CBA/ABATE of NC Opening Lobby Day 2003

After a weekend in Oklahoma City at the NCOM Convention it was time to return to the Carolina's and business as ussual. I hit the road at 7:30 AM CST Sunday and rode 1250 miles in 25 hours arriving in Raliegh by 9:30 AM EST Monday. My friends in the CBA provided a place to take a shower before a quick walk to the legislative building. I was really impressed by the number of bikers present lobbying for their rights. After several hours of lobbying many bikers had to return to work or head home to the mountains or beaches of NC. Still others went to the Mellow Mushroom to swap stories, eat, and drink beer. I spent the night near the capitol in a room provided by friends in the CBA and took a walk to the Flying Saucer. The Flying Saucer has more than 40 different beers on tap within easy walking distance of the state capitol. The following morning Mike and Cindy Hodges treated me to a breakfast that could not be beat. I recommend a trip to NC's legislative building that resembles three pyrimands to anyone; by the way you can still smoke inside there. See another bikers views at the bottom of this page.

~FastFred

Legislative Coords of SC & NC: Dennis and Sam trade ideas A few of 150+ bikers who attended Mark of FTNC

North Carolina's General Assembly opened for their short session today at 12 noon. Starting from as early as 8 a.m., bikers from across the Carolinas arrived in to the capitol to witness the opening session and remind our
legislators that we are still paying attention. I estimate 150+ bikers were in attendance.

For the first time ever, there were more bikers in the House and the Senate gallery than any other constituent or lobbying force! We were definitely the majority on our little hill today.

Sam Nobles, state Legislative Director, had prepared packets for each legislator and handed them out to the biker constituents so we all could present them to our own state rep and state senator. It was moving along very fast, with Sam covering the legislators we do not have biker constituents active enough to be present. (hint! hint!).

The packets were very well done, I have to add.

Between all our networking as biker citizens and Sam's dogged determination of last year, with the addition of the newly injected turbo boost of NC BikePAC's creation - - there is no longer a question of who we are, though admittedly I did hear throughout the day "I don't KNOW why, but there sure are a LOT of them...".

Several CBA members came straight in from the NCOM convention in Oklahoma City, OK, having flown home yesterday and rode in today to this opening.

We were honored to have among us, Fast Fred, State Coordinator of ABATE of South Carolina, who rode in directly from Ok. Cty., (did not pass go, did not collect 200 dollars, just CAME). Dennis Welborne, State Legislative Coordinator, and (Sorry, I'm horrible on names) a couple other ABATE of SC members were also in attendance as a show of support for their sister state.

I think one of the personal highlights of my day was seeing and meeting so many "independants" there - - bikers who do not belong to CBA/ABATE, MILES, ABATE OF SC, AMA, NCOM, or MRF. Folks who have to go the extra-extra mile to get their information because of it, but who nonetheless stand up and make themselves be counted. We're seeing more and more biker constituents amongst the numbers in this lifestyle and it sure does my heart good, as it ensures the health of our liberties.

Television crews were plucking us out of the crowd and interviewing, lobbyists were approaching some members to discuss our bill, I had one from a very conservative personal freedoms organization approach me and want to discuss our helmet bill with Sam.

Mark and Molly Infield with Full Throttle Mag, and an associate whose name I did not catch, were there both as constituents and as press - - look for what I am sure to be great coverage in the next issue.

Afterwards, a good deal of us followed in SC's footsteps and trekked over to the Mellow Mushroom for fuel and refreshment and rehashed the various tidbits of info or interesting observations of the day so far. It has yet to all trickle down, but when it does, it will be coming down to Sam. Once he has a chance to catch his breath, I'm sure he will be catching us all up.

Bottom line for our bills this session is, this is an election year - - the short session, and as soon as those folks get the state budget hammered out, they are-a-going campaigning so -- stay tuned to Sam to see what we can do when the opportunity comes. When it does come... MOVE!

All in all a great day! I don't recall ever seeing so many NC biker activists in one place in the whole mmmpf years I've been involved! Some chapters were out in force, raising the bar for the rest of us. We all owe these folks, along with the independants and MC's that attended, a debt of thanks for keeping bikers in the forefront of our legislator's minds today.

yeah, I'm psyched.

Cindy

NCOM 2004