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NCOM COAST TO COAST BIKER LEGISLATIVE NEWSCompiled and Edited byBILL BISH,NATIONAL COALITION OF MOTORCYCLISTS–
TEXAS GOVERNOR VETOES BIKER ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BILL Despite anoutstanding lobbying effort by the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association andthe four Confederations of Clubs of Texas, and in spite of near unanimouspassage in the Texas Legislature, Governor Rick Perry vetoed landmarklegislation that would have made Texas the second state to make it illegal todiscriminate against motorcycle riders. Minnesota passed the nation’s firstbiker equal access law in 1998.
”We’ll just have to get a new governor and run another bill throughnext session,” said Sputnik, Chairman of the TMRA-II and member of theNational Coalition of Motorcyclists’ Legislative Task Force. ”I just sent aletter to Governor Perry promising him that, ‘You’ll remember this bill everyday of your upcoming campaign,’ because Texas bikers WILL elect a newgovernor in November!” Perry succeeded former Governor George W. Bush tofulfill his term of office after Bush resigned to run for President, and willstand election this fall.
JUSTICE FINALLY PREVAILS FOR KANSAS BIKER On April 13, 2001, theKansas Court of Appeals handed down its second decision overturning theillegal sentence of biker Richard B. Aikman for the crime of wearing a beltbuckle.
In 1997, Aikman was charged with various drug charges resulting frominformation obtained from a confidential informant and from a raid of hishome in Natoma, Kansas. The confidential informant provided authoritiesuntruthful information about Aikman being involved in the distribution ofmethamphetamine in exchange for leniency in charges he faced. He alsoinformed authorities that the biker had a cache of weapons in his home, whichincluded automatic weapons.
Law enforcement officials in full riot gear and aided with an armedpersonnel carrier burst into Aikman’s home. No weapons were discovered,other than some shotguns used for hunting. However, a small quantity ofmarijuana and rolling papers were found. Despite finding no methamphetamineor evidence of distribution, Aikman was charged with several serious drugcharges. He pled guilty to possession of marijuana and possession of drugparaphernalia. The conviction for possession of marijuana was Aikman’ssecond, which under Kansas law constitutes a felony. Sentencing in Kansas is controlled by the Kansas SentencingGuidelines.Aikman fell under the portion of the sentencing grid which specifiedprobation, and unless factors justify a more harsh sentence the judge mustimpose the probation. During the original sentencing, the sentencing judgeremarked on a belt buckle he had observed Aikman wear to court when he hadentered his plea. The belt buckle had the words “Sons of Silence” upon it.Acting on his own initiative, the judge announced he was going to depart onAikman’s sentence because Aikman had displayed evidence of gang affiliationby his belt buckle. There had been no allegations that the crimes for whichAikman was being sentenced had anything to do with involvement with the Sonsof Silence Motorcycle Club. There was no evidence that Aikman was a member ofthe Sons of Silence M/C, or that the Sons of Silence even existed. The judgegave Aikman probation for the possession felony but sentenced him to one yearin county jail for the misdemeanor paraphernalia charge.
Aikman appealed his conviction through Kansas A.I.M. Attorney KeithRenner, who also serves as legal counsel to the Confederation of Clubs ofKansas. The Kansas Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and remandedthe matter to the District Court for resentencing. However, once again thesentencing judge (the same judge) brought up the belt buckle issue. He alsomade several attempts to force Aikman to waive his Fifth Amendment rights byindicating that if Aikman would disavow any interest in the Sons of Silencehe would be treated lenient. However, if he failed to disavow, the judgemade it abundantly clear that he would be treated harshly. Aikman, however,stood his ground and refused to be bullied.
The judge not only sentenced him to one year in county jail on themisdemeanor, but sentenced him to one year in a state penitentiary for thefelony. The matter was once again appealed.
The issues in the second appeal were substantially the same as in thefirst. Aikman claimed that his First Amendment rights to freedom of speechand association were violated by the court’s consideration of an article ofwearing apparel professing support of a group, and that the court hadviolated his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination for punishingAikman for failing to disavow interest in the Sons of Silence.
In very strong language, the Kansas Court of Appeals once againoverturned the sentences and remanded the matter to the District Court forresentencing under the instructions provided. The Court of Appeals ruledthat before the court can consider an issue relating to alleged gangmembership ”[e]vidence of gang membership must be relevant to the issuespresented atsentencing,” that the trial court violated Aikman’s FifthAmendment rights by punishing him for refusing to make any comment aboutmembership in the Sons of Silence, and that ”[a] defendant’s apparel atsentencing and his or her failure to disavow gang membership do notconstitute substantial and compelling reasons to support a departuresentence.”
The matter has not yet been returned to the District Court, but Renneris hopeful that his client will be released from court supervision instead ofbeing placed on probation since he has been under court supervision for overthree years while this matter was on appeal.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: ”Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’vegot.”JANIS JOPLIN
THE CITY BOY–A city boy moved to the country and bought a mule from an old farmer. Thefarmer agreed to deliver the mule the next day. The next day, the farmerdrove up and said, “Sorry, but I have some bad news. The mule died.”
“Well, then, just give me my money back.”
“Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.”
“OK, then. Just unload the mule.”
“What ya gonna do with him?”
“I’m going to raffle him off.”
“You can’t raffle off a dead mule!”
“Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.”
A month later the farmer met up with the city boy and asked, “Whateverhappened with that dead mule?”
“I raffled him off. I sold a hundred tickets at two dollars apiece andmade a ninety-eight dollar profit.
“Didn’t anyone complain?”
“Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.”
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CRASH DASHES HOPES FOR STRONG VR 1000 FINISH AT NEW HAMPSHIRE–A promising weekend of competitive practice and qualifying times turned to disappointment Monday for Harley-Davidson and Pascal Picotte, who crashed while running fourth during the early laps of the rain-delayed 78th annual Loudon Classic AMA Superbike race at New Hampshire International Speedway. Picotte remounted to finish 18th aboard his heavily damaged motorcycle, while teammate Mike Smith suffered a mechanical problem on lap 20 and did not finish.”I think we would have had a very good chance of finishing fourth or fifth, maybe even third,” said Picotte. “I don’t think we could have caught Eric (Bostrom) and Mat (Mladin), who were way out front, but I think we would have gotten stronger during the race.”According to Harley-Davidson Race Director John Baker, the weekend was another step forward in the program’s 2001 rebuilding effort.
A scoot recently built by Jose and his crew at Caribbean Custom Cycles.
The WCC is on the paint booth. All the fab, welding, molding, etc. is done.Hope to have it ready in a few days. The Jack Daniels BBQ is thisSunday, which means we are stuck with preparations, getting the bikes andtrailer ready, trophies and all that crap. The guys did make sometime to take a ride up into the mountains, all the way inside the CentralMountan Range last Sunday.
For general information, Puerto Rico is dividedby these mountains, they run east to west, and these are the fun roads totravel, mile after mile of twisties, fresh temperatures and mostly nohelmet. Cops stick to the main highways down by the coasts. These roads areperfect for short escapades on any given day.
A visit to the lakes and rivers or any of the roadside food vendors is amust; an almost “you have to” is eating pig on a spit (lechon asao) up inthe national forest of Guavate.Well, I guess enough of the tourism tips for this week, let’s get to thenews.
The Dia del Motociclista (motorcycle rider day) at the local race track wasa success, they claim to have an attendance of over 5,000 motorcycles. Withmusic, drag racing, burnouts galore and a lot of bike oggling. Thedownside is that most of the bikes (and more every year) are the Jap bikes,the Harley crowd seems to be heading somewhere else and avoiding themayhem.
This week end is the annual MDA ride, the local HOG chapter organizes theride up to the mountain town of Barranquitas, to the MDA house, many of theclubs get together to help out and hand out on this ride.
Sunday will be the Jack Daniels BBQ. It’s a contest for the best BBQsauce made with Jack. Amateur and pro competitors prepare the spit andsauces for the enjoyment of the crowd. At least 50 participants areexpected, and as I have said before, we will be running a bike show. Theawards will be: 3 places in Sportster, Big Twin and Custom, one best ofshow and best antique. We hope to have the photos available to post here inthe following weeks. (Yeah Bandit, I’ll save all the Jack I can get andtake it to Sturgis…)
Soon to come (we hope), is an article on The Horse. We are planning onfeaturing a short story and a local chopper, also on the works is a fullpictorial of a local iron maiden. Will post as this takes shape.
We would like to congratulate Roger Bourget (of BBW) in the catch andboarding of his first Blue Marlin. I guess his itch started with the onethat got away in the Northern coast of PR.
That’s it for this week, gotta go take some photos of my girfriend onher chopper. I’ll tell ya’ that Brenda’s photo on Bandit’s chopper has given me aheadache. Her bike will be featured in American Iron by the end of theyear, but she wants to send some photos to Bikernet. I’m guessing it’ssomething that only girls understand. I see myself standing in the cornershooting away while she racks some miles on the green chopper. Anyway,here’s a photo of the chopper, sans girlfriend.
Saludos, Jose
We need to see more of the girls of the Caribbean, those who ride. Oh, where are the 5-Balls? The trophies are waiting.
CHARITY RUN–Here is the latest link to the benefit we are putting on. Could you get iton the news? Would you like to be on the sponsor list? $100 minimun of merchandise.Good advertising. Thanks ROGUE
http://www.geocities.com/bubbafund/
We’re in–
SNYDER PURSUES F-USA NATIONAL DIRT TRACK SERIES POINTS LEAD– Jennifer Snyder continued her hunt for the Formula USA National Dirt Track Series Championship with a fourth place finish in the Ben Campanale Laconia Half Mile at the Rochester Fairgrounds on Friday night. Snyder, who four weeks ago became the first woman to ever win a national dirt track race, moved to second in overall points, just six behind leader Terry Poovey.
“It’s still early in the season, but Jennifer is fast becoming a formidable series championship contender,” said Harley-Davidson Director of Marketing Art Gompper. “With her natural ability, incredible work ethic and determination, she’s going to be a hard rider to beat.”
Snyder easily won her heat race Friday night, and was fourth off the starting line in the main event. She maintained fourth until the race was stopped due to a crash. After a single file restart, Snyder fell to sixth, but then reclaimed fourth with hard riding in difficult conditions.
“There was a very deep cushion and I couldn’t find a very good line – it’s a tough and rugged track that tests you as a rider,” said Snyder.
On the last lap, she pushed Poovey hard for third, but couldn’t quite make the pass before the finish line. Mike Hacker won the main event, with Bryan Smith finishing second.
H-D OF CHARLOTTE’S RUN FOR BREATH–Less than 5 weeks now until the 3rd Annual Run for Breath. We held a meeting with most of our volunteers last Monday night at Buffalo’s Cafe. It was a good turnout, and we have a lot of great people helping.
The official T-shirts (a Mike Pullin original) were delivered and they are “too cool for school.” We have one set aside for you. This year’s shirt is the best one yet.
The American Lung Association is helping to put up a billboard advertising this year’s event. That’s a first for the run. Next year we hope to have two billboards, and then three, and . . . who knows how big this event might become!
Door prizes are pouring in every day now. Our friends and sponsors have been extremely generous this year and there are a lot of great prizes that will be given away.
We’ll be seeing you soon! In the meantime, “ride it like your ex-wife is trying to take it!”
See ya!
M & M
HANOI JANE RETURNS– I’ve seen this before. My buddy Bill Bell who spent 10 years in Vietnam looking for POW/MIAs couldn’t get this report verified with any of hisPOW buddies.
Just more creative Fonda bashing. She already has committed enough treason for this country to prosecuteher. But the liberal assholes in charge won’t do it. At least Congress should pass a resolution condeming her behavior duringthe war.
THEY WON’T.
–Al
VINTAGE WIND–Remember when we rode from phone booth to phone booth or bar to bar? We were either calling for help, for money or help with bail. Well, those were the days, and last week Bob T. sent us 30 shots of the past that will be posted in our Freedom Film department. Be sure to check ’em out in the next week.
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