Upcoming topics: Biker Republic TEA Party in Northern Virginia; comparing notes and partying with the extreme activists of the motorcyclists rights movement. Cruising the Blue Ridge Parkway on two wheels; taking in the colors of fall. Articles and photos will follow next week. If you enjoy this ezine please consider purchasing support gear or making a donation at www.BikerEzine.com as expenses are climbing and more web space is needed. ~FF
1) Dangerous Profits: Rider Education Goes to the Movies
2) Mich. House passes bill to allow helmetless motorcycling
3) Motorcyclist dies in I-526 accident
4) Teens study up on road dangers
5) Failed drug war
6) Illegal immigration: While states burn, Congress fiddles
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1) Dangerous Profits: Rider Education Goes to the Movies
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Dangerous Profits: Rider Education Goes to the Movies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obFkYiJ16Bw&NR=1
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2) Mich. House passes bill to allow helmetless motorcycling
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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071011/NEWS06/71011053/1056/SPORTS08
Mich. House passes bill to allow helmetless motorcycling
Granholm likely to veto it again
October 11, 2007
LANSING — Despite a likely veto from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state House today again passed a bill that would allow some motorcycle riders to go without a helmet.
Legislation with a similar theme passed the Legislature last year, but Granholm rejected it, citing safety concerns.
This year’s version, which passed the House 69-39, is a little different and more restrictive but probably still won’t get Granholm’s support. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it would have to pass before it could reach Granholm’s desk.
The legislation would allow riders to pay a $100 annual state permit fee to allow them to opt out of wearing a helmet. Bikers also could pay $200 for three years.
Motorcyclists also would have to be at least 21 years old, have two years' experience and complete safety training. They would have to carry at least $20,000 in personal injury health insurance to ride without a helmet.
Riding helmetless without a permit would result in a $500 fine.
A group called American Bikers Aiming Toward Education has tried to overturn Michigan’s mandatory helmet law for years. The group says that riders should have a choice, and that states that allow riders to go without helmets have an edge over Michigan in drawing tourists.
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3) Motorcyclist dies in I-526 accident
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FF Note: Most deaths of bikers in South Carolina are similar to this accident as no other vechile is involved and the rider lacked need skills or good judgement. An all rider helmet law will do nothing to address these ills. Consider this latest victim's fate though wearing a helmet.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/oct/12/briefly18919/
Motorcyclist dies in I-526 accident
A motorcyclist plunged off a roughly five-story-tall exit ramp to his death Thursday night in North Charleston.
The 42-year-old Goose Creek man was westbound on Interstate 526 about 9 p.m. and was making a curve on an exit ramp to Interstate 26 when his bike hit a retaining wall, said Deputy Police Chief David Cheatle.
The man flew off the motorcycle and landed about 50 feet below on LaCross Road near the entrance to the Highland Terrace/Liberty Park community.
Liberty Park resident Sharon Browne watched as rescue workers moved the body from the scene. "God bless his soul," Browne said. "It's a tragedy."
The man, whose name was withheld late Thursday pending notification of his family, was wearing a helmet, Cheatle said.
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4) Teens study up on road dangers
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/oct/12/teens_study_up_on_road_dangers18922/
Teens study up on road dangers
By Aubrey Straub (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, October 12, 2007
On the way to a teen driving safety summit Thursday, some Charleston-area students were asked to write what the number "16" meant to them. It represents, on average, the number of teenagers who die each day in car accidents.
One student drew a picture of a car with two stick figures inside next to the caption: "Run for your life."
It was a fitting illustration for the Charleston Keep the Drive Summit, where Charleston-area high school students were told that the fatality statistic hasn't dropped in more than a decade because young drivers are often distracted. Among the culprits are backseat drivers, eating, talking on cell phones — even text messaging from behind the wheel.
"We offer them up those realities about the distractions, but we're not saying you shouldn't do this or you shouldn't do that, because that's already implied," lead trainer Vicente Luna said. "We're trying to get them to be smart, to change their actions. It's one thing if it's an accident; it's another if it's preventable."
Antonio Tolbert, a senior at Charleston County School of the Arts, has seen what can happen when drivers are distracted by their cell phones. "My uncle was on the phone and got in a horrible wreck," Tolbert said. "Now he's paralyzed from the waist down. I learned from his mistakes."
And like other student drivers, School of the Arts freshman Kenna Sommer is learning some of the rules of driving from her parents. "They always correct me. My mom is always freaking out," Sommer said. "The phone has to be on vibrate; the radio has to be low.
"It makes sense, though," Sommer added. "I can't even walk and drink at the same time."
The Allstate Foundation sponsors Keep the Drive events in hopes of reaching teens like Tolbert and Sommer, who can carry the lessons back to their own peer groups, foundation spokeswoman Kasey Salt said.
"The Allstate Foundation program did a survey and determined that teens respond to parents, but they respond better to their peers," Salt said. "By driving smart, you'll be able to keep your friends, keep your freedom, keep your keys and keep your future."
Reach Aubrey Straub at astraub@postandcourier.com.
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5) Failed drug war
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/oct/12/letters_editor18866/
Failed drug war
As an advocate of legalizing drugs for adults and letting the states control their production and distribution, the Oct. 3 letter to the editor would have made me laugh if it were not so sad.
The writer cited several scary-sounding statistics to support the view that legalizing drugs is a terrible idea, but he cited no sources. However, the statistics quoted are so ludicrous that they sounded as though they came from the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
That office's statistics contain so many half-truths, doctored numbers and outright falsehoods that two Appalachian State University professors wrote a book on the subject: "Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Policy." The State University of New York Press published it a few months ago.
In fact, the so-called "War on Drugs" has failed miserably. The proof is that, although we spend tens of billions of dollars every year to stop the flow of drugs to willing customers, everyone who wants drugs has easy access to them. For the same reasons, drug prohibition has failed as badly as alcohol prohibition failed.
That's because drug abuse, like alcohol abuse, is a medical problem. It is not a law-enforcement problem. Programs based on treatment, rehabilitation and education have been proven to work far better than programs based on prohibition, and they cost a fraction as much to administer.
All drug law reformers are saying is this: Why don't we try new tactics that have been proven to work and quit hoping the same old programs, which have never worked, will somehow start producing new results?
SKIP JOHNSON
Vice President off South Carolinians for Drug Law Reform
72 Meeting St.
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6) Illegal immigration: While states burn, Congress fiddles
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/oct/11/illegal_immigration_while_states_burn_congress_fid/
Illegal immigration: While states burn, Congress fiddles
By Larry K. Grooms
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Our great national debate about illegal immigration is hardly new to the American experience. Today the controversy has reached a fever pitch, but over 200 years ago Alexander Hamilton offered his take. He wrote that the safety of a nation depends "on the energy of a common national sentiment, on a uniformity of principles and habits, on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice, and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education and family."
I support legal immigrants and believe, as most Americans do, that they bring with them new talents, a strong work ethic, and a genuine desire to achieve the American dream. But now, by some reports, there are as many as 38 million illegal immigrants here.
The notion of a great "melting pot" is tossed out the window when we have a half-million new, undocumented men, women and children pouring across our borders every year. There's no way a nation, even a nation as large as ours, can assimilate them quickly enough. By the very act of stepping across our border, illegals are at once tramping on the principles that have traditionally kept America strong — our abiding sense of fair play and the rule of law. The sheer number of them, by necessity, means that our national principles and habits are weakened. Hamilton's notion of "a common national sentiment" is diluted with each passing day.
We experience the problem even in small, non-border states like South Carolina. Our schools are overwhelmed. The S.C. Department of Education can't even tell me the number of undocumented children we have; a court decision requires that we provide for their education and prevents asking students about their immigration status. Our health care system is strained, too. An estimated 20 percent or more of the uninsured are illegal immigrants. Hospitals are required to provide care in many cases, and Medicaid reimburses providers. In schools and emergency rooms, it's the taxpayer who foots the bill. Meanwhile, recent news reports point out that the wages of hardworking South Carolinians are falling because of illegal immigrants in our workforce.
The issue, however, has now transcended the old debates about government entitlements, cheap labor and even a common language. These great, unchecked waves are fostering a festering resentment in Americans. In this event Hamilton warned the very fabric of society becomes endangered, since 'the harmony of the ingredients is all important.' We are facing what he feared would come to pass. The problem is now so acute it should become a national security priority.
Since the most fundamental and important function of government is to ensure the safety of its citizens, what then can we do? South Carolina's ability to effectively deal with the problem is hamstrung by provisions in the U.S. Constitution that leave immigration law solely within the jurisdiction of the federal government. The states have very few mechanisms available for meaningful reform. What limited legislation the South Carolina Legislature may be able to pass risks being shot down by federal judges. Yet Congress has not acted. While the states burn, Congress fiddles. A new and more basic, some would say radical, approach is needed.
S.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell has introduced an ingenious plan that addresses the issue head on. Under Article V of the Constitution, the S.C. General Assembly can petition Congress to call a convention for the sole purpose of giving states the ability to address illegal immigration. This exceptional and unprecedented resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the states, would require Congress to call this convention, where the issue could be dealt with once and for all. The purpose would be straightforward: states would be given the ability to permit or deny benefits to illegal immigrants, as well as the ability to enforce federal immigration laws within their borders. States would also be given the ability to apprehend and expel violators and the provision would mandate that the federal government provide timely assistance with deportation.
The fact that apparently no one has thought of this move before reflects not only Sen. McConnell's creative thinking, but also shows how far we have moved away from the notion of republicanism and states' rights. The beauty of the proposal lies in its reliance on the most basic principles of our founding. It also has the practical effect of forcing action and could very well mean the states will get relief.
I am a co-sponsor of this resolution and will do everything I can to help ensure its passage. The call for a constitutional convention is a plea for help. If Congress can't see the handwriting on the wall and do its duty, the states are obligated to do theirs.
Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, represents S.C. Senate District 37, which includes parts of Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton and Dorchester counties.
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