State Coordinator's Report | |
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Well, there are a few things going on. First, I hope to see everyone at the Swap Meet in Monroe on March 26. If you are on the East side or ready for a ride, the Spokane Motorcycle Show is March 10-12 in Spokane. ABATE will have a boot at both locations with products and raffle tickets. Hope to see each of you there.
Unfortunately, we will be losing a Deputy Coordinator. Chris Varner has informed me that he will be stepping down. Chris has done a great job for ABATE and will be hard to replace. I personally want to thank Chris for his mentorship and leadership. If you are interested in being a deputy coordinator, please reach out to me.
Read the full report here.
Andy McAfee
State Coordinator
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We are happy to announce that raffle tickets for our 2023 Spring Opener raffle are available for sale. Thanks to our sponsors Jake's Gun and Pawn, Apple State Harley Davidson, and Mike Myers Motorcycle Attorney, we have some amazing prizes!
Please reach out to your Gambling Representative, David Crawford, to check out raffle tickets. His cell for call or text is 206-427-0091.
Below are the rules regarding distribution and selling of the raffle ticket, please review them carefully and Happy Selling.
Spring Opener Raffle Ticket Rules:
- You must be an ABATE member in good standing to sell tickets.
- The ABATE member that checks out the tickets from our Gambling Representative is responsible for returning the whole ticket or the ticket stub & $10.
- The buyer and the seller must print their full legal first & last name as legible as possible. No nicknames, road names or initials please.
- Please be mindful that when selling the Raffle Tickets, we need to make sure everyone has a fair chance when it comes time for the drawing. Therefore, the ticket stub cannot be altered in any way. This means no lamination, stickers, tape, rips, folding or creasing etc.
- We ask that all SOLD tickets stubs & $10 be returned to the ABATE Gambling Representative by the June 11th, ECOM Meeting. The unsold tickets the member can keep & continue to try & keep selling. This is to help minimize the amount of cash & ticket stub counting we have to do the day of the event.
- By 12 noon on Saturday of the Spring Opener ALL tickets & sold ticket stub / $10 must be turned back into the ABATE Gambling Representatives for counting. At that time there will be sperate tickets checked out that will be sold at the event between 12 noon & 6pm. The Gambling Representatives & State Officers could stretch out the selling time up until 8:30 pm depending on where the Gambling Committee is at with counting the sold tickets & money.
- The drawing will be held at 10pm on Saturday, June 24, 2023
- The member that sells the winning ticket for the 2020 Road King will get a $200 Pre-paid Visa (The member will be asked to complete a W9 for us to report your winnings)
- The member that sells the winning ticket for the Tommy Gun will get a $200 Pre-paid Visa (The member will be asked to complete a W9 for us to report your winnings)
- The members that sell any other of the winning tickets will get 1 Spring Opener member ticket for the 2024 Spring Opener event.
- For any Chapter that sells 50 of the bike tickets OR 50 of the gun tickets (but not a combination of the two together) will get a Gift Certificate good for 1 Free Member Spring Opener ticket for the next year’s event. The Gift Certificates will be given to the Chapter Coordinators to pass out to the winning members of their chapter at the BOD in October.
The Vendor Registration form is attached here!
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Official 2023 Spring Opener T-Shirts On Sale Now! | |
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We will take preorders WITH payment before the event. We have a limited number of shirts, sweatshirts, and bandanas. | |
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Sizes
T-Shirts:
Sweatshirts (Pullover Hoodies):
Bandanas:
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To order
Message Cheryl Holtquist through
FB Messenger OR Email at Products@ABATE-wa.org
(copy/paste the Email address into your Email’s address bar if link is not working)
Payment Options
Payment can be made in one of four ways:
- CC info over the phone -Processed through our PayPal acct
- Venmo
- Check
- Cash
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Delivery
Orders can be picked up at the Products booth at either the Swap Meet or the Spring Opener or you can pick them up at BOD (or have your Chapter Coordinator pick them up for you). I can also mail them but there will be an additional $3 per shirt fee for postage ($5 per sweatshirt).
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PRINTER
Parsons Printwares
https://www.parsonsprintwares.com
Shirt design by Tina Lawson and Scott Robinson
ABATE of WA Spring Opener
NOTE:
The Poker Run T-Shirt can be purchased through Spanaway who is the sponsoring Chapter for that event.
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“Texas” Larry Walker
Legislative Affairs Officer, ABATE of WA
360-271-9285
“Texas” Larry Walker is an nationally certified Rider Coach for novice, intermediate, and advanced training. He is the Senior Instructor for Navy Region Northwest, a long time motorcyclist rights advocate, with well over 40 years of riding experience.
March Legislative Updates (Or Not)
By the time that this comes out things may have changed a lot, as we will be past committee cutoff, but congratulations are still in order. A lot of issues got hearings in committees, including the Senator Randall’s version of the lane sharing/splitting bill (SB 5401) and Representative Orcutt’s right shoulder riding bill (HB 1487). A huge shout out to everyone who reached out to your reps and senators to push the issues and to all the folks who signed up in support of our bills without testifying. The message was received loud and clear.
Click here to read more…
Legislative Hearing Protocols
Legislative hearings are a bit of a dance, with some subtle nuances.
General Guidelines:
- The most important thing is that only 2-3 people sign up to give actual testimony, with the rest of the supporters signing up in support but not testifying. Note: you do not need to be present to sign in but not testify. The other option is to submit comments for the record merely.
- If a previous speaker has covered the points that you wish to cover, and you have nothing else substantial to add, merely thank the committee for providing the time and let them know that your points have been covered.
- Brevity is the total byword.
- In issues such as lane sharing/splitting or shoulder riding, if you are not personally comfortable with the practice, please hold your counsel. Nothing kills an issue like division amongst the troops. Remember, the proposals have been brought forward by well-meaning legislators to give members of the motorcycling community additional tools to use at their personal discretion.
- Members and staff definitely look to the number of personnel who sign up in favor of an issue but do not wish to provide oral testimony.
Click here to read the current bills.
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Motorcycle Riders Foundation | |
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U.S. Capitol Is Open for Business
After nearly 3 years of limited access, the U.S. Capitol and its related office buildings are now fully open to the public. One of the first acts by Kevin McCarthy after his election to Speaker of the House was to reopen all office buildings under his control, the U.S. Senate followed suit.
Starting in March of 2020 access to the Capitol Complex was severely limited. During the last three years visitors were at times required to state their vaccination status, wear masks, be escorted to and from meetings and forbidden from visiting the cafeteria and coffee shops. Despite these restrictions, bikers from around the country still made it to D.C. for “Bikers Inside the Beltway” in 2021 and 2022. With the reopening we are excited for an even bigger and better meeting this May!
Click here to read more…
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February 15, 2023
MRF Road Show Marches On
The leadership of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) continues our visits to annual state meetings with recent visits to Wisconsin and Ohio.
MRF President Kirk “Hardtail” Willard and Washington, D.C. lobbyist Rocky Fox made the trip to Marshfield, Wisconsin for the ABATE of Wisconsin Officers Training event. This annual event provides seminars and training to the regional and district leaders of ABATE of Wisconsin and helps establish expectations and goals for all members. Seminars included the ABCs of Running a Successful Region, Strategic Planning Procedures and How to Effectively Lobby Lawmakers.
Click here to read more…
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Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
U.S. HOUSE JOINS SENATE IN OPPOSING MOTORCYCLIST PROFILING
On December 23, 2022, in one of the last actions of the 117th Congress before adjourning, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H. Res.366, "Promoting awareness of motorcyclist profiling and encouraging collaboration and communication with the motorcycle community and law enforcement officials to prevent instances of profiling."
The House now joins with the U.S. Senate in passing separate resolutions opposing the discretionary profiling of motorcyclists by law enforcement, defining it as; "motorcyclist profiling means the illegal use of the fact that a person rides a motorcycle or…
Click here to read more…
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A Night Out With EPCC
March 4, 2023
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FYBO Poker Run
March 11, 2023
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Leprechaun Run
March 18, 2023
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Shakin' the Winter Blues
March 25, 2023
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2023 Wing Ding Cook-Off
March 25, 2023
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Motorcycle Swap Meet
March 26,2023
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Motorcycle Show
May 21, 2023
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17th Annual Mt. St. Helen's Memorial Ride
May 21, 2023
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FOOTHILLS
Greetings from Foothills! Enjoying the down time after the holidays, patiently waiting for nicer weather. Huge shout out to the Buckley Eagles, Aerie 1387 for their continued support & allowing us to mount our new ABATE of WA motorcycle awareness sign on their property right on State Route 410 for all to see!! READ MORE
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GRAYS HARBOR
Welcome back to me
I'm back after a short break. Life has been horribly busy at the Post Office, it seems I'm never home. I promised at our last meeting that I'd do better, and here I am with another
installment. I usually like to include pictures, but there hasn't been anything to take pictures of. Due to Pat's health problems we didn't even get to Black Friday. Let's hope this year will be a much better one for all of us... READ MORE
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PACIFIC COUNTY
The Pacific County Chapter February Meeting was our first annual Chili Contest. We had a great meeting that understandably ran long. We had multiple crock-pots of chili simmering and our Chapter Secretary Donalee, made cornbread. When the judging was over, yours truly squeaked out the most votes for “Best Chili"... READ MORE
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RAT CITY
Freeze Your Butt Off with Rat City
The Rat City Chapter is ready for another FREEZE YOUR BUTT OFF Ride to benefit the White Center Food Bank. Once again, we are starting up at Elmer’s Bar & Grill in Burien where they open with breakfast available starting at 9:00 a.m. We’ll start with registrations at 9:30 and plan to have our kickstands up at 10:30. If there’s another big turn-out like last year, probably plan on heading out in smaller groups, and how some of us decide to get there is up to the weather partly... READ MORE
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SKCC
Howdy folks. We're going to mix it up a little and let our chapter members submit information for the newsletter.
Here's information and an introduction from our SKCC members, that are road Captains, Brian and Pat...
READ MORE
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SKY VALLEY
The Sky Valley ABATE chapter has been busy getting ready for a couple of exciting, upcoming events! Come join us in Monroe the night before the annual ABATE Swap Meet
for a little fun and fund raising!... READ MORE
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SPANAWAY
We are definitely off to a running start for 2023.
Our Chili Cookoff was a huge success. 21 pots of chili were entered into the competition. Support from other chapters was vital to the success of this event. And Spanaway chapter members really stepped up in putting this together.... READ MORE
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STAR LAKE
Greetings everyone from Star Lake Chapter,
We had our monthly chapter meeting February 5th, 2023, 10am-11am at Purdy’s Public House in Sumner. The chapter is making good progress planning for upcoming year events and rides. The chapter discussed the events and charities we want to do this year. The chapter has two rides planned for early summer and late summer and other events we want to attend this year... READ MORE
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Need to reach a specific Chapter?
Get their contact information here:
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Filling in the Blanks
Most people have a pretty clear memory of how they got hurt. Frequently their memories are punctuated with very specific details. “That son of a bitch looked me right in the eye before turning left.” “The front door mat was a bright pastel color.” “The impact made a sound just like an M-80 going off.” But when you go through something traumatic, like a motorcycle wreck, the brain isn’t focused on making memories—it’s focused on survival. The same mechanisms that keep the brain sharp enough to escape immediate danger may also make it harder to accurately recall the event.
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He Passed Me Going 90 MPH
In just about every motorcycle case we have there
are allegations that our client was speeding. There are a couple of important things to know about the issue of motorcycle speed. The first relates to the reliability of witness observations. The second deals with the way courts deal with favored drivers exceeding the speed limit.
Witnesses are almost always wrong about
motorcycle speed. It may be based on the relatively small size of motorcycles compared to other vehicles. Or it may be based on witness bias.
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Public Health and Relations Crisis
The concept of public health has really expanded. It used to focus on disease. Now it includes things like gun deaths. New York’s Governor recently declared
a gun violence disaster emergency. This new strategy treats gun violence as a public health crisis. We have a public health crisis of our own in Washington. It doesn’t have anything to do with guns. Or COVID-19. It has to do with motorcycles.
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What the Jury Doesn't Hear
The evidence rules have a big impact on what the jury gets to hear (and what it doesn’t get to hear). Evidence can seem a lot like an iceberg: 10 percent visible, 90 percent below the surface.
A lot of the evidence rules are counter-intuitive. Here’s what the jury doesn’t get to hear in a personal injury case:
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