Elections

 Executive Report by John Reblin

So, Mother Nature is opening up her bag of tricks and sharing her spring surprise, going from near 70 degrees to, in some areas, 10 inches of wet, heavy snow. Hopefully, you all survived the snow, lack of power in some places, and if the weather was not too bad like here in the southeast corner of the state, the irritation of the weather forecasts and warnings.

Now that we are into May, the outlook should be relatively good for getting the bike out almost any day and not having to worry that the ride that started out nice is going to end with cold, snow, and the wind chill factor. Find that open lot and take some time to refamiliarize yourself to the bike. Work on that muscle memory for the brake, clutch and switches. Practice the skills you received at the last training course you took and hopefully have another scheduled to keep yourself in tune. We are having a Board of Director training session taking a BRC2 at Ft. McCoy in Tomah with Gary and others from Saferider on July 13th. We have a few open spots if anyone is interested in joining us. Let me know if you want to attend or go to the Saferider web site and sign up. The cost is the normal fees, but your insurance may give you a discount for taking a course. It is also cheaper than repairing your bike if you are involved in a crash. I think this event will be a lot of fun, educational, and a great bonding experience with other BOD members and other members of the organization. The BOD meeting is the following day at the land, which is only an hour away or so.

Also, June 7, 8, and 9 at Waukesha County Technical School the MoSAC committee and the Wisconsin DOT is putting together a summit to raise interest in training, becoming a trainer, skill training, and what to do in case something happens. The fee is reasonable to attend, and they are having some hands-on skill training. For more information and to register for one day or two, go to www.mosac.us. People that you would be familiar with speaking include myself, Steve Panten, Gary Klinker and Vicki Sanfelipo. They are also having some time on the asphalt to practice and improve your riding skills. So, whether you are an experienced rider or a new rider there will be good information to learn and practice. It is a new event, but we are getting a lot of interest from groups, trainers, and individuals.

Depending on your point of view the Primary Election season is over. I am sure you all got out and cast your vote to the person that can help achieve what is important to us. Now the platforms we use for information and news will be filled with commercials and opinions of who to vote for and why. I don’t think in Wisconsin there were too many surprises about who won and lost.

Now, what can you do as a citizen to make the process a little easier for your organization to move forward legislatively in Wisconsin and nationally? You can help those people that support what we are trying to do get elected or re-elected. One thing you can do is attend the town halls or stop and talk to the person running at a local fair or meet and greet. Discuss what you are looking for in a public forum and let those attending the meeting hear how they can help you and maybe something they are interested in. Or you can write a check. This is quick and easy right? A few dollars to the person will get some yard signs printed, stamps and paper, or pay for some fuel to go places to talk sharing their vison for the future.

But in these economic times you may not have the extra “green” to hand over to the candidate’s organization to help push him forward to the finish line. So, now what can you do? Well, you can help by volunteering some time to the effort. You can make some calls on the candidate’s behalf or stuff some envelopes for an hour or two. A couple of hours can make a large impression on that person running. I have helped out candidates by knocking on doors or hanging candidate info from the mailbox. Don’t put it in the mailbox, which is a huge federal no-no. Others have helped out by walking in a parade passing out info. Invite the person to a meeting for a question-and-answer time to share information and show that they support what we are looking for. But keep the time motorcycle specific. Don’t go off that topic and keep the meeting moving along and informative.

Early on, building these relationships is important to getting help on our agenda. By helping these people achieve their goals, they tend to remember those that helped them. They are willing to do a little more to help people and groups along. Be part of those groups that help them so they will help us achieve our legislative agenda. We speak many times of the assistant we have talked to before, is soon the legislator or some other person in a position that can help us.

Speaking of elections, I hope you sent in your information and candidacy papers if you are interested in becoming a District Director for one of the eight districts in ABATE of Wisconsin. The other positions such as an at-large Board of Directors position, and Officers of ABATE of Wisconsin will open up in a few months. More information is available in the newsletter. If you have attended a couple or quite a few board meetings, you already have an idea of how things are done, and we will help you as we go along. If you have an interest in motorcycle issues and trying to solve them, please consider putting your name in the hat for what you think you would be good at. If you have any questions or concerns reach out to your District Director or you can email me.

And now that riding season is here, remember to keep an eye out for the deer. It seems all day and night long they are out browsing along the roadways and are starting to or will soon be dropping their fawns. You never know which way they will turn or run. Be alert, slow down, and be ready to use both of your brakes to slow down or stop completely to avoid or try to lessen the injuries resulting from an unavoidable crash with the beasts.

 John