T A Brown …  Director  330.727.8286

    Greetings Brothers and Sisters of Region Zero to February 2025. That damn Phil saw his shadow, so it is another 6 weeks of winter. GRRRRR. I'm hoping he was off on his prediction, waaaay off. LOL

    Recently I attended the Abate of Ohio state seminar along with several of our Region Zero officers and members. Our region was well received as our membership officer Donna Sam was introduced as the new editor of the monthly e-magazine "Outspoken" on the Abate of Ohio website. She will do a fantastic job with it and make sure you read it monthly to keep up with all that is happening in the motorcycle community. Also during the seminar it was my honor and privilege to present our new Region Zero secretary Mary Kay Johnson with the Golden Eagle award. The award is presented to a region member for their outstanding dedication to the Region and its members. Mary Kay has always been a steadfast supporter of the Region, holding many offices and committee chairs. She truly is deserving of the award. Thank you for all your dedication and work for the Region. You truly deserve the honors and award.

    Also while I am bragging on our outstanding members of Region Zero, our very own Bertie Morrissey was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from Abate of Ohio. What a well-deserved recipient and the presentation was that much better as her brother T J Johnson presented the award. It surely was a special moment.

    In closing, just a reminder that the February membership meeting will be held on the 22nd at 1:00 PM. The location will be at Amen Corner in Girard, Ohio. Come early as they have a great menu for lunch prior to the meeting. Hope to see many of you there. Until then, C YA

       T A

   

        Lion Man     Legislative Director 330.718.3066

    Well as I write this, we are gearing up for another year of legislative issues to support and protect our motorcycling rights. We live in a free country, but it is necessary to remember that different people have different beliefs as to what is free. Sometimes, there can be several different ideas of what is free. As of 2024 the guesstimated population of the United States is 340,110,998. Way too many to ask everyone what they want to feel free. So, we created a democracy and elected people to speak for us. With this form of government, the majority rules.

    But that does not mean that the individual people in the minority do not have an avenue to be heard. And make no doubts that motorcyclists, as a group, are a minority. So, like-minded people form groups and again, elect leaders to get the groups message through to countries elected leaders. This is how the grass roots effort works.

    But the smaller the group, the louder we must speak. The proverbial adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease has proven itself true many times. Most of you know that this is true. You have seen examples of it.

    The last couple of years your elected ABATE of Ohio leaders have grown a louder voice. We have gotten the attention of many of Ohio’s leaders. We can supply them with our information, but it will be up to you, every one of you reading this, to let them know that you are behind our statements to them. And it is up to you to get non-members who think like we do to speak up also. We need to become the squeakiest wheel the politicians are dealing with. But you need the information as to what to do. Come to meetings, read your newsletters, read the outspoken, follow the website, do anything you can to stay informed, and when called on write letters, make phone calls, do whatever needs to be done to become the squeakiest wheel.

    The issues we are working on this year will be reintroducing the Right Of Way (ROW) bill and then passed! We will be working to get an anti-profiling bill introduced and then passed. We are working on getting motorcycles fair treatment on the Ohio Turnpike.

    Government agencies work and breathe on statistics. One of the most important things we can do about that is to get a fair and adequate meaning of what a motorcycle is. We are working on that.

    I want to get the motorcycle handlebar height limit removed because the current law is too subjective which law enforcement can use to stop and harass motorcyclists.

    We will be looking into lane splitting and lane filtering to introduce in Ohio, as many states have done due to the high rates of traffic jams on our roads today.

    We are always looking at issues that unfairly harm, discriminate or will eliminate motorcycling as we know it.

    If you have questions, comments, suggestions or just want more information, contact me or any of your local elected officials and we will get answers for you.

    Freedom is not free! We must fight for it and then fight to keep it! Let’s get to work my fellow Freedom Fighters.

        Lion Man

 

        Donna Sam   Membership      330.540.6210     donnasam@zoominternet.net

    So…I’m trying to get any ideas of how to get readership up in the State newsletter The OutSpokin’, any ideas? (I’m diversifying). What kind of things would you like to see? I know it’s a digital paper, but we don’t have the resources to make it a print copy. AND for goodness’ sake, let me help you find out what’s happened to your membership payments if they don’t get logged in properly for some reason. That’s what I’m here for.

   

BIKER to BIKER BUSINESS

Full Potential Tutor Services
330.651.7944 … (call or text)
Dana Kibler .... Teacher/Professional Tutor

D & N Quilt & Sew
Donna & Norm Sam   330.540.6210 (call or text)
We make patches, and we long arm quilt. (Tell your Grandmas)
We make T shirt quilts too.

Freelance Motorcycle Repair & Service
Randy Kibler ... 330.428.2083
freelancemotorcyclerepair@gmail.com
All makes, all models.  Service, maintenance and tires

The Financial Concept Group
Jeff Cook
www.thefinancialconceptgroup.com
www.jeffcook.juiceplus.com
Helping you take control of your life.

The Katt Shack
Harley Davidson Motorcycle Repair
Parts for ATV’s, UTV’s , Snowmobiles and  Vintage
Matt Lynn   330.889.9821, Bristolville, Ohio

Gross Plumbing in Ravenna
216.214.4377
AJ Gross and Denise Rich-Gross, owners    Lifetime members of ABATE
Sewer & Drain Cleaning, High pressure water jetting, T.V. Sewer inspection

American Atlantic LLC
www.AmericanAtlantic.net
Mark Wagner   330.946.6275
Estate Planning,   Wills, Trusts
Property – Casualty – Motorcycle Ins