President's Report

As I sit down to write this I just got off the phone with a few people in regards to our situation with Too Broke For Sturgis. As of today we still do not have a contract from Mormon Lake Lodge and from everything that we have been told, the new owners of the Lodge have put all contracts for this summer on hold. This looks to affect about 14 different events that have traditionally been held at the Lodge. On one hand I am glad that they are not singling us out just because we are motorcyclists, but this looks to have a big impact on many organizations and also on the local area. We are actively looking for a new venue but time is running out. We keep trying to set up meetings with various venues but getting these folks to return calls or emails seems to be an impossibility. Unfortunately we may be put in the position of having to either move the event to a later date and different location or cancel it for this year.

We have several folks working on this and we need to put together a committee to help with all these issues. If you or anyone in your Chapters would like to join and help us out please contact me A.S.A.P. My contact info will be included at the end of this report.

It would be beneficial to have at least one representative from each Chapter on the committee. Please talk to your fellow Chapter members and bring it up at your meetings. This is a major fund raiser for ABATE and we need everyone to help.

This year we are changing up Motorcycle Day at the Dome. It will be held on March 4th which is a Saturday. It will be more of a rally type event and we hope to have much better attendance on a Saturday so more people will not need to take time off from work. The event will be held across from the State Capitol at the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. The time we have the plaza reserved is 9:30AM until 1:30PM.

The Arizona Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Foundation (AMSAF) will be once again hosting their event “RIDING FOR THE LONG HAUL” May 6th at the Shrine Auditorium at 552 N 40th St., Phoenix AZ. For more information about AMSAF and all they do for the motorcycling community go to AMSAF.org.

May is “Motorcycle Awareness Month” nationally and once again we will be working with the Governor’s office to have the Governor issue a proclamation officially designating May as “Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month” in Arizona. I know most of our chapters are planning some kind of event or project to support this in their local areas. Please support all efforts to get the message out to the general public to “Check Twice for Motorcycles” and this may be a good idea to take to your local city or town council to get them on board to promote motorcycle safety and awareness.

I would also like to thank all of the Business Members that you see listed and their business card ads throughout the Masterlink. Without the support of these community members we would be hard pressed to do what we do. I strongly encourage all ABATE members to support those businesses that support us.

It is important that you let those sponsoring events that you attend know that you are an ABATE member and that you are supporting their event. Always try and wear ABATE gear so others see you are a member. This helps not only our image as an organization that we are supporting the motorcycling community but also helps in recruiting new members. Folks tend to want to join organizations that are active and support the same things that they do.

This is the time of year when our calendars start getting very full. The weather is getting better and everyone has events planned and rides in the works. Arizona Bike week is March 29-April 2, and many of the clubs and charities have scheduled events for this time of year. Because of all the events and the fact that the best riding weather in the country is here in Arizona this time of year we have many visitors from out of state. These folks are not always familiar with our road and conditions. Please ride defensively and look out for these folks. We have lost way too many of our fellow riders already this year. Everyone should be able to enjoy the beautiful rides here in Arizona and get home safe afterwards. We have published a new handout stressing the 4 R’s of riding. RIDE SAFE, RIDE SMART, RIDE RESPONSIBLE and RIDE ENDORSED. You will be seeing this theme carried out in other formats by ABATE in the future.

Jim Butsback
State President
ABATE of Arizona