Happy New Year to all my Riding Family in ABATE of Oklahoma! I hope everyone had a very enjoyable Holiday Season, and that you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. I also want to wish everyone all the best for success and prosperity in all you undertake during 2005. We enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather in December, which made for some festive times on motorcycles and trikes as Oklahoma's riding community turned out in force for Toy Runs and other events. The Silver Anniversary Toys For Tots Run hosted by ABATE of Tulsa in conjunction with
the Marine Corps Reserve broke all attendance records with the weather being sunny and in the 60s on December 12. Tens of thousands of riders participated in the miles-long parade, which is the largest single motorcycling-related event in Oklahoma. All of our other ABATE Chapters that have hosted Toy Runs this year reported good attendance, with a large amount of toys and food raised for Oklahoma's underprivileged families.  That's the most important point to remember, since these events are designed to benefit those less fortunate than we are, even though they're fun to ride in and they generate a lot of positive publicity for Sooner State motorcyclists.

     While we're talking about ABATE events, I'd like to remind everybody that our State Website's address has changed. The new address is, for those that haven't heard: http://www.abateofoklahoma.org  The old Geocities website had a good run, but it is no longer being updated. I've spent a few days
contacting > > every Motorcyclist Rights Organization nationwide that I could think of, to let them know of our new address. Chris Coombs, our new
Webmaster, has been performing an excellent job making the new State Website a site all ABATE of Oklahoma members can be proud of, and will represent our Organization well to all that visit. Take the opportunity to check it out sometime. The www.abateok.com Portal Website is now the location for the COD Chapter, but also has links to our other Chapters with home pages. I'd like to also express my heartfelt thanks to Dick Weber,  who has functioned as our State Webmaster for a number of years.  Dick has decided to step down after performing an excellent job of keeping the State Website updated, and deserves a hearty vote of thanks from all of us in ABATE. 

     ABATE members will have the opportunity to review their New Year's Resolutions that address Biker Liberty at our annual ABATE State Membership Meeting and Party Saturday, January 8 at the Bricktown Plaza Hotel, I-40 and Martin Luther King Blvd. just south of the Petro Truck Stop. The gathering will start at 10:00AM with our monthly State Board meeting, followed by a General Membership "town hall" get-together after lunch. There'll be a Keynote Speaker from our State Legislature, presentations on motorcycling-related issues, and a discussion on strategy for the 2005 Legislative Session. The Membership Meeting provides riders with the opportunity to discuss topics critical to the survival of Riding Freedom in our State, and the evening's activities will shape up to be a lot of fun, too. The hotel has a House Band performing Progressive Country and Rock 'n Roll in the Hotel Lounge, and Sunset Chapter ABATE is hosting the Hospitality Suite, in honor of their Fifth Anniversary.  We're excited about using the State Meeting as a stage with which to officially include and welcome our newest addition to the ABATE Family--the Three Sands Chapter, representing the Ponca City area. Individual and Sustaining Members of ABATE, as well as anybody interested in defending Oklahoma Biker Liberty, are invited to attend the afternoon session, and I hope we'll enjoy a good turnout. Anyone considering showing up can download a flyer from ABATE's brand-new State Website, and all of you are urged to please update your contact list with this new address.  Please make a special effort to attend this important meeting, as it might be critical this year to helping ensure the survivability of some of the Riding Freedoms we enjoy in the Sooner State and sometimes take for granted.  The very next day, January 9, it'll be time for the January 2005 Oklahoma Confederation Of Clubs Meeting. The location has been changed, and the meeting will be held at the American Legion Post in Enid, America.

     We'll begin with a lunch cookout from 11:30AM-12:30PM, with the meeting itself starting at 1:00PM. The highlight of this meeting will involve the election of Confederation officers for 2005, so all member clubs and organizations need to be there and cast their votes. There are also some important National-level legislative and judicial issues to consider, like Anti-Gang laws designed to restrict Freedom of Assembly, proposals for Biometric Drivers Licenses (as was passed here in Oklahoma) which could lead to the establishment of a National ID Card, and changes to the ironically-named USA PATRIOT ACT that can further erode our Civil Liberties. It's been a real privilege for me to have served as Liaison for the Confederation last year, and I appreciate the confidence Confederation members have in me to advance my name for re-election in 2005. A number of riders are planning to caravan to the session, so you can get the information on where to rendezvous by contacting one of the Confederation officers. You can also obtain any upcoming event information or Confederation goals clarification you need from the Confederation website at www.oklahomacoc.com  ABATE of Oklahoma looks forward to working together with other Oklahoma Confederation Of Clubs member groups to further our mutual political objectives in the coming year.

     Both the ABATE Meeting and the Confederation get-together will provide Oklahoma motorcyclists and trikers a forum with which to face some of the threats to Riding Freedom that seem to be appearing on the horizon.  I'm sure you've read some recent opinions in papers like the Daily Oklahoman and the Wall Street Journal calling for a Mandatory Helmet Law, both in Oklahoma and Nationwide. A similar article was just released on the AP Wire, calling for a Helmet Law in Kansas. Most of these published articles repeat the tired, disproved premise that motorcyclists are a Public Burden on the taxpayers, while reinforcing the negative stereotype of motorcyclists as an uneducated, irresponsible, violent minority that needs to be controlled by the government. These media outlets have established already that their position is pro-Helmet Law, and will slant their presentations accordingly. I spent over an hour during my interview with the Oklahoman providing the Freedom Of Choice perspective, but very little of ABATE's side was published.  ABATE will operate in response to these biased positions and their statistical manipulation on the premise that while the use of helmets relates to safety, the imposition of Mandatory Helmet Laws is a political and a control issue--an assault on our Constitutional Liberty hiding behind a mask of safety. An adult American Citizen that pays taxes or has served the Nation in uniform has earned the right to choose whether or not to wear one, and it's not the government's place to dictate--Let Those Who Ride Decide! ABATE is hoping that these inaccurate media accounts, motivated by special interest groups, won't influence one of our legislators to file a Helmet Bill, but if it happens, then we'll join the battle, and we'll need the entire Oklahoma motorcycling community's help in fighting it.

     We have important issues that are more relevant to our motorcycling Quality of Life to focus on during the 2005 Legislative Session, and ABATE has enlisted support on these in the State House. We have authors for the re-introduction of Jaggers' Law, our Failure To Yield bill, in both the House and Senate, and a Senate sponsor for the Veterans Motorcycle License Plate bill. ABATE is coordinating on an inspiring, patriotic design for the plates right now. State procedure requires a minimum of 100 pre-orders of these before the bill can be signed into law, so I'll get information out on how Veterans can acquire these as soon as I find out.  Also, in the last couple of months, both North Carolina and Pennsylvania have signed bills into law adding fines and mandatory drivers license suspensions for careless motorists that hurt or kill those they share the road with, so we have some good legislation to use as a template with which to increase our chances of getting Jaggers' Law passed.  We also need to agitate for funding to get our Rider Education program off the ground, which is part of emphasizing Crash Prevention. That'll ultimately reduce rider injuries and deaths better than a Helmet Law! Those riders interested in taking a more active role in defending Biker Freedom should definitely make plans to attend our ABATE 2005 Legislative Breakfast, Thursday, February 17, 7:30AM until 10:30AM at the State Capitol. It'll be terrific if we had the kind of biker attendance for an event like this as we've seen on some of our Toy Runs! Please make plans on attending if you can--I'll look forward to seeing a bunch of you there! Call me at 405-672-1008 or Holly at 405-329-7254 if you need more information.

     Tiger's Tip O' The Month: While the Motoring Public isn't known for normally looking out for motorcyclists, it's a pretty safe bet that they're not expecting to encounter a bike in the middle of Winter, even though a large number of us ride year-round. So, it's important that you make yourself as visible as possible. Try using contrasting colors or reflective material to break up the uniformity. Though lots of us consider solid black as cool, we need to do what we can to stand out in traffic. It's legal for us to run with multiple headlights now, so think of exercising that option, as well as mounting multiple running, tail-and brake lights or modulating headlights. We need to do what we can to make ourselves more visible and increase our margin of safety. With all he inattentive drivers on Sooner State roadways, our survivability depends on it! Well, that's it for this month--take care of each other, stay warm, watch out for the Other Guy, and I'll see you on the road. 

Keep It On The Black Strip Between The Trees,
Tiger Mike