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From The GUNNY’S SACK
A New Year Is Upon Us Again. And WOW! We got through another, and our accomplishmentsabound around the country. The motorcycle community is closer together now than it everhas been. The National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) has grown along with theConfederations of Clubs across the country. The various State organizations are growingin most areas, and we ARE coming together. We still have a huge fight on our hands,especially in this current political climate, but it was refreshing for me to see theresponse of our motorcycle world at the polls this year.
Our people are also waking up to the fact that we should NOT drink and ride. The statsI’ve seen show about a ten percent drop in alcohol-related accidents. Unfortunately, thestats also say there seems to be an increase in motorcycle accidents involving those ofus over forty years young. Do we need to take some riding courses and sharpen ourselvesup? Rider training is a positive thing for ALL of us on scoots. You young peoplewouldn’t hurt yourselves by taking a course either. It just makes good sense. I knowyou’re all experts because you’ve told me so, but a little training doesn’t hurt. It’scheaper than chrome and doesn’t get dull with wear, it gets BETTER instead.
GUNNY’S NEW RIDE: As some of you know, I bought a new Gold Wing in October. Sue and Iplan to do some touring soon so I thought we’d get ready. This new bike is completelydifferent than any other scoot I’ve ever owned. It takes some time to get used to thedifferences in handling, the way it feels sitting on it, radial tires, and the brakingsystem. The thing even has a reverse gear for help in backing away from that curb thatdrops away from you. There is cruise control and Oh My God! TUNES on the radio and evena CB and intercom so the better half can talk to me instead of scream at me.
All this newfangled stuff means I need to train myself to ride this bike safely. Whenever we don’t ride for awhile (as in the winter) or get new rides, it means we needto tune ourselves up and re-learn or wake up our sleeping sensitivities to our rides. Asmachines get older or are replaced, we find little things new or things we forgot thatneed to be kept in mind for that terrifying moment when we need to avoid some dipstickwho’s trying to kill us!
This scoot is SO much fun, I’m riding more than I did on the old one, even if it iswinter here in central Oregon. The cold also brings it’s little foibles, such ashypothermia and dehydration. Both these critters can get you in serious trouble so youneed to be aware. Be sure you layer clothing and take care to stay warm. Drink lots ofWATER. Notice it wasn’t spelled B-E-E-R. If you start to get chilled, stop and have acup of coffee or soup in a warm place. You can tell if you are starting to gethypothermic if it’s hard to keep your mind on what you’re doing, and usually you’vestarted shivering some. This is a dangerous place to be, so get yourself warmed upquick, ?cuz it’s a killer.
I’m taking good care of myself this winter…How about you? I have my electric clothingand I carry water in the saddle bags.
NEWS BITS’N PIECES:
MIAMI: The idea of using motorcycles to respond to emergency situations is spreading likewildfire. The firefighters of Miami-Dade county in Florida are proposing their use inthat area, for their EMT’s. The feeling is that quicker response will save lives bygetting much faster response, since a scoot can scoot through the usual traffic gridlockof accidents, especially on freeways.
ELECTRIC SCOOTS: For a measly $99.00, I saw on the ?net that you can now buy your kids a10 mph electric scooter. Just plug it in and charge it up. The kids can ride for about8 miles. It’s got a 100-watt motor and takes 3 to 4 hours to charge it up. Hells Bells,I’d even enjoy one!
TORONTO: Early December the motorcycle show here introduced some motorcycles never beforeseen by our northern neighbors. Aprilia and Benelli made their debut in this country. The 1000 cc Caponord is the Italian company’s first motorcycle to be sold in Canada. This tourer will give Suzuki’s V-Strom a run for it’s money. Benelli’s 900cc Tornado isa hot one with 140 hp. This with many other makes and models made this the motorcycle”show of shows” for Canada this year.
PICKERINGTON, OHIO: If you’ve never been to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, this yearwould be a good one to make the trip. Progressive Motorcycle Insurance Company plans the”Heroes of Harley Davidson” Exhibit, opening in 2003 to coincide with Harley’s bigbirthday celebration. This will show us a century of growth in Harley-Davidson from agarage shack in the back yard to the sprawling industry it is today, employing thousandsof our people across the country, and giving thousands others of us the pleasure ofreliable motoring enjoyment.
YOU ARE A SUSPECT!.. We already have the US PATRIOT Act to contend with, and now there isa new even more invasive threat on the horizon. It’s called the Homeland Security Act,or as our Oregon A.I.M. (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) Attorney Sam Hochberg prefers tocall it, the FATHERLAND (as in the Third Reich) Security Act. And if this JohnPoindexter, who is a convicted felon, a Doctor of Physics, and former National Securityadvisor to President Reagan, gets the power he wants with this bill, we as citizens arein about the same place Poland and Hungary were at the beginning of the Second World War!
Our government will have the power to monitor everything every person does in his or herpublic life. He will know more about you than your mother does! Every credit cardpurchase, prescription filled, what magazines you subscribe to, your speeding tickets,and your drivers license number and expiration date, marriage and divorce records,whether you rent or own and almost the color of your socks on Monday morning. We will infact live in a POLICE STATE. Even those new outdoor police cameras will be connected toface-scanners, eventually, to have a little dossier on everyone. He will have the dreamof what they’re calling “Total Information Awareness” (or TIA) on every person in thiscountry. And don’t kid yourself, he WILL USE IT to make himself the most powerful man onearth.
This convict heads the “Information Awareness Office” in our Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency, the people responsible for starting the Internet and stealth aircraft,and their official motto is “Knowledge is Power.” The disgraced Navy Admiral has beengiven $200 million of our tax dollars to create dossiers on every one of our people. Just how do you think he will treat Motorcycle Clubs and Associations? We had better bewriting our Congressmen and Senators about how we feel about this monumental intrusioninto our lives. Now I KNOW there’s good reason these days to monitor SOME folks whomight be a 9/11 level of threat; but you can FIND those folks, as I see it, withouthaving to snoop on every American, reason or not.
All this is news printed in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and other largenewspapers all over the country. This is a terrible threat to Freedom in this countryand we need to keep a wary weather eye on this very powerful man and on the proposedlaws. He has no more regard for our freedom than the man on the moon. And we need tospread the word to those that are not so aware.
I don’t know about you but this all scares the skivvies off me, and I gotta tell ya THATain’t a purty sight.
REMINDER: The good people at the Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Program are inplace for our protection from unscrupulous insurance adjusters and companies. And SamHochberg asked me to remind you that if you are in a wreck and the adjuster soundspleasant and you’re comfortable dealing with that adjuster, then you’re probably REALLYready to get reamed! If an adjuster calls you, Sam’s motto is “Just say NO; but THENcall a lawyer!” If you get in a bind, call your nearest A.I.M. Attorney or use theA.I.M. 24-Hour Hotline: 1-800-531-2424 (or 1-800-ON-A-BIKE, or online:www.ON-A-BIKE.com), and these guys will take good care of you. They are riders and arevery aware of the world we live in on the highway. Sam’s office here in Oregon can alsobe reached at 503-224-1106 or 1-800-347-1106 toll free. He’s online atSamBikeLaw@aol.comKeep the round side on the bottom.
Gunny, Oregon A.I.M. Chief Of Staff
