Good bye 2008, hello 2009. Old man time waits for no one. ABATE of Northern Nevada had a busy and productive year. Our presents, therefore respect, continues to grow not only in our community, county and state, but throughout the country. I am proud of our members. Our organization is made up of voting Americans that know that it is the responsibility of a good citizen to be politically active. Our political involvement reflects the core values of ABATE. As President Kennedy said, “It is not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country”. The economy, big bailouts, concerns about terrorism and environmental challenges are all creating a bigger and more powerful government. The truth is; bigger government equates to the loss of personal rights and freedoms. You can be assured that our constitutional rights are seldom, if ever, considered when decisions are made at a United Nations convention. Our challenges are many, and often overwhelming. Our option is to do and say nothing, like so many others. As we know, this is not an option.

I’m looking over our 2008 event calendar. We held our first Telescope Bowling Alley, pool tournament on January 17, 2008. This was a good event, it filled the need for finding a warm place to meet for bike night, it generated funds for our treasury and we attracted a group of young folks that challenged our pool skills, and then, at the end, whipped our butts out of the purse money. The owner of ----Telescope Bowling Alley, John Carr enjoyed the event so much he has asked us several times to hold it again, I think we will.

Our annual flea market was held on March 1st. It’s a good event with great potential to become better. John Glen of 5th Gear Power Sports has donated a truck load of new truck accessories that had been left from his former business to sell this year. Mike Gerber has offered to let us have the event in the parking lot of his new real-estate office on Idaho Street across from Maverick. This will give us great exposure to everyone in town. What’s that saying? ”One man’s trash is another mans treasure”. Believe me, there will be enough trash—I mean treasures for everyone!

May brought the annual Blessing of the Bikes. This gathering has been a success for as long as I can remember. We get a great turn out from all the different motorcycle clubs and organizations in Elko. This year our spoof phrase was “Go Green- Ride a Motorcycle”. After all, most of the greenies stomping and raising cane about saving the environment are driving cars that get less gas mileage than our motorcycles. It’s high time we get some recognition for being so environmentally astute. We also made our virgin voyage to the Mesquite Thunder Fun Run. The route we took through rural Nevada and Utah was just what I needed, Connie got first in the weenie bite and I took second in the slow race.

As always, the Elko Motorcycle Jamboree was the third weekend of June. Connie and I can honestly say we didn’t help much this year. Most of you know we are the founders of the event and got a bad case of burn-out about the fourth year. That year the event was held hostage to “police state” mentality, with snipers on roof tops and swat teams marching with machine guns through the event. We are discussing the idea of ABATE hosting the first Elko Motorcycle Hill Climbs. There will be further conversations about this at our meetings in the near future, after the dust from Christmas settles.

Connie, Mike Gerber, Norm Orr and I made the voyage to Sturgis in August. My effort to make the round trip from Elko on my 51 Pan got me a page in Thunder Press. That was almost worth hearing the repeated, “If you break down one more time I’m going to kill you” from Connie. We had a great turnout for our Labor Day campout in Hagerman Idaho later in the month. There were about a dozen bikes that rode up, camped out and made it to the Sun Valley Car Auction.

Dale and I attended the Meeting of the Minds in Denver Colorado in September. I wish every freedom loving motorcyclist would attend at least one Best of the West or Meeting of the Minds event. It will affect your heart and sole. To be surrounded with the most passionate and dedicated freedom fighters in the country is a truly an honor, to care about motorcycling and not ever attend one of these events is a crying shame.

It is December 7th and ABATE of Northern Nevada is in full swing with Christmas for Kids. Bill Hartsock has taken the reins as President and is doing a tremendous job. Thank you to the ECVA, Barrick Gold, Newmont Gold, P&H Mine Pro and Wal-Mart for the generous donations to Christmas for Kids. We’ll plan a party for ABATE members after the holiday madness is over.

2009 is a legislative year. Bob Beers was going to introduce our helmet bill again this year but lost in the election and is no longer a legislator. We are desperate to find someone else to introduce our helmet bill. Bones, Southern ABATE President, is asking the legislators in Vegas without success yet. My hope is that the some legislator will listen to us and recognize the potential revenue that would be generated for Nevada by relaxing Nevada’s helmet law. My fear is that they will proceed as usual and just raise our taxes to slow the financial hemorrhage they’ve created for us.

March forward ABATE Freedom Fighters, it’s a new year filled with challenges.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!!

John Bland-President