THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at <http://www.ON-A-BIKE.com>

NCOM COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled and Edited by BILL BISH,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists

EMISSIONS OUT OF CONTROL The National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) is urging all concerned motorcyclists and motorcycle organizations to write to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and voice their opposition to new EPA motorcycle emissions regulations which will drastically alter the way motorcycles are built in the future by reducing allowable tailpipe emissions by more than 80%, necessitating the use of catalytic converters, fuel injection and liquid cooling.

The EPA has extended their comment period until January 7 to allow concerned motorcyclists to respond to their proposed rulemaking. You can write to the EPA at the following address:

Margaret Borushko
US EPA
National Vehicle & Fuels Emissions Laboratory
2000 Traverwood
Ann Arbor MI 48105
*Refer to: Docket A-2000-01 (Emission Control Issue)

NCOM has sent letters to nearly 2,000 motorcycle shops enrolled in their Independent Shop Program (ISP) nationwide, urging them to comment on the EPA proposed new emissions standards, as well as contact their congressional representatives and urge them to co-sponsor HR 5433, the "Motorcycle and Motorcycling Small Business Protection Act," introduced by U.S. Representative James Barcia of Michigan. Also known as the Barcia Act, this legislation would establish reasonable emissions standards for street motorcycles and will safeguard thousands of small businesses threatened by the EPA rulemaking.

"The Barcia Act will safeguard jobs and protect motorcycling in America, thereby reducing fuel consumption, traffic congestion and air pollution," writes Richard Lester, Founder of NCOM.

Please contact your congressman today, because tomorrow may be too late!

 

UNTHINKABLE? Steve Lundwall, state director of CMT/ABATE of Tennessee, and newly elected board member for the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), made an excellent point in identifying misconceptions as perceived by those who think that "It'll never happen here" during an interview with Twiggy for the December issue of Easyriders Magazine.

"As I'm out riding, I take great interest in talking with other bikers and I'll ask questions like, 'What do you think of the EPA's proposal to tighten up emissions standards to the point of eliminating carburetor bikes by 2006?' I get a blank stare. Or, 'Did you know that your employer doesn't have to cover your medical costs if you get hurt on your bike, even though you have insurance?' Once again, they look at me like I'm talking in a foreign language. Maybe I'll ask, 'What do you think about the new End of Life legislation that already exists in two European countries and might be adopted by the European Union?' I then have explain that End of Life legislation would prevent any car or bike older than 15 years from getting a license. Eventually, I may get a response, and typically it's something like, 'That'll never happen here. That's unthinkable.'

"The problem is that in today's society there are no more unthinkable ideas. Sex in the Oval Office use to be unthinkable. Declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional used to be unthinkable. A bunch of lowlife cave dwellers destroying our best know symbols of commerce and shattering our sense of security used to be unthinkable. The list could go on, and on, but yet every single one of those things have happened.

"So, why is it unthinkable that motorcycles will be outlawed? Why is it unthinkable that End of Life legislation will be passed? I get tired of people telling me that either they aren't threatened or they can't do anything about it. But when it comes to freedom of motorcycling, I'll pick my fights."

Steve's best advice? Get involved, and join your local motorcycle rights organization.

 

TEXAS LAWMAKER PROPOSES TAX ON ENGINES Cars, off-road equipment and many motorboats and motorcycles would carry a $5 to $7 annual fee to raise money for air pollution-control programs under a proposed new law by Texas State Representative Warren Chisum, the House Environmental Regulation Committee chairman, who said he will file legislation that would require an environmental impact permit sticker on vehicles with a 50-horsepower engine or larger.

"What we are saying is if you have an impact on the environment, that you are going to pay an impact (fee)," Chisum, of Pampa, said after presenting the idea at a clean energy policy forum. "Granted some of you have a greater impact than others, but still everybody has an impact."

He said he hoped the fee would raise about $188 million annually through 2007. Lawmakers are under pressure to come up with the funding, which is needed to help bring the Houston and Dallas regions into compliance with federal clean air laws.

The plans must meet Environmental Protection Agency approval. If they don't, the state could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway money.

Lawmakers last year had approved legislation, Senate Bill 5, that would allow money to be raised through increasing the out-of-state vehicle registration fee from $1 to $225, but the fee was found to be unconstitutional.

"This is not a new tax," Chisum said. "It's a different mechanism for funding the same issue."

Chisum's plan could meet some criticism, but state money is tight. Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander has projected the state could face a $5 billion shortfall.

 

PENNSYLVANIA REPEALS HANDLEBAR HEIGHT LAW "House Bill 152 was signed into law by the Governor on December 9, 2002, and it repeals the requirement that motorcycle handlebars must not be above shoulder height and adds the requirement that all bikes built after 1973 have their headlights on during the day and night," reports Boyd Spencer, A.I.M. (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) Attorney for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and legal counsel for the Pennsylvania Confederation of Clubs.

HB 152 amends Section 3524 of the vehicle code, which deals with footrests, handlebars and handholds for passengers, to delete references to handlebars altogether. Previously, the law stated that "NO PERSON SHALL OPERATE ANY MOTORCYCLE WITH HANDLEBARS ABOVE SHOULDER-HEIGHT OF THE OPERATOR WHILE PROPERLY SEATED UPON THE MOTORCYCLE."

It becomes law on February 7, 2003.

 

MASSACHUSETS MOTORCYCLISTS SUE CITY OVER NOISE ISSUE The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association (MMA) has announced its intentions to file a class action suit against the city of Newburyport after 230 motorcyclists were issued excessive noise citations despite the fact that only three noise complaints were filed by residents over the last three years.

After reviewing more than 1,500 pages of Police Department documents, MMA Legislative Director Paul Cote said his organization is questioning whether motorcyclists' civil rights were violated in the city, especially considering that many of the citations were issued without sound metering equipment.

On September 19, six months after the MMA requested the documentation, state Supervisor of Public Records Alan Cote ordered the police to release the public documents. What the MMA found after analyzing reams of public "noise" documents was that "Out of the 2,321 noise complaints filed in the last year, three complaints were about motorcycles -- so for me the question is, what's all the noise about," Cote said. "We have enough people to file a class action suit against the city and Police Department."

Cote said that the MMA plans to bring a class action lawsuit against the city for an estimated $150,000 -- the amount in damages to some of the 230 cited riders over the last three years.

Newburyport District Court Judge Peter Doyle has "stayed" all the on-going contested citations awaiting Appeals Court rulings on four cases.

The citation for excessive noise carries a $50 fine, an increased insurance premium of 7 percent for six years, and if more than three citations are issued, the loss of a license for 30 days.

Cote said he believes the city has violated the civil rights of motorcyclists -- especially after Patriots Day weekend when over 50 motorcyclists were issued citations. Some motorcyclists say they were detained at roadblocks, harassed, told to "stay out of my town," and threatened with having their motorcycles confiscated by police Inspector David Foley, who led Newburyport Police on their "Motorcycle Noise Abatement" policy of "directed patrols" this past summer.

Cote said that while only three formal complaints in regard to on-road motorcycles were made in the last three years, the number of citations against motorcyclists continues to grow. In 2000, Cote says there were three noise citations against motorcyclists, but that number grew to 40 citations in 2001, and there were 187 citations filed in 2002. "The number of citations doesn't reflect residents' complaints," he said.

In response to the citations, many motorcyclists have boycotted the city. "There's definitely an unofficial boycott of the city," Cote said. "The economic impact to businesses in Newburyport is a $6 million loss. People aren't coming there even in their cars."

 

COP FOUND "NOT GUILTY" IN BIKER'S DEATH The former Rockford, Tennessee police officer who ran down a motorcyclist was found "Not Guilty" of vehicular homicide by a Blount County Circuit Court jury on November 25.

In September 2001, James R. Johnson was indicted by a grand jury for allegedly killing motorcyclist Philip Mickey Laton on March 10, 2001, by running the motorcyclist off the road with his patrol car. Johnson was patrolling old Knoxville Highway in the Rockford area when he received a radio report of a speeding motorcycle coming up behind him.

Johnson told investigators that he then turned on his emergency lights in order to get the rider to slow down, but the motorcyclist lost control and hit a guard rail, and then slid into the police car.

Later, a witness told police that the cruiser had swerved into the path of the approaching motorcycle, causing it to crash. A review of the videotape from the officer's patrol car confirmed the witness' account, and Johnson was charged in connection with Laton's death.

But the jury took less than 30 minutes to return the not guilty verdict, apparently buying into the defense's argument that Laton's judgment and reactions were impaired by alcohol, although Laton's blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit.

The Laton family has filed a $7 million civil lawsuit against Johnson, the Blount County Sheriff's Office and the now defunct Rockford Police Department.

Due to other incidents, including another motorcyclist who suffered near-fatal injuries following a high-speed chase by another Rockford police officer along Old Knoxville Highway, and a woman who was killed when her car was hit by a Rockford police vehicle, the Rockford city commission voted to disband the city's four-member police department during an emergency meeting on June 5, 2002.

 

JAPANESE BUST BIKERS BANNED BY LAW Three biker gang members face up to six months in jail or a 100,000 yen fine after earning the dubious honor of being the first people arrested under a controversial ordinance aiming to rid the Peace City of threatening motorcyclists, police told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper on November 24.

Police said the three were arrested for violating a Hiroshima Municipal Government ordinance banning biker gang members from assembling in the public areas throughout the city.

"Long plagued by violence from biker gangs, Hiroshima's contentious ordinance was enacted in April. It forbids biker gangs from assembling in public areas throughout the city, but requires authorities to issue at least three warnings to break up before arrests can be made," the newspaper reported.

Police told the newspaper that one adult and two teenagers were wearing the uniforms of a biker gang when they assembled with about 60 other bikers in a Hiroshima park on Saturday night. Officers arrived and ordered the bikers to go away, but three of them refused to do so. After standing their ground through another two warnings, they were arrested.

 

WEIRD NEWS OF THE MONTH: BEER 'N DEER According to the Darwin Awards, which honors those who have made the supreme sacrifice in cleansing the gene pool, an EMT in southern Georgia was part of a unit that responded to a call from Coffee County late one night in June 2002. They arrived on the scene and found a severely injured man lying at the edge of a field. His stomach had been completely torn open, and he was covered with lacerations and bruises. He also had a prominent tire tread across his chest. The injured man's companion showed up in a racing model ATV, clearly intoxicated, and gave the following account.

He and his injured friend had been drinkin' and ridin' around the field on the three-wheeled ATV, when they sighted a stand of deer in their headlights. The friend, riding the back as a passenger, was struck with a great idea. "Hey man," he said, "If you quarter off one a those deer, betcha I can bulldog 'im." The driver thought this was an entertaining idea, so he proceeded to isolate a buck and race him down. His intoxicated passenger proceeded to leap from the ATV, grab the buck by the antlers, and perform an excellent example of this rodeo sport. He pinned the animal's head to the ground, but that's when things went wrong. The buck, less docile than a steer, simply got up, threw his head back, and tore his assailant's belly open. The deer then proceeded to stomp, kick, and butt him for good measure.

The EMTs noticed that this information accounted for all of the injuries except one. When they asked the driver about the tire track across his injured friend's chest, he responded: "Well how else was I s'posed to git the deer off 'im?"

 

GOOD SAMARITANS CAPTURE HIT-AND-RUN DRIVERS Two young Southern California men were following behind a Harley-Davidson in the city of Brea when a Ford Expedition made a sudden left in front of the motorcycle, clipping the rider's right leg.

Shaun Linder and Matthew Newcomb pulled over to help the injured motorcyclist while the SUV sat nearby. Charles Kenney, the biker, was holding his leg, crying and screaming for help.

Linder carried Kenney to his car and drove him a short distance to Brea Community Hospital. He was returning to the scene when Newcomb, who had stayed with the motorcycle, motioned to him and yelled that the Expedition had driven off.

Newcomb jumped into Linder's car, and they drove down several streets, searching for the SUV. They had just about given up when they spotted the red Expedition and Linder said he tried to make a citizen's arrest.

Linder said he reached speeds of 80 mph as he followed the SUV to an industrial park, where the Expedition pulled into a parking space.

Newcomb hopped out of the car and approached the SUV, holding a Global-Positioning System against his ear. A couple was sitting in the front seat, while three little girls and their grandmother peered at him from the rear seat. "I told them I was on the phone with police and that they were coming," Newcomb said. "Then they backed into me."

Newcomb said he fell to the ground and got up only to have the vehicle reposition and ram into him again. His body hurtled onto the vehicle's hood, and he grabbed a windshield wiper. Linder pulled his car in front of the SUV, blocking it in.

Luckily, another witness had called police, who arrived about 5 p.m., 11 minutes after the collision.

Patricia Summers, 39, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and felony driving under the influence. Bradley Summers, 40, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and DUI. The couple's three daughters, ages 6, 9, and 11, were released to relatives.

Police believe that Patricia Summers was driving drunk when she slammed into the motorcyclist, and suspect that she later switched seats with her husband.

Kenney suffered fractures to his right leg, right elbow and pelvis.

"They're my heroes really,'' he said of Linder and Newcomb. "Without them, I wouldn't have anything to go on, no case at all."

Newcomb, 25, attends Fullerton College. Linder just finished up at the community college and plans to transfer to California State University, Fullerton.

Linder considers lending a helping hand a citizen's responsibility. "If that happened to me, I would want people to do the same thing," he told the Orange County Register. "It was the right thing to do."

ABATE of California plans to reward the dynamic duo with a "Good Samaritan Award" for their act of heroism.

 

QUOTABLE QUOTES: "One man with courage makes a majority."
ANDREW JACKSON, "Old Hickory"
(1767-1845) 7th U.S. President and Military Hero of the War of 1812