The famous Gunny.
THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at < From The Again the days of August slipped by me so fast I hardly had time to realize the hot month was here. This is the heavy riding month in Oregon and we have runs every weekend all month long. It starts off with “Run 21,” which is our adults-only run. My boss Sam Hochberg’s chapter of ABATE, SE Portland, started this whole deal a few years back. Sam went to the very first one and said it was fun – but we didn’t see his mug or that new Heritage of his this year. Musta’ been off riding somewhere else. Matter of fact, Sam DID take a nice ride down south to Medford, Oregon last month, and gave an “AIM Talk” to the Rogue River Chapter of the Women in the Wind. Sam had a great time, and was very impressed with this large group of serious riders. Sam’s been doing these “AIM Talks” for over fifteen years. He goes to your biker group meeting, and talks about The Law and Motorcycling. He also likes to spread the Gospel of NCOM — the National Coalition of Motorcyclists. Regular Sack readers know NCOM is supported by fees from AIM (that’s Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) lawyers like Sam from all over the US and Canada, through the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. And if THAT’S news to ya, you might be new to the Sack! If ya’d like to hear more, line up an AIM Attorney to come talk to your motorcycle club or organization. You can call our national hotline at (800) ON-A-BIKE to speak to the AIM Attorney in your state. RUN SAFETY: Our Run 21 was great as usual, but there was one incident that shouldn’t happen at any run. A rider blasted out of the stage area and hit a woman. He was just on his way to his campsite. I’ve seen this happen too many times at events that we’re supposed to be having fun at. When you get through with the bike games and shows in the afternoon, take your scoot to your camp and leave it there. A drunk scoot always causes the owner trouble, and will always hurt somebody. The Coos River run over by the Oregon Coast came down after Run 21, and as always a great time. Love the “rubber duck races.” If you haven’t seen this, ya gotta make this run next year. It’s a real hoot to watch all those leather clad bikers sitting on a creek bank, cheering their little rubber duckies as they come bobbing down the stream! But even there, we had a guy go down on the gravel road and break an arm. It’s good road but there is loose gravel on about three hundred feet of it, just before you get to the run. It’s a shame when an otherwise great time is marred by an injury. Please lets keep the other guy in mind and be careful fachrissakes when you ride, no matter where it is. It’s just not fun when folks get hurt, especially when it’s from plain old carelessness. LEGAL SAFETY: If y’DO go down, or if you’re there when someone else does, our Oregon AIM Attorney Sam Hochberg wanted me to remind you to TAKE PICTURES and get names and numbers of WITNESSES. Oh, and call the cops. Tell them you’re hurt or they won’t come out. TAKE the ambulance if you need to, and see your doctor. MOST important, Sam says, is DON’T TALK TO THE INSURANCE ADJUSTER! They have a way of twisting the most honest speech. Talk to ANY GOOD personal injury lawyer. Sam is part of AIM, so you can always reach him at 1-800-ON-A-BIKE, or email him at SamBikeLaw@aol.com . He checks t all the time NEWSBITS’N’PIECES: ROYAL SCOOTER DUDE: The Thunder Press had a feature about the future King of Merry Olde England and his love of two-wheeled motor sports. We had a story here in the Sack about a year ago that the young Prince William is a fan of motorcycles and rides very well himself. The Royal family isn’t too happy about it, but the Prince says his father deals with it well. Motorcycles have their dangerous side but so does the Royal sport of Polo. You couldn’t pay me to try and hit a small, very hard ball from the back of a running horse. The Prince has been riding for several years now, and says he fell in love with “motorbikes” as they are called in England, at a very early age. He says also, that proper training is essential. When he puts his helmet on, he says he feels anonymous, so he can relax and enjoy the ride without being chased by paparazzi! ORLANDO, FLA: Here it comes folks, we have been watching things develop around the country and here is what we have found. There will be a law enforcement set of seminars held somewhere in the Orlando area during “Bike Week” 2004. These seminars are open to law enforcement only and will cover subjects such as: Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigations, From the Inside – Combating Biker Gangs, Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Identification – Intelligence Gathering, Major Run Enforcement – Police/Biker Relations, Motorcycle Gang Coalitions (They’re worried about our NCOM and Confederations of Clubs??), Combating lawsuits (like the ones our AIM Lawyers file??), Development and Management of Gang Member or Associate as an Informant. These words should concern every American, not just riders. We’ve covered the “USA PATRIOT ACT” in earlier Sacks and this is just what I’m talking about. I’m not pretending we are all perfect in our lifestyle but neither is any other lifestyle you might want to mention. This kind of surveillance of our lives is an outrage and we need to scream like Hell about it. Learn more at the next NCOM Convention in Oklahoma City next May. COSTA MESA, CA: This time it’s the ACLU in court battling for homosexual woman bikers. The women want to run their second “Dyke Run” parade through the town of Costa Mesa and the city is using restrictions against motorcycles to discourage the ride. They are saying the Dykes on Bikes will have to follow the permit process like any other group. One of the requirements is the group arrange for a million dollar liability insurance policy and a $3k deposit for police protection during the ride. The city wants the organizers to provide porta-potties and trash pick-up after the parade. They also want to limit the number of bikes to 10 and threaten tickets to be mailed to offenders on the parade route. Sounds like a real mess to me. LOS ANGELES, CA: The worlds largest rent-a-bike company of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Eagle Rider, is set to offer travel agents a 40% commission on the reservation of bike rentals at vacation destinations if the rental is for a week or more. This is in effect until Feb 20, 2004. I think I’d rather rent direct and pay a little less! NEW YORK, NY: Here we go again! Got this story from a contributor to the e-mail list serve of the SoLR, the Sons of Liberty Riders. The Long Island area near New York City has found the neatest way there is to harass bikers. They have instituted “SAFETY CHECKPOINT STOPS,” which are designed, according to the information I have, to interrupt the travel of those persons using the motorcycle as a way of getting from one place to another. This gives the cops a way to write tickets. These checkpoints are for MOTORCYCLES ONLY. Other methods of travel are left alone! Don Lanham, the Legislative Coordinator for A.B.A.T.E. of New York wrote a letter to several newspaper editors and four were printed. One rebuttal letter expressed concern with the noise levels some bikes cause, and also had something to say about the attire worn by many of us, black leather and denim. He said bright colors were more to his liking because it made bikers more visible. I’m wondering if he had any idea the reason we wear such attire is because it protects us when we get run over by folks who think we should wear bright colors. Maybe the idea was to make us easier targets for cage drivers. I don’t know. At any rate it bothers me that authorities will go to such lengths to harass people and not include the entire traveling population no matter what vehicles they choose to use. NEW YORK, NY: Well here’s a new one: According to Billboard magazine there’s a new rock group — actually just three guys — and they call themselves the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. They’re doing a North American tour in September and October. They even call themselves “BRMC.” If any Sack readers know about this crew I’d like to know if they’re riders at all. If NOT, I wonder what bonafide Clubs might have to say about them. Drop old Gunny a line at AIMGunny@aol.com any time on any subject at all, but especially about this bunch. That’s it for this month. Stay safe, andKeep the round side on the bottom.Gunny, Oregon AIM Chief of Staff
GUNNY’S SACK
