ABATE of Arizona

President's Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:37:26 GMT

Hello All,

I want to thank all of you who were at officers training. We had a decent turnout. I was very happy to see that all chapters were represented. For those of you who were not there, please see your Coordinator for your information packet, if you have any questions please call or e-mail your counterpart at the state level for more information.

We had our first state & BOD meeting of the year, and everything went very well. We got a lot of business accomplished and goals planned out for the year.

I want to talk to you this month about PASSION. We are all passionate about different things in our lives. As we grow and get a little older, our passions tend to change with us.

I would like to tell you a brief story about a man who had many different passions in his life. There was a 17 year old young man who developed a passion to serve his country in the Marine Corp during World War II. He asked his parents to sign a waiver because he was under age. They agreed, because it was what he wanted to do. When he was through with Basic Training he went to Japan. He did what he had to do there and lost a lot of friends, then came home.

He then was called to the ministry shortly after. While putting himself through Seminary college & supporting his family, he really developed a passion for being a Pastor and helping as many people as he could. While serving as a Pastor of a church in Michigan through the 50's and into the mid to late 60's he served his ministry and passion very well. In the late 60's he moved to New Hampshire and started his own congregation.

During this time he developed another great passion for riding motorcycles. Within the next few years, he and all of his deacons in his church were all riding. Every year after that until the early to mid 80's they would all ride to Laconia Bike Week and minister to people in their own way. Throughout that time, he influenced at least one of his grandchildren to want to ride, whether he realized it or not.

In the late 80's he moved to Arizona to be close to his grandchildren again. They were his new passion. During this time he watched them grow and follow in his footsteps, one becoming a minister and one a biker and a US Veteran. He always got such pleasure out of watching his children & Grandchild growing and learning all sorts of lessons along the way.

During the late 90's and early 2000's his passion turned again to try to teach his family to respect and love as many people as they could. February 26th, 2007 his passion turned one final time as he went to be with God in heaven for eternity.

In case you have not figured out who I am writing about, it is my grandpa, Pastor William H. Goodwin.

The reason for this story, is you can be passionate about many different things in your life no matter who you are. In Abate of AZ I do not see nearly as many passionate people as we should. I am not trying to preach to you, but if you do not truly care about us as a MRO than you need to ask yourself what are you doing here. This is our cause and my personal passion. Please think about this and try to make it your passion also. Please do not forget 3-20-08 Luncheon on the Lawn, be there and show your passion. Have a great and do great things for Abate and for yourselves.

Ride safe, Ride free & Ride
REDJON
PRESIDENT
ABATE of AZ

State PAC Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:47:37 GMT

Hello to all my Brothers and Sisters

Well last months January edition of the Masterlink I requested feed back from all the readers of the Masterlink. Hummm I got zero response. So what does that mean ??? I don’t know either, but it’s not too late to give me your opinion on Cities implementing the use of red light cameras at intersections. My email address is paccordinator@aol.com I will publish the results in the March edition.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced recently that it concluded an investigation against Dynojet Research, Inc. At issue was the company's "Power Commander" that can be used to alter the air-fuel mixture and engine timing of on- and off-road motorcycles. CARB said that the installation of these devices would adversely affect the emissions control systems of vehicles that were certified by the original equipment manufacturers to comply with the agency's emissions standards. Dynojet has now certified a California version of the "Power Commander" and has agreed to pay $1,000,000 in penalties to the California Air Pollution Control Fund. Fines like these may very well close shops and put hundreds of people out of work. Information furnished by Will Co. Illinois ABATE.

HIPAA Bill HR 1076. The purpose of this Bill is to promote health care coverage parity for individuals participating in legal recreational activities or legal transportation activities. We only have 2 co sponsors from Arizona, U.S. Congressman Raul M. Grijalva D- District 7, and Congressman Rick Renzi R- District 1First I would like to thank both U.S. Representatives for supporting such an important piece of legislation. We as State MRO’S need to contact Representatives from District 2 Trent Franks, District 3 John Shadegg, District 4 Ed Pastor, District 5 Harry Mitchell, and District 8 Gabrielle Giffords. Please contact your Representative and ask them to sign on as a co sponsor of HR1076.

Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) requests that all State MRO’S contact their US Representatives on Bill HR2694, Right To Repair Bill. The MRF has declared its support of the Motor Vehicle Owners Right To Repair Act of 2007and strongly urges Congress to pass the legislation in order to safeguard individual vehicle ownership rights. HR2694 has NO Arizona Congressional co sponsors. When speaking to your Representative ask them to support both of these Bills.

Super Tuesday February 5th 2008. Arizona along with 18 other States will be voting in the Presidential Primary. This is not an election to be taken lightly. After months and months of listing to all the candidates, today is your day to vote for the candidate whom you would like to see as President of the United States. No mater what political party you align yourself with; everyone should exercise their right to vote to choose the best man or woman for their party to run in the general election.

Some candidates have already dropped out and possibly more will before the primary. One advantage of Arizona having the primary on Super Tuesday is that no more primaries will be held after that date.

Experts believe that this year’s primary and general election will bring out unprecedented voters, like this county has not seen in any election in the past 50 plus years. Young first time voters, rich, middle class, and poor across all gender, race, and ethnic backgrounds representing eligible voters from all over the world. Exercise your Right to Vote on election day!!!

Ride Smart and Ride Safe
Tim O’Reilly
ABATE of Arizona
State Vice President
State PAC Coordinator

Tales from the Chrome Side

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:58:24 GMT

I think that it was in Lethal Weapon 2 that Joe Pesci said “They F*CK YOU at the drive-thru!”

You know the routine… you place your order, and when you get it home, you realize that they gave you some kind of crap that you didn’t even see on their menu. Kinda like going to Taco Bell, ordering a half dozen tacos and finding that they gave you a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner instead.

Well, the good ole boys at the EPA have pulled a fast one on us again while we weren’t even looking.

I finally made good on my promise to by an American vehicle (I still need to dump off a Porsche if you’re interested) and got my hands on a ’60 Chevy Stepside pickup. Nevermind about the Porsche, it’s not for sale to you – I couldn’t do that to a family member… but if you have a co-worker that you need to get even with, call me… I’ll even wax it.

As a result of my new, aged project, my Dad gave me some back issues of “Hemmings Classic Car” Magazine. I didn’t get more than six pages into the thing before I saw something familiar… an editor of a publication bitching about something our government has done that negatively affects a whole industry and to every extent, your average, run-of-the-mill biker as well.

“F*cked at the drive-thru.” AGAIN.

I’d like to quote Richard Lentinello here (Editor-in-Chief of “Hemming’s Classic Car”) – “Unless you are certified, and have a $100,000 filtered paint booth (by the year 2011) you won’t be able to buy the necessary paints to restore cars, trucks or motorcycles.”

You might be sitting there – just like I did – scratching your head mumbling “What the…”

OK, here ya go… some environmental whack-job extremist has swayed the opinion of the EPA yet again – and nearly single-handedly. This shouldn’t be surprising… residents of Phoenix are the only people in the nation – hell, probably the world – that have to run their motorcycles through exhaust emissions tests yearly to register their bikes with the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. Think about all of this stuff for a minute. What pisses me off is that our government is acting like my Mother now – mandating what is good for me and passing a law so that I have to blindly follow – or else.

Anyway, back to the original point of this seemingly random rant…

This Editor, Richard, is referring to a regulation enacted by our EPA that states in a letter from Susan Lancey of the USEPA of New England to him - “…This regulation is scheduled to be finalized in December 2007, after consideration of public comment on the proposed rule. For surface coating operations, the proposed rule would require sources to implement equipment and management practices that minimize the amount of coating required and to capture toxic metal particulates from the process.”

Her letter goes on to state; “When published in the Federal Register, the final rule will specify how it may apply to any person refinishing an automobile.”

By the way… that includes bikes, for those of you following along at home.

The first question that comes to mind – where did they get this ever-so-valuable consumer feedback? From their web site of course. We all know how reliable the Internet is. Many decisions are – surprisingly – based on cranks writing the EPA. Hell, its not hard to be a crank – I do it all the time…

What can you do? Well, sit right down and I’m gonna tell ya. Kick your shoes off. Open a cold one. Smile at the wife and type www.epa.gov into your computer. Find a good email address and punch out a little letter about some of their proposed regulations.

Be polite – they’re not gonna read some abusive tirade any quicker than I will – just keep that in mind. The “Delete” key is a magical thing and our governmental drones know about this little piece of heaven on a keyboard.

What’s the moral to this story? The next time that you find yourself listening to a brightly colored, plastic clown making you promises… just make sure that what’s in the bag is what you expected - before you roar off into the night. If you fail to do that, don’t be surprised if you end up with something that you never wanted or expected.

Until next time… all of my bitching is for a good reason…
FREEDOM!

Eric Hampton
Editor, The Masterlink

East Valley Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:04:26 GMT

This is gonna be short, sorry. Last month we had a pot luck for our Dec meeting. Always good to break bread with our Abate family. Then most of us spent New Years together as well. That was a great time. It was very sad to say goodbye to Ronde, but omg what an awesome party. Lets not forget the Valentines Day party at AZ Joes this year on the 9th of Feb. This year is expected to be larger and the best party yet Also don't forget to try and take our trophy away this year at the softball, we welcome the challenge.

Once again as for the future Feb 9th - Valentine Party, Feb 23rd - Biker Ball Softball Game, May 10th Hardass Run... Mark your calenders.

Till next month
Margie Ferrucci
Communications Officer
East Valley Abate

Flagstaff Chapter Report

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:09:27 GMT

Happy New Year!

Flagstaff ABATE congrats are sent and we are very happy for the new slate of officers:
Brian Smith: Coordinator. Brian has been supportive for years and we look forward to his direction in the New Year.

Ralph Krakse: Vice Coordinator Back in the saddle and willing to lend a hand.
Dee Hickoff: Secretary She has been involved for years and does a fine job.
Beverly Briggs: Treasurer Keeping us all in balance and moving forward.
Dave Hurt: Run Coordinator Looking forward to the new run schedule. Dave has sent us all on some wonderful and fun adventures.Mike Brabeck: Merchandise Keep those custom shirts coming.
Steve Briggs: PAC A strong instrument in the overall success of the Flagstaff ABATE.
Mike Meyers: Membership All will help, Mike will press us forward to growth.
Joan Briggs: Safety Always a help and smile abounds.
Steve Hickoff: Sgt Arms First to always volunteer and lend a hand.
Deb Howell: Communications Just moved back from Colorado and looking forward to keeping all posted.

The Christmas Party will be held 7PM @ American Legion Dec 20th. Pictures to follow.
We are looking forward to a great New Year and continued support of ABATE.

Deb Howell
Flagstaff ABATE Communications

High Country Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:22:47 GMT

Hello from the High Country Chapter in Payson.

It was so good to see everyone at the officers training class on Jan. 5th.

We hope to see a lot of you at our 2nd annual Valentines Party and MEN'S AUCTION.

It is being held at the Buffalo Bar & Grill on February 9th. Dinner specials are from 5-9pm and are a Sirlion steak & Shrimp for $14.95 or a N.Y. Strip & Shrimp for $16.95. The men's auction starts at 7:00 pm. Live band from 9-1 am. We had a great time last year and hoping for the same this year.

Our monthly meetings are held at Tiny's Restaurant at 10:00 am the 3rd Saturday of each month. We will be going for a run after the meeting , if you are interested.

T.T.F.N., Barbie Hensler

Mohave Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:34:28 GMT

Hi to all and hope all is well with everyone. We had our first meeting of the year 2008 today Jan. 13, 2008. The new officers list is as follows:

Coordinator: Rodney Rich
4781 Scotty Drive
Kingman, AZ 86401
928-757-9711
hot_rodrich@hotmail.com

Vice Coordinator: Tom Bateman
P.O. Box 98
Topock, AZ 86436
928-788-2618
coyto38_61@yahoo.com

Treasurer: Lani Jones
P.O. Box 975
Kingman, AZ 86402
928-565-4041
lanij@ctaz.com

Secretary: Fran Burdett
P.O. Box 1500
Topock, AZ 86436
928-768-9676
birdlady7@frontiernet.net

Sgt-At-Arms: Ray Higuera
3705 Martingale Drive
Kingman, AZ 86409
928-486-7776
tribeof7@hotmail.com

Membership: Gene Crego
P.O. Box 6643
Kingman, AZ 86402
928-692-0553
crego@citlink.net

Safety: Tom Bateman

Communication: Fran Burdett

Pac: Arnold Burdett

We are still working on our Run/Event Committee and a replacement for Fran on the Board of Directors.

At our meeting today we thanked everyone that showed up. We discussed mostly membership being down in our area and how to get our numbers backup. We talked about what we can do to raise money for our chapter and for state and we spoke of our up coming events we will be working on for the new year.

Mohave chapter will be holding a "Yard Sale" on April 5th, 2008. Fran will be getting in touch with the new owner of the bowling alley on Highway 95, in Fort Mohave to inquire if we may hold our yard sale in the empty lot next to the bowling alley.

We will also be doing the famous Bar-B-Q at Mother Roads Harley Davidson in Kingman, in May for Motorcycle Awareness Month. We will have a membership table, as well as a merchandise table.

There are a few up coming events in our local area that will be in our local news letter.

We hope that 2008 is a better year for all of us.

As always Ride safe and we will catch you all on the fly!

Fran
Mohave County Secretary.

Phoenix Chapter Report

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:41:58 GMT

First I want to sincerly thank everyone who helped out at Too Broke.

Besides the usual help we had several new faces step up and help. I was very proud of the Phoenix chapter. We kicked ass. THANK YOU.

Joe, James, and Sky Pilot of the M.M.A. have been talking to the Glendale City Council about motercycle signs around town regarding motorcycle awareness. Strangely enough I was contacted by the Phonix Coyotes about a motorcycle awareness night. Maybe, just maybe we can run all this together in time for the Superbowl and get some positive exposure for the motorcycle community. I know it's just a pipe dream. What the hell, we'll try anyway.

Hope to see you at one of the meetings.

Ride safe.
Gareld Riggs

Shadow Mountain Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:06:46 GMT

We are ridin' up to Cottonwood to the Frosty Balls Chilly Boobs Poker Run hosted by MMA Verde Valley. It's the first day of the new year; cold and windy with crisp fresh air. As usual I look something like a leather mummy from head to foot. No helmet though. Nice to have that right; always had to wear a helmet where I grew up-MI. We are headed up higher in the mountains, and you guessed it; colder, windier. Man my knees are cold! We stop for gas and a pee break in Cordes Junction. Coming over the crest of a mountain and there it is in the distance; the "Peaks" covered with snow. I love snow on top of mountains. Next stop, Cottonwood. Kick stands must be up @11am. Leave KA Cycles & Rockin B Saloon and go to Chaparral Bar. Then to Boler's Bar (Camp Verde). Hot coffee, cookies waiting for us. Thanks MMA. Warm up and continue to Sedona; next stop Full Moon Saloon (Oak Creek). I draw my third King. It's time to have one Schnapps and warm up my insides. Ahh, cute bartender. I'd like to drop a dollar bill over the counter, so he could bend down and pick it up.

Last stop-Old Corral in Cornville. Meet nice folks: Radar, T-Ray's brother and his wife, Lynn. What was that about gettin' horny when you rode on the back of your trike, T-Ray? Lynn and T-Ray have a beautiful yellow trike all decked out. It has working wheelie bars, and loads of goodies. Talked to Greg, MMA Treasurer. Hey, where's Passin' Thru's ride pin? Great band, great people, 125 bikers went on this run. Passin' Thru and me (Lori) were the only ones who rode up from Phoenix.

Time to head out, be dark in a couple of hours. No stops this time. Straight home. Beautiful ride!

Lori Kula

Tucson Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:15:14 GMT

In case you’re wondering we have combined two months because our meeting dates and time have changed. We will meet at the sameo/sameo VFW Hall in Tucson at 10 a.m. on the FOURTH Sunday of the month. We’ll hope to see our members as well as other ABATE of Arizona Chapter members there on January 27th.

Our Coordinator Ron Kool has scheduled a breakfast ride after the meeting. We need to see as many Tucson Chapter members there as possible. Remember, you members voted for the change in Sundays.

Our last meeting in December was very upbeat. The usual suspects were there and heard the final count on our November 11th “Celebrate with ABATE” poker run and bike show. What it boils down to is the Chapter had a hell of a good time, saw a great turnout for our first event and even put a few bucks in the bank. And, we learned some lessons that will be applied to our next event.

We discussed our next event and it will be a “Bike Shop Hop” to several bike shops in Tucson, Tombstone and Bisbee. We haven’t set the number of stops or the date in concrete but it will be published in plenty of time for our State AZ ABATE friends to come South for the ride.

Some other very positive news was about the MAP that the Tucson Chapter has initiated. Our members taught six classes at Saguaro High School. Both classroom and outdoor sessions were well received by the students. They especially liked the slow/fast riding demonstrations. We’ll be getting into more schools soon.

All of our officers were reelected with Sean Pinder filling the Membership Officer and Mike Felong taking the Sergeant at Arms slot.

Ron reported the Tucson Chapter had a membership table at the Sun Riders Toy Parade in Tucson on December 8th & 9th. He handed out about 100 Law Tiger bags and signed up two new members. He expects more in the mail. We want to thank our Member Dan Danielson and his company Rider Up System for allowing us to share his booth for free.

Among the other things planned is a road clean up mile along either AZ 82 OR AZ 83. Those are favorite well traveled scenic biker rides just South of Tucson into Nogales and Sierra Vista from I-10.

All at the meeting were happy with the good news. We look forward to many more members making out meeting on January 27th.

Yavapai Chapter Report

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:45:20 GMT

It’s January 13, 2008 and back from our Chapter’s first General Meeting of the New Year. The thirteenth day may sound scary to some but for us it was a very good sign. We had a really good meeting. I jumped on the keyboard right away because it’s two days before “Editor Eric’s” deadline and The Chapter Report needs doin’ now. Here’s how it all went down. Walking into The Pinon Pines this morning, saying as usual, “I hope all the officers show” when lo and behold smack me twice and send me home to Momma, the Big Guns, you know the dignitaries came out to support little ol’ Yavapai Chapter. Our own “Red Jon”, A.B.A.T.E. of Arizona President, “Still Ray”, A.C.M.C. Chairman (that’s one BIG GUN) and Mike Ruddell, High Country District Manager standing around in our roadhouse waiting for our meeting to begin. I was almost feeling a little important myself. At first the thought was either we’re in mucho grande trouble, or hopefully, the tide is starting to change in the right direction. According to the Democratic candidate’s mantra “the time has come for change”, maybe the M.R.O’s can’t change the world but we sure can do a hell of a job to stop the bureaucrats from trying to change ours. Everyone coming together for the cause of freedom is a beautiful thing. Let’s keep up the momentum. Grow the membership, get people passionate for standing up for their rights, it’s the American way. Geez, I just broke the soap box, I’m going to start my own political campaign, now back to what I was talking about. The meeting was filled with good information, and if you missed it ‘cuz you slept in, or just wasn’t in the mood to sit through another meeting you missed a good one. As my old Pappy used to say, “You snooze, you loose”.

I know we’re still in the beginning of the year but May will be here before you know it. Time goes by faster the older you get. May is Motorcycle Awareness Month, there will be events all over our fine state including up here in the high country. Get involved, help out or just show support, we need everybody and anybody. May is also the month for this chapter’s first event, the ever popular and greatly anticipated Spring Run. We have a date in mind now but still checking to make sure it isn’t conflicting with other runs. Read this monthly report and you’ll always be up to date.

I should also mention (coming up soon) is The Luncheon on the Lawn on March 20th. This is a chance to meet your State Legislators, a very unique chance to share with them your perspective as a motorcycle rider. Don’t miss this rare opportunity, you can bitch amongst yourselves and gripe all you want but this time you can take it to those that have the power to make change. Don’t forget we hired them, make them earn their over the top salaries, but be nice, vinegar won’t work here, honey will.

My New Year’s resolution was to stop running my mouth, almost two weeks in and I’ve already blown it. I guess “Gabby” is here to stay. Bye, I got to go take my blood pressure pills.

Until next time,

Join a Motorcycle Rights Organization

Don’t take your freedom for granted!

Linda Kocar, Secretary

A.B.A.T.E. of Arizona

Yavapai County Chapter