DFW Chapter Meeting

Seemed like everyone was running a bit late.. but the meeting got off to a
rolling start.. Everyone at the meeting was elated over the outcome of the,
by now infamous Luatenburg Amendment.. The vote tally turned out to be
reported at 69 against and 28 in favor.. The Amendment got voted down more
than two to one..

The discussion then turned to the Bills that is before the Legislature this
Session.. The TMRA II Helmet Bill is to be debated on the floor of the
House, today.. It's hard to determine how that Bill will fare when it is
voted on.. The Insurance Bill has died in Committee, or some such.. The
Failure to Yield Bill has died in Committee.. The other Bills that TMRA II
endorsed will probably not be considered during this Session, because of
various reasons..

Governor Perry has pretty well assured that a Special Session will be
called, especially in the event that nothing is resolved on the School
Finance Bill..

General discussion was opened on the floor and I brought up the Red River,
NM incident .. One of the Leaders of our own ABATE, Texas organization was
with us.. After the tragedy of Red River was explained.. the actions of
ABATE, NM were brought into question.. Even though ABATE is a nationwide
motorcycle advocacy organization, each State has it's own Charter.. Not much
can done from state to state.. However, it was made clear that our own
ABATE, Texas will be taking a close and hard look at the organization and
officers in NM..

It was also pointed out that Texas has had it's own problems and situations
that are similar to the New Mexico tragedy.. One of the specific cases
turned out to be the incident where a couple in Arlington, on their way to
the North Texas Toy Run was hit by a driver and the husband was killed.. The
surviving wife was left with extensive injuries which required about
eighteen monts of treatment, rehab and recovery.. She'll never know another
day without pain..

If you recall, I reported about this brave lady when she testified before
the Law Enforcement Committee Hearing on the Failure to Yield Bill.. She
waited for more than two years to have her day before the Legislature of
Texas.. Her voice was heard and she did make an impact..

The survivors in NM haven't had, even that much..

It goes without saying, Texas does have problems that need to be dealt
with.. For more than two years now, I've personally seen our orgainizations
like ABATE, Texas and TMRA II as they've struggled to effectively deal with
our problems..All those brothers and sisters have been very effective ..
They've represented all of us who ride, with courage and persistence..

Your Friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

Bill,

I'm unfamiliar with the Red River, NM tragedy... Can you provide a pointer
or some background on what happened there?

Thanks,
Rex S.

[snip]

[snip]

 

I guess there was 9 or 10. The Ft Worth chapter is much larger, more than
twice as many last month.

 

Sorry, Rex.. Since the case has been discussed in the past few days, on this
group, I'd figured that everyone was vaguely familiar.. Background is that
clubs from Colo. were participating in the Red River, NM rally.. It is my
understanding that a small group were returning to Colo. and were stopped at
a stop sign or signal, when a pickup truck in oncoming traffic lanes lost
control, while racing with another vehicle.. He crossed the median and
crashed into at least two of the lead motorcycles.. Both motorcycles were
mounted two up.. The rider of the lead bike was killed and the passenger was
severely injured.. Both the rider and his passenger were severely injured on
the second bike..

The driver of the pickup was a fifteen year old who was driving with a
"learner's permit" which requires a licensed adult to be in the vehicle ..
There was none.. The boy, apparently from a well to do and prominent family
in the area, has not been charged .. The District Attorney in that
jurisdiction has declined to press any charges or hold the family of the
boy.. responsible.. That District Attorney is known to be close friends of
the family.. Despite all evidence of liability, the fatality, and the
serious injuries to the survivors of the crash.. there has been no
responsibility assessed.. One man is dead and three other people were
injured severely because of irresponsible driving by a teenager, who should
not have been behind the wheel of the vehicle, to start with..

ABATE, Colorado has a webpage and there are many other details available on
their site..

Bill Walker
Irving, Tx.

 

Thanks for the update...

I obviously missed the post - probably in the midst of other noise..

I generally will look at one or two posts in a subject's thread, if it
interests me, I'll read, if not then I'll go on to the next thread, and
probably won't return to the old ones that didn't interest me... Make it
easier if there's an appropriate subject line if the subject of a thread
take a change. I'd definitely have read a post if it had a subject saying
"Tragedy in NM" - and I guarantee I'll ignore the ones that say "motorcycle
xx" or "Motorcycle hh" - because they consisted (at the time I read a
sample of them) of drivel...

Ride safe.
Rex S.


[snip]

 

I don't recall the header of the post and responses.. If you go on the
websites for the two advocacy groups that I mentioned, you'll find some
pretty accurate accounting of the incident, as I explained it to you.. Many
of the details were left out as I described it, but the main guts of the
story is intact..

At some point, I mentioned that Texas has had some problems of it's own ..
The tragedy in Arlington was almost two years ago.. In that one, a couple
were on their way to participate in the North Texas Toy Run, on a sunday
morning.. The driver of a pickup ran a stop sign, hit them and killed the
husband.. leaving the wife with serious injuries..

Her survival depended on treatment, extensive rehabilitation and several
months in a wheelchair. She was told by her doctors that she'd not walk
again.. She lives now.. with pins, bars and other repairs that will surely
cause her pain for the rest of her life.. In addition.. the couple had eight
children, being the second marriage for them both.. Those children were left
without a father, she was left without a husband.. A mother was left without
a son .. etc. etc.

Even though that driver of the pickup had a morphine drip in his arm, at the
time of the wreck, guess who the LEO's gave the drug test to... You got it..
the dead husband was drug tested post mortem and the wife was drug tested in
the hospital.. That pickup driver wasn't cited for running that stop sign
and he's never been held accountable for killing that man.. Is there
something wrong with this picture.?. I'd say there is..

In this Texas case, the wife did have the opportunity to address the
Legislators who were hearing the Failure to Yield Bill, in our legislature,
this past month.. It has taken two and a half years for her to even get that
much respect.. That Bill is destined to "die in Committee" during this
Legislative Session..

The incident in Red River, NM.. The incident .. right here at home.. are the
ones which are representative of the indifference of our brothers and
sisters in Texas .. who ride motorcycles .. The 7,500 or so who made that
cold trip to Austin work hard and they do that, largely without even the
support of the owners of 400,000 or so motorcycles registered in our state..
This angers and infuriates me.. I am outraged that so many of us who enjoy
the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy, are so indifferent ..

The very small few who have the audacity to criticize the efforts by those
true bikers who provide and fight for the rights of ALL bikers, don't
deserve the same rights .Lead.. Follow.. or get the Hell out of the Way..
but don't be foolish enough to bite the hands that feed you..

Bill Walker
Irving, Tx.

 

[snip]

Sure did. After $$ settlement, they "sold" the bike back to me for $50,
and tagged the title as "salvage repaireable" (or whatever the official
tagging is for it).

Over last summer/fall, I replaced the triple tree, handlebars, brake lines,
cables, etc. and several other cosmetic parts (housing around speedometer,
and turn signals & footpegs). Although my back and left leg had some
twinges for several months, it wasn't anything that required medical
attention, and was bearable with Advil. All better, now. I'm using the
bike as much as possible for my commuting required for the metroplex.
52MPG on the bike sure as heck beats 18MPG in my Blazer.

I've been riding again since late November, if I recall correctly.

My buddy and I picked up another '82 Yamaha XJ 750 Maxim in Wichita KS the
first week in January - it came with 2 spare motors. We've got the motor
of choice running, and have taken everything back off the frame to
sandblast it and prep it for paint or powdercoating (haven't decided which
to do yet - price will determine - but powdercoating is the long term
choice).

We also received *most* of the motor back for his '86 Shadow VT1100C - the
asshole (Roger - former owner of RPM Cycles in Garland) who was supposed to
have worked on it, though, used my buddy's Shadow motor to fix someone
else's bike.

We now have a pile of broken parts that didn't come from his bike (motor &
frame serial numbers don't match). If my buddy didn't have outstanding
warrants (unpaid tickets) out for himself, he's go to the police about it
and report Roger for theft of the motor (I keep telling him to get those
paid). After all - he had paid Roger $800 to fix the bike, then Roger
closed the shop & disappeared. We still don't know where he's working -
but we'll find him & show up on his doorstep one day.

Hey - BTW - Did you get the email I sent you last week in regards to your
Shadow?

Rex S.
'82 XJ650 Maxim - The Beast
'82 XJ750 Maxim - The Project
'86 Shadow VT1100C - The Repo Project
http://www.treasureboards.com/cgi-bin/xj/webbbs_config.pl