From Tony "Pan" Sanfillipo Bikers of Lessor Tolerance

BOLD ITALIC"S is our emphasis. Tony is the Founder of B.O.L.T (Bikers of Lessor Tolerance) and been and has been involved in the Bikers Rights Movement in many capacities for most of his life:

RC: you hit it right on the head about golf cart jockeys like Doc who are running ABATE today. I have been doing battle with ABATE of Illinois and Wisconsin on similar situations, although nowhere near as serious as in Florida. What I'm finding is current leadership in the right's community is moving from representation of the membership to a more dictatorial regime.  "We all need to get along" is their mantra, yet what it really means is shut up and get in line.  Anyone who opposes, questions or speaks out against any policy is immediately put up for scorn and told they do not know better than leadership.  There is a movement toward restricting what information the members are "allowed" to hear. By controlling the newsletters, they can accomplish that goal easily.  Sadly, most members follow along like sheep or as you indicated, have a cult-like loyalty to leaders. Maybe it's because they're that dumb. I don't think members are dumb as much as they are lazy or apathetic. Nobody questions these things because they're to lazy to do something about the problem. It's the old story, "let George do it' syndrome. I hope you guys are successful in removing Doc and his puppet strongarm posse. I have a friend who was going to present or speak at the upcoming NCOM convention. She does not like Doc, and when she spurted out that she actually liked BOLT and some of its people, Doc took her off the program. She's from California and not a happy camper. She's also not one to bite her tongue, so it should be interesting if she shows up, which she intends to do. Anyway, good luck and I'll be keeping track of what goes on down there.Add to Technorati Favorites

Biker Rogue on the proposed stiffer penalaties bill-Florida

Florida Legislature Is In Session

Like many areas of the country Florida’s Legislature is in session. That means there will be a lot of new laws proposed and passed.

 I try to pay attention to these proposed laws and how they will affect, motorcyclist, friends, family and me personally. I also try to let others know so that they can look at these proposed laws to see how they will affect them. There will always be different opinions and rightfully so and everyone should look at the pros and cons of each issue.

Any law that is passed will affect all of us in one way or another at some time in our lives so serious consideration should be given to all of them.

I have talked with many legislators through the years about legislation and do not remember a time when I was not asked “What will be the financial impact on the state” That means will this legislation cost the state money or will it make the state money!

There are many people that believe fines are just another form of taxation. There are the sin taxes for tobacco and alcohol and then traffic tax usually referred to as a fine for violation a rule while operating a vehicle. Technically what ever these things are called it is the government taking your money. Some of the reasons are justified and some very questionable at least.

Once the government has this money the question is what they do with it. Okay they spend it but on what?

 In 2008 the State of Florida increased the fee for a motorcycle license by $2.00 saying the money would go to motorcycle safety and awareness. Now there was already money in the licensing fee for that and I for one never got a good explanation how that was being spent.

In the beginning of 2009 this money was taken and used for other things to try and balance the state budget. I should note that this is not the first time that money set aside for this type of thing was taken and used for things other than designated.

There are numerous laws pending this year that will affect motorcycle riders in Florida. Information is available on these laws from the State of Florida, the American Motorcycle Association and ABATE as well as numerous other sources.

 One of the laws that I am particularly interested in is

Florida House Bill 875, sponsored by rep. Greg Evers (R-Milton) and Senate Bill 1918, sponsored by Sen. Dave Aronberg (D-Fort Meyers) would enhance penalties for those who commit a moving violation that causes serious bodily injury or death to a person operating or riding in/or a motor vehicle or motorcycle. For causing serious bodily injury, the bill calls for a fine of not less than $500, a minimum of 30 days incarceration, a mandatory driver improvement course and revocation of the offender’s driver’s license for not less than 30 days. In those cases resulting in death, the bills seek a fine of not less than $1,000, a minimum of 90 days incarceration, mandatory attendance in an advanced driver improvement course and revocation of the offender’s driver’s license for not less than 1 year.

When first reading the above it sounded pretty good until I read it a couple of more times. The first thing I noticed was that it did not state mandatory incarceration but did for driver’s improvement. That should be easily correctable.

Then I realized that there was no mention of the victim and or their family receiving anything. The money from fines would be going to the state. It just does not sound right to me that the State of Florida should benefit from the injury and or death of victims.

 I will be contacting my elected officials and request they try and have these bill changed so that the money from fines goes to the victims and or their families in case of death.

This could happen directly from the court proceedings or the money goes to a victims fund and people apply to it for assistance. I would also request that a stipulation be added that these funds can not be used for other purposes.

 Hopefully those that agree with my suggestions will also contact your legislators and voice their opinion on this pending legislation.

If you do not know who your legislator is go to American Motorcycle Association web site at http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp

There is another bill SB 328 by Senator Dockery that deals with texting while driving that I am sure most people will want to support

Motor Vehicle Operators/Text Messaging: Prohibits a person from writing or sending a text message on a electronic communications device while operating a motor vehicle. It provides for enforcement, exceptions and penalties.

No matter what your feelings on these bills and others are it is important that everyone takes the time to contact their legislators and let them know. Do Not Let Others Speak For You!

ROGUE

Rogue

Sturgis Freedom Fighters

Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Member 2005Add to Technorati Favorites

COMMENTS on ABATE of FLorida and President/Lobbyist James Doc Reichenbach

Pic taken by Banshee jo aka little redneck

There is a glitch in our commenting system. Although they arrive in full in my mail they are truncated on the site.  A number of comments are coming in related to our Posts on the Ongoing screw ups by ABATE of Florida. Until we can find and fix the glitch we will copy all comments coming in to this page and keep this page up front until the comments stop. We encourage Comments from ABATE of Florida members. PLEASE KEEP COMMENTS RELATED TO THE ISSUES:


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "COMMENTS on ABATE of FLorida and President/Lobbyis...":

As a life member and a former board member of a former chapter, we saw first hand his tirate and self rightious nature, always taking or making every suggestion or change a personal attack on him, and now its come back to haunt him, we knew the time would come when Doc would reveal his true side, and everyone would see him for what he was. He's had a free ride with ABATE for far too many years, with chapters handing him cash mone at state meetings, so called(FOR THE CAUSE)he's let/or forced the members to support him, good or bad. As one of the state board members stated at an April state meeting I attended, a few years back, You have to pad the pockets to make things happen, LOL well that was something, as a chapter we refused to do. and so we as a chapter were black balled from then on. My chapter was a hard working chapter, very much involved in the safety program and we set booths up at EVERY available function to get ABATE out to the public, our membership more then tripled in the 6 years I served on our chapter board, and we were proud, Our president at the time, had more knowledge, facts, concern and appreciation for what the organization was, as a whole, but no one on the higher levels wanted to listen, to anything new or new ideas, and none of the other chapters wanted or had the gonads to go against the mighty Doc, Im glad to see some of them are waking up to his tirate and belittling of other members. I hope its not to late for the organization. I havent been much involved in ABATE since our chapter DECIDED TO DESOLVE, but I have kept up with the goings on. It saddens me to think all the work we did locally was for nothing because I have nothing good to say about how its presently run.
Posted by Anonymous to BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM at March 18, 2010 5:19:00 PM EDT

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "President of ABATE of Florida is the result of it'...":

great article, i,m in full agreement. i have always been opposed to the president also being the lobbyist. it gives the lobbyist free hand to float his personell agenda.
big dick
life member independence charter
Posted by Anonymous to BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM at March 18, 2010 5:14:00 PM EDT


Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Gulf Coast Chapter ask For the resignation Of FLor...":This is "the Little Redneck" who caught Doc verbally assaulting and being physically aggressive with RC at the Freedom Rally held at The Volusia Fairgrounds on Feb 27th 2010.

I just happened to have walked outside to talk to a friend between speeches I was covering as a photojournalist. And as I looked to my left, I saw RC, whom I had just met an hour before, being surround by people wearing ABATE patches and a couple of them in orange "security vests".

Now being the noisy soul I am, after all I do get paid to investigate the news, I wandered to a point where I could clearly hear what was being yelled about by a man later identified to me as "Doc" the paid president of ABATE of Florida.

I was so impressed that I swung a camera up and starting taking pictures of Doc's aggressive stance towards RC as he just leaned against a pole and let him carry on what I can only refer to as rant about something another speaker may have said the day before at a public Rights Rally event that the president of ABATE apparently could not be bothered with attending.

In a later set of Lies issued by Doc, he tries to twist the events and make RC the aggressor. Sorry Doc, you were caught on film and the pictures speak in volumes.

You claimed I worked for RC. Lie! I had just met the man. You claim he was being aggressive. Lie! He simply leaned against that post with one friend by his side and let you make a public (in my opinion) ass of yourself. You claimed he and his group of friends surrounded you. Lie! The pictures clearly show otherwise.

And I heard your offer to resign and I believe the words were go "Old School?".

I was an innocent bystander with no connection to ABATE. Again in "my opinion" you acted like a thug and I sure would never want my name connected with anything you were President of.

I thought ABATE was rights group but after reviewing my film, you and your members were nowhere to be seen at a Rights Rally? What's up with that? You were all camped within walking distance. Or do you all require a golf cart and security guards to attend a Rights Event? What happen? You did not have enough carts to go around to transport you to the pavilion for the Freedom Speeches and to meet the candidates running for public government offices that were there to meet and greet everyone?

I may be just "the Little Redneck" but guess what Doc? Tag, you are it, it is all on film and you emailed your own proof of your Lies from coast to coast.

pictures can be seen at: http://www.thelostsoul.com or Facebook, Plaxo, MySpace, and almost every Freedom Blog and Site out here.

I am glad to see that ABATE is finally waking up and smelling the coffee. And I hope next time you offer to resign there is a Sgt-at-Arms there to accept it and remove you from office on the spot.

We are out here doing for free and taking money out of our own pockets to undo what you do in secret behind closed doors on a salary paid to you by the organization you are president of. Do you set your own raises and expense account too? I bet that would make for some wonderful reading.

As Always - the Little Redneck

March 18, 9:21am

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "President of ABATE of Florida is the result of it'...": Although I'm not impressed with Bruce Arnolds tactics and would never vote for him due to those tactics, It is time for Doc to go! it has been time for a long time, I left abate some time ago because of the lies, not informing their members on very important issues.

what has it done for FL? kept insurance rates outrageous, kept us from getting good insurance
they also gave us 300.00 MANDATORY MSF courses! ABATE what are you really for!

 
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Gulf Coast Chapter ask For the resignation Of FLor...":
It is past time for Doc"The Carpetbagger" to move on and let ABATE state to recover and grow instead of losing 50+ members every month.Doc is rotten to the core.
Posted by Anonymous to BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM at March 18, 2010 8:41:00 AM EDT

 March 18, 8:43am
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Gulf Coast Chapter files formal complaint against ...": Time for Doc "The Carpetbagger", to get his ass out of ABATE for the good of the org. This is unacceptable to anyone.

ABATE of FLoridas stiffer penalties bill-is it really theirs??? Who wrote it?

 Following is the stiffer penalties bill ABATE of Florida  Claims here is theirs.  We would ask you to pay close attention to  the highlighted sections.

HB 875 2010
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0875-00
Page 1 of 2
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to traffic offenses; creating s. 318.195, 2 F.S.; providing criminal penalties for a person who 3 commits a moving violation that causes serious bodily 4 injury to, or causes or contributes to the death of, a 5 person operating or riding in a motor vehicle or operating 6 or riding on a motorcycle; requiring that the person pay a 7 specified fine, serve a minimum period of incarceration, 8 and attend a driver improvement course; requiring the 9 court to revoke the person's driver's license for a 10 specified period; providing that the act does not prohibit 11 the person from being charged with, convicted of, or 12 punished for any other violation of law; providing an 13 effective date. 14
15
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 16
17
Section 1. Section 318.195, Florida Statutes, is created 18 to read: 19
318.195 Enhanced penalties for moving violations causing 20 injury or death.— 21
(1) A person who commits a moving violation that causes 22 serious bodily injury, as defined in s. 316.1933, to a person 23 operating or riding in a motor vehicle or operating or riding on 24 a motorcycle commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, 25 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, and, upon 26 conviction, shall pay a fine of not less than $500, serve a
minimum of 30 days of incarceration, and attend a driver 28

HB 875 2010
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb0875-00
Page 2 of 2
F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
improvement course. The court shall also revoke the person's 29 driver's license for not less than 30 days. 30
(2) A person who commits a moving violation that causes or 31 contributes to the death of a person operating or riding in a 32 motor vehicle or operating or riding on a motorcycle commits a 33 misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 34 775.082 or s. 775.083, and, upon conviction, shall pay a fine of 35 not less than $1,000, serve a minimum of 90 days of 36 incarceration, and, in lieu of the requirements of s. 322.0261, 37 attend an advanced driver improvement course. The court shall 38 also revoke the person's driver's license for not less than 1 39 year. 40
(3) This section does not prohibit a person from being 41 charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation 42 of law. 43
Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2010.

If you will read under the reckless driving statute currently in law that can be found here,  You will see the following:

a)  Upon a first conviction, by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days or by fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b)  On a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 6 months or by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(3)  Any person:
(a)  Who is in violation of subsection (1);
(b)  Who operates a vehicle; and
(c)  Who, by reason of such operation, causes:
1.  Damage to the property or person of another commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

2.  Serious bodily injury to another commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. The term "serious bodily injury" means an injury to another person, which consists of a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

Note the similarities as to what ABATE of Florida is proposing and what is already in law.
You must read these statutes carefully and ask yourself is ABATE increasing or decreasing penalties.
We noted them because we are familiar with another Florida statute:

316.1923  Aggressive careless driving.

How is it that we are familiar with Aggressive careless driving statute and the highlighted numbers.

Because last year when Doc's bill failed because he failed to write the bill properly, those of us who he accused of killing the bill met with Representative Evers on 4-7-09 and provided him with a rough draft of a bill.  Although the following is not an exact copy (we gave that to Rep Evers,) it is similar:

After consulting with various departments we have made changes to the law as previously posted. This was done to insure that we did not conflict with existing law. We believe this should be the final revision, further revisions may be made to language for legal compliance as long as it does not change the intent.

316.192 Reckless driving.--

(1)(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.

(b) Fleeing a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle is reckless driving per se.

ADDITION:

(c ) Driving while willfully and wantonly distracted and/or willfully and wantonly using a distracting device resulting in the violation of any the following:

(1) Exceeding the posted speed as defined in 316.183, 316.185, 316.187, 316.189, 316.1893, and 316.1895.

(2) Unsafely or improperly changing lanes as defined in s.316.085.

(3) Following another vehicle too closely as defined in s. 316.0895(1).

(4) Failing to yield the right-of-way as defined in s. 316.079, s. 316.0815, or s. 316.123.

(5) Improperly passing as defined in s. 316.083, s. 316.084, or s. 316.085.

(6) Violating traffic control and signal devices as defined in ss. 316.074 and 316.075.

is reckless driving per se.

(2)Except as provided in subsection (3), any person convicted of reckless driving shall be punished:

(a) Upon a first conviction, by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days or by fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b) On a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 6 months or by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Any person:

(a) Who is in violation of subsection (1);

(b) Who operates a vehicle; and

(c) Who, by reason of such operation, causes:

1. Damage to the property or person of another commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 and s. 775.083 (ADDITION: which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than 30 days imprisonment.)

2. Serious bodily injury to another commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.0 84 (ADDITION which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than 6 months imprisonment.)

The term "serious bodily injury" means an injury to another person, which consists of a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

ADDITION:

3. The death of another person commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084 which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than one year imprisonment.

Representative looked over the draft we gave him and said, "ya know, this could work".  Note all the references to the 700 numbers. The problem was to get jail time while not having the charge raised to felony level which we knew the senate would not pass.
Now if you really want to see how eerie this gets, go to the site Stop Florida Highway Killings now where the following proposed bill is posted as follows:

316.192 Reckless driving.--

(1)(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.

(b) Fleeing a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle is reckless driving per se.

ADDITION:

(c ) Driving20while willfully and wantonly distracted and/or willfully and wantonly using a distracting device proven to be distracting resulting in the violation any of the following:

(1) Exceeding the posted speed as defined in ss. 322.27(3)(d)5.b 316.183, 316.185, 316.187, 316.189, 316.1893, and 316.1895.

(2) Unsafely or improperly changing lanes as defined in s.316.085.

(3) Following another vehicle too closely as defined in s. 316.0895(1).

(4) Failing to yield the right-of-way as defined in s. 316.079, s. 316.0815, or s. 316.123.

(5) Improperly passing as defined in s. 316.083, s. 316.084, or s. 316.085.

(6) Violating traffic control and signal devices as defined in ss. 316.074 and 316.075.

is reckless driving per se.

(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), any person convicted of reckless driving shall be punished:

(a) Upon a first conviction, by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days or by fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b) On a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 6 months or by a fine of not less than $50 nor more=2 0than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) Any person:

(a) Who is in violation of subsection (1);

(b) Who operates a vehicle; and

(c) Who, by reason of such operation, causes:

1. Damage to the property or person of another commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or and s. 775.083 (ADDITION: which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than 30 days imprisonment.)

2. Serious bodily injury to another commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.0 84 (ADDITION which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than 6 months imprisonment.) The term "serious bodily injury" means an injury to another person, which consists of a physical condition that creates a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

ADDITION:

3. The death of another person commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084 which for the purposes of this statue shall carry a minimum of no less than 1 year imprisonment.(go to the site to read the rest.)

This was posted on the internet in July of 2009. We know this because we paid for the site it was posted on.  We know this because we posted it and then sent the link out to many organizations.

Now a major difference that we can spot right off is that when we wrote this bill we included pedestrians and bicyclist as we do not feel it right to advocate for the rights of one group of people over another. That's an ABATE of Florida gig.
Now we can't say that the ABATE of Florida Lobbyist stole the bill we wrote because there are enough differences to say, hey these bills are not exact.  But then again there are enough similarities, and Evers and Reichenbach had accesses to the info, and Evers did say this  would work.
But then we find ourselves thinking about how ABATE of Florida says they got the Helmet law abolished, when in fact it was Chico Yasko, an abate member, who took the law to court and won his case without help from ABATE of FLorida.
How many have done the work that Doc takes credit for????Add to Technorati Favorites


 

open letter to ABATE of FLorida-Back it up or SHUT UP!

On 3-1-10 We posted an open letter sent to the ABATE of Florida State President and the ABATE of Florida State Board of Directors in response to the Press release that we responded to here.  The press release is still on the main page of the ABATE of Florida website here as of this date.  Should they take it down it can still be found here on GoldIron in its entirety.

In the Press Release ABATE of Florida accuses Biker Rouge and myself of a history of making false and slanderous statements against ABATE of Florida:

Rogue” and “RC”, individuals known for publicly making false statements against ABATE of Florida and its President, James “Doc” Reichenbach, spoke at Rhonda Welsch’s rally to a crowd, allegedly again making slanderous statements towards ABATE of Florida.

In our response linked above we refuted the allegations.  Not only did we refute the allegations but presented photos and eye witness reports substantiating that ones lying are in fact, "ABATE of Florida."

We have documented many misrepresentations of the truth by the president of ABATE of Florida here and on Bruce and rc's Biker Forum and on more than one occasion invited them to provide "proof" that we have been wrong. We have even stated that we would print any "proof" that they may have that we have intentionally lied about or slandered ABATE of Florida.

In our last open letter to ABATE of Florida we stated the following:

Might I suggest you list the slanderous statements you may be referring to. I will be glad to post them. Just as we have posted a number of "truths" re: ABATE of Florida! 

It is now approximately 16 days since we have offered them this last opportunity to publicly address
the "lies and slander. Again as in the past, the sound of their silence is like thunder.

We stand by every "truth" we have written about ABATE of Florida and it's President but as experience has taught us, unless surrounded by his minions we will hear little from the "Golf Cart Man".  Of course the membership of ABATE of Florida will hear much about how his failures as a lobbyist are to be attributed to the likes of me, Bruce Arnold, Diana Woods, Papa John, Biker Rogue and others  he refers to as "internet cowboys."

We will even help you out Doc. The following Links will lead your membership to the truth. Unless
you can prove we are lying.

ABATE of FLorida
President of ABATE of Florida
Lobbyist of ABATE of FLorida
James d. Riechenbach

Hang on ok cause we got more
ABATE of FLorida

The sad thing is, so many of his misrepresentations of the truth were to his own members.
Sadder yet, they believed him, were afraid to confront him, or assisted him!

No compromise, no retreat, no surrenderAdd to Technorati Favorites