriden. Run leaves at
12:30 pm. A toy or gift is required. And the
Season
Finale: November 8th Franco American Club, 95
Liberty Street, Meriden from 7 pm to Midnight.
Please consult the web site at www.thecmra.com
for further details on any upcoming events.
We in Connecticut have suffered way too many
motorcycle fatalities this year including two who
I had personal ties to. Please think and prepare
before you ride. Ride as defensively as you possibly can. Your life may depend upon it.
Ron Troia
Connecticut
Iowa
Jodi Cain
MRF State Representative
Six times a year we have an opportunity to put an
article in the MRF Reports to let everyone know
what is going on in our state. I have struggled
with this because it seems that there aren’t a lot of
BIG things going on in Iowa.
At MOTM I listened to what was going on in
other states and as Hardtail reviewed the list in
General Session I heard a lot of familiar topics.
As I chatted with others I heard the successes and
failures that they have gone through in the last
year regarding training and awareness and helmets and… well, you know, the same things we
all see.
Since MOTM in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we have
remained a free state when it comes to helmets.
ABATE of Iowa is now presenting our Share the
Road program to about 10,000 people a year. Our
Riders Education program is teaching over 300
people a year. Slider Gilmore’s Two Wheel
Trauma class is still going strong. We made two
trips to Washington to tell our Senators and
Congressmen, in person, how we wanted to be
represented. The second trip we hand carried
hundreds of letters from our membership asking
that our 2010 funds be used for awareness and
education instead of safer crashing. We found a
way to raise funds to go to DC without dipping
into our PAC or General funds. We held a Lobby
Breakfast in Des Moines to shake hands with the
ones that represent us there. We welcomed thousands of bikers to Freedom Park for another successful Freedom Rally. Our own Jeremie Barrett
was one of three winners of the MRF Young
Activist Scholarship. We increased our membership in the MRF.
We saw a change in leadership. After 13 years
Steve Rector chose not to run again and stepped
down as ABATE of Iowa State Coordinator. Phil
McCormick, a long time Assistant State
Coordinator, has stepped up to the challenge.
Steve will not be going far as the Board of
Directors immediately created an ExOfficio position for him.
I stepped up to be a State CoRep for the MRF and
Polly stepped down. Polly also did not go far as
she is still a District MRF Representative as well
as Assistant to John Pierce, Director of
Membership for the MRF.
There may not be a lot of BIG things going on in
Iowa but there are a lot of GOOD things. I guess
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 19
Around the USA
that is not a bad thing to write about six times a
year.
Respectfully submitted,
Jodi Cain
Massachusetts
Dave Condon
MRF Asst. State Representative
The Board of Directors for the Massachusetts
Motorcycle Association met at their regularly
scheduled monthly board meeting on Wednesday
October 1, 2008. This was also the scheduled
Annual meeting for the MMA. The purpose of
the meeting was to conduct the regular business
of the MMA and to elect board members to positions on the board.
This year there were three positions that needed
to be filled and voted on by the members of the
board. Two vacancies were as a result of incumbents not seeking another term and one position
has been vacant for some time now. The three
positions, up for election were that of Chairman,
Director of Government Relations, and District
Two Manager.
The results of the elections are as follows:
Dave Condon of Salem, MA and most recently
the District One Manager has been elected to a
three year term as the Chairman
Rick Gleason of Falmouth MA a long time supported and Life Member of the MMA has been
elected to a 3 year term as the District Two
Manager
The other open position of Director of
Government Relations will remain open and the
board will seek a candidate as no qualified members of the MMA chose to seek this position.
A board vote followed the elections and Richard
Schofield of Bedford, MA was elected to the
position of District One Manager, the position
vacated by Condon.
Condon stated “The MMA Board of Directors
would like to recognize the two long serving, and
dedicated Board Members that did not seek
reelection this year. Kevin Griffin (Chairman) of
Plymouth, MA and Paul Cote (Director of
Government Relations) of Amesbury, MA both
served with distinction, dedication, and had tireless efforts for the motorcyclists of the State of
Massachusetts and their service will be greatly
missed. We wish them the best of luck in all their
future endeavors and it is our hope they remain as
active members of the association”.
Michigan
Mike “Fiz” Przybylo
MRF State Representative
In Michigan we are still fighting to amend our
helmet law; we made it through the House and
Senate only to be vetoed (once again) by our
Governor. We have not given up though and are
pursuing several methods to challenge her veto.
We are also pursuing SB104, a Right of Way bill
to end injustice to motorcyclists, bicyclists and
pedestrians. Other ongoing topics include getting
our fair share of education allocation and pursuing an amendment to the Michigan Catastrophic
Claims Association (MCCA), an insurance
anomaly that exists only in Michigan and unfairly targets motorcyclists.
Minnesota
Michael Berger
MRF Assistant State Rep
Things are pretty quiet this time of year in
Minnesota. Our state legislature is not in session
right now, although once they convene early in
2009 our SMROs will be hard at work in getting
the failure-to-yield legislation passed. Good
progress was made in the previous session, and
there is strong indications that this year may be
the year that increased penalties for those who
commit failure-to-yield offenses passes into law.
Once again Minnesota qualified for 2010 funding
and was awarded $116,000.00. The plans as of
now are for the state to use these funds in a similar fashion as last year, with the money going to
fund public awareness campaigns and to maintain
the state’s fleet of training motorcycles.
Finally, A.B.A.T.E. of MN put together its yearly
legislative questionnaire. This document is sent
to all those running for office in the state and asks
questions pertaining to how a legislator views
helmet laws, failure-to-yield penalties and other
relevant motorcycle-rights issues. These results
are then published in Roadnoise, the monthly
publication of A.B.A.T.E. of MN, so that all its
members can know where their candidates stand
on motorcycle rights. Our governor, Tim
Pawlenty, stands behind motorcyclists’ freedoms,
and we appreciate his support. But while he is not
up for re-election this year, just about everyone
else in the state is, and it’s important to know
where not only the incumbents but their opponents stand.
Until next time, stay shiny!
Mike
Missouri
Kathy Garver
MRF Assistant State Rep
Our legislative session runs from January through
May each year. However pre-filing of bills starts
in December. We have already begun work on
our legislative agenda for 2009 and stand ready to
pre-file several bills at this time. In addition to
watching for bills that will adversely affect
motorcycling in the State of Missouri, we will be
actively working on our helmet modification bill
and our comparative fault bill to put a stop to
insurance companies alleging a rider is partially
at fault for the accident and/or their injuries based
upon the type of vehicle being operated at the
time of the accident. In addition we are working
directly with the MRF to develop language for a
right to repair bill.
By the time this report comes out we will know
whether we were successful in our efforts to elect
a governor that will support motorcyclists rights.
If not, we will do our best to work with an elected official who does not believe in freedom of
choice.
Quote of the Day: He that would make his own
liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from
opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself.
~Thomas Paine
Nevada
Dale Andrus Co-Rep Nevada MRF
John Bland Co-Rep Nevada MRF
News from Nevada, Our Southern A.B.A.T.E.
chapter President has been testifying before the
transportation committee on how to increase
taxes for Nevada. For the first time it looks like
they may be listening. Mike "Bones" Davis presented them with the number of tax dollars that
could be generated if Nevada changed the
Protective Headgear to freedom of choice. He is
working with a couple of senators (Beers &
Titus) on this issue. John and myself will be
working with our rider safety program people on
a share the road program. We are waiting for the
election results, so we know who will be on legislative committees.
Our legislative session
starts in February 2009, John and I will be lobbying for that session again. We are planning a
Lobby Day during session, an idea we picked up
at MOTM in Denver.
are now being streamlined on the internet. See the
following websites for more info about Texas and
the issues we are working on: http://texaspoliticsbikerstyle.com;
http://www.texasabate.com;
http://tmra2.org
As some of you may know we are in need of
more members to be able to continue with the
work that needs to be done. I didn't know how
many State Reps were sustaining members, but
there are some. I will be sending in my sustaining membership. If you want to keep up the fight
in D.C. go out and sign up as many people as you
can, if we don't, we will lose much more than we
can ever recover.
Hay libertad en el viento.
Dale Andrus Co-Rep Nevada MRF
John Bland Co-Rep Nevada MRF
Texas
Revvv Kieffner, MRF State Rep
Robin Warfield, MRF Branch Rep
SPUTNIK says we’re now working on election
campaigns. He’s traveling all over Texas helping
out key candidates. Now is the time to pick one—
any candidate in any race that can win this election. It’s like horseracing: it doesn’t matter which
horse, as long as we’re part of the race. Now we
should go to the one we want to bet on and tell
that candidate that you’re a (TMRA2 or Texas
ABATE or etc.) motorcyclist. And to volunteer to
put up signs, knock on doors, work phone trees,
or whatever the candidate needs. That way they
remember us and we can ALL win, next go
round. It doesn’t take that much time and you
meet lots of interesting people. You never know
where that takes you.
We’re going to need the state candidates that
we’re putting into office. In Texas, we might have
to fight against a helmet bill, an anti-sound bill,
and a roadblock bill come January. They want to
quiet us down, tell us how to dress, and stop us
from riding. You don’t want to put your money on
those 3. One of them is a senator who presently
chairs the Texas Senate Transportation
Committee. The one that brought out a helmet
bill in 2007 when we beat him in his own committee. He shouldn’t be so forgetful.
So many individual motorcyclists in his district
(16, the Dallas-Fort Worth Area) are supporting
his opponent RAIN LEVY MINNS. See
http://campaign@rainfortexas.org/. Lots of good
candidates like her all around the Lone Star State
are seeking our support.
There is Freedom in the Wind.
Washington
Jay Jackson
MRF State Co-Representative
Hello, from the Evergreen State. The legislative
session doesn’t start in Washington until after the
first of the year so we still have some time to
decide exactly what will be our focal point for
this year. Of course there is always the matter of
helmets, which are required here for all riders. It
is interesting that in the local newspapers one of
the first things reported is that the rider was wearing a helmet. I’m beginning to think that the helmet may be the cause of the crash! Even when a
motorcycle is run over by a car, helmet usage is
stated before any other contributing factors.
Unfortunately, the “returning rider” has been the
most frequent accident victim lately. This past
weekend a man crashed on his first ride after buying his Harley. It seems a rider safety class would
have been a great idea.
Washington State ABATE will hold its
S.T.E.A.M. October 17 – 19 and the legislative
question will be settled then so we will be fully
prepared for Black Thursday in January. Texas
Larry Walker will be the Legislative presenter for
S.T.E.A.M. and I’m sure he will give us some
good leadership. He said that the Washington
Road Riders will probably work on a version of
the HIPPA to give riders protection on the state
level while work continues on the national level.
He feels like the language of HR 6908 does not
adequately protect consumers. It would surely be
beneficial if we could all pull in the same direction.
ABATE in Washington also is working on finding
a way to access some of the 2010 funds. The
head of Motorcycle Safety Program for the
Department of Licensing has complete control of
the entire package here and uses the whole sum
for TV spots in target markets. Since the most
people live in the Seattle-Tacoma area the rest of
the state gets next to nothing. Any pointers?
Awareness and education are big concerns here
too. We are looking for more people to help with
all the work to be done.
SMROs in Texas are also working on the Failure
to Yield issue. Motorcycle rights activists are
fighting to bring awareness to motorists and to
those who fail to yield and cause a crash. We are
proposing much stiffer penalties for those who
fail to yield at intersections and cause an injury or
death to a motorcyclist. We have discovered that
in Austin the fine for a failure to yield right of
way violation ($163.00) is less than the fine for
camping in a public area ($218.00) or a pedestrian walking in the roadway ($203.00). Texas is
working to help bring awareness to the growing
number of motorcyclists on the roads and highways by placing a red cross, instead of the traditional white cross, near the site of a fatal motorcycle crash. It is the goal of the Motorcycle
Fatality Awareness program to help save lives by
reminding motorists that motorcycles share the
road and to “Look Twice … Save a Life.”
Watch out for the Witches, Warlocks, Goblins,
and things that go bump in the night because the
shorter days can catch us out in the dark this time
of the year. In the Pacific Northwest we also
must be prepared for lots of wet weather. The
Turkeys in November can be a hazard too. Have
a Happy Holiday Season full of all good things—
Peace, Success, and Health.
JANUARY 26th, 2009 is LEGISLATIVE DAY in
Austin. We have a pre-event rally over there that
weekend on the 24th and 25th. Nearly all the
politicians there watch TEXAS POLITICS
BIKER STYLE, the most popular show on public access television. Certain episodes of the show
Casper City Council Cans New Noise Ordinance
Last night we had a small victory in the fight to
Ride free
Jay Jackson, Washington State Co-Rep
Typed by Glenyce Jackson, Assistant Rep
Wyoming
Russ Reddick
Wyoming State
President
A.B.A.T.E.-Vice
continued page 19
end motorcyclist discrimination. In an attempt to
stop a noise ordinance that targeted motorcy-
Page 20
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
November/December 2008
Sustaining Members
As of 14 October 2008
Alaska
ABATE of Alaska
Juneau ABATE of AK
Dan & Suezanne Coffey
Mina Douglas
Kevin Eldridge
Scott Hamann
Robert & Donn Heflin
James Max Kitchens
Frank Marineau
Boyd & Debbie McFail
Mike Seaman
Arizona
State Office MMA-AZ
State office ABATE of AZ
AZ Confederation of MC
Mountain Motorcycles Assoc
Amon Builders Inc.
INB Communications
Law Tigers of America
Deb Butitta
Curt Deweiler
Warren Levenbaum
Ed Ridder
Louis Schwitzer III
Warren & Josee Woodward
Arkansas
State Office ABATE of AR
Dist 1 ABATE of AR
Dist 22 ABATE of AR
Dist 13 ABATE of AR
Dist. 14 ABATE of AR
Dist 17 ABATE of AR
Dist 26 ABATE of AR
13 Rebels MC Chapter 5
Shepherd's Window Cleaning
USA Promotions
Phillip Barnett
Rusty Leewright
Allen Winn
California
State Office ABATE of CA
Local 6 ABATE of CA
Local 14 ABATE of CA
Local 15 ABATE of CA
Local 19 ABATE of CA
Local 58 ABATE of CA
San Diego Harley Davidson
Valley
V-Twin
Jim Brown
Hank Hallmark
Jean Hughes
Richard Mansfield
Kelvin Martin
New York Myke
Daniel Rankin
Byron Sands
Jess Sorel
Mark Thoms
Ruby Weber
Bob White
Donald Woodson
Dist 17 ABATE of CO
Dist 18 ABATE of CO
District 21 ABATE of CO
JB Janitorial, Inc.
Lafore's Inc
Nat. Assoc. of SMSA
Riders For Justice
Torch Barr & Sue Torch
Dave Christy
Jim & Renee Clark
Erik Erikson
Miles France
Jim Jones
Scot & Trish Locke
Deb Lower
Maggot Mike & Linda Neis
Chris Ryan
Sheari Shoemaker
Fred Stonebraker
Connecticut
State Office CMRA
Ronald Ogonowski
Ron Troia
District of Columbia
Howard Segermark
Delaware
Kent County Chap. ABATE of DE
Florida
State Office ABATE of FL
Estero River ABATE of FL
Gulf Coast ABATE of FL
Southwest Chapter ABATE of FL
Bruce Arnold
Claude Hamelink
Douglas MacCoy
Georgia
State Office ABATE of GA
Dist 1 ABATE of GA
District 2 ABATE of GA
Dist 4W ABATE of GA
Dist 5 ABATE of GA
Dist 6 ABATE of GA
Dist 6 Chap 2 ABATE of GA
Dist 8 ABATE of GA
District 10 ABATE of GA
District 11 ABATE of GA
Dist 13 ABATE of GA
Southland's Full Throttle Mag.
Jim & Sheila George
Hawaii
Street Bikers United Hawaii
Maui Chapter, Street Bikers United Hawaii
Canada
AMTTV
Comite' D'action Politique M/C (CAPM)
Motorcyclists Confed. of Canada
Idaho
ABATE of North Idaho
ICMS
Hoodoo Chap ABATE of N ID
Featherberry Farm
NW Classic M/C
Joel Arnoldi
Chuc Coulter
Justin Crawford
Frank Daniels
Roy Fisher
R Chris Lambing
Glen Wessel
Colorado
State Office ABATE of CO
Rider Ed ABATE of CO
Dist 1 ABATE of
Dist 5 ABATE of CO
Dist 6 ABATE of CO
Dist 7 ABATE of CO
Dist 8 ABATE of CO
Dist 10 ABATE of CO
Dist 11 ABATE of CO
Dist 13 ABATE of CO
Dist 14 ABATE of CO
Dist 15 ABATE of CO
Dist 16 ABATE of CO
Illinois
State Office ABATE of IL
Beaucoup Bottoms ABATE of IL
Black Diamond ABATE of IL
Chicago ABATE of IL
Crawford Co ABATE of IL
Crossroad ABATE of IL
DuKane ABATE of IL
Eastern IL ABATE of IL
Embarras Valley ABATE of IL
Freebird ABATE of IL
Freedom by Choice ABATE of IL
Freedom Valley ABATE of IL
Freeport Chap. ABATE of IL
Fulton Co ABATE of IL
Heart of IL ABATE of IL
Heritage Trail ABATE of IL
Iron Riders ABATE of IL
Jasper Co ABATE of IL
Kaskaskia Valley ABATE of IL
Kishwaukee Valley ABATE of IL
Liberty ABATE of IL
Lincoln Land ABATE of IL
Mid State ABATE of IL
Northern IL ABATE of IL
NW Suburban ABATE of IL
Open Roads ABATE of IL
Old River ABATE of IL
Peo Taz ABATE of IL
Piasa Gateway ABATE of IL
St. Calir Co ABATE of IL
Shawnee Hills ABATE of IL
Shoal Creek ABATE of IL
So. Dupage ABATE of IL
So. IL ABATE of IL
So. Suburban ABATE of IL
Starved Rocks ABATE of IL
Tri-County ABATE of IL
Twin Rivers ABATE of IL
Union Jack ABATE of IL
Westgate ABATE of IL
Will Co. ABATE of IL
American Harley Express
Barak’’s Truck Repair
Chap 12 Freedom Riders
Kelly’s Chicagoland Law Tigers
Law Office of Daniel Goodman
Steel Justic M/C
Rich & Barb Amling
Dave & Kat Conner
Dr. Dennis Farrell
Robert “Gopher” Goffinski
Vernon Gottel
Pib Knebel
Jim “Legs” & Paulette Korte
Donald Lopatkiewicz
Dave & Lee Martin
Bob Myers & Kathleen Skelton
Lawrence Schab
Randy Scott
Vine & Sue Starko
Jim & Marilyn Skelton
Dist 10 ABATE of IA
Dist 11 ABATE of IA
Dist 12 ABATE of IA
Dist 14 ABATE of IA
Dist 15 ABATE of IA
Dist 16 ABATE of IA
Dist 20 ABATE of IA
Dist 24 ABATE of IA
Dist 25 ABATE of IA
Chosen Few M/C
J & P Cycles
McCubbin’s Trophy’s
Second Chance Motorcycle
Sons of Silence
John Barber
Ronald Braaksma
Charlie & Norma Canny
Mark Maxwell
James & Roxana West
Mark & MJ Winslow
Mad Dog & Lady Kitty
Indiana
State Office ABATE of IN
IN MC Operators Safety Program
Region 1 ABATE of IN
Region 2 ABATE of IN
Region 3 ABATE of IN
Region 4 ABATE of IN
Region 6 ABATE of IN
Region 7 ABATE of IN
Region 9 ABATE of IN
Region 11 ABATE of IN
Region 13 ABATE of IN
Elkhart Co ABATE of IN
Lake County ABATE of IN
Laporte Co ABATE of IN
Morgan Co ABATE of IN
Pulaski Co ABATE of IN
Starke Co ABATE of IN
Ch. 423 American Legion Riders
Pit Bull Leather Co, Inc
Keith Benson
Big Chuck
Bill Creighton
John Hansen
Frank Hernly
Gino Johnson
Morris & Dee Kintner
Robert Maas
RP Morris
Michael Swadener
Robert Switzer
Rod Taylor
Iowa
State Office ABATE of IA
Dist 4 ABATE of IA
Dist 5 ABATE of IA
Dist 7 ABATE of IA
Dist 9 ABATE of IA
Maine
United Bikers of Maine
Hancock Cnty U B M
Knox County UBM
Penobscot County UBM
Sagadahoc Cnty UBM
Kansas
State Office
ABATE of KS
Dist 1 ABATE of KS
Dist 2 ABATE of KS
Dist 3 ABATE of KS
Dist 4 ABATE of KS
Dist 5 ABATE of KS
Dist 7 ABATE of KS
Dist 8 ABATE of KS
Dist 9 ABATE of KS
Dist 10 ABATE of KS
Dist 11 ABATE of KS
Dist 12 ABATE of KS
Dist 15 ABATE of KS
CAMM Enterprise, LLC
Graveyard Custom Cycles
Sledge Hammer Repair, Inc.
Chris & Carol Maurich
Kentucky
State Office KMA/KBA
District 11 KMA/KBA
Northern Dist KMA/KBA
Louisiana
State Office ABATE of LA, Inc.
Maryland
State Office ABATE of MD
Anne Arundel Co. ABATE of MD
Baltimore County ABATE of MD
Calvert County ABATE of MD
Carroll County ABATE of MD
Mid Shore Cnty ABATE of MD
Northeast Chap ABATE of MD
St. Marys County ABATE of MD
Washington County ABATE of MD
Jay Irwin Block
Pc.hlp/ Henry S Winokur
Massachusetts
State Office MMA-MA
Paul Cote
David Elias
Walter Polchlopek
Jimi Ricci
Teri Stobbs Ricci
Michigan
State Office ABATE of MI
Region 1 ABATE of MI
Region 5 ABATE of MI
Region 6 ABATE of MI
Region 7 ABATE of MI
Region 8 ABATE of MI
Region 9 ABATE of MI
Region 11 ABATE of MI
Region 12 ABATE of MI
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Page 21
Sustaining Members
Region 13 ABATE of MI
Region 15 ABATE of MI
Region 16 ABATE of MI
Region 17 ABATE of MI
Region 18 ABATE of MI
Region 19 ABATE of MI
Region 21 ABATE of MI
Carco Auto Electric
Farmer's Tavern
Last Chance Cycles
Proud Veterans Motorcycle Club
Shady Shores Inn
Tecumseh Harley Davidson
Karen Forsberg
Vince & Pam Piacenti
Cindy Priemer
Tom & Patricia Rahn
David & Wendy Ramirez
Robert Rogers
Daniel Sagataw
Ed Steinkampf
Minnesota
Assoc. of Independent Riders
St. Croix Valley Riders
State Office ABATE of MN
Buffalo Ridge ABATE of MN
Central ABATE of MN
E Central ABATE of MN
Flatlanders ABATE of MN
Freedom First ABATE of MN
Glacial Ridge ABATE of MN
Heart Of The Lakes ABATE of MN
Lake ABATE of MN
Lower Corner ABATE of MN
Metro ABATE of MN
Northeast ABATE of MN
North Star ABATE of MN
Northwest ABATE of MN
River Riders ABATE of MN
River Valley ABATE of MN
Rolling Prairie ABATE of MN
Sand Dunes ABATE of MN
So Central ABATE of MN
Tri-County ABATE of MN
Mack & Michelle Backlund
Michael & Mary Berger
Tim Burke
David “Too Tall” Carlson
Jerry Crain
Jon Krapu
Buzz Plante & Karen May
Todd & Dawn Riba
Kevin Todd
Mississippi
ABATE of MS
Missouri
Central Committee FORR
Local 29 FORR
Local 33 FORR
Mid-America Freedom Rally
Steve “Wildman” Howard
Stephen Morris
Steve Word
Montana
State Office ABATE of MT
Lower Yellowstone ABATE of MT
Joshua Herbold
Nebraska
State Office ABATE of NE
Larry & Penny Schutt
New Hampshire
Gary Delong
R. Skip Gove
Victor Sweren
New Jersey
ABATE of the Garden State
Rider Education of New Jersey
Richard Bogert
Scott Knoff
New Mexico
State Office NMMRO
State Office ABATE of NM
First Mountain ABATE of NM
Rio Rancho ABATE of NM
Tularosa Basin ABATE of NM
NM Confederation of Clubs
Southern N.M. Bikers Coalition
Barb Alvar
Chuck & Carolyn Ryder
New York
State Office ABATE of NY
Columbia Cnty ABATE of NY
Greene Co ABATE of NY
Monroe Cnty ABATE of NY
Onondaga Chap. ABATE of NY
Ontario Cnty Chap ABATE of NY
Orleans Co ABATE of NY
Dist 3 Road Div. AMA
Melchizedeks MC
Robert Bancroft
Susan Buck
Corky Edwards
Robert Friedrich
Prospector
James Schuyler
James “Jeddy” Tranquill
Tim Werder
Nevada
ABATE of Northern Nevada
Cecil's Custom Cycle Accessories
High Rollers Riders Assoc.
Ironcrossmen Motorcycle Club
Red Riderz of Las Vegas
Bud Evans
North Carolina
State Office CBA/ABATE of NC
Brunswick Co. CBA of NC
Cape Fear Valley CBA/ABATE
Chatham Co. CBA/ABATE of NC
Davidson Co CBA/ABATE of NC
Columbus Co. CBA/ABATE of NC
Gaston County CBA
Raleigh Chapter CBA of NC
Randolph Co. CBA of NC
Tar River Basin CBA/ABATE NC
Triad CBA/ABATE of NC
David Gore
Donald Hampton
Deb Knox
Joe Rieg
Larry & Gail Rumler
James Tuthill
North Dakota
State Office ABATE of ND
Freedom Riders M/C
FM Crusaders MC
Ohio
Concerned M/C Riders of OH
Region 8 CMRO
Region 16 CMRO
State Office ABATE of OH
Region 1 ABATE of OH
Region 4 ABATE of OH
Region 7 ABATE of OH
Region 9 ABATE of OH
Region 11 ABATE of OH
Steel Horsepower
Larry Belford
Jim Bown
Robert Jones Jr
Joe & Robin Pickens
Roland “Buzz” Ude
Michael Zaciewski Sr
Oklahoma
State Office ABATE of OK
ABATE of Tulsa
Muskogee Chap ABATE of OK
Lakes Area Ch. 13 ABATE of OK
Daniel Hill
Oregon
BikePAC of Oregon
Central Or Chap ABATE of OR
Josephine Chapter ABATE of OR
North Coast ABATE of OR
River City ABATE of OR
Salem ABATE of OR
SE Portland ABATE of OR
Washington Cnty ABATE of OR
Jerry's Custom Cycle Repair
Joy Hoover
Ken Ray
Brian Stovall
Ted & Jill Tracy
Ed Vaughn
Pennsylvania
State Office PCOM
Sate Office ABATE of PA
Allegheny Cnty ABATE of PA
Bald Eagle Mtn ABATE of PA
Blair Cnty IHRR ABATE of PA
Butler County ABATE of PA
Cambria Summit ABATE of PA
Chester Cnty ABATE of PA
Clarion Cnty ABATE of PA
Delaware Valley ABATE of PA
Fayette Cnty ABATE of PA
God's Country ABATE of PA
Keystone Chap. ABATE of PA
Lawrence Cnty ABATE of PA
Liberty Riders ABATE of PA
Mon Valley ABATE of PA
Philadelphia Ch.62 ABATE of PA
South Mountain ABATE of PA
Lancaster Harley Davidson
Susquehanna Motorcycle Club
Joe Dickey
John Garner
William Holmes
David Lydick
Rhode Island
RI Motorcycle Association
John Sullivan
South Carolina
East Cooper ABATE of SC
Greenville Cnty ABATE of SC
Lexington ABATE of SC
Low Country ABATE of SC
Pee Dee Chapter ABATE of SC
Swamp Fox Chap ABATE of SC
SC Motorcycle Rights Assoc. SC
Ralph & Stephanie Bell
South Dakota
State Office ABATE of SD
Aberdeen ABATE of SD
Black Hills ABATE of SD
Northeast ABATE of SD
Rushmore ABATE of SD
Sioux Falls ABATE of SD
Sioux River ABATE of SD
Those Guys ABATE of SD
Windriders ABATE of SD
S F & G MC
Phil & Norma Hohm
Wayne & Susan Lattau
Tennessee
MAFT (TN)
State Office CMT/ABATE
Upper Cumberland CMT/ABATE
Wheels of Thunder CMT/ABATE
Bob Edwards
Robert Forbus
Mike Mayo
Texas
Texas ABATE Confederation
Dad & Bag Lady
Robert Hall
Brenda Shea
Andy Stoody
Utah
State Office ABATE of UT
Bob & Sue Addams
Brian “B-Y” Hepworth
Michael Lythgoe
Virginia
VA Freedom Riders RACE
State Office ABATE of VA
Lonesome Pine ABATE of VA
Mason Dixon ABATE of VA
River City ABATE of VA
Scott Blankenship
Douglas Findlay
J Thomas McGrath
Ken Swartz
Vermont
United Motorcyclists of VT
Southwest Freedom Riders, Inc.
Washington
State Office ABATE of WA
Cowlitz Cnty ABATE of WA
North Kitsap Chapter ABATE WA
Pacific Cnty ABATE of WA
Rat City ABATE WA
S King Cnty ABATE of WA
Southwest ABATE of WA
Tacoma Chapter ABATE of WA
John Bolin
Jo Breneman & Mark Colling
Cindy Burger
Jay Jackson
Glenyce Jackson
Ian King
Ginger Magures
West Virginia
Upper OH Valley ABATE of WV
Wisconsin
State Office ABATE of WI
Region 1A ABATE of WI
Region 1B ABATE of WI
Region 1EABATE of WI
Region 1FABATE of WI
Region 1I ABATE of WI
Region 1H ABATE of WI
Region 1J ABATE of WI
Region 2B ABATE of WI
Region 2D ABATE of WI
Region 2EABATE of WI
Region 2FABATE of WI
Region 2H ABATE of WI
Region 2J ABATE of WI
Region 3A ABATE of WI
Region 4b ABATE of WI
Region 4C ABATE of WI
Region 7B ABATE of WI
Region 8B ABATE of WI
Capital City Riders M.C.
Heartland STEAM
Hupy and Abraham S.C.
Weigel, Carlson Blau & Clemens
Dan & Barbara Batker
Dave “Chubby” Charlebois
Dave & Susan Dwyer
John Hager
Michael Hupy
Jesse James Kittredge
Wayne & Donna Pingel
Bob & Mary Ready
Grant Wilkinson
Kirk “Hardtail” Willard
Wyoming
State Office ABATE of WY
ABATE of Cody
Platte Valley ABATE of WY
Wyoming Central ABATE
Brian & Juli Cox
Graydon Wheeler
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Board of Directors
Board Assistants
MRF Reports
Chuc Coulter
Asst. Treasurer
chuc@mrf.org
EDITOR
Mission
Statement
PRESIDENT
Kirk “Hardtail” Willard
715-421-0717
kirk@mrf.org
Todd Riba
State Reps Program Director
952-239-0929
mrfrep@abatemn.com
VICE-PRESIDENT
Michael “Boz” Kerr
773-583-2764
boz@mrf.org
John Pierce
Membership Director
901-409-7170
john@mrf.org
Justin Downs
Assist. Communications IT
justin@mrf.org
VICE PRESIDENT OF
GOV’T RELATIONS
Jeff Hennie
202-546-0983
jeff@mrf.org
Lynn Oldenburg
State Reps Board Member
301-854-0891
Sylvanlynn@verizion.net
Susan Huttman
Assist. Communications
Advertising Manager
susan@mrf.org
editor@mrf.org
602-367-9524
Tiffany Latimer
Assist. Communications PR
202-546-0983
pr@mrf.org
The FIRST of every
even-numbered month
Member Representative
Graydon Wheeler
307-575-0011
grayman61@mrf.org
SECRETARY
Paulette Korte
618-980-5622
paulette@mrf.org
TREASURER
Frank Carbone
412-760-7108
frank@mrf.org
Eric Hampton
Communications Director
602-367-9524
editor@mrf.org
Carol Downs
Conference Director
303-369-2684
downs@mrf.org
Dave Dwyer
SSMRO Board Member
608-742-0144
dad@mrf.org
Cindy Hodges
Member Representative
919-266-2653
cindy@mrf.org
Eric Hampton
editor@mrf.org
Thomas “Doc Ski” Wasileski
SSMRO Board Member
919-662-6229
doc@mrf.org
Helen Wesson
Assist. Products
usa@seark.net
Tiffany Latimer
DC Office Administrator
202-546-0983
mrfoffice@mrf.org
Polly Schoeller
Assist. Membership
polly@mrf.org
Send all submissions
for publication to:
DEADLINE
ADDRESS CHANGE
Please send in writing
to:
Motorcycle
Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington, DC
20002-4980
mrfoffice@mrf.org
Sarah Muckenhoupt
Assist. Membership
sarah@mrf.org
Jess Tepner
Webmaster
webmaster@mrf.org
MAIL TO BOARD
MEMBERS
may be sent to the MRF office
and will be forwarded. If you
must mail time-sensitive material to a board member, contact
that person by phone or email
first to make arrangements.
MRF Office
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington, DC
20002-4980
Phone: 202-546-0983
Fax: 202-546-0986
mrfoffice@mrf.org
Dave Condon
Asst. to the State Reps
Program Director
davec@mrf.org
Ex-Officio Board
Mark Buckner, Colorado
303-833-3195
markbuckner@msn.com
Jay Jackson
Motorcycle Safety/Rider Ed.
317-422-8040
jay@mrf.org
Website
Deborah Butitta, Arizona
928-308-1117
deb@mrf.org
Steve Zimmer
MRFPAC Director
614-985-4727
steve@mrf.org
http://www.mrf.org
Chuc Coulter, Idaho
208-343-7452
chuc@mrf.org
To continue developing
an aggressive, independent national advocacy for
the advancement of motorcycling and its associated
lifestyle, which is financially stable and exceeds
the needs of motorcycling
enthusiasts.
Mission
Goals
Maintain and improve
our ability to act as an
advocate before national,
state and local legislative,
executive and judicial bodies, and with private or
public entities, regarding
issues affecting motorcycles, motorcyclists or
motorcycling.
Maintain and improve
our financial base and
ensure financial stability.
Maintain and improve
our capability to meet and
exceed the needs of our
membership base and all
state motorcyclists’ rights
organizations.
Maintain and improve
our capability to be the
national information center for motorcyclists’ rights
information.
Enhance the training of
national, state and local
motorcyclists’
rights
activists.
Newsletter
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New
Are you a member of a state motorcyclist’s rights
organization? Yes No
If yes, name ____________________________________
E-mail Address
Phone
City, State, Zip
Address
Name
PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE YOUR INFORMATION:
Annual Individual Membership ...........$30
3-Year Individual Membership .............$80
Annual Joint Membership .....................$50
3-Year Joint Membership .................... $130
Annual Sustaining Membership ....... $100
Freedom Fighter Donation:
$10 $25 $ ___________________
Join and Support Motorcycle Riders
Foundation… REGISTER, VOTE, AND RIDE!
It’s time you did
something more to
protect your rights!
This newsletter is an official publication of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510, Washington, D.C. 20002-4980; phone (202)
546-0983; fax (202) 546-0986. All rights reserved. Portions may be reprinted with proper attribution. MRF Reports is published six times a year and distributed nationwide.
Opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, its officers or representatives. The
Motorcycle Riders Foundation will not knowingly contract with or do business with any entity that discriminates against motorcyclists in any way, shape or form.
For your convenience, we
can accept memberships,
donations,conference
registrations and product
orders by phone or fax, or
via our website, using
VISA, MasterCard, Discover
or American Express.
November/December 2008
MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION
Around the USA
clists, we gathered in force to speak to the city
council. I provided the city council with the
AMA’s “Sound Advice” report, Keith Ball’s
Bikernet.com Independent Noise Study, and an
article on how the Oakland police department
“backs Bikernet noise study”, as well as copies of
Portland Maine’s and Daytona Beach’s noise
ordinances. After Jim Siri and I presented our
argument, and had gone over said materials with
the council, my other brothers got their turn at the
mic. One after the other stating, “We are not
going to be singled out and discriminated against,
and oh yea and Loud Pipes Save Lives! After an
hour or so of that, the mayor asked if anyone else
wanted to speak, “please do so, but try to say
something besides loud pipes save lives. I get it.
Loud pipes save lives!” All in all the city council
got the point and tabled the subject after a few
minutes of debate to drop it or table it. Even the
mayor said he would not support the amendment,
and argued to have it dropped. Hurray for us!
Page 23
continued
wiling to do, and how we want to try to resolve
our “problem”. Wyoming Central A.B.A.T.E. has
grabbed the flag and ran with it on this.
Moreover, we will continue to stay on top of this
and hope to use it as an opportunity to work within our community and to have more influence
within our city council.
I am very proud of the members of Wyoming
Central A.B.A.T.E., and everyone in Casper ’s
motorcycling community that came together to
speak their mind and keep Casper Motorcycle
friendly. A special thank you to Keith Ball with
Bikernet.com, the AMA for supplying me with
the Sound Advice report, Chris Dulas w/ NCOM
region 1 & A.B.A.T.E. of Washington for all the
long phone calls, and the MRF for helping us to
be ready when we were called upon.
"We have won the battle, and are still fighting the
war. Together we are strong!"
Our next step is to have a brainstorming session
with the city council and determine what they are
Erik Erikson inspects his former ponytail
At the Banquet and Auction, Saturday night
We are there… watching.
Support Your Voice in
Washington, DC
Help Build MRFPAC!
Bib Versus Kilt - nice boot laces Grady... do they glow in the dark?
MRFNEWS Mailing List
Contributions of $5 and $10
can go a long way to make
our voices heard in DC
and coast-to-coast
Send to:
Motorcycle Riders Foundation,
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE,
Suite 510,
Washington, DC 20002
Please make checks payable to
MRFPAC
Donations to MRFPAC are not Tax Deductible
We cannot accept corporate checks
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation would
like you to take the time to go to our website, www.mrf.org, and sign up for our
Alerts.
Through 3 different Department Directors
and a server change we want to make certain everyone is still on our list so please
go to the following; www.mrf.org, to subscribe to our Alerts, press releases, and
Leaders Reports. It is critical with the
recent national helmet law push that
everyone has the most current information
possible.
When you get to the website you will find
the option to sign up on the left side of the
home page; Sign Up for the MRF News
Mailing List. Click this header and you
will be taken to page explaining the
process. Click the link “here” and you
will be taken to the sign-up page. Follow
the instructions there, return the email
when it is sent to you and you will be
assured of getting the latest Alerts.
Dave Dwyer
MRF Committees
COMMUNICATIONS: Eric Hampton (Chair), Jeff
Hennie, John Pierce, Michael “Boz” Kerr, Paulette
Korte, Justin Downs, Todd Riba, Cindy Hodges, Jim
“Legs” Korte, Tiffany Latimer, Jess Tepner, Susan
Huttman, Deborah Butitta
ELECTIONS: Dave Dwyer (Chair), Cindy Hodges,
Thomas J. “Doc Ski” Wasileski, Lynn Oldenburg,
Graydon Wheeler
BY-LAWS: Michael “Boz” Kerr (Chair), Carol
Downs, Kirk “Hardtail” Willard, Paulette Korte
ALCOHOL AWARENESS: Steve Zimmer (Chair),
Jeff Hennie, Lynn Oldenburg, Susan Huttman, Carol
Simpson, Thomas J. “Doc Ski” Wasileski, Jay Jackson
Announcing
Bikers Inside
The Beltway
New for 2009!
MRFPAC: Steve Zimmer (Chair), Chuc Coulter,
Dave Dwyer, Jeff Hennnie, Michael “Boz” Kerr
FINANCE: Carol Downs (Chair), Kirk “Hardtail”
Willard, Chuc Coulter, John Pierce, Paulette Korte,
Frank Carbone
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: John Pierce
(Chair), Tiffany Latimer, Sarah Muckenhoupt, Cindy
Hodges, Polly Schoeller, Todd Riba, Eric Hampton
MRFA&E: Michael “Boz” Kerr (Chair), Susan
Huttman, Jeff Hennie, Paulette Korte, Jay Jackson,
Thomas J. “Doc Ski” Wasileski
CONFERENCE & EVENTS: Carol Downs (Chair),
Kirk “Hardtail” Willard, Jeff Hennie, Cindy Hodges,
Carol Simpson, Todd Riba, Steve Zimmer, Lynn
Oldenburg
Join the MRF and Rights Groups
From Around The Country
At the US Capitol Complex
In Asking Congress To
Preserve Funding for Motorcycle
Awareness and Rider Education
Programs (2010 funds)
PRODUCTS: Carol Downs (Chair), Polly Schoeller,
Helen Wesson, Frank Carbone
Ride To Washington DC This Year
FUNDS STEERING: Todd Riba (Chair), Kirk
“Hardtail” Willard, Cindy Hodges, Jay Jackson, Mark
Buckner, John Pierce, Jim “Legs” Korte
Motorcyclists’ Lobby Day
RESEARCH & STATISTICS: Thomas J. “Doc Ski”
Wasileski (Chair), Paulette Korte, Jeff Hennie, Kirk
“Hardtail” Willard, David Tusche, Jay Jackson, John
Pierce
Bring Your Bikes Inside The Capitol Grounds
May 2009
MRF REPS &REPS GROWTH: Todd Riba, Cindy
Hodges (Co-chairs), Polly Schoeller, Tiffany Latimer,
Carol Simpson, Lynn Oldenburg, John Pierce, Dave
Condon, Tiffany Latimer, Graydon Wheeler
STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE
AWARDS:
Dave Dwyer (Chair), Thomas J. “Doc Ski” Wasileski,
Jeff Hennie
(Exact Date Pending 111th Congressional Scheduling)
Tell Congress To
Resist Helmet Law Blackmail Provisions In The TEA Bill
AWARDS:
FARMERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Mark
Buckner, Deborah Butitta
Check our Web Site WWW.MRF.ORG for Details and Updates
Newsletter
Year Rocker
Patch
What issue? ________________________________________
Member was given: Pin
Date ________________________________________________
Check No. __________________________________________
MRF # _____________________________________________
%XP$ATE??????????????????????????????????????????
Referred by __________________________________________
Signature
%XPIRATION$ATE
Card Number
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY All informationtreatedconfidentially
Date
!M%X
MasterCard
Visa
CHARGE IT!
Mail remittance to: Motorcycle Riders Foundation,
236 Massachusetts Ave NE, Suite 510, Washington, DC
s0HONE&AX
)NTERNETWWWMRFORG%MAILMRFOFlCE MRFORG
Renewal (Member #______________)
New
E-mail Address
Phone
City, State, Zip
Address
Name
MRF CHAMPS: Jeff Hennie (Chair), Kirk
“Hardtail” Willard, Michael “Boz” Kerr, Dave Dwyer
PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE YOUR INFORMATION:
YOUNG ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIP: Carol
Downs (Chair), Cindy Hodges, Jeff Hennie, Steve
Eggleston, Susan Huttman, Tiffany Latimer
Annual Individual Membership ...........$30
3-Year Individual Membership .............$80
Annual Joint Membership .....................$50
3-Year Joint Membership .................... $130
Annual Sustaining Membership ....... $100
Freedom Fighter Donation:
$10 $25 $ ___________________
THOMAS PAINE: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair),
Sarah Muckenhoupt, Tiffany Latimer
It’s time you did
something more to
protect your rights!
RON SHEPPERD SAFETY RECOGNITION: Jay
Jackson (Chair), Carol Downs, Chuc Coulter, Paulette
Korte, John Pierce
Join and Support Motorcycle Riders
Foundation… REGISTER, VOTE, AND RIDE!
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Kirk “Hardtail”
Willard (Chair), Deborah Butitta, Paulette Korte
Are you a member of a state motorcyclist’s rights
organization? Yes No
If yes, name ____________________________________
FOUNDERS: Kirk “Hardtail” Willard (Chair), Mark
Buckner, Mark Falsetti, Steve Zimmer