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Information provided by Oklahoma State A.B.A.T.E. website, Tiger Mike, and any other credible source we can find.

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This year's secession is over but think of what you would like to have on our agenda for the coming year!

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Motorcycle fatalities may set record

Last week, a safety summit produced by the Louisiana Motorcyclist Safety and Awareness Committee and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission was held in Baton Rouge. Warren Broussard, organizer, said the goal was to decrease the number of motorcycle fatalities and injuries in Louisiana. Achieving that goal is urgent.

Highway Safety Commission executive director James Champagne told summit attendees that more motorcycle fatalities are projected for this year in Louisiana than in any other year in the state's history. Champagne says motorcycle crashes claimed 50 lives between January and June. If the trend continues, we will have not only the state's worst year, but also one of the worst totals in the country.

Nationally, there were 4,798 fatalities in 2006, up 5.4 percent from the previous year. Officials say that was the highest level since 1981, and marked nine straight years of increases. The Insurance Information Institute says cycling has become more popular in recent years. The number of motorcycles on our roads has soared, and the appeal to older riders has increased. Deaths among cyclists 40 and older have climbed substantially, the institute says.

At the Louisiana summit, safety officials pinpointed reasons for the alarming increase in motorcycle fatalities. One is lack of professional training. Champagne says training should be required before a cycle owner or rider can apply for a license.

There are sensible operators who seek such training. A Louisiana Department of Education course has provided proper training for almost 100,000 people. Still, most cyclists involved in wrecks, Champagne says, taught themselves how to ride or learned from friends.

Other major causes of crashes include speeding, lack of protective equipment such as helmets, and impairment. Operating a motorcycle while impaired by alcohol or other substances is extremely dangerous. The Insurance Institute points out that motorcycles are far less crashworthy than closed vehicles, less visible to other drivers and pedestrians and less stable than four-wheel vehicles. Motorcyclists and their passengers, the institute says, are more vulnerable to the hazards of weather and road conditions than drivers in closed vehicles.

Combine all these factors with impairment induced by alcohol or drugs, and the risk of a deadly crash increases drastically.

There is still time to break the trend that is leading to what may be the worst year for motorcycle fatalities in Louisiana's history. The immediate responsibility lies with cyclists. They can make sensible decisions concerning speeding, protective gear and use of intoxicants.

Ultimately, according to Champagne, almost all the factors that contribute to the problem can be reduced by new legislation, enforcement of existing laws - and mandated education.

Curbing the shameful loss of lives in motorcycle accidents is another issue for us to pursue with candidates in the upcoming elections. The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission needs public support for its motorcycle safety agenda.

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A beef with Hells Angels could inspire legislation to protect wearing motorcycle-club “colors,” a state legislator told me Friday.

One Eyed Jacks saloon on Main Street in Sturgis was hopping this week, despite a call for a boycott because of a ban on motorcycle-club "colors." (Photo by Bill Harlan, Journal staff)

“If this persists, I’ll consider it,” said Rep. Jim Putnam, R-Armour, who sometimes wears a Sturgis motorcycle rally necktie during the legislative session.

Putnam was barred from entering the giant One-Eyed Jack's saloon on Main Street in Sturgis last week while wearing the colors of his own dangerous motorcycle club, the Lawmakers.

Now, Putnam supports a boycott of the saloon. “I’m not going in there,” he said. (Putnam is taking it easy this week, anyway, after breaking his arm in a slow-speed spill during the Governor’s Ride.)

One-Eyed Jack's owner Ray Gold is just as adamant about keeping his new ban on “back patches.” Hells Angels, who have a Sturgis headquarters near the bar, often drink there. Gold said other customers and staff sometimes felt intimidated. “People don’t like it when Hells Angels muscle in and tell you you’re sitting in their seat,” he said. Besides, he said, “A lot of feuding goes on, and that’s when they start shooting and killing each other.”

But the ban on patches also angered Louis Nobs of Hibbing, Minn., who was barred entry wearing his Soldiers for Jesus colors. “You can’t ban patches for just one group,” he said. “If you ban them for motorcyclists you have to ban them for bowling teams, the Knights of Columbus -- everyone.”

Nobs is on the board of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, and he’s helping distribute 60,000 fliers calling for a boycott.

Gold countered that he has a right to have a dress code. “Why should I allow them run my business?” He asked. “That’s just not going to happen.”

One-Eyed Jack's is the only bar in Sturgis banning colors, but Gold points out other establishments do ban colors.

In fact, last week, a sign on the bar at the new Boneyard concert venue in Whitewood warned against wearing colors “Due to state regulation.”

Putnam laughed. “We know there’s no such regulation,” he said. In fact, he wore his colors to the Boneyard.

Gold met with Nobs, Putnam and a Hells Angels representative, but as of Friday, colors were banned and the boycott was on.

“They’ve won the first round,” Putnam admitted, but he added that legislation protecting motorcycle attire passed the state House in the early 1990s. It failed in the Senate, he said, but a similar Minnesota law has survived court challenges.

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