Time to Get Moving

by John Reblin

Wowser. The elections are over, I think, and the radio and television seem a little strange without the constant commercials pressing, urging, one way or another, looking for a vote. In my mind, I was a little surprised at how close it came in many states. I hope we continue to grow this great country and we all learn that it is important to get involved in the process, study the candidates, and vote for who you think is right for the job. We also need to continue to press our information sources like local papers, radio and tv, to be sure they give us fair and complete information in order to help us make those educated choices.

Speaking of elections, since being newly elected in October, I have been staying pretty busy getting up to speed on what is going on. I think the Board we have now should be good for us, with some good viewpoints to be shared. Before being elected I spent some time with Sally Doxtator, and she suggested some work I could do in advance. I am glad that I did and am looking forward to and am excited for this term. With the discussions I heard over the weekend between the current board and other members, it seems it will be a hard-working group that will be working towards our goals.

First up, I needed to clean up some Highway Safety tasks for the new Chair, Dave Van Dyke, and finish up the budget that I had started while I was still in charge of that area. Dave will do a fine job and I look forward to seeing what he does with this committee.

We held an Executive Training in November, and it was a hey, let’s get back to the beginning, type meeting. We had some really good conversations, and we covered a plethora of subjects and the tools available to us that should help (kicking and struggling) us move forward in the 21st century. Although I am not the most technologically informed person, I realize that new technologies will aid us and needs to be implemented within our organization. Many of these tools will be used by the District Directors to help improve communication between the regions and your director, and by doing so, we will be improving the regional meetings by getting more complete information to the regional rep to share. My thoughts behind this is better meetings will raise more interest and questions, and in turn we will be getting membership more involved in the SMRO movement.

Executive Training also found us discussing the Strategic Plan that we have been working on for some time now. It was decided that we should start with a focus on finance, membership, legislative, highway safety and marketing. ABATE foresees that we will build off of those perspectives to create an even larger plan for the future. The initial starting point has the chairs of those specific committees working on their area and are to get a rough draft to Hardtail by late winter.

ABATE of Wisconsin’s Officer Training is coming up in February, the weekend of the 12-14, and will be held at the Best Western Green Bay, the same location as the State Meeting was held last October. We want to create an agenda that will educate regional officers, along with the others in attendance, that will continue to make our organization become stronger and better informed. Hopefully, you will get this on your calendar now to keep the weekend free to join us in Green Bay. More information will be sent out once the agenda is complete.

Biker Day at the Capitol is being planned for March 11th, 2021 so mark your calendar for that too. As you know this THE most important day for us and is the reason behind all of the chili contests and dances, and other fundraisers your region is doing to support this organization. A lot of effort, time and finances goes into putting this on. But the most important thing we need to make this effective, is YOU! You Are ABATE and we need our grass roots lobbyist to go meet with their legislators and explain what we are looking for to protect motorcyclists on the road. Not good speaking in public? No worries, we will have people there that will do the talking, as much or as little as you need, in order to convey our message clearly. As usual, we will have busses, a meeting spot, and all the information for you in folders to make it easy for you to attend.

If that is not enough, we are hosting Heartland S.T.E.A.M. on March 26th and 27th in Brookfield at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield hotel. Jen Dewitz is chairing this committee and is doing a great job at keeping all of her helpers focused and getting all of the small components pieced together. We are looking for sponsors, raffle prizes, and of course help, for this event to make it successful. The 31st Heartland S.T.E.A.M. is a regional conference of seven midwestern states that focuses on introducing less experienced freedom fighters to the world of protecting your motorcyclist rights. As you look around Wisconsin, the neighboring states along with ourselves, are very strong in protecting our rights while at the same time have lower issues of motorcycle crashes compared to other states. If you have a desire to help out here, contact Jen. Her information is in the newsletter as a board member at large, or if wanting to attend, go to abate@abatewis.org for registration.

Besides focusing on these events, I have been busy with emails, staying in contact with members and others, and helping as much as I can. I am also taking some time to spend with family and enjoy life. Hopefully, you all have a great Christmas and New Year and are able to enjoy it with family too.

John