Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas June 2017 TRMOK | Page 10

THE ABATE UPDATE
T HE
ABATE
UP D A TE
The mission statement
of ABATE of Oklahoma
is to promote and defend
motorcyclists freedom, safety,
and awareness through
education and legislation to
make Oklahoma the best
place to ride.
JOHN PIERCE:
TIME WELL
SERVED
Oklahoma has culture that
spans many different peoples,
and is known throughout the
United States as the home of hard
working, steadfast citizens who
will buck anything that stands
in opposition to their beliefs.
With a state motto of “Labor
omnia Vinci” (Labor conquers
all things), it is not surprising
that ABATE of Oklahoma has
evolved into one of the most
successful motorcyclist’s rights
states in the plains states
region. Over the past nearly ten
years, membership has grown,
participation at the national level
has grown, and the co-creation
of state and ABATE-driven state
of OK committees have been
created for the betterment of the
riders of Oklahoma.
This is a state that has a
few things no other state has.
For example, Oklahoma is the
only state in the nation that has
one county (Cimarron) which
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Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR
touches the borders of four
other states! (Colorado, New
Mexico, Texas, and Kansas).
The world’s largest deposit of
the mineral alabaster, prized for
carving, statues and industry is
in Oklahoma. There are more
man-made lakes in Oklahoma
than any other state, and this is
the only state in America that
produces iodine. These things
are “Google-able” for anyone to
readily discover.
But
Oklahoma,
and
specifically the bikers of
Oklahoma, has something else
no other state in the whole
United States has. An award-
winning, tough as nails, doggedly
determined ABATE Legislative
Chairman who has been
successful in that job in not one,
but two states. No other person
in the entire motorcyclist’s rights
movement has held that position
in more than one state.
Over the years, John has
worked with legislators and
attorneys to create the tightest
bill wording on numerous issues.
Many states now have laws
based on the exact wording and
research he and his teams have
put together. To this day, his
helmet law library of documents
- addressing any point - remains
the most extensive compilation
known.
When John and Chris Pierce
packed up their lives and moved
from his beloved adopted state
of Tennessee, John left behind
a legacy in Tennessee of more
good pieces of legislation
passed, and more detrimental
pieces beaten, than nearly every
other state in the nation in the
period of time in which he held
the position of state legislative
chairman. John will be the first
to tell you that it isn’t him, but the
good people who work hard - at
working together - to bring about
the “Great What Is”. He might