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Abate of Florida State Meeting
If you have knowledge, let
others light their candles in it.
--Margaret Fuller, Feminist and poet
Education is not the filling of
a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yates
Respect
the person who has seen the Dark side of motorcycling and
lived.
LA
gangbanger photos
Areola
How
to be a good Democrat
Michael
Moron
Buffalo
Field Campaign
Ben
Stein
Surprise
SOTD
"The
difference between the almost right word and the right word
is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the
lightning-bug and the lightning." - Mark Twain
The opposite of a
correct statement is a false statement.
The opposite of a profound truth may well be another
profound truth.
Niels Bohr (1885-1962), physicist
"Beware the man
of one book."
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), Theologian,
philosopher
Life is not a
journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly
proclaiming:
WOW - What a Ride!"
"Consciously or
unconsciously we all strive to make the kind of a world we
like."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
"We Lakota have
a close relationship to the buffalo. He is our brother. You
can't understand about nature, about the feeling we have
toward it, unless you understand how close we were to the
buffalo. That animal was almost like a part of ourselves,
part of our souls." Lame Deer, Lakota
Disclaimer
R.I.P
Serving the
biker community since 10-15-01
a peach is
a peach a plum is a plum a kiss isn't a kiss without some
tongue
Scars are tattoos
with better stories
Drug free since
1-01-87
Webmaster
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While being pro-club
by nature I do not to belong to any club.
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Subject: Update On hearing For
Gary Shaw Caloosahatchee ABATE Member
Good Evening All; For those of you who are not aware on April 21st 2007 Gary Shaw was riding one of his many motorcycles home from lunch with friends. He was about to make a right hand turn on to the road which would lead him home to his wife to prepare for the following Sunday morning with his grandchildren.
At this very same point in time on this beautiful sunny dry Saturday afternoon a woman in a rented SUV was pulling out of a strip mall to go down the very same road to her home, when she crossed over two east bound lanes, blew through the median, went across the first west bound lane, and hit Gary in the second west bound lane, the very same road he was to turn on to in an effort to reach home. Gary unfortunately died from his injuries in May 4th 2007.
Today January 23rd 2008 at 8:30 this morning court was in session for the woman who hit and killed Gary Shaw one of the safest riders that the Caloosahatchee Chapter of ABATE was proud to call a member.
Caloosahatchee held a letter campaign as well as a phone campaign to the Judge, and in addition members of our chapter appeared in court today. The Judge called the defandant's name, the woman approached with a spanish interpreter. The defandant was sworn in and then asked to plead. Through her interpreter she plead no contest.
The Judge then read out loud the ticket she was sited for "failure to yield" which held a fine at the time of $113.50.
The Judge then asked if there was someone in the community that wished to speak in regards to this case. Chuck Long the President of the Caloosahatchee Chapter of ABATE approached and was sworn in. With tears in his eyes, and a lump in his throat he spoke of Gary and what he meant to his wife, his father, his grandchildren, ABATE, members of the Caloosahatchee chapter and all he did for this community. He also took a moment to let the Judge know that just 7 days prior she ran a stop sign, although this day she did not take a life, she obviously did not learn the rules of the road. He then asked the Judge to impose the maximum fine that she saw fit as well as community service in the Lee Memorial trauma unit so the defandant could experience what family members and friends have to when one person in a vehicle is in too much of a hurry to obey the laws of the road and seriously injures or kills another.
The Judge then asked the defendant how long she lived in Florida. the defendant quoted "4 years". The Judge informed her that she should know the laws of the road by now. The Judge then read her driving history here in Florida as well as Texas, where the defendant used to live. Once completed the Judge asked the Defendant why she should not impose the
maximum fines. Through her interpreter she replied "it was an accident". The Judge acknowledged that it was an accident and agreed that accidents happened, but explained to her that this does not excuse her lack of obeying the laws. She asked the defendant if there were any other reasons that she should not impose the stiffest penalties. The defendant quoted that she would lose her CDL license, again the Judge replied this is not a reason. The defendant then replied "I did not see him". The Judge informed her that she had three lanes in which to see him, and that the witness' saw him, and so should she have seen him as well.
The Judge then with emotion in her face and her breathe imposed the following fine upon the defendant:
$1000.00 fine to be paid in 60 days
8 Hour court ordered driving school
9 Month revocation of driving privileges and last but not least Lee Memorial Trauma Unit Class It is true one voice is but a whisper....together we are noise that makes a difference!
I can say that although today brought all the sadness back...I know why I am proud to call myself an ABATE member!
Keep up the good work!
Tammey Amodea
Editor Caloosahatchee News
Caloosahatchee Chapter
ABATE of FLORIDA INC.
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The only good view
of a thunderstorm is in your rearview mirror.
Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian
In the past two months, they've had drinks in our bars and charmed our waitstaff, pitched business proposals to our merchants and spoken cordially with police.
In short, the Hells Angels have been downright civil.
One might even get the impression that the most feared and revered motorcycle club in the world was planning a company picnic instead of a national gathering of so-called outlaws. And in some ways, one would be right.
“They were my best patrons all day,” said Katie Hatheway, a waitress at the Top Hat Bar who served a group of Hells Angels last month. The bikers were in town scouting out possible venues for their 2008 USA Run, which is almost certain to take place in Missoula in late July or early August. “They were so nice and they tipped me so much,” she said.
Assistant Police Chief Mark Muir said he's had several conversations with a chapter member from Richmond, Calif., who is on the planning committee for the summer rally. Muir has been named incident commander for the probable gathering this summer.
“They have expressed that they want to come here, and they have confirmed that they met with Bruce Doering (owner of the defunct Marshall Mountain ski area) but nothing is locked in yet, neither a date nor a location,” Muir said. “We have had very cordial conversations and plan to welcome them to our community without discriminating, but we will be prepared if things get out of hand. That's our overriding goal: to make sure this community remains safe.” Doering, whose camping area hosted the Hells Angels during their 2000 visit to Missoula, did not return phone calls, and it's unclear whether any contract is in place.
Given their notoriety, a visit from the Hells Angels implies more than cash-filled tills and fat tips. They aren't your average tourists, and history has shown their rallies can be unpredictable events, by turns chaotic and collected, not unlike any large festive gathering.
Missoula authorities intend to brace themselves for the Hells Angels' descent on Missoula, but Muir said there will be visible changes in the police department's response compared to the club's last Garden City run, back in
2000, when thousands of people associated with the Rainbow Family also passed through town on their way to an annual counterculture gathering.
“The difference people will see this time around is that we will have a much more visible planning process,” Muir said. “We will be seeking out input from members of the community to avoid some of the previous issues we ran into, given that those problems were mostly with the community and not with the Hells Angels. We worked things out pretty well with the Hells Angels. What we need to work out better this year is involving community.” In 2000, as is often the case, the Angels' visit to Missoula was preceded by their notoriety.
Legendary are the accounts of a tattooed throng of bikers bearing down on unsuspecting towns, outnumbering law enforcement and usurping police power. The Angels' 1996 gathering in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where two members were shot - most likely by other Angels who proceeded to barricade the crime scene and hold police at bay until the evidence had been excised - figures prominently into those tales.
Eight years ago, with plenty of lead time to prepare, Missoula's own police force made arrangements with agencies throughout Montana and across the country, ensuring that a phalanx of law enforcement would be on hand when the Angels rallied. It's a strategy that police agencies across America swear by, and which they say effectively stymies most criminal behavior before it begins.
Perry Rockvam is chief of police in Cody, Wyo., where an estimated 1,300 Angels gathered for the 2006 World Run. He agrees that a heavy police presence is critical to maintain control of any large-scale event. But, Rockvam says, he ran that particular rodeo from behind closed curtains.
“We had a very large behind-the-scenes presence, with law enforcement staged out of the public's view,” Rockvam said of his tactical plan, which he tweaked along the way.
“It's not so much knowing what to expect from the Hells Angels,” he said. “It's knowing what to expect outside the Hells Angels.” Specifically, Rockvam wasn't prepared for the volume of complaints from Cody residents, who were inconvenienced and even threatened by the heavy presence of officers, especially state troopers who were over-zealous with traffic stops. In response, Rockvam quickly cut back the number of visible officers, and the rally
- perhaps the largest gathering on record - went on without any major incidents.
“We had to get a police department the size of Denver, Colorado, up and running in 12 hours, and our local citizens weren't used to that strong law enforcement presence. It caught them off guard,” Rockvam said. “People who were normally violating the law with expired registration tags now were getting stopped and cited. We took some criticism for that initially, but by the second day we made some adjustments.” Rockvam said he owes part of his success to members of the Missoula Police Department, with whom he met for a crash course in hosting the Angels.
“It's one of the first things we did once we learned they were coming to our area,” he said. “We wanted to learn from Missoula what went well, and what didn't go so well.” In the early morning hours of Saturday, July 29, 2000, as Missoula's downtown bars closed their doors, more than
300 bikers left town in a deafening clamor of tailpipes and exhaust, but otherwise without incident, a near non-event that almost didn't happen.
Then the area of West Front Street between Ryman Street and Higgins Avenue erupted as hordes of onlookers, incubated in the summer heat, made a collective decision to stay put.
Police had their most violent clashes with the curious downtown revelers. The mixture was one of homegrown residents and transplants, taxpayers and squatters, rainbows and stormclouds. Everyone assembled on the concourse to witness the spectacle and, after chafing under the constraints of a massive police presence, created one of their own.
By dawn, nearly two dozen people faced criminal charges and dozens more were stinging from the lingering effects of pepper spray. Photos and video footage of taunting crowds, galled officers and impending batons circulated.
Eight months later, among heavy criticism, the police department released its response to how efforts to control a motorcycle gang resulted instead in flared tensions with mostly local residents.
City and county officials were still contending with about 15 claims or lawsuits born out of alleged civil rights violations in a single weekend. The legal bills in at least three of the cases were significant, though none went to trial and none resulted in large judgments or settlements.
“There were definitely claims and litigation that had to be dealt with,” said Missoula City Attorney Jim Nugent.
Assistant Police Chief Muir said Missoula can expect a different outcome this summer. In particular, a more inclusive planning process with city officials and residents is in the works.
“We will try to de-emphasize the police presence the community is exposed to,” he said. “We recognize that it was a hard thing for the community to experience such a large volume of police presence. We don't want the people of Missoula to feel like they're living in a police-occupied state. It won't be a police occupation, but we will have a presence. In the end, it's still our job to keep this community safe, but we will be seeking input as far as how to meet that goal.
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Shovel faster and easier now using this new trick! Generously spray your shovel with cooking spray (like Pam) before shoveling to keep the snow from sticking.
You can seal any plastic bag by placing a piece of aluminum foil over the end to be sealed and running a hot iron over the foil. Make sure you have foil on both sides of the plastic to be sealed so it doesn´t stick to the ironing surface. No expensive sealing tools required.
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Let the light of the day brighten up your night. Powered by a built-in photocell, solar night-lights require no wiring and no electricity, and they turn on automatically at night.
Designed to look great whether you like traditional or modern, these energy-savers are available both in-store and online.
They are becoming increasingly popular, particularly since they are so much easier to install than traditional wired systems. If you decide you don't like where you put them, or simply want to expand or mix things up, they are also much easier to move than wired units. |
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The Word of the Day for January 29 is:
Lucullan \loo-KULL-un adjective : lavish, luxurious Example sentence:
The banquet guests were treated to a Lucullan feast in the royal dining room.
Did you know?
"Lucullan" echoes the name of Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus. The general had a distinguished military career (including the defeat of Mithradates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, at Cabira in 72 B.C.), but he is best remembered for the splendor of his opulent retirement. Lucullus established a reputation for magnificent banquets, at which he wined and dined the leading poets, artists, and philosophers of his time. His feasts were sufficiently extravagant to establish a lasting place for his name as a synonym of "lavish" in the English lexicon.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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The American Revolution would
never have happened with gun control.
The
United States Constitution (c)1791. All Rights Reserved
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