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Yearly archive for 2015

September 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on September 11, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  

September meeting started at 7:20pm and was held at the Orleans Legion.. There were 6 Members and 5 officers present.

The Treasurer & Secretary reports were read and excepted.

Harley Raffle

Still waiting for confirmation from the new Texas Roadhouse Rep Meghan Bouvier that they will do the meal again this year. Discussed options if they won’t to include Bottomless Pit. May have possible issue with tick- et #83– decided if she decides not to come we will raffle it off at a meeting.

Toy Run

Still no bill from Vt Pure despite multiple calls from Holly. Will wait to hear from them. Will leave remain- ing pallet at BC/BS for next year. Good TV coverage for this years event. Only had 32 shirts left, made $920.
Miscellaneous

Clarence will give donation check for Kamp Takumta to group leader leaving from Hardwick.

Meeting adjourned at 750pm.

Next meeting will be October 7th at the Hyde Park VFW starting at 7pm

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UMV August 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on August 7, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Meeting started at 7:10 PM.
meeting
There were 3 officers and 6 members in attendance: Holly, Clarence, Joe, Lorelei, Donnie, Mike, Kevin, Roadie and Casey. There were no guests.

Pledge of allegiance.

Minutes from July meeting were read and accepted.

Clarence gave the treasurer’s report, the group voted to accept. If you want to see a treasurer’s report, come to a meeting.

Harley Raffle – nothing much new, tickets are selling fast. Texas Roadhouse has a new manager and we will hear from them about catering in August.

Toy Run – Red Knights are leading the group from Essex and handing parking at the State House. Dana cannot lead the group from Newport, Kimball will. A pallet and a half of bottled water is order, we will be selling it. Donnie and Clarence are working out how to get the trailer, cooler and ice to Blue Cross. Donnie’s bike is in the shop, the bike with the big flag; hopefully it will be ready for Saturday. Holly’s bike will be flying 2 flags, Vermont and US.

We are meeting at Maplefield’s in Morrisville at 8:00 AM on Saturday. We’ll stop by Holly and Joe’s on RT 12 to pick up the t-shirts and then head to Montpelier and Berlin.

The Veterans Place, an organization from Northfield that assists homeless vets will be handing our flyers and selling raffle tickets at the toy run.

There is a vintage trailer show in Montpelier and the fire department is doing a fill the boots donation. They are all aware of the Toy Run and are supposed to be out of the way.

There are after the Toy Run parties at Wilkins’ HD in Barre and the Moose Lodge in Williamstown. UMV donated $200 to the Military Kids charity that the Williamstown party supports. They thanked us on Facebook.

WCAX may or may not cover it.

There was an article in the Times Argus, mostly about the after party in Williamstown but it did mention the Toy Run.

St. J radio station still saying meet at the mall, Mike will contact them, Roadie will put up signs at the mall saying go to Maplefield’s.

We’re putting together a first aid kit for the trailer.

Reimbursing whoever pulls the trailer around was discussed. We will find the current IRS set mileage rate and adopt that as policy. Clarence said he will donate it back to the organization. We should have this in place.

We’re renewing our yearly MRF membership.

Camp Takumta – we will be making our usual $500 donation. The ride is September 12 for anyone who wants to attend.

We raffled off a Harley Raffle ticket among those present, Casey won – congrats.

Meeting adjourned at 8:04.

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July 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on July 3, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  

scholarship-recipients

July meeting started at 7:30pm and was held at the Orleans Legion.. There were 12 Members and 5 officers and 7 guests present.

The Treasurer & Secretary reports was read and excepted.

Harley Raffle
The bike has been paid for and is being displayed at GRN MTN Harley. Lorilea will make a poster display to use at the toy run in hopes to sell a few tickets.
Toy Run
Dana Lesperance will lead group from Newport to St Johnsbury. Roadie or Casey will lead the group from St Johnsbury to Barre. Clarence will tow the trail and pick it up from Donnie the night before. Discussion about whether to move location from mall to maplefields to avoid construction. Jason will check with Maplefields on Thursday and let Holly know.
Joe brought t-shirt samples . Decided to do just one color and change every year. Going with Kelly Green this year. Order from Queensboro for $8.78/tank and $4.79/t-shirt. For a total of $1474 plus a rush fee. Sell for $15 a piece.
Donnie will get trash bags to put plastic water bottles in. Mike will check on Port-a-let bill

Kingdom Thunder:
After discussion, Jeff Cota moved, Mike Burt 2nd to cancel the event. Not enough time or interest to continue.
Scholarships
5 recipients attended: Anna Leeper, Logan Harper, Megan Horseford, Natalee Deaette & Emily Lawson.
Miscellaneous:
Road moved, Ellen 2nd to make a $200 donation to Military Kids of VT.
Decided to give usual donation to Crossroads Rally to have our info on their shirts. Donnie will be cooking the pig.
Meeting adjourned at 845pm.

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Motorcycle Riders Foundation Action Alert

By on June 9, 2015   /   Call To Action  

MRF

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issues a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
June 8, 2015

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 218, which concerns motorcycle safety helmets. NHTSA proposes to modify the existing performance requirements of the standard by adding construction requirements. The reasoning behind this is to aid state and local law enforcement officers in enforcing FMVSS No. 218, allowing an officer to visually determine whether a helmet meets the safety standard. NHTSA is currently accepting public comments on this proposal, and will continue to do so until July 20, 2015.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation opposes NHTSA’s proposal. The proposal fails to take into consideration the rapid pace of technological change in this area. By adopting arbitrary dimension and compression requirements, NHTSA will effectively be shutting out manufacturers who utilize technology to construct helmets which, while failing to meet NHTSA’s construction requirements, may very well exceed their performance requirements. It is conceivable that, by the time the new proposals were adopted, they would already be obsolete. To compound that problem, if such a situation did arise—and it almost certainly will—the process of amending the safety standard is so long and complicated that it is not feasible to make periodic changes in order to include technological advancements in motorcycle helmet construction. FMVSS No. 218 should remain primarily a performance standard, not a construction standard.

NHTSA’s answer to this problem is to create a list of motorcycle helmets that will be exempt from the proposed construction requirements. The helmets on this list will comply with the performance requirements of FMVSS No. 218, but while they fail to meet its proposed construction requirements, they will nonetheless be deemed to have met the proposed safety standard. This confusing strategy ignores the fact that the law enforcement officer on the street will not have immediate access to such a list. At best, the officer would not know that the motorcyclist’s helmet meets FMVSS No. 218 until after the motorcyclist has been deprived of his or her liberty by being detained and subjected to an inspection of their helmet. At worst, the fact that the motorcyclist’s helmet meets the standard would not come to light until after the motorcyclist was forced to come to court.

Finally, the labeling requirement of FMVSS No. 218 will not prevent the types of problems we fear the proposed amendments bring. NHTSA has not fully taken into consideration the very nature of motorcycle helmet enforcement in the United States. Such enforcement is not done federally; it is done at the state and local level according to state laws, which may or may not have adopted FMVSS No. 218—not every state has adopted the federal safety standard. Many that have done so have also adopted alternative safety standards, while others require only that a helmet meet the performance requirements set out in FMVSS No. 218 and not the labeling requirements. Finally, the proposed amendments do not address the ongoing problem created by the fact that manufacturers will continue to self-certify. The mere fact that a motorcycle helmet carries a label certifying that it meets FMVSS No. 218 does not mean that it actually does.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation believes that motorcycle helmet enforcement is a state issue and not a federal issue. This is evidenced by the fact that motorcycle helmet laws vary greatly from state to state. If a particular state is having an issue enforcing its own motorcycle helmet law, that problem is best addressed by that state’s elected officials. It does not make sense to address the enforcement of a state statute on the federal level, but that is what the proposed amendments to FMVSS NO. 218 attempt to do.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation urges all riders and rider organizations to comment upon this proposal and to point out the legitimate concerns raised by it. You may submit comments to the proposal by any of the following methods:

You may utilize the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal:
Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
You may mail comments to the Docket Management Facility:
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
You may also fax comments to the Docket Management Facility:
U.S. Department of Transportation at (202) 493-2251
When submitting comments, make sure to reference Docket No. NHTSA–2015–0045.
If you wish to view the entire proposal you may do so at the following link:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-05-21/pdf/2015-11756.pdf

All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. Motorcycle Riders Foundation. All rights reserved.
Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at
http://motorcycleridersfoundation.wildapricot.org/page-1654836 or call (202) 546-0983
MR

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June 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on June 4, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  
scholarship recipients

7:05 meeting called to order

There were 3 officers and 2 members in attendance: Holly, Clarence, Joe, Donnie and Lorelei, as well as 2 scholarship recipients and their families.

Pledge of allegiance
scholarship-06032015
Guests: Caleb and Blair (scholarship recipients) and family

Presented checks –

Blare wants to be an elementary school teacher and is attending UVM

Caleb is going to school in Kentucky for broadcast journalism

Patrick – was not able to attend as he is working nights during the summer, he is majoring in Web development and attending VT Technical College

We have not heard back from several scholarship winners.

Caleb Sweeney – received check
Blair Bean – received check
Patrick Wilkins – received check
Megan Horsford – will be at July meeting
Anna Leeper?
Logan Harper?
Natalee Deaette?
Emily Lawson?

Treasurer’s report – there was a question about a Memphremagog Press check, will look into it. Clarence will start using new format for treasurer reports that will have more info so we can use them for tracking and future planning. Donnie made the motion to accept, seconded by Lorelei, all approved.

Toy Run Update

Bottomless Pit is going to be there for food. Clarence has volunteered to drive his truck and pull the trailer the day of the Toy Run. Holly will have a flag on her bike for the toy run.

We will be selling bottled water; it will be delivered to BCBS the day before. Donnie will put his big cooler in the truck and we will fill it with ice on the way. Lorelei will look into printing a poster of the bike instead of having the actual bike at the Toy Run

Texas Roadhouse is getting a new owner (that would make a nice UMV clubhouse). Hopefully the new owners will still be catering.

ETA is the band, bike is from from Green Mtn. HD , put that info on ticket.

Joe Benning will not be there, Phil Scott has not responded, neither has Luis Guzmann. We need a speaker.

We will have to take care of empty water bottles.
toy-run-magnet-2015-440
Posters, flyers and magnets – we made sure to have them ready for this meeting so members could start distributing them.

we have 100 flyers, cost $55 from Staples
we have 200 magnets for $52 from VistaPrint

We will update the info on our site, Facebook and the flyers as we get more info and confirmations.

T-shirts, waiting to hear if queensboro can adapt the Santa image to print on shirt, it has too many colors to silkscreen as is and Joe has not had enough time to work on it. Queensboro did our embroidered shirts.

HD Raffle

Once we’ve bought the bike, Holly will contact Derby Press for tickets, we plan on having them for the Toy Run.

Harley has not been bought yet, Clarence, Holly and Joe are going to Green Mtn. HD on Saturday 6/6/2015 to buy one – let us know if you want to go too. The street bob is not in stock now according to their site. We discussed getting insurance so we could bring the bike to the Toy Run, but decided against trying, as we are so short handed.

No new Kingdom Thunder info

Camp Takumta – we will present a check, and check to see if we ride there ourselves or join in the group ride
donnies-new-bike-06032015
Donnie’s Pig Roast july 11

Crossroads 1 day event

Meeting ended approx.. 8:05.

Note from Joe: today is my first day off in years. This is not an exaggeration, I am expected to work 24/7/365 and those of you who know who I work for can surely appreciate this. The last day off I had would have been the day I spent in the intensive care unit at Fletcher Allen in October of 2010, as best as I can remember. I used to enjoy working and developing on the computer, it has become something that I just have to do now. I started working on a UMV newsletter back in December, after thinking about it for months, and am planning on actually sending the newsletter later today. I am trying to cut back on my hours and days at work so that I can again enjoy working on the computer and getting things done for UMV.

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May 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on June 4, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  

May meeting started at 7:10pm and was held at the Orleans Legion.. There were 8Members and 5 officers and 1 visitor present.

The Treasurer & Secretary reports was read and excepted.

Harley Raffle
Green Mtn Harley gave a price of $13,000 for another Street Bob. Roadie moved, Casey 2nd to purchase. Approved. Discussion on if we should purchase up front or do as in the past (pay 1/2 now, 1/2 when we pick up in the fall). Grn Mrn Harley agreed to set up and let us advertise tickets. Clarence will check to see if we can take to the Toy Run. Can order the tickets with: bike, band, date and food. Will get 2 gift certs from Tex- as Roadhouse for additional runner ups.

Toy Run
Michael Bellizzi will call Sheriffs office for police from Newport and St Johnsbury. Need a leader from Newport to StJ and then to Berlin. Mike Burt will do letters requesting other police coverage & contact Sam Hill. Kevin will contact Lamoille Sheriff. Mike confimed port-a-lets taken care of with Calkins. Discussed paying the fee to us the design from the posters for the t-shirts. Road moved, Casey 2nd– it was approved. De- cided to order 200 magnets for $36– Joe will order. Joe will get poster design to Tarin for the next meeting. Discussed bulk ice for selling water. Richard said he had a big holder to put the ice and water in. Decided to order water from VT Pure– 1 1/2 pallets for $396, sell for $100.

Kingdom Thunder:
Jeff, Jeff and Jason will wrap up a route. Scholarships
We received 19 applications– Donnie can’t do the 9th at his house, changed to Casey’s at 4pm. Discussed trying to mark 1 scholarship to those going into motorsports. Table until the next meeting– will set up a committee to rewrite the scholarship application. Plan to hand out in September with follow-ups in January.
Meeting adjourned at 835pm.

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MRF URGENT CALL TO ACTION

By on June 3, 2015   /   Call To Action, Uncategorized  

MRF

June 2, 2015

The United States House of Representatives will vote on a measure that could be detrimental to motorcyclists. H.R. 2577 is an appropriations bill that funds the Department of Transportation, among other things. Especially concerning is section 102. Section 102 would allow the Secretary of Transportation or his designee to engage in activities with States and State legislators to consider proposals related to the reduction of motorcycle fatalities. This seemingly innocent provision is a direct attack on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) lobby ban.
Congressman Tim Walberg (MI) and Jim Sensenbrenner (WI) have filed an amendment that would strike this language. Call your Congressman and ask that they support the Walberg/Sensenbrenner amendment to strike section 102 from H.R. 2577.
H.R. 2577, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) act will be voted on as early as Wednesday June 3rd. We need to call every Congressman immediately. The House floor schedules are hectic and subject to change so please make your calls soon.

You can find your Representative here: www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Find the full list of United States House of Representatives and their phone numbers at www.house.gov/representatives/
You can also use the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
This is an urgent and important phone call. Remember, you are the guardians of motorcycling. Please answer the call to action.

All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. Motorcycle Riders Foundation. All rights reserved. Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at
http://motorcycleridersfoundation.wildapricot.org/page-1654836 or call (202) 546-0983

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March 2015 Meeting Minutes

By on April 1, 2015   /   Meeting Minutes  

March meeting started at 7:00pm and was held at the Orleans Legion . There were 6 Members, 4 officers and 1 guest (Bill Morse) present

The Treasurer & Secretary reports was read and excepted.

Harley Raffle
Road Trash band called about possibility of doing HR next year. Discussion was had on moving event from the VFW. Discussion was had on a Margarita machine for the raffle item.

Toy Run
We will sell water at the toy run this year, ask Vt Heritage Spring Water. Holly asked Red Knights for help again this year. Need ideas for free membership round up.

Kingdom Thunder:
Discussion on moving KT bank to just 1 day event. Made by Kevin seconded by Jeff.

Miscellaneous
AMA has new bill about bad fuel, go to the site and make complaints.

Scholarships

Meeting adjourned at 807pm.

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