September 2008

Not much going on at the Copper Dome, but maybe by the time you read this the Primary election will be over. I hope everyone understands the importance of the Primary Election and was out there voting for the candidates that support motorcycle rights at the Copper Dome. It will be interesting to see if our friends in office are elected. Email me if you have questions in regards to this. Hopefully you have an early ballot and have voted early. If you do not get an early ballot, look into doing this for the general election. If you have questions about this email me.

The Lobbyists had a meeting to start determining the direction that we are heading concerning Right of Way Violation legislation for the next legislative session that begins January 2009. We have determined that we are going to go ahead with it as long as we get a lot of help from the memberships of the Motorcycle Rights Organizations.

We have determined that we are going to gather a group of people that we are going to guide in asking their legislators to support ROW, legislation. I need people in each of the legislative districts to get in touch with me to get on my Legislative Warrior list. All that you need to do is email me to get added to the list. If you have already signed up for this, email me again so that I know how determined you are to help us move ahead with this legislation.

By this writing you may start seeing some of the money that you contribute to the Motorcycle Safety Fund, being spent. There should be billboards in various areas as well as print ad in different publications. Please contact me when you see these and give your honest opinion. For those of you that travel past the Mayer area, the billboards are up. Bobbi Hartmann is on this council and is doing a good job hammering them to have a competent campaign for motorcycle safety and awareness. Your input and ideas are paramount in moving ahead with these programs.

OK I am finding that there is some confusion among the membership and of course the readers that are not members are really in the dark when it comes to the people that represent us at the Copper Dome. So here is Civics 101RAY; each of you live in a STATE LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT. There are 30 LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS in the state. Each of you has three legislators that represent you at the STATE level. One SENATOR and two members of the HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES. Now in this lesson I want you to know that each of you is represented by two United State Senators in Washington DC, at the federal level. They are John Kyle and the other is running for President. If you aren’t sure who that is, email me and I will tell you. Or you can tune into any news channel and you will see his face and name. One more part of this lesson is; you have one member of the UNITED STATES CONGRESS, that represents you in Washington DC, at the FEDERAL level. In Arizona we have eight CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS (FEDERAL). That means that you have a Congress person that represents you in DC in addition to the two U.S. Senators, that represent you at the federal level. Email me if you do not understand this as I will be asking questions at district meetings that I attend.

Now if you are not sure about your district, you may email me and I will look it up for you. All that I need is your address, north and south cross streets, zip code. If you want to do this yourself, go to the state website   www.azleg.gov and you will be able to find your legislators by clicking on that part on the left side of the page. This is the page that you can look up statutes, legislation and a myriad of other information. Keep the address near your computer for future use or put it in your favorites for easy use.

November 1, 2008 is the Shriners Ride for Kids, and I would like to see a lot of the MMA people out there. We may even have some politicians out there that day as the General Election is the following Tuesday. Last year one of the MMA people won the grand prize and I can tell you that it was about $15,000. There will be a lot of other prizes that are given away that day also. One of the things that you should know about this ride is that all of the money that we raise goes 100% to help kids. Most of you know that I have three things that I like to support and those are; Motorcycle Rights, Veterans and Kids, but not necessarily in that order. I do not contribute time, energy or money to philanthropic organizations that have huge administrative costs. Does anyone hear me saying the Shriners Motorcycle Unit is made up of all volunteers that work like fools to raise money for kids and I am proud to be a part of this unit? In reality, the Shriners Motorcycle Unit, has several MMA members. Come help us help kids.

I know that many come to this event that are not members of the Motorcycle Rights Organizations, so come out, set up a booth and let these people know what the MRO’s are about and help the Shriners help kids.

Here is another thing that needs to be addressed and I am not sure that this is the right forum for this but you are going to hear it from me anyway. Some of the powers in the state and federal government think that motorcyclists are being irresponsible by not having such things as the “M” endorsement on their license. Here is the bottom line; they may start policing us instead of the opposite. Let me know why many of our members and of course the motorcyclists in general do not get motorcycle endorsements. I think it is because they are intimidated by the fact that they must take a written test and a skills test. Email me about this.

One more thing to be addressed and another of my pet peeves is riding skills. I know that many of you have been riding for a long, long time. What about some of us that maybe do not have good enough skills to possibly avoid accidents? Are there any of you that know that the riding skills that they have now can be improved? All of the accidents that are hurting us are not caused by four wheelers are they?

Ride safe and well trained.
Ray Huston
Lobbyist

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