Edition 7-21-05

	Nebraska’s motorcycle helmet law is intact after the bill to repeal the law was defeated in the state legislature for this session when opponents staged a filibuster. Backers of the repeal needed 33 votes to end the filibuster but came up short with 31. LB71 ended, in fact, as a compromise. The original legislation, which provided for outright repeal, was toned down in an effort to garner more votes. The bill that eventually failed was a secondary law, meaning motorcyclists could be cited for not wearing a helmet only if stopped for another offense. The legislation would also have expired in 2007 unless renewed by the Nebraska legislature. Vancouver — Police said Monday that massive raids on the B.C. Hells Angels stem from an intense 23-month investigation. Standing beside huge bricks of cocaine, guns and crystal meth, Mounties confirmed that 17 bikers have been arrested while one man remains at large. Vancouver police and the RCMP hope the Friday raids on clubhouses in Kelowna and East Vancouver helped avert the opening of a new Kelowna Hells Angels chapter. Constable Cam Kowalski said it's the first time criminal organization provisions in the Criminal Code have been applied to Hells Angels in B.C. He said police were issued 22 search warrants during the operation dubbed E-Pandora. During the searches officers discovered mass quantities of illegal weapons including four grenades and sticks of dynamite.
ABATE OF FLORIDA NEXT STATE MEETING Live Web cam action Julu 23 Downtown Ft. Myers, "Bike Night & Block Party," Click to enlarge

Don't be loyal to one store: If stores are within 10 miles of your home, it is more economical to buy the sales at each store than to get everything you need at one place. This rule-of-thumb answers the age old question regarding the cost of gas and mileage used in traveling from store to store. Make sure you stay within close range, other wise you'll defeat the purpose...	COUNTRY DESCRIPTION: The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is composed of four states, named after their main islands, and dozens of atolls extending over a large area of the north central Pacific. The four states are: Pohnpei (formerly Ponape), Kosrae (formerly Kusaie), Chuuk (formerly Truk) and Yap. The federal capital is located at Palikir, on the island of Pohnpei, close to its largest city, Kolonia. The FSM is a constitutional democracy, and is party to a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
Article published Jul 20, 2005 Citizen Online Laconia Judge steps down from Hells Angels gun case LACONIA — District Court Justice David O. Huot has recused himself from a hearing on whether a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club should be granted a permit to carry a concealed weapon. He cited his receipt of e-mail communications from a police officer as the reason. Huot issued his order on Monday in the case of Dana F. Keefe versus Laconia Police Chief Tom Oetinger. Oetinger recently denied Keefe's application on the basis of a 2001 Laconia District Court ruling that upheld then-Police Chief Bill Baker's denial on the grounds that Keefe was "unsuitable" to hold the permit. The judge held a hearing on Keefe's appeal on July 14, but the following day Huot received two e-mail messages from Sgt. Chris Cost of the Belknap County Sheriff's Department. Cost, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday, as was Sheriff Dan Collis, stated in the first e-mail that Keefe had two convictions for issuing bad checks. Huot indicated no such evidence was presented during the appeal hearing. In the second, Huot indicated, Cost discussed a news article about a court decision in Ontario, Canada, involving the Hells Angels. "In view of these ex parte communications, I hereby recuse myself from further consideration of the matter," wrote Huot who then directed that the court clerk schedule a new hearing on Keefe's appeal before a new judge. The recusal and circumstances behind it are an outrage, said Attorney P. Scott Bratton, who is representing Keefe and who, in the past, has represented other members of the Hells Angels' New Hampshire chapter, which has a clubhouse on Fillmore Avenue in The Weirs. The action by Cost is yet another violation of his clients' civil and constitutional rights in Laconia, based solely, Bratton believes, on their membership in the Hells Angels. Bratton will continue to pursue the concealed weapon license — a new appeal hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 10 — but, in the meantime, he is preparing to depose Cost, Collis and Oetinger, among others, to find out who was involved in sending the e-mails to Huot. "This is totally bizarre. I've never seen anything like this in over 15 years of practice and it's really unfair," said Bratton. "It's an attempt to get around the honest judicial system that we have in place. We have courts of law that issue rulings that we're all expected to abide by and clearly this sheriff (Cost) did not feel he needed to abide by them or play by those rules." Had he been an attorney, Cost could have faced disciplinary action from his peers, said Bratton. "For an attorney to file any document in the court, the attorney must send a copy to his or her opponent and it's an ethical violation not to do so and could bring sanctions from the professional conduct committee." In Keefe's case, he added, "the record was closed and no new evidence should be heard; and second, you can't communicate with the court without sending a copy" to the opposing counsel. "I intend to find out on who's involved and I believe the only way this will happen is through litigation against the City of Laconia and taking sworn testimony surrounding what should be a simple, routine application to carry a concealed weapon." Keefe and "everyone and anyone else in New Hampshire who isn't a convicted felon can carry a weapon in the open," a fact which Oetinger notes in his denial letter to Keefe, said Bratton. But in seeking the concealed carry permit, "Mr. Keefe feels that the public may feel uncomfortable seeing him in public wearing his Hells Angels attire with an exposed pistol and he feels that it would make people in the community feel more comfortable if they didn't have to see a pistol if he was able to put it in his jacket." Bratton acknowledged that Oetinger, in his testimony before Huot, clearly stated that his denial was not based on Keefe being a Hells Angel; but he said that Cost's e-mails raise the spectre of bias against Keefe simply based on his being a member of the club "which translates into a violation of civil and constitutional rights which translates into litigation which translates into money." Going forward, he added that the Hells Angels will seek attorneys' fees when the club has to defend its rights in court. The bottom line, Bratton concluded, is that Oetinger failed to prove that Keefe was "unsuitable" to hold a concealed carry permit, while the larger picture is that the City of Laconia, the city's police department, and now, maybe, the sheriff's department are imposing "a double standard when it comes to the Hells Angels versus other citizens." "It seems to be, unfortunately, a pattern of misconduct and discrimination against the Hells Angels merely because they are Hells Angels. And the discrimination is not restricted to individuals, as it should be legally. "If a particular member of the Hells Angels is not entitled to something, then that would be a fair ruling based on that particular person's situation but to take a whole group of people and treat them differently ... this is still America," said Bratton. For his part, Oetinger disagreed with Bratton about not having proven that Keefe should not be allowed to have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but did agree with him to some extent about the irrelevance of Costs' e-mails to Keefe's appeal hearing. Keefe's bad check convictions, which Oetinger knew about, "wouldn't make him unsuitable. That in itself wouldn't cause me to deny some one a handgun permit," he said, while anything that may have happened in another country was inadmissible in a courtroom in Laconia. "This was not a big deal to me," said Oetinger. "This was a procedural issue more than anything else. I did the same thing in another case" where Baker deemed some one unsuitable to carry a concealed gun and that person later reapplied for the permit and took Oetinger to court after he upheld Baker's original denial. "This is an issue that revolves around the court affirming a ruling by Chief Baker as to Mr. Keefe's unsuitability and I thought it inappropriate to issue Mr. Keefe a license based solely on the fact that a court of competent jurisdiction had determined, based on evidence presented, that he was unsuitable to carry a concealed weapon." Oetinger and Bratton concur that the 2001 court order did not provide reasons for why Baker denied the request or why the presiding justice upheld the denial. "I based my decision not on the fact that (Keefe) was a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, I based my decision solely on the fact that he was deemed unsuitable. And if, in fact, he was suitable, it was my opinion, and based upon discussion with (Laconia Police Prosecutor Jim Sawyer), that is was the court that should make that decision," said Oetinger.
A hillbilly was stopped by a game warden in West Virginia recently with two ice chests of fish. He was leaving a cove well known for its good fishing. The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" "Naw, sir, I ain't got none of them there licenses, no. You must understand these here are my pet fish." "Pet fish?" said the game warden. "Ya. Every night I take these here fish down to da lake and let them swim round for a while. Then I whistle and they jump rat back into this here ice chest and I take them home." That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!" says the warden The hillbilly looked at the game warden for a moment and then said, "It's the truth Mr.Government man, I'll show you. It really works." Okay," said the game warden, " I've GOT to see this!" The hillbilly poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said, "Well?" Well, what?" said the hillbilly. The warden said, "When are you going to call them back?" The hillbilly said, "Call who back?" The FISH!" replied the warden. What fish?" answered the hillbilly. . Those in West Virginia may not be as smart as some city slickers, but they aren't as dumb as most government employees..	Bipartisan bills have been introduced in both the US House and Senate that would end health-care discrimination against motorcyclists and ATVers. US Reps. Michael C. Burgess (R-TX) and Ted Strickland (D-OH) introduced HR 2793, "The HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act." This bill would bar employers from discriminating against those who take part in activities such as motorcycling, ATV riding, snowmobiling or horseback riding in the health-insurance programs they offer their workers. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) introduced similar legislation, S 577, "The HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act." Last Congress, the full Senate unanimously passed similar language, however, the House adjourned shortly thereafter and therefore did not get a chance to enact this legislation. As a result, legislation needed to be re-introduced in the 109th Congress. The measures are in response to action taken by federal bureaucrats that legalized health-insurance discrimination against riders and others. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which included language prohibiting employers from denying health-care coverage based on a worker's pre-existing medical conditions or participation in legal activities, such as motorcycling. In 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services released the final rules that would govern the HIPAA law. The rules recognized that employers could not refuse health-care coverage to an employee on the basis of their participation in a recognized legal activity. However, the agency said benefits could be denied for injuries sustained in collection with those activities. As a result, employees were guaranteed the right to health-care coverage, but not guaranteed any benefits under those plans. The AMA was outraged, noting that when federal bureaucrats had gone against the will of Congress, and the Association immediately lobbied Congress to right this wrong. Others involved in the effort included the Blue Ribbon Coalition, Motorcycle Riders Foundation, ABATE of Wisconsin, ABATE of Ohio, the American Council of Snowmobile Associations and the American Horse Council. Recently I received a warning about the use of this politically incorrect term, so please note, we all need to be more sensitive in our choice of words. I have been informed that the Islamic terrorists who hate our guts and want to kill us do not like to be called "Towel Heads" since the item they wear on their heads is not a towel but actually a small, folded sheet. Therefore, from this point forward, please refer to them as "Little Sheet Heads." Thank you for your support and compliance on this delicate matter The size of your foot is approximately the size of your forearm. To relieve the stinging from a mild burn or sunburn mix a paste of water and Baking Soda and apply to the area. You can also add baking soda to a cool bath and that will soothe the sunburn too.
WORD of the DAY
verboten \ver-BOH-tun\ adjective : forbidden; especially : prohibited by dictate Example sentence: During the era of prohibition in the United States, when the sale of alcohol was verboten, speakeasies were routinely raided by the authorities and shut down. Did you know? Despite its spelling, the adjective "verboten" has nothing to do with "verb," or any of the other words in our language related to the Latin "verbum." Rather, "verboten" comes from German, which got it from Old High German "farboten," the past participle of the verb "farbioten," meaning "to forbid." ("Forbid" itself derives from Old English "forbēodan," a relative of "farbioten.") "Verboten," which first appeared in English in 1916, is used to describe things that are forbidden according to a law or a highly regarded authority. There also exists a noun "verboten," meaning "something forbidden by authority" (as in "well-established verbotens"), but this sense is quite rare and is typically entered only in large, unabridged dictionaries.
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