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,
&411 N. LHg Beaell BI'II.
Lo. Beaell. Cali f. !08D5
Or: Box W , Lng Seacla, Cal if.
Pboae: 423-04U
(Area Code 213)
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R.. c t>Pti onis t• . • • •Louis.. Marshal l
COt~GRESSMAt~
By Emie L . Krunm, J r.
For some time now I hav e been searchIng the daily ne wspapers to s ee if ther e
might not be gleamed from them an y idea
as to just which Congressman, Sena tor,
or Assemblyman I might write regarding
motorcycling, etc., in the hopes of getting
some action. Red felt pens proved the
best for arrowing suspected articles,
and the purchase of a pair of large
scissors to bang near my easy chair left
me with nothing to do but skim, circle,
and cut, during TV commercials, atterdinner rest stops, or even at breakfasttime.
Feeler letters to each of my local
r ep s , with s o mething positive In each
about some recent respected a cti on on
their part as noted In the papers, plus a
genUe pitch such as the following were
my next step:
(In a letter to Assemblyman George N.
Zenovich, 11 Feb . 1968):
" Dear Se nator:
" I appreciate your efforts in at least
three areas: (followed by some candid
comments re hi s handling of the subjects of r ural-city unification, Center s
for the Mentally Retarded, and Drug Use
and Misuse) •.•
"Finally, of the many social problems
affecting myself and my family and of
intense interest, there Is just one In
which I am especially interested, and
especially experienced and qualified to
speak on, which seems to be just another
one of Governor Reagan's get-tough in '6 8
alms: MOTORCYCLING.
" Please gi ve the same calibre of
thought and intensity of concer n to any
pe nding restrictive legislation "for"
motOrcyclists as you have s hown yours elf capable of , in the above and other
Issues . I will gladly write about and/or
meet with you and/or Mr. Holland (the
Senator' s local r epr es entative , In Fres no) on the subject of cycling In general
or any facet of the subject in particular,
at any time, anyplace. P lease don' t besitate to as k. I have been cycling for
years, singly and with my family, 365
days of the year. It would be a treasured
privilege to be able to discuss same, in
the interests of justice. I have extra
helmets, if you'd liJ 0
Publi sh.. d
kly exce pt the n rs t
and las t
k of th.. ca lendar v e a r
( SUbsrri br rs plf".lsP alloy. duf' f"
by C&S PUbli shi ng Co. . P ost orne..
Yo." rks ror .uldrpss c ha nt:f'. )
Box ~9 8. Lone ~ e a ch, Ca li fornia .
A dv (" r ti sln ~ ra u -s a nd c i rc u la t ion
Se co nd Cl as s POSIa/: e paid a t L on g
i nt o rma ti on will be S t ~ nt upon ftl(IU tl s t.
Beach Calif.
oi
HOW TO WRITE YOUR
f or upon publi cati on (1 ' \(' (' P t p n'ss
rl'l pa s l' s and - Vo ic t'- It'ttt' rs.) Ad drt's:it'c1 . stamppo pm-pl opI' aSSlJrt's
or them
as
may be ne ces s a ry
brinl: a bout an inteU1gent, .infonned co ns ide ra tion of said
bill Iu' the Assembl y; I feel certain tha t
this done , It shaD 1I0t pass.
Thank you so "ery mucb for whate ver
efforts you can e xpend to bonor the se
requests. For many, this bill will mean
life or dea th, de pe nd in g on whether it
~aiJs 10 pass or not . As a n a fterthought,
Its passage ...ou ld be just one more example of the current tendency . of legislators to legislate against motorcyclists
laking away the ir freedom of choice'
under the l:Uise of jlelpi n'g pre ven t acci:
den ts the majo ritY of cyclists ha ve
worke d hard to not ha ve, and to prevent
othe rs fromha vin g, lon g before le gis lalors
e ve r co nsidered using the word safelY in
lIIe sa me breath as ·motorcycle.·
Sincerely,
Emest L. Krunm. Jr.
...as a sor t of left-handed exa mple of
thi s , In today's (March 20th) call to Mr.
Holland I referred to CN's recent "suethe - government" reply to the Or eg onian
inquiring re weapons for a test case•••
the Nova Scotia repeal of the ir helmet
law being a handsome bit of tax -payermoney-saving preventive ma intenance
worth considering hereabouts.
A-JAY GOOF-UP
I didn't receive your rider's guide to
periodical literature in time to avoid
purchasing the April issue of "Cycle
World ." Their "A-jay" lovers In the
service depart me nt slid out under " Vintage AJS. " The y surmised a 1953
engine's s erial number from a motocross model to be fr om a peasant
model. (The number ended In " C," for
" competition." ) They don ' t know of any
fa cto ry specials that used the centered
s park plug . How about THAT, Frank
Coope r , Bud Ekins, and Vern Hancock?
How about that, you 600 riders who
know that the " A- jays " were 17 of the
firs t 23 finishers on the Big Bear Run
in 1952?
I haven't checked the facts either, but
I think i t goes something like this: Bud
Ekins and Vern Hanco ck brought the fad
back from Eur ope after their first tour
of European moto-cross where the y
were loaned fa ctory AJS or Matchless
motorcycles . The long stroke motocros s models used by Matchless an d AJS
until 1956 ha d a domed piston a nd under
the cylinder , a r emovable compress ion
plate (s pacer ) . When r emoved, the compres sion was s o high that you could burn
anything you could screw the gas cap
down on . Wi th the radically s haped high
compres sion piston , the spark plug located In the ce nte r was more efficient .
At fir s t, a blank exi sted In the mo ld of
the cyl inder head for drilling and tapping
to relocate the spark plug . Califor nia
scr am bler s were Indeed burning an ything they co uld s crew the gas cap down
on to stay ahead of John McLaughlin's
Burbank bu!1tswtnging-arm Triumph and
Nick Nichol s on on a Gold star BSA
Somewhere In that era, all AJS an d
Matchless moto- cross models Imported
by Frank Cooper came from London with
the hole In the center drllled and lapped
at the factory and a blank plug screwed
In so the rider could elect his own style
of horsepower .
NO MORE HAWTHORNE GOPHERS
At 10:00 A.M . the next day, I called
Assemblyman Zenovich's local (Fresno)
assistant, Mr. Holland. (Listed on the
lett e r head and return address of the
Assemblyman'S reply, r eplete with handy
telepbone number) . A cheery "Hello,
Ernie," followed later by a "you're the
teacher who lives out on Modoc Street,
aren't you?" almost threw me, but! still
found out that if anyone truly wants to
keep informed r e . the progress of a bill
such as this, he is expected to call In
and as often as poss ible. Daily' calls ar~
ma de to sacramento (an d Inclden Uy, this
afternoon one was to be made just to
answer a Question of mine), so it was no
trouble to relay mr request that Mr. Z .
keep an eye out for my big brown envelope, re the Foran Bill, etc.
In the next two days I called several
times, and will do so again, calling each
time at a time mutally agreed upon between Mr. Holland and myself; he bas
kept me abreast or the progress of the
Foran Bill, and ev en advised me r e how
I might go about assuring I ge t my wish,
acti on-wise.
In passing, if anything, I feel the origi nal a cquiring of some idea as to the
past ac ti ons of one's representative only
s erves to help be tter one's chances of
impressing on him the degree of sincerity involved. Everyone "has their own
bag," as the saying goes; show some
interest in an d appreciation of the efforts
of your congressmen, and as human
beings they can't b .lp to show some degree of interest in your (our) "problem"
LETTER TO LEGISLA TORS
Dear Cycl e News :
Here is a copy of the letter I wrote to
my le gis lator s , for what It may be worth.
Maybe I brought up a point or two that
you could use in the fight.
Dear Sir:
I would like to protest Assem bly Bill
No. 289 , particularly the part tha t would
require a person to wear a faceshield,
gogg les or glasses, and a s afety helmet
while driving a motorcycle .
Wearing a safety helmet while r iding a
motorcycle is not a bad Idea , but I feel
the s tate has no more right to require
me to wear a helmet when I r ide my
motorbike than It does wben I drive my
car, ride in a bus, fiy as a pass enger on
a plane, or get In the bathtub.
I feel the r equir e mentlo wear gogg les,
face shield, or glass es would , in raet, be
dangerous . If this becomes law, many
young motorbike riders with limited
fund s will go out and buy the cheapest
plastic goggles or face shield or even
colored glasses they can find . These will
soon become scra.tched up so badly that
the rider will not be able to see clearly,
and color ed glass es limit side vision SO
severly that they would be dange rous to
wear while riding in traffic . Glasses
with glass lenses would be likely to s ha tter in case of an a ccident, causing eye
injury. I think that a winds hiel d would be
ad equate eye pr otection, and it seems
silly to have a windshield, then have to
wear further eye prote ction . What about
r iding In wet wea ther? Glass e s , goggles ,
etc ., would become so cover ed with drops
of mo is tu re that the rider woul dn't be
able to s e e , but would be Violating the
law if he took them ort . I have be en r iding
motor cycles an d motor bi k es for 20
yea r s , a good part of the time with no
eye protection, and have never had any thing more serious happen to my eyes
than getting a small bug in one of them .
I would hate to see the day when I can't
tak e my li ltle gi r l around the block on
my motorbike without dressing us both
in safety helmets and goggle s , or risk an
expensive ticket.
This is not a le tt er from some motor cycle bum. I'm a family man, a registe red vote r , a teacher in the Huntington
Beach High School District, a nd a r esponsible citizen.
I urge you to vote against Assembly
Bill No. 289.
GEORGE HAYS
Midway City, Calif.
Please Inform your readers that the
Ha.wthor ne Gophers M.C. is no longer
a club. The members voted to di sband
the club due to lack of e nth us lasm and
Inactive membership. All future events
are cancelled.
Re spectfully yours ,
BOB LONG President,
Ha.wthorne Gophe r s M.C.
Ha.wtho rne , Calif.
HERE COMES THE SoB.V.M.e.
We are a new club In the san Bernar-
Earl)' nflles' AJS In acllon.
The eastern mod els wer e a little different where riders were s till using
lower compres sion motorcycles for en durance runs and trials with the spark
plug located more conveulenUy angled
Into the side of the cylinder head.
I'll take your advice and subscribe to
" Motor cy li s L" At dealer luaus, they will
know motorcycles by engine numbe r s .
Now about Sprouts Elder; •••
A CONSTANT SUBSCRIBER
Long Beach, Calif.
::
r:
r, :;:.'. :::. :
:
: .'. ., /1 ; . :;••.. t./:,1
dino area lind are stili looking for more
members. At present we have about thirty
active in the club.
The san Bernardino Valley M.C. i s an
AMA sanctioned dirt competition group,
and we meet the second and fourth
Tuesday of each month at Doug Douglas
Motorcycle s, 247 69 5th, san Bernardino,
C&llf. a t 7:3 0 p .m ,
Could you g1ve us a hand in building
up our membership?
JIM PASSARO
Sec retary- Treasurer
san Bernardino Valley M.C .
247 67 5th St .
san Bernardino, Cal . 9241 0
(· Hope this helps, Jim. Old clubs are
han,ong it up , so on wi th the ne w," )
!",
....
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