For those of you that didn’t participate in the Annual ABATE Beatty Run you missed out. Those that went upheld the annual Thursday night Eureka Key Hole, Let It All Hang Out, Get Down, Way Down competition. Everyone was a winner! We met for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and on the road to Beatty by 10:00. Because of my recent prostate surgery I wasn’t able to ride so, Connie and I trailered the 45 trike down. Now I am not one for trailering a motorcycle but it turned out just fine, infact it turned out to be quiet nice coming back home. We unloaded the trike about 30 miles before we got to Beatty, It was great. As some of you know the 45 tops out at about 50 mph. You’ve got to love old bikes to enjoy listening to a 45 purr along at 50mph. About 20 miles before Beatty a bike pulls up behind me, all I can see out of a vibrating review mirror is a Springer front fork and ape hangers. He follows me for a little while and when he pulls out to pass me so I give a wave, all be dam if it isn’t Ron Orlando! When I pull into our hotel in Beatty Ron is waiting. It was really good to see Ron. Our friendship goes back 25 years or more. Ron had an aftermarket Harley shop in Elko when I first met him. It was in that shop that Ron asked me if I would join ABATE. Ron is one of the very early Elko ABATE members and I joined shortly after Ron. We both had shovels and rode (and pushed) them all over the county. Our longest shovel ride together was to Sturgis. I spent all four days at the campground in Sturgis wrenching on mine.

Saturday we rode from Beatty down to Furnace Creek in Death Valley. The trike did fine dropping into Death Valley. The temperature was perfect; 50 mph is a good speed for this windy downgrade. By the time we reached the valley floor the back pressure caused a little smoke to roll out the back, nothing concerning or unusual. I’m leading the pack and about 5 miles before we get to Furnace Creek a park ranger passes us, well he passes everyone but me. When he gets beside me he turns his patrol lights on. I pulled over and he drops in behind me. He doesn’t waste any time before he hurries up beside me and tells me in an excited and urgent voice, “You know you have to wear a helmet!” I responded “No I don’t” he said “ Yes you do” I said “No I don’t” this went back and fourth several times then he said I’m not going to argue with you, I said “I’m not going to argue with you!” The Park Officer asked me for my driver’s license and went back to his truck and chatted on the radio for a long time. He must have been concerned about Tom Wurth, Ron Orlando, Marvin Rowley and Bill Hartsock sitting on their bikes behind him because he called for backup. He ended up giving me a helmet ticket; I told him I would contest it. Off to Furnace Creek we went. We felt like tourists in a foreign country, most of people were Chinese. They didn’t speak English and found us interesting enough to take a lot of pictures of us. The ride back to Beatty was great, slow but great. The 45 only has a three speed and it couldn’t pull the grade in third and second’s only good for about 30 mph. Needless to say I met the guys back in Beatty.

It was cold when we left Beatty Sunday morning and the further North we went the colder it got. Before long it was snowing and about 5 miles before we got to Goldfield the road was snow covered and not ride able on bikes. We parked the bikes along side the road with the semis that had pulled over and piled in Connie’s truck. We drove over the summit to see how bad it was and into Goldfield. We held up there for and hour or so as the weather cleared. We went back over the summit, got the bikes and were able to ride on. The temperatures stayed cold all the way back to Elko. Even though I am against trailing a bike to any event, I didn’t wish I was riding that day.

I have since been working on contesting my helmet ticket. Unfortunately I got the ticket in California but fortunately I have made contact with Mark Temple and Mark could be the most knowledgeable helmet protester in the country and he lives in California and successfully contests helmet tickets all the time. It appears that the officer violated due process, violated the 4th amendment and should had allowed me the opportunity to correct the offence, or issued a fix-it ticket. The size of the trike also determines if a helmet is required. There aren’t any points against a drivers license for a helmet ticket. Mark and I will be forwarding a discovery request to the District Attorney and Officer and they are required by law to answer our questions. Mark assures me this will prove they don’t have a case. This all boils down to one thing, the helmet law is wrong and I will not accept a helmet ticket without contesting it. There is no better way to become knowledgeable about a law than contesting it.

The primaries are near, by the time you read this newsletter John Ellison or Dale Andrus will be running in the general election against -------------------Janine Hansen for Assembly. Both Dale and John are good men, are ABATE members and will fight to uphold our god given rights. I consider them both friends, whatever the results are in the primary I encourage them both to continue their desire to serve as public officials.

John Bland – ABATE NNV President