Good news: Catherine Ceips loses her seat in the Senate after giving a nod to a helmet law in SC.
Bad news: Fellow biker Knotts in SC senate faces runoff
I am looking for feedback regarding the recent videos posted to www.bikerezine.com ... Can you view the movies? What is your opinion of the content?
~FF
1) States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
2) Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
3) Residents: Enough with biker rallies
4) Bad News: Shealy, Knotts facing runoff; Good News: Catherine Ceips, loses her seat
5) Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle
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1) States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
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FF Note: It seems really odd that the one organization that worked to pass this bill into law was not even mentioned in the article. ABATE of SC worked this bill for three years. The other organization did little or nothing to pass this law in SC. This is yet another example of piss poor journalism and poor press relations on the part of bikers.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-10-red-light-laws_N.htm
States green-light new red-light laws for motorcycles
By Ron Barnett, USA TODAY
Sometimes, red means go.
Motorcyclists in a growing number of states are being allowed to go through red lights when sensors aren't able to detect they are there.
In May, South Carolina became the seventh state to give motorcyclists license to proceed with caution after stopping when the device that causes the light to change from red to green doesn't activate, according to Imre Szauter, government affairs manager for the American Motorcyclist Association.
North Carolina passed a similar law in 2007. Wisconsin (2006), Idaho (2006) Arkansas (2005), Tennessee (2003) and Minnesota (2002), all have passed laws the past six years, Szauter said. Bills have been introduced for the same purpose in Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the legislative websites for those states.
The Federal Highway Administration says such laws raise safety concerns, but biker groups that have lobbied for the change say they are common sense.
"We want to emphasize that the riders do this with safety and caution in mind," Szauter said. "If they truly are trapped at a light, this gives them an opportunity to safely proceed through that signal, because otherwise they don't really have much of a choice."
Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration, said the states should try to find a technical solution to the problem.
"We don't necessarily think that empowering motorists to make up their own rules of the road is the safest or best approach," he said.
The traffic lights in question are controlled by devices buried under the road that operate similar to metal detectors, according to Hecox. Their sensitivity can be set to detect motorcycles, but the proper balance is difficult to adjust, he said.
California has chosen a technological solution. A law adopted last year requires that when new traffic-activated signals are installed, they be capable of detecting motorcycles and bicycles.
Motorcyclist Splatt Ratt of Palm Springs, Calif., a member of the board of directors of a motorcyclists advocacy group called American Bikers Aimed Toward Education, said that's not good enough. Replacing all the ineffective traffic-detection devices could take years, he said.
"The gist of the whole problem is I live in the stop-light capital of the world," he said.
Reb Richardson, a motorcyclist from Sumter, S.C., said he pushed his state's Legislature for three years to get the bill passed that Republican Gov. Mark Sanford signed last month. Richardson's efforts grew out of frustration over a traffic light at the intersection near his home.
"That light would never change," he said. "There's just not enough metal in motorcycles to detect them."
Some motorcyclists try to deal with the problem by motioning for a car behind them to pull forward to trip the signal, Richardson said. This puts the biker in danger, forcing the motorcyclist to move too far into the intersection, he said.
Scott Kauffman of Portland, Ore., says he has a solution. He has developed a magnetic device he calls the Green Light Trigger that straps onto the motorcycle and causes the traffic light to think a car is there, he said.
He's not worried about the changes in state law putting his company, Green Light, out of business. It's still better than running red lights, he said.
"You may not need it legally, but they need it from a safety standpoint," he said.
Barnett reports for The Greenville News in South Carolina
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2) Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
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http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/11/biker_deaths_rise_gas_prices44082/
Biker deaths to rise with gas prices?
By Noah Haglund (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Most motorcyclists who died during a recent 18-month period studied by the S.C. Highway Patrol either had a beginner's license or no license at all, and troopers fear the problem could grow as high gas prices push more first-time riders toward two-wheeled transportation.
"With gas prices on the increase, more people are riding motorcycles to work," Lance Cpl. Bob Beres said. "They're not just using them for leisure."
Averaging about $3.88 a gallon on Tuesday, gas prices in Charleston are almost $1 above what they were a year ago, according to AAA.
The owner of Velocity Powersports motorcycle dealership in Summerville has noticed more customers asking about fuel efficiency. And good gas mileage is something owner Jerry Cristo can deliver — the Hondas, Yamahas and Kawasakis he sells get anywhere from 50 to 70 miles per gallon.
Cristo said sales at his dealership were up 35 percent to 40 percent last month compared to May 2007. "It's dramatically increased," he said.
The popularity of small- displacement models has been a large factor, he said. Manufacturers have been taking note and have been advertising to people interested in transportation, not just enthusiasts.
Troopers worry that inexperience could put newer riders at greater risk. Of the 99 fatal motorcycle crashes they investigated from July 2006 to December 2007, 36 riders had beginner's licenses — the same number as those with a regular license. Twenty-five had no license and two had expired licenses.
Motorcycle riders were at fault in about three-quarters of the fatal crashes. The major causes were speeding, failing to yield the right of way and driving under the influence. Most of those who died were middle-aged men not wearing helmets. Helmets are not required for riders 21 or older.
Troopers hope to curb the problem with a safety campaign that distributes a DVD geared toward first-time riders. It will be available through dealerships starting today to anyone buying a motorcycle.
Reach Noah Haglund at 937-5550 or nhaglund@postandcourier.com
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3) Residents: Enough with biker rallies
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FF Note: This quote is troubling: "Resident Ronnie Felts said he has spoken with members of the legislature who urged the city to push the state for a local option on the state's helmet law..."
http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/430688.html
Residents: Enough with biker rallies
MYRTLE BEACH —Residents here packed Tuesday's City Council meeting to let city leaders know that when it comes to motorcycle rallies, enough is enough.
Those three words, spoken by council member Mike Chestnut two weeks ago after a group approached the council wanting to work together to find a "better plan" for the bike rallies, have become the slogan in a campaign just starting to gear up.
"Why are we having events where we know — we know —someone is going to die?" resident Cynthia Powell asked the council. "Let's do something about it this time."
"We don't want to negotiate or compromise," Joyce Harris told the council. "You are not alone — just look at the audience."
She, Powell and others spoke up during the afternoon meeting's public discussion section, even though the bike rallies that fill the city at least two weekends each May — the Harley-Davidson Cruisin' the Coast rally and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest — were not on the agenda.
The audience gave Harris a standing ovation after she told the council she and others had already been in touch with officials in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to find out how they stopped spring break crowds that had been as out of control as some people feel the bike rallies are here.
She said the Fort Lauderdale mayor appeared on "Good Morning America" to publicly declare spring break partiers were not welcome any more; the city heavily enforced stricter ordinances; and the city met with hoteliers and worked with them as it created a "massive" marketing campaign to lure families back to the resort town over spring break.
Resident Ronnie Felts said he has spoken with members of the legislature who urged the city to push the state for a local option on the state's helmet law, which now says no motorcyclist 21 or older is obligated to wear headgear.
The city cannot now pass any law more restrictive than the state's, though Mayor Pro-Tem Wayne Gray, leading the meeting in Mayor John Rhodes' absence, said there are efforts to allow municipalities to do just that.
Resident Susan Shanks suggested a series of wide "speed tables" along city streets every block or so to slow traffic down, like the city of Alexandria, Va., has.
No one spoke in favor of the rallies, but after the meeting, Bikefest event organizer and biker Hakim Harrell said he wished he had known about the meeting because he wanted to address residents.
"I had 60,000 people over three days at my event at the convention center, and not one act of violence, not once were the police called," he said from his Philadelphia home. "The bikers come in unity and peace. We're a community. It's the other 35 percent of the people, who come in cars, who are the problem."
Local organizers could not be reached for comment.
Harrell was one of the people who approached the city two weeks ago about coming up with a plan to handle bike rallies, and he said he still wants to do so.
He said better communication and more organized events would help lessen the congestion that Bikefest, particularly, draws to Ocean Boulevard.
"I want to produce multiple events in multiple locations next year to show the city it can be done," he said.
City Manager Tom Leath, City Attorney Tom Ellenburg and Police Chief Warren Gall are planning to come up with options to present to the council, Leath said recently.
Resident Milton Frietas asked the council members how they feel about the bike rallies.
Chestnut reiterated his anger over the Memorial Day weekend shooting of a 20-year-old Coastal Carolina University student. That shooting didn't involve bikers as far as investigators have determined, but it took place during the Bikefest rally.
"I don't care who did it, a young man is gone," Chestnut said. "His mom and dad don't have a son anymore. We're going to do what we can to shut the sucker down."
Chestnut also got a standing ovation.
Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said she's "100 percent in favor" of ending the rallies - neither of which is sponsored by the city - but wants residents to "support this with your mouths and with your pocketbooks."
She said if the council has to raise taxes to bring additional help in to end the rallies, citizens have to support that.
Councilman Phil Render, usually considered the most fiscally conservative council member, said he supports an increase in emergencies, and "this is an emergency."
Councilman Randal Wallace asked staff to find out how much a campaign similar to Fort Lauderdale's would cost.
Councilman Chuck Martino told the audience the city will need all the support it can get, especially because Horry County and the state will also have to be involved in efforts to end the rallies.
"You have to make your voices heard," Martino said.
Each of them agreed they want to end the rallies, but Gray reminded people it takes time.
"There are a host of things that need to take place, but this is a first step," he said.
— The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
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4) Bad News: Shealy, Knotts facing runoff; Good News: Catherine Ceips, loses her seat
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FF Note: While I may not agree with Jake Knotts on all the issues he is still one of the best supporters of biker rights in the General Assembly and he rides. Good Riddence: "Catherine Ceips, lost her seat to Gov. Mark Sanford’s former chief of staff, Tom Davis." Apparently Ceips lost support from area bikers after making statements to the media in support of an all rider helmet law.
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/430526.html
Shealy, Knotts facing runoff
"People are ready for change," challenger says amid contentious race in Lexington
By CLIF LeBLANC
cleblanc@thestate.com
It will be Round 2 in the combative match that pits Lexington County’s most bruising political figure with one of a handful of women vying for the S.C. Senate.
A June 24 runoff will settle which hand is raised to represent Lexington County’s largest Senate district.
Former Lexington County GOP chairwoman Katrina Shealy nearly matched Sen. Jake Knotts’ votes on a day with low turnout, blistering heat and evening thunderstorms.
The weather pattern reflected a mantra from Shealy backers: “Rock ’em like a hurricane.”
Early tabulations show more than half of Tuesday’s votes went against Knotts in a three-way Republican primary.
Shealy, 53, said voters sent a message: “Jake lost more votes than he won. The people are saying they’re ready for a change.”
Knotts, seeking his second full term, expects to be the champ.
“We’ll win it in two weeks,” the 63-year-old said Tuesday night.
He blamed the setback on the turnout and, “these third parties coming in and throwing all this money around.”
Organizations such as S.C. Club for Growth and South Carolinians for Responsible Government have ties to millionaire New Yorker Howard Rich and his agenda of deep spending cuts and tax credits for children who attend private school.
In another Senate race, the only remaining incumbent female senator, Catherine Ceips, lost her seat to Gov. Mark Sanford’s former chief of staff, Tom Davis.
Two other women didn’t face primary opposition and will appear on November’s ballot.
One other female on Tuesday made it into a runoff. Leah Bess Moody is challenging for a Rock Hill-area seat.
CRITICS: HE’S A ‘RINO’
Knotts’ critics say he is characteristic of what is wrong in one of the state’s fastest-growing counties — they call him a brutish legislator who has few guiding Republican principles but persists in office with guts and guile.
Shealy said Knotts is a RINO (Republican in name only) whose time is passing as the county becomes more sophisticated and more conservative.
On election eve after walking through neighborhoods knocking on doors, Shealy admitted she would be happy with a runoff.
Fortified by campaign contributions from Sanford and the groups with out-of-state connections, she focused much of her attention on pockets of the district where newcomers might have a bad taste for Knotts’ style.
Monday, in 100-degree weather, wearing white canvas Keds slides and carrying bottles of Dasani water, Shealy walked the Creek Side Farm subdivision in Lexington. She and a campaign staffer sought out homes of those who voted in the January GOP presidential primary.
Most greeted her politely but were noncommittal. Some told her what she was sweating to hear.
“I’m not really a Jake Knotts fan. It’s time to get out,” said Jim McGrath, a former Manhattan resident who moved to the county 10 years ago.
Many voters Tuesday seemed to agree.
“I’m a little unhappy with Jake Knotts,” Catherine Anderson, 66, said as she cast her ballot in South Congaree. “I have voted for him for years. He might get a wake-up call.”
Still, the incumbent’s legions also turned out for him.
“I voted for Jake Knotts because I’m against the voucher thing,” said Anne Harmon, who is critical of forces pushing school tax credits.
Monday, Knotts was confident as he drove his Ford SUV about 50 miles from one end of the district to the other.
He shook hands, slapped backs and kissed ladies after his “Thank you, darlin’” sendoff. He also delivered an eight-page newspaper mock-up extolling his accomplishments.
Knotts’ two mobile phones rang incessantly, requiring him to hold each to his ear to figure which one to answer, “Yell-ow.”
“People in Lexington County got a good horse and they’re going to ride it,” he said as he held court in Compton’s Kitchen, a popular down-home West Columbia restaurant.
Knotts hauls his 305-pound frame back to the restaurant for the Friday special, fried spaghetti.
“Need your help tomorrow,” he said to all who approached him as if meeting a good friend.
“Good to see you, Jakie. Keep them people straight,” one diner said to the blue-collar champion.
“I mingle with the working people,” Knotts said. “The real people.”
He is quick to draw distinctions with Sanford.
“These people don’t have the problems he’s got. They got problems paying the light bill.”
The senator takes credit for alerting public school leaders to oppose Sanford’s school voucher plan. “I stopped them dead in their tracks,” Knotts said of in-state and out-of-state advocates for private school tax credits.
During his cross-district trek, he stopped to ask his longtime supporters to distribute fliers and invited everyone to his Tuesday celebration.
He told many he accepted their campaign strategy advice. “I’ve been focused. I stayed cool. I was nice.”
One of his stops was to the Springdale home of Congressman Joe Wilson and his wife, Roxanne. She is one of Knotts’ key advisers and a force in county politics.
“She’s ruining her political capital,” Roxanne Wilson said of Shealy. “She’s toast as far as being a (future) candidate.”
Shealy fires back that Knotts is not a favorite of the county GOP establishment.
“My ties with the party are a lot closer than his,” she said, noting Knotts has backed Democrats for governor.
Shealy said she has taken her message of change and true Republican principles on a shoe-leather campaign across the district.
Unlike Knotts, who has one of the Senate’s largest campaign war chests, Shealy did not pay for expensive television ads.
But third-party groups painted the incumbent as a wasteful spender who supports money for pork and small-town festivals and who opposes government restructuring.
Mostly, the Batesburg native fought back against Knotts with fliers, radio spots and phone calls made by campaign staffers, friends and family.
Shealy touted herself as a loyal Republican who is more conservative than Knotts on spending and fiscal responsibility.
“I’m a fresh face, an open mind. I’m giving Lexington County a chance to have change.”
She is counting on a roundhouse punch to flatten Knotts in two weeks. “I hope I’ve made enough personal connections to get them back out.”
Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
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5) Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle
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FF Note: I've known and supported Tim Scott for several years. I expect great things from district 117 in the upcoming session.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/11/tim_scott_claims_victory_way_battle44118/
Tim Scott claims victory in 3-way battle
By Glenn Smith
Tim Scott speaks with supporter Shelley Campbell, a high school friend, at the Sticky Fingers in North Charleston after it became clear that he would win the three-way Republican primary for the S.C. House Dist. 117 seat.
Charleston County Council Chairman Tim Scott won a three-way primary for the District 117 seat Tuesday, virtually assuring that a black Republican will serve in the Statehouse for the first time since Reconstruction.
Scott captured about 53 percent of the vote in the district, which covers Berkeley and Charleston counties. Berkeley County Councilman Bill Crosby was second with 26 percent of the vote, while former state Rep. Wheeler Tillman had 21 percent, according to unofficial results.
Scott avoided a runoff by capturing both his home county and predominantly white Berkeley County, where 65 percent of the district's residents live. He faces no Democratic challenger in November, so the seat is essentially his.
Scott, who has served 13 years on Charleston County Council, was one of five black members of the GOP running for House and Senate seats this year. He is the only House candidate from that group without opposition in November.
Scott, 42, thanked God and a large team of diverse, hard-working volunteers for helping him win the contest. He said his election illustrates that the GOP is more interested in issues than race.
"What it says is that the Republican Party and the voters of the Republican Party are moving forward, and have been for a long time," he said. "This is merely a manifestation of that."
State Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson called Scott's win a "momentous election for South Carolina."
Crosby could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Tillman, a lawyer who served three terms in the District 117 House seat in the 1970s, said it was tough to compete in a "big-money, lopsided race" where Scott had all the cash.
Scott, who was endorsed by Gov. Mark Sanford, raised roughly 14 times the combined total of what Crosby and Tillman took in, or about $70,000, according to campaign finance reports.
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