ABATE
Attended the ABATE annual state meeting in Springfield, IL the weekend of January 15th. The biker community never fails to amaze me; how willing all the participants were to share their experiences, knowledge and insight about running a club, creating newsletters and dealing with political issues, just to name a few. ABATE is essentially our biker lobbying group that has at least 30,000 members in Illinois. It packs political clout and keeps government, too eager to intrude on our personal liberties, at bay.
Although we all should be active in our club as well as ABATE, we know that time does not always allow for such wide range involvement. At least support ABATE and what it stands for; protecting you and me from intrusive
A representative from the American Motorcycle Association, Imre Szauter, Government Affairs Manager, spoke for about an hour focusing on international laws and proposed United Nations standards for motorcycles that will have an impact on us in the near future. One such proposal is to prohibit motorcycles, already on the road, that do not comply with soon to be enacted, stringent emissions standards, from use. Yes, those stories about the UN taking over the world apparently may be true; at least the motorcycle world. This gentleman gave an excellent presentation. We may be able to convince him to attend a Top Cats meeting during the riding season and present to us. I hope we can.
Another great speaker was Rod Taylor who is legal counsel for ABATE Illinois. He gave several presentations dealing with the legally related aspects of motorcycling as well as basic common sense tips concerning arrests and traffic laws. Another person we should have present sometime during this 2010 Top Cat year.
Stay warm and get ready to …
Ride On,
Carl
