We had our monthly breakfast ride this month at the Vail Steakhouse. We had a great turnout and a new member came to eat with us. Rick Hartigan is our newest member. He is a retired TPD officer who worked in the Motors Division.
Those who made breakfast on Saturday were: Stan & Patti, Alan Stewart and Susan Wagner, Bill (Rev) Calkins, Mike Martin, John Howe, Mike Stoddard, Norm Hubbard, Terry, Russ and Jackie, Will Harris, Bev and yours truly.
Here are a few photos.
ANNOUNCEMENT: New Website Launch – AZ Tribute Rides. Check it out: AZ TRIBUTE RIDES
WHAT: 2nd ANNUAL 2012 Memorial Day Ride – a ceremonial ride to honor our fallen American heroes.
WHEN: SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2012 (see route below)
2:30 PM: Registration opens @ Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson Cave Creek, 13850 N. Cave Creek Rd., Phx.
4:30 PM: Kicks Stands Up
STOP: Group ride to National Cemetery, 23029 N. Cave Creek Rd., Phx
6:30 PM: Regroup at 101 & Northern Ave. @ Park West Shopping Center and ride at a group.
7:00 PM: Arrive at Dillon’s Restaurant for CONCERT and AFTER PARTY
Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, 16501 W. Northern Ave., Litchfield Park
BENEFITS: Patriot Guard Riders, Arizona Chapter and American Legion Riders 138 Legacy Fund
REGISTRATION: AZ Tribute Rides
****FIRST 300 get FREE t-shirts/tanks when you sign up.
KEEP UP TO DATE ON THE EVENT – JOIN OUR FACEBOOK PG: https://www.facebook.com/AZMemorialDayRide
2012 Fallen Hero Ride
Well the yearly Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) Poker run was on Sunday April 22nd. Those who were able to make the ride were: Bob & Rusty Ness, Bev, and yours truly. Here are a few photos of some of the bikes and trikes:
Rusty, Bev and Bob
Indian
Venom
Custom Trike
Our June dinner ride will be at Mama Louisa’s on Craycroft located between Golf Links and 29th St.
Meeting time is 6:30 pm June 26th.
Our July breakfast ride is on Saturday July 14th at the Vail Steakhouse. Meeting time is 8:00 a.m. The Vail Steakhouse is on the north side of I-10 on the frontage road @ Exit 279.
Our June breakfast ride will be at IHOP on Cortaro Farms Road and I-10 exit 246 on Saturday June 9th.
Meeting time is 8:00 am.
Our May breakfast ride is on Saturday May 12th at the Vail Steakhouse. Meeting time is 8:00 a.m. The Vail Steakhouse is on the north side of I-10 on the frontage road @ Exit 279.
We are going to rotate between the Vail Steakhouse and the IHOP on alternating months for now.
Well we had our monthly dinner ride in April to Noble Hops in Marana. Noblr Hops is a Gastropub and I might say they had some really nice food and libations. Those who were able to make the dinner were: Ray & Donna Valenzuela, Dave Lehman, RUss & Jackie Cole, Stan & Patti Thibaut, Norm Hubbard, Jeff Jamieson, Will Hanson, and Bev and of course me.
Here are a few pictures of the “gang.”
The Gang
Bev and Dave
Will, Donna, and Ray
Norm, Patti, and Stan
BANGOR, Maine — A group of eight local police officers, bound by the brotherhood of their job and a love of riding motorcycles, started a law enforcement motorcycle club 38 years ago that on Saturday will be inducted into the American Police Hall of Fame.
The Bangor-based Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club has grown into the largest law enforcement motorcycle club in the world and now has nearly 21,000 members in the United States and 27 other countries.
“Being a member of the Blue Knights is a true, true and devout honor,” John Pasko, vice president of the American Police Hall of Fame in Titusville, Fla., said Tuesday.
Pasko, a veteran officer with the Melbourne Police Department in Florida, joined the club a year ago and said the camaraderie with fellow members is beyond description.
“You bond with so many of the people because you share the same ideologies, the same drive, the same concerns,” he said. “You share the good times and you comfort each other in times of sorrow. I can’t compare it to anything except brotherhood.”
It doesn’t matter what country a member comes from, “we all speak the same language,” Pasko said.
Blue Knights members are active and retired law enforcement men and women who enjoy riding motorcycles. State and local police, sheriff’s, prison service, military police, immigration or customs officers can become members. The only stipulation is that members must have the power to arrest and must own their own motorcycles.
The idea for the Blue Knights started with Ed Gallant, who now lives in Milton, Fla., but at the time worked for the Bangor Police Department.
In the spring of 1974, Gallant, Urban Dyer and Chuck Shuman, who both worked for the Brewer Police Department, met over coffee and decided to form the motorcycle club.
Wayne LaBree and Joel Rudom of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department, Mike Hall of the Brewer Police Department, Charles Gesner of Maine Probation and Patrol, Bill Robinson of the Maine State Police, and Doug Miner of the Maine Warden Service attended the club’s first meetings along with Gallant and Shuman.
Twenty-three local law enforcement officers showed up at the second meeting and the club grew by leaps and bounds from there.
Gallant and Shuman — the last two founding members still alive — will be honored at the induction ceremony, which is part of a three-day convention in Cocoa Beach, Fla., hosted by the Blue Knights’ Florida XII Space Coast Chapter.
The club has evolved into much more than the founding members ever imagined, Shuman, who lives in Largo, Fla., but spends summers in Holden, said this week in an email interview.
“I have enjoyed meeting new friends from around the world,” he said.
The Blue Knights Northeast Convention is May 11-13 in Bangor, the European convention is May 31 in Croatia and the International Convention is July 22-27 in Tyler, Texas.
International president Bob Flanagan, a retired police captain for the Dover Police Department in Ohio, said the induction into the hall of fame is a great honor for the club he joined in 1980. His wife, Connie, also served as the international president in 2005.
“It’s all about the camaraderie of it and motorcycle riding,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a fun thing to do.”
Below is a narrative from our honorary member Jeff Jamieson on a recent trip to Tombstone, Arizona.
Jamieson Family and Friends
As my family and I were enjoying a beautiful afternoon in Tombstone Arizona on Tuesday April 3rd, 2012, we were “Taken by Surprise” when we discovered “Victory Police Motorcycles” parked on the back streets of Tombstone! When I say “Victory Police” I mean “Victory Police.” That is all it said. There were no other words saying what agency they represented. My friends and family were “Very Concerned about the ROGUE motorcycles we discovered on the “Backstreets of Tombstone.”
strange Victory Police bikes - 1
strange Victory Police bikes - 2
Moments later the ‘Rogue Bikers Appeared,” and confronted me taking pictures of these most “futuristic two wheelers” I’d ever seen, and said “What are you doing mister?”
Strangers
These guys were all different sizes and I was “Stunned” and afraid for me, my family, and my friends. They were very quiet, but did not appear to be very accepting of my questions and photographs. I did over hear one of them say “let’s go get our other forces and return to Tombstone” We were stunned, as to where these “Unmarked Victory Police Motorcycles” came from.
I questioned their “Preparedness to capture “The Most Popular Western Town in America” and they showed me an “Assault Rifle” in their trunk
M-4 Assault Rifle
and said “These Cowboys Can’t Compete with us.” This “town is NOT Tough Enough.” I did not have time to take a picture of a “Rocket Launcher” that was mounted to the “trunk” of one of the other bikes.
Strangers mounting up - 2
As they mounted up to leave we “quickly and quietly went about our business.”
Startled Cattle
Even the ‘Cattle” were surprised to see these “Bikes.” My family and I sped out of town, and turned off the road in hopes that the “Rogue Bikers” would pass us by.
Santa Rita Mountains
We finally took refuge by the southern rim of the “Santa Rita Mountain Range” and radioed for help! As they passed by we could swear we heard the banjo music playing from the movie Deliverance.
Later we found out that these mysterious men were from the Victoria B.C. police department, Constable Kenny Fetherston and Sgt. Glen Shiels. I only hope that they are not going to try and overtake the regime in Tombstone. The cowboys in Tombstone don’t take too kindly to foreigners especially from Canada.