January 2023
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a Great
Holiday Season! This year looks to be a very
good year for ABATE of Arizona and the 8
Chapters in our state. There are several upcoming
events that we are looking forward to.
First there is the opening day of the Arizona
Legislature in January. It would be great to see
as many motorcyclists as possible to be at
the Capitol to let the new legislature know
that we are involved and willing to make our voices heard. We have a new Governor
so there may be big doings. We will let everyone
know when we find out what is happening.
Motorcycle Day at the Dome is put on by the
State Motorcycle rights organizations here in
Arizona, ABATE of Arizona being one of them.
We have not yet received an assigned date from
the State as I am writing this. It is a day set aside
for motorcyclists from all around the state to ride
to the Capitol and set appointments to meet with
their legislators and let them know the issues that
are important to us and to get them to support us.
All the SMROs are involved. ALL ABATE members are urged to attend and to contact their
Representatives and Senators. If you cannot make
it to the Capitol please be sure and call or email
you Legislators that you wish them to meet with
the motorcyclists who are in attendance.
Also coming up is the annual BIKERS INSIDE
THE BELTWAY! This is put hosted by the
Motorcycle Riders Foundation in May. Every year
Motorcycle Freedom Fighters from all over the
United States converge on Washington DC in May
to walk the halls of Congress and meet with the
Senators and Congressmen in order to further the
legislation that is important to motorcyclists on a
Federal level. This is an amazing event. As it gets
closer more information will be coming out. Many
of our membership are also members of the MRF
which works on a National Level for us. I encourage ALL ABATE of Arizona members to join the
MRF and support their work. Most of our ABATE
Chapters are also MRF Sustaining Members and if your Chapter is not please ask your Chapter
Officers why not and how your Chapter can
become a Sustaining Member of the MRF.
This past November the State Officers and the
Board of Directors hosted our Holiday/Christmas
Party and Social. This was a great way to get our
ABATE members from various Chapters to come
together and socialize and just enjoy a little
Holiday Happiness. I feel that this was a great
success. We had a good turnout, and we are going
to look into doing more of these types of events
throughout the year. I feel it is important for members of the different Chapters around the state to
get to know each other and to spend time together.
It seems that the only time we get to do this is at
Too Broke for Sturgis and most of us are way too
busy working and putting on the event to enjoy
each other’s company.
We are an all volunteer organization and as any
such group we depend on our members to step up
and fill officer positions and various chairman
jobs etc. Without all the dedicate individuals who
donate their time and talents, the great work we
accomplish could not be done. So thank you to
every member who has stepped up to fill an officer position in their chapter or who has volunteered to work a membership table at an event or
made phone calls and sent emails etc. Without you
we would cease to exist.
The strength of an organization like ABATE of
Arizona is its membership. Without members we
cannot accomplish the good work that we try and do. It takes many hands pulling on the rope to get
the job done. I want to thank all of the members
of ABATE of Arizona for being here and supporting the cause of motorcycle rights here in Arizona.
If you think we are doing a good job please tell
your friends and other riders you encounter what
we do and who we are and encourage them to
join. If for some reason you feel we are not doing
what we should or you know an area we may
want to look into please contact any of the State
officers or any of your Chapter officers and pass
the information on to us.
The ABATE Officers training will be held on
Saturday January 7th, at the Arizona American
Italian Club, 7509 N 12th Street, Phoenix, AZ. I
want to invite all members to attend this training.
If you are not an officer of your chapter but would
like to learn more about the different positions and
what they entail this is the perfect opportunity to
do that. It is also a good idea for every chapter to
have more than one person familiar with the
duties of the various officers. We are all volunteers and we all have families and other responsibilities that take our time and attention. By having
someone familiar with the duties, you can have
someone to fill in if other responsibilities take an
officer away for a time. The BOD will also have a
meeting and everyone is invited to attend. I look
forward to seeing you there.
Jim ButsbackState PresidentABATE of Arizona
