Abate of Florida 
Next State Meeting

Jan 7th-9th Thunder By The Bay Annual Bike Fest Sarasota, FL Benefits The Florida Center For Child & Family Development. Jan 7th “Born to Be Wild” Kickoff Party at Michael’s On East Ballroom $20-Casual Dress. Jan 8th Leon Russell in Concert with Special Guests at Robarts Arena Sarasota County Fairgrounds - Doors Open at 5pm, $10 Advance/$15 Night of Show (plus service charge). Tickets available at all Ticketmaster outlets, Rossiter’s Harley-Davidson in Sarasota & Bradenton, and the Five O’Clock Club. Jan 9th Poker Run. Register at Rossiter’s HD Sarasota or Bradenton 9:30 AM – 12 Noon. $10 per hand, with prize for top 3 hands. Downtown Festival/Bike Show 12 Noon to 5 PM. Live music, vendors, food/drinks, 50/50, Trophies for each bike class.

"SMART" HELMET GIVES MOTORCYCLISTS A HEADS UP A "smart" helmet has been invented that tells the wearer how fast they are traveling, what gear the motorcycle is in and whether turn signal indicators are on. The new device, inspired by the Heads-Up Display technology used by fighter pilots, flashes information onto a small digital screen inside the helmet.

Piers Tucker, a 24-year-old industrial designer from Leeds, England, who invented the helmet in an effort to promote road safety, claims that the screen - which is within the rider's peripheral vision - will allow motorcyclists to monitor their speed without taking their eyes off the road.

"I designed this helmet to save lives," he said. "When you are riding a motorcycle at a fast speed, it is difficult to concentrate on the displays on the dashboard and the roads at the same time.” The helmet calculates the rider's precise speed by utilizing satellite global positioning data (GPS), while information about the indicators and gears is sent to the helmet by radio transmitters. 

Tucker, who is not a motorcyclist himself, claims that if the helmet proves popular with riders, dashboard dials could disappear from motorcycles altogether. "It takes about 0.25 seconds to look down, focus on a speedometer and refocus on the road again. This doesn't sound like much but it can make the difference between life and death."
FLFLHTC: Just what we need. Some non-rider coming up with ways to protect us from ourselves.  I don't friggin think so. Another veiled attempt to promote mandatory helmet laws.

Breakup Letter Generator

Having trouble trying to find the right way to dump your boyfriend/girlfriend? The Breakup Letter Generator will help. You just fill in the blanks and the breakup letter generator will say all the things you can't. Try it out by visiting:
(original link was bad)

Making All Folders Behave the Same Way


It can take days — even weeks — to adjust folders so that they open up showing just the view you like: all large icons arranged by name, for example, or a more detailed view spilling over with information about the file.

From the View menu, choose Folder Options. The Folder Options window appears, ready for you to change the looks of your folders.

Click on the View tab, and then click on the Like Current Folder button. It's a big and clunky button; you can't miss it.

If things don't work out — you don't like that current folder after all — return to the Folder Options window and choose the Reset All Folders button.

Find even MORE helpful advice in More Windows 98 For Dummies, by Andy Rathbone.

Judge in Carlie Brucia case denies release of sealed documents

The Associated Press SARASOTA, Fla.
A judge refused to unseal documents in the Carlie Brucia slaying case that a newspaper says it needs to defend itself against a defamation lawsuit stemming from the girl's videotaped abduction.

Tampa attorney Gregg Thomas, who represents the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a lawsuit brought by friends of slaying suspect Joseph P. Smith, told Circuit Judge Andrew Owens Wednesday that he needed to read sealed police reports and other documents to help fight the lawsuit.

Jeffrey and Naomi Pincus sued the newspaper in March after a story said the couple ran a pornography business out of their Sarasota home where Smith also had been living.

The Pincuses say that's not true and also sued the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, which first published the information.

The national spotlight landed on the couple after Smith was arrested at their home two days after the abduction of
11-year-old Carlie was captured on a car wash surveillance video Feb. 1.

Her body was found on the grounds of a nearby church Feb. 6, and Smith was subsequently charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual battery.

A trial date is expected to be set for later this year, and prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.

The Enquirer and the Herald-Tribune reported that the Pincuses ran a Web site offering videos of young women fighting each other, and that they charged a fee to send two young women in "kinky outfits" to a client's home to "punch, scratch and bite each other."

In a letter to the Herald-Tribune, attorney Daniel A. Hoffman acknowledged the couple was involved in the marketing of the videos, which he said are not pornographic. But he said the rest is an "outrageous untruth."

Owens said he didn't see "extraordinary circumstances" that warranted release of the case documents. He said Thomas, who also is representing the Enquirer, could try again if other efforts to get the information failed.

Owens also said he may delay the civil case until after the jury is picked in the slaying case. Then hundreds of pages of sealed investigative records will be released.

* Update from the Field:
Happy New Year! Or will it be? Hope lies in our new Governor Brian Schweitzer, who is demonstrating that he is willing to take a stand for the buffalo. In fact, he's given us the first good news we've had in years (see below).
This is far more than our past two governors, Judy Martz and Marc Racicot, can say. Racicot, who just helped Bush to reelection, and Martz, the self-proclaimed "lapdog of industry," were both avid supporters of buffalo slaughter. With Racicot currently serving as a close advisor to President Bush, there's not much help on the federal level. We look to Schweitzer's leadership to make some headway for wild buffalo.

Friday, Jan. 7, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is scheduled to draw the names of ten people who will each be given a permit to -if they choose- gun down a beautiful buffalo starting January 15.

But, things may not go as planned. Scores of buffalo advocates have been applying for permits, with the promise of not using them and the Patagonia company has offered to pay for any permits that aren't used. Further, Montana's Governor Schweitzer is having some serious misgivings about this so-called hunt. He fears the hunt is poorly-timed, and it will do nothing to quell the misplaced concerns of the livestock industry. He is also convinced Montana will receive a huge black eye from the global public. Rightfully so. There is very little time - nine days from now the gunfire begins - but Gov. Schweitzer does have the power to stop it, and he needs to hear from you to know how bad a buffalo hunt would be for Montana.
FLFLHTC: Contact Gov. Schweitzer at governor@mt.gov

PENNSYLVANIA STIFFENS PENALTIES FOR CARELESS DRIVING On December 8, 2004, Governor Ed Rendell signed HB 873 into law, which establishes increased penalties for those convicted of careless driving that results in serious injury or death.

Under heavy lobbying by ABATE of Pennsylvania, the legislation passed near-unanimously through both chambers of the legislature.

House Bill 873 will establish an increased fine of $500 and a 6 month license suspension for persons convicted of careless driving when the offender unintentionally causes the death of another person. Careless driving offenses that result in serious bodily injury to another person would carry a $250 fine and a three month license suspension. 

Sixteen Massachusetts women -- all over the age of 75 -- appear nude in the "Atwood Cuties Calendar" to benefit the town's anniversary. 

The 17-month calendar, due out in the spring, features 93-year-old Mildred "Motorcycle Mama" Smith as Miss August. The great-great-grandma wore boots, a helmet and not much else, while atop a Harley-Davidson motorcycle parked behind the Atwood Acres Senior Housing Center in Townsend, Mass. 

"I was hanging onto the handle bars like I was riding the bike," she told the Boston Herald. "Just the top of me was bare. I felt great." 

The Golden Agers had planned doing a cookbook to raise money for the anniversary, until they rented "Calendar Girls," a movie about a group of older English women who made a nudie calendar for charity that was based on a true story. 

"We said, 'Let's go for it.' Even though we're senior citizens, we still have a lot of life in us," said 84-year-old Louise Rivet, Miss November. 
FLFLHTC: LET THE PUPPIES BREATH.

Baking Soda can be used for many jobs around the house, scrubbing sinks, bath tub, stove, refrigerator and laundry. It leaves everything smelling nice and cleans just as good as any cleanser without scratching enamel.