Last month I opened my article commenting on how warm our winter has been. Well….that sure went out the window in a hurry. As I write this, it is a balmy NINE degrees outside! Oh well, it only makes us appreciate spring even more.
ABATE Day at the Statehouse was a success. We had 150 members present. Last year we had fewer than 80, so we nearly doubled our numbers. We were visible and vocal. As I walked the hallways, I saw members waiting in line to talk to legislators, talking to legislators in the hallway and letting everyone know that ABATE of Indiana was in the house. The junkman and I sat through a boring environmental meeting waiting to speak to Representative Matt Pierce, and we were joined in the back of the room by fellow members. If you attended, thank you. If you couldn’t make it, we missed you and look forward to having you next year when we top 200 in attendance.
HB 1205 gained three additional sponsors the day AFTER we were at the Statehouse. That tells me that somebody was talking and somebody was listening! The bill hasn’t been to committee yet (at the time of this writing) but it is looking good. PLEASE call or email your representative and tell them you are a member of ABATE of Indiana and you would like his or her support on HB 1205. And, if you haven’t been to www.in.gov yet and read this bill, shame on you. Please become familiar with this bill. It is important to us as riders and to all motorists in general. I’m not going to give the details of the bill – already did that.
There is another bill that was introduced without any input or comments from ABATE at all. It is HB 1418. It pertains to the licensing, educating and insuring of mopeds and scooters and their riders. It would require that riders of these vehicles be imposed the same regulations that the rest of us are. They have to have training, an endorsement, their scooters have to be licensed and registered and insured, just like us.
The downside of this legislation is that it looks as if they would be classified with us in the “motorcycle” category. The upside is that it would take the kids off the road, it would mean that eligible riders be educated, licensed and insured. And from a selfish standpoint, ABATE of Indiana would receive $7.00 of each registration (for training) as they do from all motorcycles. The organization has not taken an “official” stand on this bill yet. The bill was introduced without ANY input from ABATE of Indiana; therefore we were surprised when it appeared. Take a look at this bill. There are mixed opinions among the members.
Let me take a moment to get a little “gushy” here. As I was looking through the February issue of HMC, I could not help but feel a great sense of pride as I perused the many pictures and articles of the various Christmas parties. Picture after picture, headline after headline involved our members making Christmas happier for children. Sure we had parties, we danced, we had fun, hell we even drank a bit (ok, we drank a lot). But the bottom line is we made hundreds, maybe thousands of children’s Christmas happy in the process. When I saw all the little kids on Santa’s lap, read the reports of rides for toys, rides for money, standing outside ringing bells collecting money and toys, having an auction to raise money for toys (yeah Region 6), I honestly got a lump in my throat thinking about how many kids were effected by us rough and gruff bikers. To quote Ernest Davidson from Jackson County – THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT! Well done, brothers and sisters. Well done.
Hope to see you on the road real soon. Till then, stay warm, spring is coming!
Ride Free, Ride Safe, Ride Sober
Terry
Eads
812-876-5852