Edition 5-08-04

"Winds of Change"
will be the theme of the 19th annual NCOM Convention, being held May 6-8, 2004 at the Biltmore Hotel in Oklahoma City, located at 401 S. Meridian, and hosted by ABATE of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Confederation of Clubs. For room reservations call (800) 522-6620, and mention NCOM for a special room rate of $64.00 single/double.

   Saturday, May 08, 2004
Gulf Coast Harley-Davidson/Buell
   Type: OPEN
Location: 5817 SR 54, New Port Richey, Florida
Join us for this year's legendary Gulf Coast H-D Anniversary Party at our beautiful dealership. Festivities include: live blues/rock by Wiley Fox and The Trunk Band, day-long competition team BBQ contest, lots of great food by Pit Boss BBQ and Chef Ramiro, motorcycle specials, beer, shoe-shine girls, H-D grill raffle and more. All to benefit The Angelus, a life residence for the severely handicapped. Free admission, 9:00-5:00, reserved bike parking next door at Bank of America. (727) 842-4547

Harley Hog and Blues Feast

(Sun) May 30 Estero, “Vee-Dub Fest,” The LOVE Club. Miromar Outlet Mall. Pre-registered $20. Day of Show: $25. Vendors: $40. More info: call Lore at (239) 267-6658. Website: www.vwloveclub.org

RED EARTH NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL FESTIVAL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 4-6, 2004
Oklahoma City, OK
http://www.redearth.org/v2/index.htm           405-427-5228

For three extraordinary days, Red Earth, America's Greatest  Native American Cultural Festival will welcome the descendants of over 100 American Indian tribes. They will  gather in Downtown Oklahoma City to share the richness and diversity of their heritage with visitors from all over the  world. It is one of the largest cultural festivals of its type and has been voted one of the Top 100 Events to see in the United States according to Frontier Country.

The aged wax cylinder in Carl Haber's hands was cracked and spotted with greenish mold, too fragile now to be played with a record needle, as it was intended.

With a vintage Edison Standard Phonograph cranking out tinny Hawaiian hula songs in the background, he put the moldy cylinder under a microscope and pointed out the grooves that were still visible underneath the mold and other damage.

"We might be able to fix that," said Haber, a researcher for the University of California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "There is still information there."

Haber and Berkeley Lab colleague Vitaliy Fadeyev are working on a breakthrough way of digitizing and archiving old recordings, such as wax cylinders and traditional flat records, that are too far gone for a standard stylus. If successful, the pair may be able to help archivists at The Library of Congress and elsewhere rescue swaths of recorded musical and audio history that are today in danger of being lost

From Midwest News
PIERRE -- The state Supreme Court said Thursday the South Dakota Constitution does not give governors the unlimited right to seal pardons granted to people convicted of crimes.

The high court's unanimous decision means some secret pardons issued by former Gov. Bill Janklow will be made public within a few weeks.

Lawyers for nine people pardoned by Janklow -- currently in jail after himself being convicted of a crime, second-degree manslaughter, for a fatal accident last year -- had argued that he had the unlimited right to seal pardons.

Their lawyer, Tom Wilka, said he won't ask for a rehearing before the state Supreme Court because the decision was unanimous. It can't be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
FLFLHTC: Maybe we'll get a glimpse into Jerklaws's motivation.

Inspirational Posters For The Cubicle Era

** Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

** Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done. Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.

** Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

** Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity
** A person who smiles in the face of adversity...probably has a scapegoat.

** Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.

** A snooze button is a poor substitute for no alarm clock at all.

A Mendocino County jury Wednesday found former Hells Angels leader Charles Anthony Diaz guilty of murdering a 5-year-old Fort Bragg girl more than 17 years ago while another member of the biker gang executed the girl's family.

Jurors also found three people who were accused of helping cover up the attack - Sammie Louise Lester, Robert Laurence Huffman and Mary Anne Roach - guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Kast had lost faith because it took investigators nine years to get enough information to arrest Diaz and his accomplice, Gerald Michael Lester, for the 1986 massacre of the Grondalski family. Killed in the attack were former Hells Angels member William Grondalski, his wife Patty, daughter Dallas and his 17-year-old stepson, Jeremy Vandagriff.

Prosecutors spent nine years and more than $4 million to prosecute the tangled case. It took three trials to convict Lester of four counts of murder. Diaz was tried on only one count after several failed attempts to get multiple charges to stick.

Diaz, 56, who had been free on bail, reacted to the verdict by momentarily blanching, clenching his fists and muttering something inaudible. He then regained the inscrutable demeanor he maintained throughout the eight-week trial and calmly cooperated as bailiffs handcuffed him and took him into custody.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Ed Rendell is urging the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to give Harley-Davidson a chance to bid on a contract to supply motorcycles to the California Highway Patrol.

A March 17 bid proposal for the two-year contract identified Germany based BMW as the only prospective supplier for 400 motorcycles, and it also calls exclusively for BMW features on any motorcycles bought by the state, according to a report in Thursday's editions of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson manufactures most of its police motorcycle models at a plant near York, Pa., which employees 2,800 people. Company officials have asked Rendell to assist them with their efforts to be included in California's bidding process.

"Having heard you speak on this subject a number of times, I am certain you would not want to do anything to handicap the chances of American workers performing this work," Rendell said in a letter he wrote Monday to Schwarzenegger.

Rendell reiterated requests that Harley-Davidson officials made to Schwarzenegger's administration on April 6. They asked the state to rewrite the specifications and restart the bidding or award a one-year contract and write new bidding rules that would allow Harley-Davidson to participate in the future.

"Gov. Rendell has spoken to two cabinet secretaries in California and believes the California officials are making a good-faith efforts to see if it's practical to rebid the motorcycle contract," said Rendell's spokeswoman, Kate Philips.

California Transportation Department spokesman David Anderson told the newspaper that the state would not consider a one-year contract and said the bid specifications did not preclude other companies from participating.

"Any bike that meets the safety standards required by the state can compete," he said.

Anderson could not explain, however, why BMW was specifically named in the bid request document.

It was unclear how soon the contract would be awarded. A spokesman for Schwarzenegger referred questions to California's business, transportation and housing agency, which oversees the highway patrol, and the general services department, which handles state contracts. Agency officials did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment Thursday.

California's Senate Majority Leader, Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat, did not know about the bidding specifications, said his spokesman, Tom Martinez.

"He is going to look into it, ask questions and find out if we are really doing this," Martinez said.

Harley-Davidson has wanted an opportunity to bid on California's upcoming motorcycle contract since the middle of last year. BMW was the winner when the state last solicited open bids for motorcycles in 1998.

Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 7, 2004

A federal judge yesterday ordered the president of the San Diego Hells Angels chapter held without bail pending trial on racketeering, extortion and drug charges.

Lawyers for Guy Castiglione, 53, told the judge he is a law-abiding Lakeside resident whose comments in wiretapped phone calls were misinterpreted by federal officials.

Prosecutors said the phone calls prove Castiglione – known as "Big Daddy" or "The Boss" – ran a violent motorcycle gang involved in killings and drug trafficking.

The Hells Angels extorted money from drug dealers and hunted members of the rival Mongols motorcycle gang, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Irma Gonzalez issued a written ruling yesterday agreeing with prosecutors' arguments that Castiglione would be dangerous if released. She said the phone calls clearly show that he condoned the violent behavior of other Hells Angels.

Gonzalez rejected a request that Castiglione's release be secured by real estate owned by family and friends, and the Hells Angels clubhouses in Ventura, San Bernardino and Oakland.

Castiglione is one of 17 people indicted on racketeering charges last year. Ten are members of the Hells Angels; prosecutors said the others are drug dealers who were working with the gang.

Nine of the Hells Angels charged have been ordered held without bail. Gonzalez will allow the release of the 10th member if he can prove the $1 million worth of property used to post his bail was obtained legally.

In court papers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alana Wong said Castiglione has two felony drug convictions, spent five years in prison, and didn't stay off drugs while free on a $2.5 million property bond in a 1989 methamphetamine case.

She said he faces life in prison if convicted in this case.

Prosecutors said Castiglione was one of two gunmen who fatally shot two Mongols riding their motorcycles on Interstate 15 near Escondido in 1977. A few days later, someone detonated a bomb at a Lemon Grove funeral home where the bikers were being mourned.

Castiglione pleaded guilty to racketeering charges stemming from the shootings.

The judge described Castiglione as a leader idolized by other gang members, quoting one as saying, "Like, the only reason I became a Hells Angel is because of him."