News Bytes
The National Coalition of Motorcyclists ( NCOM ) is working with other state and national motorcycle organizations to address profiling legislatively , and with Washington State enacting the first anti-profiling law in 2011 , followed by Maryland this year , a national motorcycle anti-profiling measure would advance the efforts in every state to prevent discriminatory enforcement .
HR 4715 & S 2659 , the RPM Act ( Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2016 ), would ensure that the American tradition of modifying vehicles into dedicated racetrack competitors is not only continued for today , but will be protected for future generations of race fans as well .
Although the federal EPA bowed to political pressure and public outcry this past April by removing provisions from proposed regulations that would have prohibited street-legal vehicles , including motorcycles , from being modified for racing , members of both chambers of Congress have introduced bipartisan legislation to protect the sport of racing by blocking the EPA from over-regulating the industry and ensuring that it remains legal to convert street legal motor vehicles for racing purposes . Responding to the controversy over the proliferation of E15 fuel , which is not approved for use by any motorcycle manufacturer and can invalidate warranties , Congress is considering HR 5108 ( the “ Food and Fuel Consumer Protection Act of 2016 ) “ to alleviate the ethanol blend wall under the renewable fuel program .” Specifically , the bipartisan bill would cap the ethanol content of fuel at 9.7 %, and would also effect the EPA ’ s Renewable Volume Obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard . In addition , in January Congress banned the use of federal funds for controversial Motorcycle-Only Checkpoints as part of a $ 305 billion highway bill called the Fixing America ’ s Surface Transportation ( FAST ) Act , as well as allocating more than $ 4 million towards motorcycle safety programs , and going forward into the next Congress and an all new Administration bikers must work to protect those advancements we ’ ve already made .
ANTI-MASK LAWS USED AGAINST BANDANAS During the Confederation of Clubs ( COC ) meeting at the NCOM Region I Seminar in Irvine , California in November , as an example of discriminatory profiling , attendees were notified of motorcyclists in Louisiana who have allegedly been arrested for wearing bandanas over their faces while riding because police claim that covering your face in public violates the state ’ s anti-mask law against concealing your identity .
According to Louisiana statute ( LSA-R . S . 14:313 ) – “ No person shall use or wear in any public place of any character whatsoever , or in any open place in view thereof , a hood or mask , or anything in the nature of either , or any facial disguise of any kind or description , calculated to conceal or hide the identity of the person or to prevent his being readily recognized … Whoever violates this Section shall be imprisoned for not less than six months nor more than three years .” It was further noted that many states have similar anti-mask laws on the books , so be aware .
“ THE TWIN PEAKS AMBUSH ” On the fateful day of May 17 , 2015 , hundreds of motorcyclists and rights activists met in Waco , Texas to discuss current events and motorcyclist rights issues at a meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents ( COC & I ), and many subsequently had their lives changed forever . Nine people died , another 17 were injured that day after police opened fire on the gathering . Before the dust settled , 192 people were arrested , and charged with cookie cutter charges of participation in organized crime and held on $ 1 million bail each . Ultimately 106 were indicted on felony charges of “ engaging in organized criminal activity .” A recent post from Easyriders Scuttlebutt announces that Donald Charles Davis , who runs the popular Aging Rebel biker news site “ has penned this interesting book ( titled “ The Twin Peaks Ambush : A True Story About The Press , The Police And The Last American Outlaws ”) including far reaching interviews with people who were there on the scene , and attempts to make sense of it all , a tall order . He has done a good service , and we recommend the book to anyone who has an open mind and a heart . Bikers lives do matter .”
WEIRD NEWS : WITCHDOCTOR SUMMONS BEES TO STOP MOTORCYCLE THIEF Local news reports from Mbooni , Makueni in Kenya claim that a motorcyclist has managed to recover his bike from a thief after asking the local witchdoctor for help . The witchdoctor allegedly contacted a large swarm of bees that had already begun to invade a local market , and sent them to track down the stolen motorcycle instead . According to motofire . com , the spell worked , and the thief is said to have run off ‘ for dear life ’ as the bees began settling onto the yoke and tank of the bike , as depicted in photographs of the scene . The reports then go on to suggest that the bees “ also protected the bike from any further interruption for over half an hour until the owner could arrive , who then took his motorcycle home .” Some say the swarm was merely an act of nature and nothing supernatural at all , and Assistant Chief Patrick Mwanzia said that the swarm simply arrived after the queen of the hive got stuck within the bike ’ s handlebars . And , in fact , “ a similar incident had happened just days before when another bike was covered in a swarm for over two hours ”… but how does that explain how the queen bee just happened to get stuck in that particular stolen bike ?
QUOTABLE QUOTE : “ MERRY CHRISTMAS !” ~ PEOTUS Donald J . Trump , 45th U . S . President
WWW . THUNDERROADSLOUISIANA . ORG January 2017 THUNDER ROADS MAGAZINE LOUISIANA 19