March

By the time this is printed and in your mailbox, the planning for the Southern Thunder Rally will be well underway. It better be. At the March 14^th Board of Director’s meeting we will be determining if we have the plans, money and desire to crank it up to 110% and do this marquee Tennessee event. Why all the focus and effort on this event? Well, let’s look at what our purpose is and how it is accomplished.

We are a political organization that works for the rights and safety of all Tennessee Motorcyclists. Simple enough, right? So, how is this done? Simple again. We attempt to communicate and influence those who regulate or try to regulate us. It means ‘playing politics’ and doing work and uncovering statistics that help us and preparing documents and presenting to legislators and talking with government bureaucrats and digging for legal options and taking time off of work for meetings and phone calls and faxes and emails and coordination and many other things. These are just the legislative things to be done. Meanwhile there are the efforts needed to done to keep the organization functioning and paying the bills so that these previous things can be done. My current CMT/ABATE email inbox has 171 items in it. Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?

What this boils down to is having a viable organization – meaning the revenue (income) flow – to keep this organization operating in order to focus on our stated goal of influencing the decisions that are made that affect you. So what, you ask? Plato once said, "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." The majority of the people in this country were indifferent to the new EPA regulations. And we lost that one. Starting in 2006 and being phased in through 2010 don’t be surprised by the changes in the bikes that will be sold in this country. Gone are the days of air-cooled, carbureted non-catalytic converter bikes. "So, I’ve still got my old one." Sure you do - until they propose ‘End of Life’ legislation to deny licenses to any vehicle more than 15 years old. That’s what they did in Europe. I have a 1991 that would immediately become ‘unacceptable’.

Remember, this is also the end of the Sate Wide Poker run. We have $3500 in prize money to give away. At this time there are 16 FREE ENTRIES – see this paper or the website. What does that mean? Well, since you only need 15 to draw a hand for these prizes – JUST PURCHASING A BOOK MAKES YOU QUALIFIED!!!! So, if you don’t have a book – now is the time. Even if you do have a book – buy more – REMEMBER – YOU ONLY NEED TO GET ONE SIGNED. Additional books simply allow you to draw more hands based upon your signed book. WHAT A DEAL! So, buy books. They are $10 apiece but you MUST REGISTER THE BACK PAGE OR IT DOESN’T COUNT. By the way, you don’t have to buy a ticket to the event to draw your hands for the State Wide Poker run. You can draw hands at the gate and leave if you want. All winners will be announced that Saturday night at the concert. No, you don’t have to be present to win.

So, let’s all show up in middle Tennessee and have some fun at the Southern Thunder Rally. Bring your family. Bring you friends. Bring strangers. We don’t care – just bring EVERYONE. We need this BIG Tennessee state event. Remember, Liberty Weekend (ABATE of Iowa), Bean Blossom (ABATE of Indiana) and other state rallies all started small and grew to the types of events that fund very effective motorcycle rights organizations. Do you think it is coincidence that these states have Freedom of Choice?

Remember; always do your Wiring Harness Preventive Maintenance,

Steve