ABATE of Michigan President ~ Gary Kopta

Hello everyone,

I'm writing my article for the October issue???? OCTOBER???? Where did summer go? Seems like we were just talking about May being motorcycle awareness month and now all of the sudden the conversations are about end of summer parties. Wow, time flies. Hope you put many miles on your bikes and were able to attend many functions.

Once again, we were fortunate enough to be able to escort the Vietnam Moving Wall. It is such an honor to be able to go on that ride. There were over 100 motorcycles escorting and I will say I am proud to see many ABATE of Michigan riders on the ride. Several regions were also represented. We escorted from Saginaw to Chesaning. Police escorted and there were many people along the route. Waving flags, saluting, and waving at us all. It was nice to see people that were proud to be Americans again. If you ever get the opportunity to escort the wall i recommend you do. It's quite an experience

Speaking of being an American, everyone must vote this November. Seems like every election is more important than the last one and this election is maybe the most important election in our time. There is a lot at stake this time. Please make sure to do your research. Don't just vote for the person because of the party. Really investigate what their policies are and decide which one is better for America. 

In October will be the cash raffle. Shortly after that there will be a board meeting to figure out how the raffle did and whether or not to change the type of raffle we are going to have next year. If you have any suggestions let your RC know and they can let the board know. We need everyone to participate in this very important fundraiser. Just like any other organization we need money to run it. we are going to be suggesting more spending cuts this year, but we can only cut so much. Our next event will be the seminar. I know Merry and her committee is working hard on that. The theme this year is the wild west. Sounds like there is gonna be a jail there. I think I know someone (me) that is going to be spending a lot of time there. Oh well it's all for a good cause. Just like the dunk tank we had at the field meet. I think it took me about a week to finally dry out.

I guess that's about all I got for this month. There is nothing going on in Lansing as the politicians are all in district campaigning. If you happen to see someone running for office stop them and ask them their position on some of our issues. Let them know who you are and what your thoughts are. They most generally want to know what you have to say.

Thanks for listening again this month and thanks for giving a shit. Most important is to make sure you VOTE in November.

Ride safe while you still can. It will be Christmas before you know it.