If Your Membership Is Expired, Or About to Expire, Please Use the Application Below And

March 2010

If your membership is expired, or about to expire, please use the application below and renew your membership!

Don’t leave it up to the next guy… he may be leaving it up to you! Do you want to risk your rights like that??

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

Well, the members came out in force for February’s meeting. It looked like it was couples night since Valentines Day was Sunday. Kat gave her Treasurer’s report off of the 990’s with a breakdown so everyone now knows were our money comes from and were it goes to. Dona is off to a great start as the new Membership Coordinator and she has many new ideas that we are all sure to love. Dawn was in N.O. earning beads, and Rick is off and running with Activities, but he needs our help to make sure all of our events come off with out a hitch. Phrog is at the top of her game with Products, but she needs more orders before she can turn them in… so give her a call and order your t-shirts or hoodies. As for Public Relations, Carleen is doing a superb job and has been working hard (along with FU Bob) on Alton’s noise ordinance. Bill and Danny are working together to teach motorcycle awareness to area high school students. What more could you ask for?

Now for the business at hand: ABATE is a political organization. ABATE does not generate the kind of money that NRA or AMA does, but our strength lies in our members. When our friends need help manning phone lines or putting up signs and generally getting out the word, that is where our value comes to light. Making the phone calls to let your state Senator, Representative, and Federal Congressman know how you feel on the issues is very important. So is helping out in election campaigns. Last year a candidate for the Mayor of the City of Alton came to us and asked for our help in getting elected. He was motorcycle friendly and agreed with what our issues are. Well we listened, but we did not hear. The election was a close one and he did not win. Instead, the new Mayor of Alton wants to quiet the city down and one of the items happens to be loud motorcycles. If we had not sat back and watched the world go by, but got active and backed that candidate, he might have won the election for Mayor of Alton and the new noise ordinance just might not be an issue this spring. This is a bitter lesson for us to learn the hard way. There are helmet bills this year and a lesson to be learned from this is to get active. Don’t just sit on the couch and lose your rights by not doing anything. If you don’t work to keep your rights - someone will be happy to take them away. Our forefathers fought for our freedoms, so don’t let them slip away through inaction. March 11 is Legislative Day in Springfield. This is a great time to meet your State Senator and Representatives and tell them how you feel about anti-motorcycle legislation. ABATE needs more than just a few chapter officers there… it needs you. The more members the better. All the information about Legislative Day and helmet bills can be found at the ABATE of Illinois web site http://www.abate-il.org/, so check it out and read your state newsletter. I will get off my soapbox now and get on to other things.

Discussion was held about changing the by-law on buying patches for lost members. We have to buy 50 at a time and that runs into some money, plus the chapter still has most of the memorial patches. We discussed paying for a brick at the Roxana Bikers Memorial and looking into being able to buy smaller amounts of patches or giving a member a choice of a patch or a brick. Bring your ideas to the March 13 chapter meeting and let us know what you want. Speaking of the Biker Memorial, the Outlanders will need helping in parking this year and are looking for volunteers to help in parking. Top Gun is coming up in April and your help is needed to run this event. You will also have a great time there. I don’t want to forget… Mike Logston built our Winnie Bite contest stand. Let’s hear it for Mike!!!

Aloha Skinny

Hi all! We had a great turnout at our Hot, Sweet & Sticky Dance which was held at the Alton Moose on Saturday, February 20, 2010. Everyone seemed to have a great time, great food & drink - and of course the band, Spiritbox, rocked us all night long. I want to thank all of you who came out that morning and helped decorate... also all of you who worked the door and helped at the dance. A special thank you goes to Barb Williams for all her work on the silent auction. Oh! A really big thanks to all of you who donated door prizes and silent auction items.

Largest Club Award went to the Dream Weavers.

Largest Organization Award went to the Chrome Divas.

Furthest Traveled Award went to a friend of one of the band members, who came from Poplar Bluff, MO.

Ms. Bev Jackson and her man toy, John McMahon, won the plunger game.

The Outlanders Bike Blessing and Memorial Dedication will be held on Sunday, March 21, 2010, at 12 noon at the Roxana Park Clubhouse. We have been asked to help with parking, so I will need volunteers. We should have more info on this at the March 13 chapter meeting. Hope to see you there.

Be safe,

P.S. My wife, Cindy, is fine. Thanks Missy!!

First of all, Bo Ayres lost a mother since our last newsletter. I would like to convey our condolences to him and his family. Second, awards were given out for the 2009 Membership Drive to Bob Myers and Wayne Rexford. Thanks to these two for their excellent endeavors in supporting the Piasa-Gateway ABATE Chapter. Our Chapter deeply appreciates their time and effort put forth.

Memberships are down - please look over the expiring names to see if you know anyone listed. Please call and remind them to renew. I am revising and updating the business list and will have it completed in time for the next newsletter. So, when the new business list comes out next month, please check to see if your business is on it, and if the information is correct. If you are a current member and have started a new business, please contact me. Expect to be hearing from me sometime during the next couple months. I will be calling the members on the membership list... I need to update phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, name spellings and changes, etc.

Mark your calendar for the March 11th trip to Springfield, and invite people to ride with us. With the four motorcycle related bills in Congress, we need all of our members to show for this event. These politicians need to know that we care enough for our rights to show up. Maybe we could all meet in Hamel and ride north on 55 together. We need your support and your voice. Let’s show our Congressmen who we are and that we really care about how they vote.

Let's keep fighting for our rights ~ Dona Ely, Membership Coordinator

Robert & Diana Bantel of East Alton

Bruce Cozart of Alton

Tim & Carolyn Fulcher of Bethalto

Aaron Goldberg of O’Fallon

Don & Cindy Hoodenpyle of Granite City

Donna Martin of Elsah

Thomas Rockholm of Florissant

Edward Ward of Alton

Tom Bauer of Troy

Daniel Bobe of Collinsville

Michael Brady of Bethalto

Charles & Donna Campbell of Granite City

Jennifer Campbell of Bethalto

Mike Case of Pontoon Beach

George Cavaletti of Glen Carbon

Melissa Dickmann of Highland

David Eddy of Belleville

Larry & Barbara Harrison of Breese

Jerry Henneberg & Sonya (Smith) of Godfrey

Jeffrey Jones of Edwardsville

Joe & Paula Kelley of Alton

Mike & Sarah Millsap of Alton

Raymond Plank of Mason City

Jeffrey Ray of Highland

Dean Tiepelman of Livingston

Jerry Wardein of Alton

Tom Williams of Bethalto

Kevin & Janet Wiltshire of Moro

AND, SPEAKING OF BIRTHDAYS… Happy (March) Birthday Wishes to:

Jim Allen

Carl Beck III

Debbie Sakadaris

Sylvia Carroll

Jim Castelli

Monique Denson

Melissa Eckhardt

Robert Engelke

Johnny Foster

Linda Haberer

Arthur Harmon

Micheal Hagen

Cynthia Healey

Dan Henderson

Jim Hilmes

Judy Husmann

Keith Jakel

Gary Keelin

Roger “Pib” Knebel

Paulette Korte

Jammie Lam

Donald Leiser

Michael Limberg

Rodney Mathews

Tina Miller

Bret (Frog) Mills

Barbara Montgomery

Tammy Mosby

Roger Neier

Ann Norris

Terry Oster, Jr.

Sandy Poelker

Brian Schwarz

Linda Shepherd

Tony Watt

Gary Webb

BOD REPORT

At this time there is nothing to report on since the meeting is next weekend, that is why I did not have a report in the last newsletter. I am sure that I will make up for it next time though.

LEGISLATIVE REPORT

Now we can talk. How many of you are planning on attending the Legislative Day (March 11) in Springfield next month? Do you care about your Freedoms, or are you just another sheep being led around blindfolded?

The Safety Nazis are out in full force this year already. Can you not spare one day from work to help protect your rights, or do you think someone else will do it for you? If everyone thought like that, then no one would show up. So step up and show you care. That is why you joined ABATE isn't it? I say it is time to dust off our boots and kick some serious butts up in Springfield.

We already have 5-6 different helmet bills submitted. Here are a few of them:

Our good friend Senator Trotter introduced SB 2535 & SB 2536, both full mandatory Helmet Laws.

Representative Flowers introduced HB 5031, full mandatory Helmet Laws, and HB 5029, anti ATV legislation, preventing them on highways and no one under 16 can ride them. I am sure anybody who lives on a farm would like that one.

HB 162 is a good one because it is trying to make it harder to steal money from our cycle rider training program.

I would suggest you go to our state web site (www.abate-il.org) weekly to keep up on everything that is happening. It is always being updated with what we need to know.

Hope to see you in Springfield on March 11; if not, then I do not want to hear you cry later because they screwed us again.

Keep it FREE

SOUTHWEST REGION REPORT

Marble Run books will be available at the next chapter meeting on March 13. Each person may purchase (2) books each.

Next region meeting will be held at the Trenton Bowl in Trenton on March 4th at 6 p.m. Everyone’s welcome.

Till then

Hey all! Just to remind everyone, come May I will have tank tops ready to be ordered. I need about 4 more t-shirt orders to turn in the form. I have to have a minimum of 12 t-shirt orders to be able to turn it in. I only need one hooded jacket order to put it in, but for the taxes to be cheaper, I have to have 12 orders... that includes tanks & t-shirts. Please feel free to e-mail me at and let me know what you would like - or if you need prices. I will email you back ASAP. I check my email several times daily. Hope to be hearing from you soon. Just remember that $2 from every sale goes to Piasa-Gateway Chapter of ABATE. So help support our chapter and let’s get some shirts, tanks & jackets ordered.

Keep the rubber side down

the chrome side up !!

Psycho Phrog

Hi Everybody,

I need to update the Piasatalks web group... I have members who need to update information because their reminders and group updates are bouncing because of change of address. So I thought I would remind everybody about Piasatalks. We use it for notices and reminders of current ABATE events - and to pass on information about births, sick members, weddings, parties, unplanned rides and posting photos of events etc. If you have signed up in the past, and are not getting your information, please update your information. OR, if you would like to be added, please sign-up at .

Also, we have a group for ABATE news only that is ... so remember to sign up for both. Finally, we also have a myspace page @ www.myspace.com/piasagatewayabate.

P.S. I cannot add you or change your information, you have to go to the web sites to change your information or to request to be added.

Thanks, Linda ()

Downed Riders Fund

Piasa-Gateway A.B.A.T.E. has a separate fund, known as the Downed Riders Fund (DRF) that is set-aside for its members in the event they are injured while riding their motorcycle or ATV.

To qualify for this benefit, one must be a member in good standing on the current roster at the time of the accident… and have received medical attention for his/her injuries. The accident must not have occurred during a competitive event. To apply for this benefit, one must make a request to a member of the committee, who will then provide you with a “Request for Benefits” form.

I want to re-iterate some of what was discussed at the last chapter meeting under the public relations report.

First of all, I would like to explain what the situation is and how it will affect YOU as a motorcyclist. Yes, the sound ordinance for Alton has been amended to include motorcycles. As you are aware, it is illegal in the state of Illinois to run straight pipes and pipes without baffles, according to the Illinois vehicle code. Now, when traveling thru Alton, city officials state that as long as a motorcyclist rides respectfully (not rapping out the pipes), there should not be any problems. However, if someone raps the r.p.m.’s and catches the attention of a police officer, there is the probability of being stopped and issued a ticket for unnecessary noise. The first ticket will be $75. The next ticket for this offense will be anywhere from $75-$750.

If Your Membership Is Expired, Or About to Expire, Please Use the Application Below And

ACTIVITIES REPORT

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

Membership expirations for February 2010

Membership expirations for March 2010

PRODUCTS REPORT

NOTE FROM LINDA REGARDING THE PIASATALKS WEB SITE

PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT