ABATE Brings Motorcycle
Awareness Month to California
If you’re going to
do something, why not be the best? Friction Zone
magazine really slammed us a year or so ago when they said
ABATE wasn’t doing enough to promote motorcycle safety
and motorist awareness.
I’m sorry, I'm busy fighting lid laws,
patriot act, height limits, citations, increased penalties
for killing Bikers, a thousand other things and running a
Local. I
somehow manage to fit 15 minutes of domestic life in there
somewhere. Awareness
has always been, “somebody else’s job.” Or so I thought. When we were
forced to cancel the Motorcycle Awareness Rally in May,
thanks in large part to rider apathy, it was decided that
it would be up to each of us, at the local level, to get
the job done. And
I must say, I am duly impressed with what our people can
do.
The pinnacle
of success is to get a city or county to officially
recognize our efforts with an Official Proclamation. The
Proclamation recognizes May as Motorcycle Awareness Month
and adds legitimacy to our purpose. The Proclamation also
gives us a good and interesting reason to contact the
various forms of media to get our message to the masses. We ask that
motorists be on the look out for motorcyclists and also
ask riders to get licensed, get trained, ride sober and
ride responsibly. New
York Myke received an official Proclamation from the City
of
San Diego
and the ball kept rolling from there.
Kurt Jahnke
and Sandy Camp were successful in having the month of May
declared "Motorcycle Awareness Month" in
Santa Barbara
County
at a meeting of the
County
Board
of Supervisors.
One of my
favorites, Local 50, accepted a proclamation from the
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. President Barbara
Kennedy tells me, “It’s easy to get a Proclamation
because it doesn’t cost public officials any money or
votes.” Riders
in Humboldt are lucky to have Barbara fighting for their
right to ride and owe her an enormous debt in furthering
their cause.
Jean Hughes
tells me that Local 17 will secure Proclamations from
Solano
County
and
Vacaville
while Local 15 will receive one from
Contra
Costa
County
. Beverly
Lieswald is seeing enthusiasm in Local 5 and their
Proclamation from the City of
Glendora
should help get the message out. Melissa and John
Fulton from Local 28 are looking to light up
Lake
County
’s awareness quotient. ABATE "idea man"
Dan Scott, President of Local 32, has secured a
Proclamation from the Santa Clara County Board of
Supervisors. If you live in that area, I'm asking you
specifically to track Dan down, shake his hand, tell him
'thank you' and get involved with a guy that's fighting
for YOUR rights, needing YOUR help.
Local 58
President Dave “Corny” Cornelius and the kick-ass krew
from (where the hell IS)
Ridgecrest
have been working closely with City Councilman Dan Clark
and they’re looking to make a big deal out of the
occasion.
Deacon Dave
and Local 25 from
Sacramento
have done a bang up job with invaluable assistance from
motorcycle friendly City Councilmember Robbie Waters and
Executive Assistant Dinah Fischer. The City of
Sacramento
has declared by resolution that May is Motorcycle
Awareness Month and we may see photos of the ceremony in
the next Bailing Wire.
Russ Howard
and the ABATE Regional Rally Crew have an Official
Proclamation from the City of Lake Elsinore which will be
showcased at the Rally’s Motorcycle Awareness Parade
slated for Saturday, May 8th at 9 am complete
with a visit from Senator Dennis Hollingsworth.
The ABATE
Safety and Awareness Program is walking the walk. John
McDonald tells me that ASAP is offering two MSF
presentations, “Cars and Motorcycles” and “
A Common Road
” to high school students and older drivers respectively at
the
Downey
Senior
Center
. The
program explains why motorcycles use traffic lanes
differently and includes a sixteen-page handbook and an
eight and one half minute tape with the presentation
lasting one hour.
Local 10 and
President Jerry Palmer have been incredibly busy.
They’ll be getting proclamations for May 2004 to be
declared as Motorcycle Awareness Month for both the City
of
Sonora
, and
Tuolumne
County
. Local 10 is
doing it different this year by inviting bike shops in the
area, and their local HOG outfit to join in and be listed
as supporters. Jerry
wants everyone who has anything to do with bikes to be
involved this time, telling me, “We live in a unique
area as we get a lot of biker tourists from all over the
world to our scenic mountains and
Yosemite
, but unfortunately we also have a high incidence of
motorcycle wrecks.” (read L-10's report in the April
Bailing Wire) Jerry
adds, “I have talked to our local newspaper reporter and
she said she would give us all the coverage we need. I also went to the
local police department and the Highway Patrol to get
letters of support to be read at the Supervisors meeting
and the City Council meeting along with the
Proclamations.” Plans
for a radio spot are in the making as well. Jerry has a
genuine concern for riders, “We have had at least 7
people die on motorcycles (all wearing helmets), and
numerous people injured this past 2 years. The general excuse
is "I didn't see the motorcycle."
So, what
about MY local? You
can see all the Local 36 proclamations on our delightfully
wicked little website at www.abate.us . Look for, "Who sez Bikers don't
know Jack?" As this article goes to press, we’ve
got 7 out of 12 cities to give us the nod, fully expecting
all 12. I
gotta give credit where credit is due. No one person can
handle all the chores of running a Local, it’s a team
effort. I’ve
come to depend on an incredible core of key people to keep
our flag flying. Susan Goff handled things in the
Banning/Beaumont pass. Patricia Fowler and Becky Rinkes
took care of the
Morongo
Basin
. Then,
there’s my ace in the hole. Have ya ever been
kissed by an Angel? One
of our Business Members, Halle Fetty, who along with
husband, George, owns www.valleyvtwin.com is a Godsend. She calls me up one day and
asks what she can do to help lessen my load. So I gave her
the spiel and the next day she had a proclamation from
Palm Springs
! She thought
it was so fun, she just kept going. Every city in our
valley has heard from
Halle
in the last month. Somewhat
disappointed at running out of cities, she set her sights
for
Sacramento
, and got Senator Jim Battin (a Local 36 Member) to
introduce a Senate Resolution! Last I heard, she
was cuddling up real close to Nighthorse Campbell’s
staff in D.C.! Now,
I’m not lookin’ for anything from the United Nations,
but if the Confederation of Planets could send Mr. Spock
or Captain Kirk from Starfleet out for a visit, I’d be
happy to break out the Romulan Ale!
Here’s to
YOU, ABATE, I applaud you all for a job well done! There
were many more efforts I’ve only heard rumors of, and I
apologize for not being the project manager, but I can see
that next year’s efforts will be more organized than
ever before and even better! Watch where we GROW from
here! ~splatt
