Christmas card from Jon Towle.
It’s a miracle of Christmas. The news is out. Say hallelujah, praise the Lord and pass the presents. This has been a tough year in some respects, yet as a country we’ve stood tall and faced terrorists, war in Iraq, illegal cooperate manuevers and a stock downturn.
Bikernet stood tall through the internet slump and we’re still growing and fighting the print media for recognition. As the year closed we stumbled into more and more manufacturers, including Victory who are now using the internet to share their products and services to the world successfully. Other companies are trashing their print catalogs for flexible and timely internet product listings.
Victory studied the market and discovered that less than one percent of the population are cruising rider customers. Digging deeper they discovered that 50 percent of their prospective buyers enjoy highspeed internet capabilities. Now get this, according to FOX news, 63 percent, or 126 million Americans are now on line. What a country, what a sport. And we thank all our dedicated contributors and sponsors for every joke, tech, bike feature and babe that makes this site complete. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.
I better get to the news, before I get all choked up:
BRAND NEW CUSTOM CHROME CATALOG RELEASED–
Custom Chrome’s new offering for 2004. The California based distributor brings you the most comprehensive product offering in the Harley-Davidson aftermarket! At over 1,200 pages and over 22,000 part numbers, their 2004 Catalog features the new RevTech 110 Motor, Hard Core II, Ares bikekits and noumious frames and forks–everything from nuts & bolts to performance products. It’s the Custom Bike Bible for the year.
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Merry Christmas from Bob T.
NUMB NUTS OF THE YEAR AWARD–Whacked Mexican decides to give kids a treat by being a “human pinata” for them to hit with a stick while he hangs from a beam on the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck:
MEXICO CITY – A 24-year-old man died in southern Yucatan state after reportedly allowing himself to be used as a human pinata, the decorated clay jar that children in Mexico traditionally break open with sticks to get the sweets hidden inside.
To indulge his two younger siblings, Sebastian Cahum Pech allowed them to tie his hands and feet, balance him on a beam and swing at him with sticks, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Cahum Pech, who was tied loosely to the beam by the neck, jumped to avoid the blows, which were delivered by his sister, 13, and brother, 8, with the traditional pinata sing-song rhyme, “Hit it, Hit it, Really Hard.”
While he twisted to avoid one blow, Cahum pech fell from the beam, tightening the rope round his neck and leading him to die of asphyxiation. The accident occurred Tuesday and was reported by state police Wednesday in the rural township of Chemax, about 80 miles (130 kms) inland from the Caribbean resort of Cancun.
–from Dan the Knife
BAD COP SHOOTS MAN IN PARK–A police captain who issued a roll-call memorandum about the transfer of an officer who shot and paralyzed a man in the Metcalfe Park area has been relieved of his command, Police Chief Nan Hegerty announced Saturday.Milwaukee
Reacting quickly to the first controversy during her administration, Hegerty said that Capt. Glenn Frankovis hurt efforts to strengthen police-community relations when he urged officers under him to turn up the heat on “thugs” who had threatened the officer, prompting his transfer.
“The tone of Captain Frankovis’ memorandum has undermined our efforts to improve police-community relations and to treat all citizens with dignity, courtesy and respect,” Hegerty told reporters at a Saturday press conference. “The captain’s comments were inappropriate and intolerable.”
Hegerty said Frankovis, a 28-year veteran, has been assigned to administrative duties because she had “lost confidence in his ability to command.”
“We are a professional police department, and we all have to behave in a professional manner,” Hegerty said.
Hegerty’s announcement came one day after some aldermen criticized the memorandum and five days after Frankovis issued it.
“She is the chief, and I respect her decision,” Ald. Willie L. Hines said after learning of Hegerty’s reassignment of Frankovis. “I believe her actions will go a long way in mending relations with the Metcalfe Park community.
Frankovis’ memorandum Monday was a response to the transfer of Officer Michael Lutz from the 3rd District patrol area where he shot and paralyzed Timothy Nabors in August.
Several people who said they witnessed the shooting initially reported that Nabors, 26, was unarmed when Lutz shot him in the 2500 block of N. 27th St. Nabors later admitted that he was picking up a gun tossed to his feet when Lutz started firing.
Nabors eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to one year of probation, a six-month stayed jail term and 25 hours of community service.
–By DAVID DOEGE
journalsentinel.com
AVON ROCKS WITH THE FIRST 300 TIRE–Watch as John Covington shows us the hot point of the news Avon 300 and his new Muscle Bike frame to suit the rubber. It’s comin’ shortly.
MIKE HUPY REPRESENTS OUTLAWS MC– Mike Hupy is representing some Outlaws on a First Amendment suit dealing with them getting kicked out of Summerfest this past summer. This kind of thing is going on all over, with Hells Angels dealing with the same shit in California and elsewhere. In fact, George Christi talked to Mike last week on the phone about his case out there.
Mike is also trying to retrieve a member’s job, after being fired because the Milwaukee police demanded it, and even went so far as to threaten to harass the bar and patrons if they even let the guy frequent the place.
He wrote a letter to the Mayor and police chief, but before they could deny the allegations, a memo came out which dealt with another case, but which clearly indicated the pattern and policy of the Milwaukee cops.
We believe, and I think you’ll agree, that the event promoters aren’t behind keeping the club members out, since they never caused problems before. It’s a concentrated effort by law enforcement, around the country, to pressure venues into succumbing to their will. More needs to be done to bring this treatment of bikers to the public’s attention.
I would like to see the biker’s rights organizations come to bat for the club members also. There has been a deafening silence from these groups when it comes to fighting for club members. Like them or not, club members are bikers, and if you claim to fight for biker’s rights, you can’t exclude or ignore those you don’t associate with.
Pisses me off. Following is the letter Mike wrote to the Chief of Police.
–Tony Sanfelipo
December 15, 2003
The Honorable John O. Norquist
The Mayor of Milwaukee
200 East Wells Street
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202
Re:Illegal Activities on the Part of Members of The Milwaukee Police Department
Dear Mayor Norquist:
The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention some of the illegal activities on the part of the Milwaukee Police Department of which I have recently been made aware.
I have heard from several sources that members of the Police Department, including Troy Jankowski and Chris Mason, have engaged in systematically harassing and violating the rights of customers at taverns on Water Street including McGillycuddy?s, The Lodge and Mel?s. The customers being harassed are members of The Outlaws Milwaukee Motorcycle Club, and it appears that the harassment is part of a systematic effort by employees of the City of Milwaukee, acting within the scope of their employment, to illegally interfere with basic civil rights. I am also advised that police officers have followed people leaving the clubhouse and demanded that they be allowed to take pictures of them after stopping their cars for no legitimate purpose.
In one instance, an employee of the City of Milwaukee demanded that the owner of McGillycuddy?s tavern on Water Street fire an employee merely because he was associated with The Outlaws Milwaukee Motorcycle Club. That person is now unemployed because of actions on the part of the City of Milwaukee. I understand that, as recently as Friday, December 12, 2003, Mr. Mason went back to McGillycuddy?s and stated to employees that the person who had been fired should not be allowed on the premises.
It is well known in the City of Milwaukee that my law firm has filed a lawsuit against Summerfest for demanding that members of The Outlaws Milwaukee Motorcycle Club leave the Summerfest grounds for doing nothing other than wearing club insignias. It is also well known that the club assured me that there would not be any problems caused by club members wearing ?colors? during the Harley 100th Anniversary celebration. Based on these assurances, I advised the office of the Police Chief that I did not feel that there would be one incident involving The Outlaws Milwaukee Motorcycle Club during the Harley 100th Anniversary, and there was none.
You may be aware of the fact that three (3) murders were committed in Milwaukee during the weekend of the Harley 100th Anniversary, and none was committed by any of the 300,000 bikers in Milwaukee that weekend.
Perhaps the Police Department could spend more time preventing and solving murders than harassing innocent citizens who have done nothing.
We would ask your office to assure us that this type of conduct will cease and desist immediately.
Yours truly,
MICHAEL F. HUPY & ASSOCIATES, S.C.
Michael F. Hupy
Continued On Page 2
