The 4th of July

By John Reblin

Here we are the 4th of July. Growing up it was sort of a marker in time. We were out of school for a while, with sometime to go before we had to worry about going back. The first cut of hay was off, the smell of fresh cut hay in the air still. The corn was finally done getting cultivated since I spent many hours on a CA Allis Chalmers tractor working the driving skills cultivating corn. I also remember my dad always saying the corn needed to be knee high by July 4th and I don’t think I can remember a time it wasn’t. With the hot days and enough rain Pops said you could hear the corn growing out in the field. I believed him and could have sworn I heard it. My mom just mentioned a few weeks ago to make sure you get your strawberries picked before the 4th, before it is too late to get any.

Another 4th marker the turning point for the Civil War. The war to tear apart a country the south wanting to leave the union the north wanting to keep it whole. Blue versus grey this the first week of July was Gettysburg battle.

The 4th is also is a time of celebration of the United States saying to Britain, hey get out of the United States with all your rules. We want to rule ourselves. The original thought was that the we should have a small government that really stayed out of our business. As Hardtail always says, “we just want to be left alone”. Well I think we can all honestly say that didn’t happen. John Stossel writes in a recent article the founding documents; the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are about freedom and limiting what the government can and cannot do. Not for the government to provide public safety. Later after the Revolutionary War the countries wish was gotten, freedom.

Motorcyclists have these same freedoms. I have written in the past about bars and restaurants putting signs on the door, not allowing bikers wearing colors on their vest or jackets to be allowed access to their business without removing said clothing.  Yeah, a private business can do that, I get it, but that doesn’t mean we need to accept that. I have and others have talked to these bars and eatery’s and asked them to remove the signs. The clubs come in if there was a disturbance or a reason that the sign went up, and through discussions with owners and members and try to work out differences. And sometimes it works. The signs come down and all works out well. Other times, it does not go as well and the sign stays up. At that point I don’t go to that business anymore. I also encourage others not to support the business that does not support motorcyclists, and that means all motorcyclists.

This spring we heard of an issue out in Lomira that concerned a club and the police that was, we know as profiling of the club. We met with the club and have met with law enforcement to correct this. Also, this spring Chubby, spoke in favor of a club opening a house in a Milwaukee suburb industrial area. This has been put on hold because of fear of noise. Did I mention it was in an industrial area?

We are seeing issues popping up, and Tony Sanfilipo along with Hupy and Abraham brought in Dave Deveroux from Washington State, a club member, that is heading the Motorcycle Profiling Project to explain to membership and clubs what profiling is and isn’t and how to work on legislation to prevent it.

I have seen Dave before and he is a great resource for information about profiling against motorcyclists. He brought up in his discussion a “pattern of evidence” is needed to pass legislation. What this means is we need people to contribute to our profile survey on the www.ABATEWIS.org website and filling out what happened, where and other details about the situation. Like discrimination in the past in our country, until those discriminated say enough, we’re done taking this abuse do the correction start taking place. So, we need the information from those that believe they have been profiled.

What is profiling? Taken from Washington State law, Motorcycle Profiling means the illegal use of the fact that a person rides a motorcycle or wears motorcycle-related paraphernalia as a factor in deciding to stop and question, take enforcement action, arrest, or search a person or vehicle, with or without a legal basis under the State or US Constitution.” Motorcycle profiling amounts to a publicly funded campaign of discrimination.

So, what are we looking for?  Information like getting pulled over for something like a taillight, odd questions given and let go without a ticket. Thing’s like getting photographed for no reason during a visit or stop. Many times, you see or hear something and your radar goes this is not right. Let us know and we can get the reports and check it out.

One last thing the Motorcycle Peer exchange taking place August 21st at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva. This is held from 3pm until 5 pm and is open to the public to discuss issues facing riders. Register at eventbrite answering a couple of questions and you will be good to go. Any questions you can give me a call or email me at depdir@abatewis.org. The MoSAC meeting will be held shortly after if you are inclined to join in that also.