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INDIAN LIQUIDATED– The sale or liquidation of a motorcycle company that was once a rival of Harley-Davidson could come by mid-January, according to a letter mailed this week to Indian Motorcycle Co. dealerships.
If a “bulk sale” of Indian is not settled soon, the company will be sold “piecemeal” in a Jan. 21 auction, according to the letter from a firm hired to find a buyer for Indian.
In September, Indian closed the Gilroy, Calif., factory where it made Chief, Scout and Spirit motorcycles. It hired CMA Business Credit Services, of San Leandro, Calif., to find a buyer for the company.
Selling Indian has been “more difficult and time-consuming than we had anticipated,” CMA said in a Dec. 23 letter to motorcycle dealers.
CMA said it continues “to work with several interested parties” for an acquisition.
Should the efforts fail, a Jan. 21 auction has been scheduled in Gilroy to sell Indian’s assets in pieces.
Indian dealers in Wisconsin are hopeful that a buyer will be announced before an auction deadline. They say there’s too much at stake to allow the company to be liquidated.
“The unknown is what’s affecting us now,” he added. “The quicker that we hear some news, the better off we will be.”
–from Rogue
BAD COP INVESTIGATION–North Carolina – The 2002 Chadbourn Police Officer of the Year is behind bars and facing charges of child rape.
Columbus County sheriff’s deputies arrested Christopher Olson on Friday. They charged him with raping a seven-year-old girl.Olson went before a judge Monday to face formal charges. If convicted of raping the child, he could face life in prison without parole.
The Chadbourn police chief said the child’s family registered a complaint on Friday. Authorities arrested and fired Olson the same day after a brief investigation uncovered a CD, which held incriminating evidence.
Olson is being held on a $500,000 bond. He is being transported to Central Prison in Raleigh for safety reasons. Authorities want to keep him away from Columbus County inmates whom he is arrested.
BLONDE FOR 2004–Returning home from work, a blonde was shocked to find her house ransacked and burglarized. She telephoned the police at once and reported the crime. The police dispatcher broadcast the call on the radio, and a K-9 unit, patrolling nearby was the first to respond.
As the K-9 officer approached the house with his dog on a leash. The blonde ran out on the porch, shuddered at the sight of the cop and his dog, then sat down on the steps. Putting her face in her hands, she moaned, “I come home to find all my possessions stolen. I call the police for help, and what do they do? They send me a BLIND policeman.”
–from Bob T.
BAD COP INVESTIGATION CONTINUES– Feds find some drug money stolen by cops New York – Federal and local authorities investigating a veteran detective and his retired partner charged with taking $169,000 from a drug money courier have recovered some of the cash, as well as money from other crimes the men committed, according to several law enforcement officials.
The veteran detective, Julio C. Vasquez, and a third man, a retired lieutenant who has also been implicated, have been talking to Brooklyn federal prosecutors and Internal Affairs investigators, although neither man has signed a formal cooperation agreement, a person familiar with the conversations said.
The retired detective, Thomas Rachko, who was arrested after the theft on Nov. 26 along with Detective Vasquez, began cooperating with prosecutors and Internal Affairs investigators within days, officials have said. Mr. Vasquez resigned from the force soon after his arrest.
Mr. Rachko implicated the retired lieutenant, John Maguire, a Columbia University graduate and former high school teacher, and two other active-duty detectives, the officials have said. One official said of Mr. Maguire: “He’s been talking. He’s admitted to engaging in a number of thefts and attempted thefts with Rachko and Vasquez.”
Mr. Rachko also told investigators that he and Mr. Vasquez stole narcotics from drug dealers and sold them through an associate, officials said.A lawyer for Mr. Vasquez declined to comment yesterday, and Mr. Rachko’s lawyer could not be reached by phone. A telephone message left at Mr. Maguire’s home was not answered.
A portion of the $169,000 was recovered at a garbage dump in the Bronx after Mr. Rachko told investigators he threw the cash in a Dumpster, and they traced its contents there, one official said. It could not be learned yesterday how much of the money was recovered or how much additional money was found.
Bad Cop… No Doughnut!
–from Rogue
MORE BAD COPS– Cop who sold seized property and stashed money charged Florida – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is stumped about why a detective allegedly stuffed nearly $560,000 in two Sheriff’s office file cabinets since 1998.
Detective Brian Murphy, who is a 23-year police veteran who sold property seized in crimes, reportedly stashed the money seized instead of depositing it with the tax collector.But investigators don’t know why.
Murphy’s scheduled to challenge charges against him at a disciplinary hearing Monday.
They discovered plastic bags filled with about $530,000 in cash and $30,000 in checks and money orders earlier this month, while reorganizing the office.
Authorities suspect it’s going to take an expensive, months-long investigation to account for the money and determine whether laws were broken.
The money was turned over to the tax collector.
–from Bikernet lead investigator, Rogue
QUOTE OF THE DAY– The government is merely a servant — merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. ? Mark Twain
CARIBBEAN 2004 ANNOUNCEMENT–PUERTO RICO BIKE WEEK COMING–Wishing everyone the best New Year ever !May 2004 bring you health, good fortune and peace.2003 was a great year for many of us, 2004 shall be even better.On the same line the PR Bike week end web site is partially working, here’s the link.http://www.prbikeweekend.com
Hope to see you all soon
–Jose
WRITING TECH TIP–I’ve got a few dozen writing books. The Writer’s Digest series is quick andalmost-if-not-quite painless; “Writing Down the Bones” is a good one, and”If You Can Talk, You Can Write” has its inspirational value.
A main reason for learning rules is to learn how and when to break them: forinstance, sometimes a writer actually wants to slow the action down, as in aportrait-type scene, where he wants the reader to observe somethingstatic–therefore passive voice is called for. I have a couple of reallygreat screenplay books, but, like you, when it comes to fiction, the how-tobooks are hard to apply.
In my previous career on occasion I was called upon to write taped phoneconversations, verbatim, with all the uh’s and interruptions of assumedpre-understanding; that, in itself, was a writing lesson, for I learned thatdialogue, while needing to seem realistic, cannot be presented like actualyhuman dialogue.
–Odhinn
Odhinn wrote a recent piece of Bikernet Fiction. I told him I picked up the Steven King book on writing. It contains his history and his rules on writing.–Bandit
Great Site…….21 days to Bagdad……….Great Photos– http://www.time.com/time/2003/21days/
–from Bbblehead
NOT AGAIN–ANOTHER BAD COP– Officer arrested after threatening to kill wife, Arkansas – A Rogers police officer faces charges after his wife says he threatened to kill her.
Cory Burke, age 23, turned himself in to Bentonville police Friday on terroristic threatening charges.
Burke allegedly threatened to kill his wife on Christmas Eve.
Burke’s wife claims he’s been both physically and verbally abusive in the past.Burke is on suspension with pay until an internal investigation into the matter has been wrapped up.
–from Rogue
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE BIKERNET CREW–It’s been a blast working with all the Bikernet readers to created this site through 2003. We’ve enjoyed the techs, building bikes, chasing women and relaxing with some Whiskey in the evening. It was a blast to fly to Hawaii for the first Choppers Only Show. We may be flying back for the first Discovery build-off conclusion, between Arlen and Cory Ness, on Oahu.
We enjoyed promoting the LA Calendar show in Long Beach, The Beach Ride, Jose’s first PR Bike Week in the Caribbean, The Run For Breath and Edge’s Smoke Out in North Carolina. It was a helluva year and we look forward to next year and riding to Sturgis. I’ve missed two years, that’s enough.
Let’s support Motorcycle-Right-Of-Way legistion. We’ll bring you additional reports on the efforts. Legalize prostitution and have a blast. May the God of Chrome be at your side throughout 2004.
Ride Forever,
–Bandit
