St. Clair County A.B.A.T.E. Chapter

May 2008

2008 Chapter Officers

* President Rich KinKade rkrk2@ameritech.net

* Vice President Breeze Hankammer twlvgage44@aol.com

* Treasurer Renie KinKade rkrk143@ameritech.net

* Secretary & Membership Sheila Gallagher gallaghersgetaway@sbcglobal.net

Activities & Public Relation Linda Theis cupie85@hotmail.com

Sgt At Arms Roger Johnston rramjet52@gmail.com

Newsletter Sonny Theobald dwjwd@charter.net

State Board Rep Mike and Dawn Bilkie mb62226@yahoo.com

Region Rep Bud & Peggy Villiger peggyv@therohogroup.com

State Board Rep Katie Gallagher katierose414@sbcglobal.net

State Board & Region Reps Rich & Renie KinKade rkrk2@Ameritech.net

Safety & Education Tom "TJ" Miles tj7miles@hotmail.com

Legislative

*Executive Board

St. Clair County A.B.A.T.E. Chapter

Meets the second Thursday of every month at 7:00PM At the Elks Lodge in Fairview Heights.

May 8th

State Website: http://www.abate-il.org/

Chapter Website: http://www.abate-il.org/StClairCo/index.htm

What’s inside?

President Corner Guest Speaker Chapter Patch

Roll on the River Grafton!!!!

Armed Forces Day Members

Yahoo Groups Notifications Southwest Region:

THE ACTIVITIES CORNER Telling it like it is from the VP

Safety Tips for Riding the Passenger There when you need us!!?

Flyers

Presidents Corner: Warmer weather and the riding season are finally here. Thank you to all the members who attended last month’s meeting and working the swap meet. Special thank you to both Bud and Peggy Villiger whom volunteered to work the swap meet for Renie and I and Peggy agreed to present the treasurer report for Renie. I know that I and everyone at state appreciate the dedication every member provides towards ABATE and what the organization accomplishes. Guest Speaker: A representative from Air Evac Lifeteam will be our guest speaker for the May 8th meeting. They will be speaking about a service available to all in the mid-west

that could be the difference between Life and Death with either motorcycle riding or traveling in your vehicle. http://www.lifeteam.net Chapter patch: Patches will be available at the next meeting, purchase price is $5.00 Roll on the River: We all know someone who has disabilities, and here is an opportunity to support others while doing something (riding our bikes) that we will probably be doing that day anyway. Please won’t you lend a hand, or pass this on to others who would. Here is an opportunity to serve others less fortunate than our self’s. It won’t cost any money, just a few hours time. We are up to 17 volunteers for the 2nd annual Roll on the River event. We need another 50 to support motorcycle Road guards for their Walk/Run event down town St. Louis for the Paraquad, Impact & LINC Inc combined fundraiser. This event will be June 14th. If you would like to sign up to support this event please let me know by May 6th and I will also need your tee-shirt size for your FREE shirt. You can check out last year’s event at http://www.ewrollonriver.com/. Event will be from about 8-12 then we have the rest of the day to ride. Armed Forces Day: May 17th we have been invited to have a membership table at the Armed Forces Day poker run starting in Collinsville. Sign up is from 10-12pm at the Moose Lodge, 8550 Bunkum Road, Caseyville, Illinois Grafton: Still “NOT” biker friendly, word has spread to ABATE of Illinois that the police plan to step up harassing motorcyclists again in 2008. Flatbed trailers and road blocks to load confiscated bike on have been planned. They are looking to stop all bikes and will be especially looking for any infraction they can find, i.e.: Noise, Music, Speeding etc: Piasa ABATE attempted numerous times in 2007 without resolution to patch relationships with the local law enforcement and the community. Piasa is boycotting the area and I am also recommending St. Clair county chapter to the same by do not stop at any business to help support the city in their effort to stop motorcycles until the city changes its position. I will send this message to St. Louis ABATE so they can send a message out to the St. Louis area bikers also. If you elect to run through Grafton, keep the noise down and be ready for anything. If you did not break any laws and get a ticket please provide the details. State ABATE officers are watching this issue closely in regards to singling out bikers.

Members: ABATE has defeated numerous legislative bills on our behalf and now our governor is attempting to sweep all education and training funds from ABATE. ABATE is actively involved with preventing a national helmet bill and promoting the “Freedom of Choice”. Your chapter is no stronger than the members who are active in keeping it alive. Remember Let Those Who Ride Decide!!! Not big brother and the safety Nazis for they are looking to take your rights and freedoms away! We have a major problem and needs your support and INVOLVEMENT. ABATE fights for your rights; however our chapter has no income to aid the state for the cause. It takes money to run this organization and to fight for your rights. St. Clair County ABATE has remained idle for too many years and after many attempts we still cannot get enough members to work together to bring this chapter back to popularity as it once was. Monthly meetings have 10-12 members who attend and membership remains consistent with around 160 however, the one issue that keeps coming back is that the chapter never gets involved. We never hold any events or parties and we are stagnant. The Christmas in July party was canceled because members who attended the meeting felt that attendance would not cover the costs involved. We have more than 10,000 motorcycle riders in St. Clair and surrounding counties and members felt that the riders would be going to either Little Sturgis or Shawnee town that weekend. There are a lot of great ideas within our membership that we could use. We will not beg for you to get involved, for we would rather you want to be involved. If we are not the right leaders for the position we will gladly step down. Last Board of Directors meeting I checked with state and posed the following: What will happen to the chapter if the President, Vice President and Treasurer resign (TODAY) and no one steps up to fill the position? I was informed that all members will receive a letter from state stating their options of either joining another chapter or becoming a state member while maintaining membership until such a time that the chapter is rejuvenated. This is where your chapter currently stands and again will be at the end of this year if we do not get more membership involvement. So, the status of your chapter resides in your hands. v/r Ride Safe, Rich KinKade Yahoo Groups Notifications: Members have started receiving Monthly Meeting reminders, Legislative information and other reminders from the Yahoo group site. If you would like to be added to the site please use either address below and sign up for have completed setting up all members e-mail addresses that I have in the NEW Yahoo News Group for St. Clair County ABATE. You may have to add the e-mail address to your safe list. If you have an e-mail address you wish to add, you can either sign up with the Join now button at the bottom of the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/st_clair_county_abate/ site or send me an e-mail to KinKade_il@yahoo.com and I will add you to the group. ** Note: please do not respond to the group notice when directing your e-mail to a specific individual. This will limit the number of e-mails users within the group will receive.

Southwest Region:

1. Raffle Tickets: We have state bike raffle tickets for you to sell to support the State with raising funds. The tickets are available for everyone to sell. Per the chapter by-laws we will purchase 10 tickets for the chapter. Should the Chapter win, we will hold a raffle within the chapter.

2. Belleville Swap Meet: APMC and Thunder Alley promotions offered to sell the 4 yearly motorcycle swap meets to ABATE for $100K. The offer also included support for 3 years. Motion was rejected by State Board of Directors (BOD) for numerous reasons.

3. Poker Runs etc: Do not list stops on the flyers. Advise run participants of next destination with directions. This is due to increase police monitoring activities and destinations and the IRS wants to collect from prizes awarded.

4. Motorcycle Awareness: May is Motorcycle awareness month. Signs have been available at the last couple meetings. Please be sure to get permission to display the yard signs at a business location.

Rich & Renie (State BOD Reps) GREETINGS ALL FROM THE ACTIVITIES CORNER...

...well where do i start, our first progressive dinner ride is rapidly approaching, Friday June 6th..the sign up will be at K.J.'s bar in Belleville on 159 down by the fairgrounds. There is a flyer attached in the newsletter with the details. We are still in need of some help with the ride. We could use people to work at the different stops and we are still in need of some attendance prizes. As of right now nothing has came in from anyone. People, people, people please... it will take us all to make this dinner ride a success. A little participation will go a long way. If anyone would like some flyers to put out while they are riding I would really appreciate it as I can’t get everywhere to put them up. Also as you may have heard we had to cancel the Christmas party we were going to have in July due to scheduling conflicts and the party was to be held the same weekend as Little Sturgis and old Shawneetown street rally. It may be rescheduled but due to non participation with the dinner ride it may not. So if you have any attendance prizes or would like to hand out flyers or work any of the stops...please feel free to call me...618-604-0057

LINDA THEIS

Telling it like it is from the VP

“JUST BREEZIN' THROUGH” HEY !! REMEMBER ME ?? PROBABLY NOT. I AM THE ONE WHO TRIED TO JUMP START YA OFF

THE COUCH, BED OR BARSTOOL. YA KNOW, IT WOKE UP 4 BOYS !! TWO FROM COLLINSVILLE AND A COUPLE OF “SALTY DOGS”. THEY CAME TO SEE WHO WAS RUNNING THE CUP AGAINST THE BARS AND MAKING ALL THE NOISE. YEP—THAT WOULD BE ME--”BREEZE”. A FEW OF THEM STATED THEY WOULD COME BACK AND HELP THE “10” OF US WHO ARE ALWAYS THERE. THEY TOOK FLYERS FOR OUR DINNER RIDES TO POST AT THEIR FAVORITE WATERING HOLES,((OF WHICH THEY WERE NOT AT BECAUSE THEY WERE AT THE MEETING)) AND MOST OF US STAYED AFTER THE MEETING FOR A FEW BEERS TO BULLSHIT. I WANT TO SAY “THANKS” TO SHELIA AND SONNY FOR HELPING ME WITH THE MEETING. GOOD PEOPLE!! I UNDERSTAND THAT MOST OF YOU WEAR A PATCH FOR MANY M.C.'S AND R.C.'S-- BUT REMEMBER WITHOUT YOUR FREEDOMS OF THE ROAD THROUGH ABATE--YOUR NOT GONNA BE AS COMFORTABLE AS YOU ARE NOW. AGAIN..OUR CHAPTER ACCT. BALANCE IS EXTREAMLY SHORT COMPARED TO LAST YEARS BALANCE. GIVE YOUR CHAPTER THE ACCKNOWLEGEMENT IT DESERVES..SHOW UP TO THE MONTHLY MEETINGS AND EVENTS THAT ARE PLANNED FOR “YOU”. BOTH THE MEETINGS AND EVENTS TAKE A LOT OF PLANNING—SUPPORT YOUR CHAPTER! TELL YA WHAT—LET'S PLAY...R.S.V.P. LET ME KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU I'M GETTING THROUGH TO... DIRTYDEED4U2@AOL.COM AND I WOULD LIKE THE REASON FOR YOUR LACK OF PARCIPIAION WITH THE CHAPTER. REMEMBER—I'M NEW TO THE STATE-SO I DON'T KNOW ANY OF YOUR CONCERNS... THIS CHAPTER GETS PARTICIPATION....OR THIS CHAPTER FOLDS.. R.S.V.P...........GET ON IT!!! BREEZE

SAFETY TIPS FOR RIDING A PASSENGER

Company is nice sometimes. Some company weighs 100 pounds, other company weighs 200 pounds or greater. Putting extra weight on the motorcycle will affect the handling.

Adjust your suspension and tire pressures to compensate for the amount of company you’ve brought along. Check your tires and owner’s manual for maximum load capacities (blow outs and broken axles are not good). Also realize that your braking capabilities have changed. The more weight you have on the motorcycle, the longer it may take to stop.

Passengers should be instructed to always mount from the same side, and to warn you before they climb on (hold on a second!). This goes a long way to preventing a muddled heap lying on the ground.

Passengers need the same protection that you do (proper riding gear). Ten-foot scarves flapping in the wind (slapping another rider back there) may look dashing, but not on a motorcycle. You don’t want shoe laces or loose pants legs catching on rear wheel or chain parts.

Passengers should always straddle with their feet securely planted on the footrests. Tell passengers not to put a foot down when you come to a stop. Show them where the hot things are (here we go)- like header pipes and mufflers. Caution passengers against coming in contact with the hot parts to prevent any injuries. Also, rubber soles can melt and leave a mess (I heard Easy-Off oven cleaner takes it off).

Instruct passengers to hold onto you at your waist or hips, or hand-holds (Alrighty!). Ask them to lean forward slightly when you leave from a stop or accelerate along the highway. Also, when you brake, passengers should be firmly braced against your waist and should lean back slightly. You don’t want their weight to shift forward.

Advise passengers not to lean unless you do. You do not want the person behind hanging off the bike at 30 degrees (check out this new trick); that will do funny things to the steering. However, when you lean going around a corner, passengers should definitely lean as well. So have them look over your shoulder in the direction of the turn when you go through a corner; that will put the weight where you want it.

You are safer once your company (passenger), you and the machine are prepared for the ride. Keep the rubber side down!

T.J. Miles Safety and Education Officer

There when you need us? I used to be part of a CMA chapter and one of the patches said “We be there when you need us!” I have given that saying quite a bit of thought and I have come to the same conclusion no matter what you apply it to. I was told that our ABATE is being ran like you might run any other motorcycle club or group. And that St Clair County ABATE Chapter had a great support but why bother showing up at any meeting if nothing is going on. Sounds like I was being told “Hey, we will be there when you need us!” Well my feeling is in order to be there when you are needed you need to be there when you are not needed! Why? Well first of all, if YOU will be there... who is the YOU? What I mean is if YOU say “YOU will be there when needed.” Well who are you? How do I contact you? Why should I contact you if you are never there in the first place? How do I know if I need you, you would come? Another one of my sayings is “You got to earn the right to speak into someone life.” If you apply that to ABATE why should you listen to me? And why should I listen to you? We if we don’t know each other then we won’t even bother speaking to each other. In Saint Clair County we about 160 members of ABATE. I would bet that I don’t know 10 of you. And I would also bet that you wouldn’t know me either. The other part of my saying “We’ll be there when you need us!” Needing you! How will you know when I or I should say ABATE needs you? How do you know ABATE doesn’t need you know now? How will you ever know when ABATE will ever need you? Well ABATE needs you now! Yes ABATE is a political organization. It needs money to run. And Saint Clair County ABATE Chapter is really low on funds. So what I want each one of you that feel that you will be there when you are needed – I want each of you to send in about $500.00 each. So I figure maybe about half of you don’t care anyway. Most of you will blow me off asking yourself if I ain’t nuts! You would be right if I really expected that. So let be reasonable. Yes Saint Clair County ABATE Chapter is low on funds. So what can be done? Support this chapter! Be there at the next meeting. Be at our next run? Linda is asking for support at some of the stops. Will you be there when needed? I guess we will see. Sonny Newsletter Editor Saint Clair County ABATE

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