Hello, Friends--
I hope this finds all of you having a good month, and that you're enjoying getting ready for the Holiday Season. I also hope a good number of you got to attend the Naysayer's 32nd Annual Toy Parade to benefit the Red Andrews Christmas Dinner in Oklahoma City, and that the event was successful. Here is my December Tiger Tales article for folks to check out, and I hope you enjoy it as we close out the year together. Our ABATE Chapters continue to host festive Toy Runs and other events to benefit those less fortunate this time of year, and I'd like to invite you to attend the COD Feed The Children Toy Run in OKC and the Tulsa ABATE Toy Run, both taking place Sunday, December 11. You can obtain more information by linking to both the COD and Tulsa ABATE Websites from the ABATE State Website at: www.abateofoklahoma.org Additionally, the Zodiacs MC is hosting its Toy Parade Saturday, December 10, leaving from their clubhouse at NE 10th St. and Martin Luther King Blvd. in OKC. All are invited. Thanks for listening, and best wishes for a very Happy Holiday Season!
Yours in Freedom,
Tiger Mike Revere,
Proud Lifetine Member #001, ABATE of Oklahoma, Inc.
TIGER TALES – DECEMBER, 2011
Wow-is it just about the end of the year already? Maybe it’s because so much of this summer was a write-off due to the excessively hot temperatures. Anyway, it sure is nice to enjoy cooler weather, even though the infamous Oklahoma wind has picked up considerably. We got a taste of that October 29 during the Horse Feathers Equine Rescue Poker Run, which started from Fort Thunder Harley-Davidson’s Parking Lot. That was a festive place to be, with their staff all decked out in Halloween Costumes! Several folks gave donations even though they couldn’t participate. The route took us through Norman and up to Shawnee, where Sehorn Yamaha’s staff showed us a great deal of hospitality. Then it was on to the Motorcycle Museum on Route 66, and to Horse Feathers in Guthrie where we enjoyed terrific food (Barbecue and Indian Tacos), games for the kids, and Door Prizes were given out along with High and Low Poker Hand Awards. Many thanks to RT, who runs Horse Feathers and is a COD Chapter Member, for putting so much hard work into organizing a successful event and for caring so much about those wonderful animals. Thanks also to all the workers and attendees-it was a tremendous opportunity to Help the Horses!
I also want to heartily thank all those who were able to attend both the COD ABATE Veterans’ Day Run to the State Capitol on November 11, and those who took part in the NCOM Region 2 Conference on November 19. I’ll have more detailed information to provide on both of these events next month, but I’m thankful for our Motorcycling Community supporting our Armed Forces and Veterans, as well as focusing on issues directly related to Constitutional Freedoms and Bikers’ Rights. It reinforces that riders don’t conform to a Negative Stereotype, but rather represent a broad cross-section of the best America has to offer. We proudly exercise our Citizenship on a routine basis, and function as an Informed Electorate-which scares the heck out of Government! ABATE aims to inspire this as we continue to work closely with the new leadership of the Oklahoma Confederation of Clubs, where I’m proud to be ABATE Liaison. We’ll also expand on our 2012 Mission Strategy in January at the Oklahoma S.M.I.L.E. at the Quartz Mountain Resort in Lone Wolf. I very much look forward to getting together with my ABATE Family as we celebrate our achievements, focus on the future, and welcome our next ABATE Lifetime Member. You definitely need to make plans to attend!
Tiger’s Tip O’ The Month: Frostbite and hypothermia don't just happen in the Arctic, or at Santa’s Workshop! As we’ve mentioned before, wind chill in winter can do serious damage to you if you're not prepared, even to the point of causing you to wreck due to hypothermia clouding your judgment. So, dress in layers, protect the tender skin of the face (if you can't grow a beard!), and check out some of the newer, hi-tech gloves that protect the fingertips. Also, alcoholic beverages don't function as antifreeze--they actually lower your core body temperature in addition to causing all the other problems associated with drinking and riding.
In closing, I recently found out how sometimes we can take for granted that folks out there understand what ABATE is about. After two decades of advertising “Dedicated to Freedom of Choice” on our Chapter event flyers, I encountered for the first time in recent memory someone directly curious about what was actually meant by the phrase. It afforded me the opportunity not only to clarify, but also to personally reflect on what I truly felt as to its meaning, which has provided me with fuel to continue the fight all these years, as so many others have. Hopefully, my reply represented your position in the Freedom Struggle as well, as fellow ABATE Members:
“Thanks for writing, and for your interest in and support of our Memorial Day and Veterans' Day events. They have been sponsored for 20 years by ABATE of Oklahoma, which serves as the state's Motorcycling Rights Organization. Our motto "Dedicated To Freedom Of Choice" has been displayed on the flyers from the first year we've conducted the event. It specifically refers to our motorcycling members, as American Citizens, being free to choose for themselves what they want to wear when they ride, being free to choose what they desire to ride and how their motorcycles should be set up and customized, and to choose where they want to ride in confidence that others will Share the Road with them and minimize risk of causing motorcycling deaths or injuries. As Americans, we historically have been free to make our own Choices under the Constitution without Governmental harassment and interference--as an extension, that's what Motorcycling Liberty is all about. Our Dedication to Freedom of Choice is entirely in keeping with what our Armed Forces are committed to defend. With them routinely placing themselves in harm's way on our behalf, honoring their Service through celebrating Free Motorcycling by exercising our Constitutional Rights to make our own Choices is the least we can do! I hope this reply sufficiently addresses your question--Ride Free and Safely, and I hope you continue to enjoy ABATE events, on Veterans' Day and throughout the year.”
Well, with this reaffirmation of ABATE’s purpose, it looks like that should wrap things up for 2011. I’d like to take this opportunity to pass along best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas, and for a bright and prosperous New Year. I hope 2012 brings rewards and satisfaction to each of you as we rise together to face its challenges. Please continue to Ride Free, Safely, Sober and Aware, and I look forward to seeing you down the Road as we travel Life’s Highway together!
Keep It On The Black Strip Between The Trees,
Tiger Mike