Edition 6-18-06

Respect the person who has seen the Dark side of motorcycling and lived.

"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

Surprise Link of the Day.
Information provided purely for entertainment value.
This goes to prove that I have way too much time on my hands and need to get a life.

Disclaimer

R.I.P

Serving the biker community since 10-15-01

Scars are tattoos with better stories

Drug free since 1-01-87

Webmaster i

Click here to view my adventure in Natural Bridge State Park

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American! and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907 We did not put him on Mount Rushmore without reason!

Story and pictures of 2006 road trip in progress.

When cleaning your computer or TV screens never spray directly on to the glass. The cleaner may drip down the screen and damage the components. Spray the cleaner onto a soft cloth and then wipe the screen. Apples, pears and potatoes dropped in cold, lightly salted water as they are peeled will retain their color. Salt tossed on a grease fire on the stove or in the oven will smother flames. NEVER use water; it will only spatter the burning grease	Don't even think about taking in that seemingly abandoned baby bunny in the yard. Wild baby bunnies almost always die in captivity. That nest of bunnies you found probably isn't abandoned, anyway. Mother rabbits usually make their nests out in the open, and come to nurse their babies about five minutes during the middle of the night, then leave for the rest of the time. The mother probably is coming back, but if you move the bunnies, she will be extremely distressed trying to find them. If you disturb the nest, try as best you can to cover it back up the way it was and then leave the baby bunnies alone. Leaving them alone gives the bunnies their best chance for survival. If you know for a fact the mother has been killed or if the baby bunny is injured, immediately contact the humane society to find a skilled wildlife rehabilitator. Rehabilitating a baby bunny is extremely tricky, and most people won't be successful trying to do it themselves. For more information about this subject, see the House Rabbit Society's Web page.
South Carolina legislators, in both Houses worked to get S-772 and H-4307 passed this legislative session. S-772 was a bill that dealt with handlebar height restrictions and H-4307 corrected the property tax issue facing Palmetto State motorcycle owners. Prior to H-4307 passing, motorcycles registered in South Carolina were taxed annually at a 10.5% assessment rate while other private, passenger vehicles such as cars and trucks, were taxed at a 6% assessment rate. Should Governor Mark Sanford signs H4307 into law, South Carolina motorcyclists will no longer pay higher property tax on their motorcycles than their car and truck counterparts. All will be assessed at 6% annually. It is anticipated by ABATE of South Carolina that Governor Mark Sanford will sign H-4307 into law as he signed S-772 into law a few weeks ago.	Chris Jericho's career has taken some interesting turns. In the world of professional wrestling, Jericho has grappled in broken-down bingo halls in front of 500 rabid fans and drop-kicked opponents in main events before 60,000 screaming spectators. As he ventured into music, it was virtually the same. On some nights, his band Fozzy played in front of 50 beer swillers in a grungy club. But there were also occasions when Jericho was belting out songs to 20,000 metalheads on the festival circuit. And now as an actor, Jericho is starting out small again. He has a starring role in the play Opening Night, although it's just a modest three-night run in July in the 200-seat Studio Theatre of Toronto's Centre of the Arts. In Opening Night, Jericho plays Jack, a man juggling the importance of a night of theatre with his wife on their anniversary and keeping track of the score of a big game. Just as he was under the tutelage of Stu Hart when his wrestling career was launched in 1990, Jericho became a student again when he put his focus into acting. "I can do a match in my sleep because my skills are so honed, but to me nailing a scene in class is just as exciting," said Jericho during a break from watching the Stanley Cup playoffs at his home in Tampa. Jericho, the son of former NHLer Ted Irvine, spent eight months in Los Angeles taking acting classes and honing his craft just as he had done in Hart's famous Calgary "Dungeon" - just without the bumps and bruises.
TIMOTHY APPLEBY In choreographed early morning raids, three Winnipeg Bandidos bikers -- including a former Manitoba policeman -- were arrested yesterday and charged with the slaughter of eight Toronto-area Bandidos members and associates, found shot in a Southwestern Ontario farmer's field in April. The first-degree murder charges bring to six the number of people charged in the province's worst gangland slaying. Two other people are accused of being accessories after the fact. Dwight Mushey, 36, Marcello Aravena, 30, and onetime police constable Michael Sandham, 36, all long-time Winnipeg residents, face eight murder charges each. Flown to Ontario yesterday afternoon, the trio were to appear last night in court in St. Thomas. At a Winnipeg news briefing by the Ontario Provincial Police and local police, Mr. Mushey and Mr. Sandham were described as full-patch members of the Texas-based Bandidos gang. An accomplished kick boxer, Mr. Aravena was described as a "prospect" member, denoting second-rank status. A former East St. Paul Police Service constable who attended the Winnipeg Police Training Academy, Mr. Sandham is believed to be the Bandidos' leader in Winnipeg and his background stirs concern, Winnipeg Police Deputy Chief Menno Zacharias conceded. "As a police officer, naturally, he would have been exposed to training materials relative to motorcycle gangs and organized crime," Deputy Chief Zacharias said. "And as a working officer, he would have access to a variety of related information." The bodies of the eight slain Bandidos members were found stuffed in three cars and a pickup truck in the Ontario hamlet of Shedden on April 8. Killed were full-patch members George Jesso, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, and Luis Manny Raposo, 41, of Toronto; Francesco (Bam Bam) Salerno, 43, of Oakville; John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, the chapter's president; and Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton. Also slain were prospect Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick and Michael Trotta, 31, of Milton, a Bandidos associate. Two days later, full-patch Bandido Wayne Kellestine and four associates were charged with first-degree murder. Charges against two of the four have been reduced to that of being accessories, in connection with the clumsy disposal of the bikers' bodies, abandoned in full view about 15 kilometres from Mr. Kellestine's isolated farmhouse. After it emerged that Mr. Kellestine was seen with several Winnipeg Bandidos shortly before the killings, a Winnipeg connection had been widely assumed. The three men arrested yesterday "match the descriptions of three people at [Mr. Kellestine's] farmhouse," OPP Detective Inspector Paul Beesley told the news conference. From the outset, police viewed the killings as an act of "internal cleansing." Underworld sources have told The Globe and Mail the catalyst for the violence were moves by some of the soon-to-be-killed Bandidos to join the much larger Hells Angels, by far Canada's biggest biker gang, with 34 chapters countrywide and about 500 members or close associates. Mr. Kellestine survived an assassination attempt by two men with Hells Angels connections. The Angels have denied any connection to the April slayings and trumpeted the Winnipeg arrests on their website yesterday. Former Cop Busted In Bandido Slayings, the headline read. Police believe the killings took place on Mr. Kellestine's property, where a Bandidos meeting took place shortly before. One of just two Canadian Bandidos chapters, the Bandidos' presence in Winnipeg dates back to February of last year, when a probationary chapter was set up, growing to seven full-patch members and 13 prospects. Support came from a local puppet biker gang, Los Montoneros Manitoba. Also dubbed the Bandido Nation, or Bandidos MC, the gang was founded in 1966 in Houston and has more than 90 U.S. chapters, chiefly in the Southwest. It also expanded into Western Europe, notably Scandinavia, where a Bandidos-Hells Angels turf war over drugs took more than a dozen lives in the 1990s. Other chapters were set up in Australia, Thailand and then Canada, where the Bandidos are also known as the No Surrender Crew, in reference to their long rivalry with the Hells Angels. Control of the drug trade, notably cocaine, was always at the root of the Bandidos-Angels conflict.
If you plan to install new shades or blinds to help keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer, consider mounting them outside the frames. If they're installed inside window frames, air can leak along the edges. Outside mountings help reduce the flow of cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer into the room.	"FALSE WITNESS" BILL BECOME LAW - Attorney General Crist commended Governor Jeb Bush for signing the "False Witness" bill, which makes it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly provide false or misleading information to law enforcement officers as they conduct felony or missing person investigations. The legislation, which was one of Crist’s top legislative priorities, was sponsored by Senator Jeff Atwater and Representatives Michael Grant and Charlie Dean. The measure was prompted by the investigation into the disappearance of Jessica Lunsford. The new law gives prosecutors the means to charge those who stand in the way of investigations and subjects violators to up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Focus of FHP investigation shifts to region's top commander By TODD RUGER SARASOTA COUNTY — The Florida Highway Patrol is now investigating the region’s top commander in connection with a trooper who continued patrolling after six squad car crashes in her first year. The FHP has already demoted one Venice District captain for a “supervisory breakdown” that kept Trooper Tiffany Ferrell on the road despite numerous warnings about her inability to do the job. But the FHP said for the first time Friday that it is also investigating Maj. Rebecca Tharp, who oversees a 10-county area, including Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Spokesman Maj. Ernie Duarte said he couldn’t provide any more information because the investigation is ongoing. Ferrell was removed from Sarasota County road patrol only after the Herald-Tribune asked for public records on her crashes. The six crashes in her year of patrol could have led to a three-month suspension of her driver’s license if she hadn’t been a trooper. Col. Christopher Knight, FHP director, said in a March interview that Tharp was not under investigation because the supervisory breakdown occurred at the district level. Tharp’s attorney, Ryan Barack, said Tharp is confident she will be exonerated and that the investigation “will prove she did nothing wrong and she was in compliance with all FHP policies.” Her supervisor in FHP’s Venice District, James “Blue” Darby, was demoted one rank last week, from captain to a lieutenant’s position in the Fort Myers Regional Communication Center. Darby’s attorney, Michael Braverman, said he will appeal the decision, which also suspended Darby for one day and cut his pay 10 percent. “The highway patrol looks stupid, and they’re going to blame it on someone,” Braverman said. “This is one of the most striking cases of the agency trying to backpedal and cover their ass.” The FHP originally sought a three-rank demotion to trooper for Darby, saying he ignored complaints about Ferrell and moved her to solo patrol despite training officers’ concerns. He also installed a camera in Ferrell’s squad car because of complaints, but never reviewed the tapes, a report states. Investigators found 36 instances on those tapes where Ferrell’s behavior, driving or demeanor were unacceptable, including pointing her firearm at an off-duty firefighter when no apparent threat existed. Darby, a 19-year veteran with the highway patrol, told investigators those training officers had still given Ferrell decent overall scores, and he didn’t have enough evidence to terminate her. He also said he kept his direct supervisor, Tharp, informed about all concerns regarding Ferrell’s ability. Other personnel documents were also sent to FHP headquarters in Tallahassee, Braverman said. The FHP documents show Tharp had been involved in some discussions about Ferrell, including seeing a 23-page fax about Ferrell’s vehicle operation training at the academy and agreeing that Ferrell’s training should be extended before she could go to solo patrol. Detectives are still investigating Ferrell and Tharp, Duarte said. Ferrell could not be reached for comment Friday. In her first year on patrol, Ferrell was responsible for four of her six squad car crashes and generated a number of complaints. She likely lied about a seventh crash, an investigation states, where a witness described her driving as “Dukes of Hazzard” as she crashed into a ditch.
Has your health care insurance been denied? If so, then let the AMA know. Earlier this year hundreds of workers at the American Coal Company mine in Galatia, Illinois, were denied health-care coverage for motorcycle-related injuries. At American Coal, if a worker is injured riding a legally licensed motorcycle on the street, there’s no medical coverage. Even if the injury is caused by another driver, the rider could lose. He’d be entirely dependent on the other driver’s insurance coverage. And these days, medical bills can quickly overwhelm minimum-coverage policies—if the other driver even has insurance. The AMA is backing measures in Congress to bar employers from discriminating against motorcyclists and ATV riders in the health-care arena. We need your help in this fight. We need to know if your employer-provided health insurance refuses to cover ATV-related injuries. You don't know? Now is the time to find out, before you get in a crash. Check your policies for "exclusions" that may say motorcycle-related injuries aren't covered. Or ask your plan administrator. And if you find that you are not covered on your machine by your medical plan, let us know. We need to know the name and address of the company, the name of the health plan. And if you were hurt and the medical plan wouldn't cover the costs, we need to know the details. We need concrete examples to take to Congress to show lawmakers that health discrimination against motorcyclists is happening, is crippling financially, and is intolerable. You can e-mail the information to Legal Affairs Editor Bill Kresnak at bkresnak@ama-cycle.org or mail the info to him at AMA, 13515 Yarmouth Dr., Pickerington, OH 43147.

Edition 6-18-06	If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. --Margaret Fuller, Feminist and poet	Young riders pick a destination and go. Old riders pick a direction and go
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. Robert H. Goddard

Past Editions My Pets Motorcycles Viruses/Hoaxes Family/Friends Sturgis 2001 Natural Bridge State Park Humor Fun Links Archives Senior Sacrifices Sexual Trivia Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers When the last Biker Falls