Early Timeline
1975
August 22 - ABATE was Incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Oregon.
August 26 - The first meeting of ABATE was held, a Board of Directors elected, and plans begun for an anti-helmet rally.
September 20-21 - Seven hundred people participate in the first Elkhorn Run and helmet protest in Salem.
November - The Board of Directors of OMRA (Oregon Motorcycle Riders Assoc.), representing 3000 members, voted to attempt to repeal the helmet law. In future years of legislative action, ABATE and OMRA proved to be valuable allies.
1976
January - The U.S. Senate repealed the federal law requiring states to enact helmet laws or risk losing federal highway dollars. This opened the way for states to decide the helmet law Issue In their own legislatures.
February 27-28 - First YWCA Camp Westwind work party. March 7 - First ABATE Swap Meet at Portland Coliseum.
May 8-9 - Second Elkhorn Run and Helmet Protest In Salem draws an equally large crowd, reaching more people with the news that ABATE was getting ready to tackle the helmet law In a big way.
September - First National ABATE Run In Lake Perry, Kansas. Oregon is among many states to attend and exchange Information about what's happening with state and federal laws.
October - River City Chapter formed (the first outside of Portland).
November - Second ABATE Swap Meet at the Portland Coliseum nets over $1000, which was a great way to begin our first legislative session. Some of this money was used to prepare a packet entitled "HATS OFF IN '77". HATS OFF was full of documents and statistics supporting our stand that helmet laws are ineffective, and It was sent to every legislator in the '77 session.
December - Indian Creek Chapter formed. Mid-Valley Chapter (Salem) formed. Both chapters have since dissolved.
1977
Three bills were introduced which would repeal the helmet law. HB 2340 would repeal It for everyone; SB 287 would repeal it for persons 18 and older; and SB 6't'i would repeal it, but failure to wear headgear during an accident would make you unable to collect damages.
Other bills of interest included one for rider instruction permits, and a "noise pollution" bill aimed only at motorcycles.
February 8 - Second annual elections of State officers held In Portland.
April 22 - SB 287 passed the Senate by a vote of 22-6, and was assigned to the House Transportation Committee. The Chairman of this committee held very strong personal feelings about motorcycles and motorcyclists and helmets, so refused to schedule the bill for a public hearing. ABATE members and motorcycle riders from all over the state showered the Committee with letters urging that a hearing be held, and giving reasons why a mandatory helmet law should be repealed. The Chairman refused to be swayed.
In late May and early June, it was obvious that no progress was being made with the helmet repeal bill. In a last effort to get things moving, ABATE members began a round-the-clock sit-in on the Capitol steps, complete with picket signs, in protest of the undemocratic attitude being displayed by the Transportation Committee Chairman. ABATE members sat on the steps in the daytime, slept on them at night, cleaned and swept in the morning, and talked to people all day long. This action produced the desired result: it drew much public attention to the helmet repeal bill and its legislative status.
June 9 - Members of the House Transportation Committee, feeling that with so much support for SB 287 being expressed by motorcyclists, it was undemocratic to refuse to allow a hearing, voted to override the Chairman and hear testimony on the bill. This was a very unusual move in the legislature. On the day of the hearing, supporters from all over the state appeared to witness the hearing and offer testimony. The hearing room was packed, as was the hall outside, and a large crowd stood on the steps of the capitol with signs in favor of passage of the bill.
The Committee, after hearing testimony, voted to pass SB 287 out to the House floor without a recommendation.
June 22 -23 - SB 287 passed the House by a vote of 31-29, was reconsidered, and passed again 34-24.
July 15 - Governor Robert Straub signed the helmet repeal Into law.
October 4 - Helmet repeal becomes effective. NO MORE MANDATORY LIDS!
November - Third ABATE Swap Meet at the Coliseum In Portland. Off to a good beginning. It was marred by a fatal shooting Incident. ABATE and The Coliseum were sued by one of the victims of the Incident, and ABATE was barred by the Coliseum from conducting future events, even though ABATE was cleared of any responsibility for the Incident.
The YWCA wrote a letter expressing their continued confidence in ABATE despite the bad publicity resulting from the shooting incident, and pledged to continue to let people know about the YWCA's positive involvement with ABATE.
Fall and Winter - In addition to the setback suffered by ABATE as a result of the incident at the Coliseum, and loss of our biggest money-earning event, there was also much debate and disagreement regarding who and what should be National ABATE. At the National ABATE Run in Lake Perry of that year, conflict developed between two groups. "National ABATE" as advertised in EASYRIDER Is connected with the magazine! ABATE of Oregon chose not to be associated with this group in any way. "ABATE National" is a LOOSE coalition of State ABATE groups. An attempt was made to run a national office In Washington, D.C. but failed. Regional coordinators were selected, but the regional organization never functioned in the Northwest.
1978
April 1-2 - River City Chapter hosts the first Fossil Run at Shelton Wayside.
Newsletters of 1978 were aimed at educating the membership about motorcycle safety and statistics; about voting records of legislators on motorcycle bills; registering voters; promoting the use of action reports (reports on harassment by police officers); and trying to keep up our membership so we would be ready for the next legislative session.
Late summer and fall - State and Chapter officers met several times to discuss what should be done to prepare for the next legislative session. Everyone knew there would be an attempt to reinstate a mandatory helmet law, but it was felt that we should be doing more than just fighting that every year. The group decided that in order to defend ourselves from the bureaucracy, we needed to make sure that positive things got done to improve motorcycle safety and bring down the accident and death rate associated with motorcycles. A bill was written that would require motorcycle safety instruction in the schools just as driver education is taught. A funding provision was included, by raising motorcycle licensing fees to pay for the program. A sponsor was found, and then we waited for the session to begin.
1979
During our second legislative year, a:mandatory helmet law was re-introduced (HB 2656) and assigned to the House Transportation Committee. Tabled once, It was brought back for reconsideration by Its supporters. Again, stacks of letters from ABATE's members and other concerned citizens, and crowds of people showing up at the hearing on very short notice, convinced the Committee to table it permanently for the rest of the session. One argument which helped convince them, was that safety education for novice riders should be a much more effective way of preventing accidents than making everyone wear helmets (they don't PREVENT accidents!), and much time was spent debating the merits and wording of ABATE's proposal for a motorcycle safety education program in the public schools (SB 789). So much time was spent talking about it, that the bill never made It out of Committee, and It died at the end of the session.
June - Northeast Portland Chapter formed, marking the beginning of a change in the structure of ABATE. This was the first move toward taking the work load off the state officers, and making ABATE into a representative democracy.
September 26 - The last "state" meeting to be held under the original form of organization. The state officers were no longer responsible for directing the activities of local Portland members, freeing them to concentrate on coordinating activities of several chapters in the1 state. Work was also begun to form a second Portland chapter.
November - State officers began to meet regularly with representatives from the Chapters to reorganize the internal structure of ABATE and write new Rules of Operation. It was decided that the new Board of Directors should be composed of representatives from each Chapter, and that the state officers would be chosen from that group. A new term of office (from June - July rather than January - December) was established so new officers could become familiar with their jobs before the start of each new legislative session in January. Term of office remained one year.
1980
April - Douglas County Chapter formed.
June 1 - A last meeting of the old officers was called, at which the new Rules of Operation were adopted and the files and records were transferred. This meeting culminated a long and very tiring period of time for a number of people who had devoted several years of hard work to ABATE. The burnout suffered by many of those people was intense, and was reflected In the fact that many records were In a state of confusion. This is not to be blamed on the people who, because they believed In the ideals of ABATE, served as officers year after year. It Is more a fault of members who thought that there wasn't any need for new people to step forward to help: "since so-and-so did a good job last year and the year before, let's elect them again."
At the same time that new people were trying to learn how to operate the membership records, ABATE began to grow In numbers by leaps and bounds. So many new memberships began arriving, and continue to arrive in 1982, that the job of membership secretary has become a very demanding one. The bugs in the system have still not been worked out, and confusions in this area remain a thorn in ABATE's side.
July - The new Board of Directors met for the first time, with two representatives each from Douglas County, Northeast Portland, and River City Chapters. Board meetings were held almost monthly in late I960, trying to smooth out the wrinkles and prepare for the '81 legislative session.
WATS line: During the '8l-'82 term of office, the Board "rented" an hour a week on the WATS line of a local business In The Dalles. Once a week every week of the year, a line was open between the Chairman and the other officers of ABATE. This regular, scheduled time kept a line of communications open that was vital in keeping a rapidly expanding organization together.
1981
The third year of ABATE's legislative experience was very rewarding, and established the organization as a power to be reckoned with in the Capitol. Legislators are now realizing that ABATE is here to stay, and that we have things to say that are worth listening to!
ABATE requested several bills, trying a different tactic than last session: Instead of one bill containing many proposals (too many subjects in one bill was part of the reason our first safety education bill did not go anywhere), we broke the ideas down into parts. The proposals concerned motorcycle learner's permits, motorcycle safety education In the public schools (modeled after driver's ed.), a motorcycle license requirement for moped operators, and a change in statute to make a headlights-on violation a non-moving offense.
The Oregon Motorcycle Dealers Association requested reintroduction of ABATE's '79 bill, without changes.
District 28 (Oregon) of the American Motorcyclist Association, re-wrote the '79 bill, cleaning It up and correcting the mistakes we made last session. It was Introduced as SB 864.
February - This month saw the formation of two new Chapters: Southeast Portland, and Lane County. Lane County Chapter later split Into Lane County and Springfield Chapters, both of which later dissolved.
March - Jackson County ABATE formed. April - Klamath Falls ABATE formed.
May 4-11 - Governor Atiyeh proclaimed Motorcycle Safety Awareness Week, at the request of ABATE.
Two hearings were held In the Senate Transportation Committee on SB 554, a bill for a mandatory helmet law. The Committee Chairman, who conducted the first hearing, stated at the beginning that his mind was made up that Oregon should have a mandatory helmet law, and proceeded to call witnesses only In support of the bill. When he finally called a witness in opposition, the witness was Interrupted rudely with pointless comments and questions.
At the second hearing, many ABATE members and other motorcyclists attended and signed up to testify. The hearing was conducted by the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, who attempted to maintain a more impartial appearance, calling for witnesses alternately from the support and the opposition. Nevertheless, the Committee passed the bill to the Senate floor with a do-pass recommendation by a vote of 4-3.
May 23 - In an unusual action, the Senate made SB 554 a special order of business for the day, and passed It by a vote of 20-9. Between the last hearing and the day of the vote, ABATE didn't have a chance to lobby the individual Senators against Its passage. A Senate aide told us that everyone in the Senate knew the night before, what the vote would be, and that it had been "greased" for passage.
June - SB 554 was assigned to the House Transportation Committee, which then scheduled an evening hearing and made special arrangements to accomodate the large numbers of people they knew would attend. Video monitors were set up so the hearing could be viewed from other rooms after the main room filled up. Capitol police even cooperated on special parking arrangements. After a carefully and politely conducted hearing, the Committee voted 6-1 to table the helmet bill.
At this point, SB 864 was still awaiting a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee, and House Transportation was impatiently waitnlng for It to pass the Senate so they could begin work on it.
Finally, at the prodding of the Senate Minority Leader, a hearing was scheduled and It was passed to the Senate Floor.
June 22 - SB 864 passed the Senate by a unanimous vote of 28-0. July 10 - SB 864 passed the House by a vote of 39 - 15,
July 21 - In a last-minute effort to revive it, sponsors of the helmet bill managed to have it transferred from Transportation to the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing was scheduled in a tiny room, which filled to overflowing with motorcyclists who by this time were getting fed up with coming to Salem to listen to the same old story. The Committee also, It turned out, was tired of it, and tabled it, which killed it for the session.
July 27 - Governor Atiyeh signed SB 864, thus making motorcycle rider education available through the public school system, and providing funds for the program.
October 27 - Sb 864 took effect.
Toward the end of the '81 session, ABATE, the OMRA, and AMA District 28 began efforts to convince the governor to form a motorcylce safety advisory committee. ABATE representatives began attending meetings with the Department of Education to assist in writing rules for the administration of the education program; and also began a series of meetings with various state officials, educators, and motorcyclists in what would eventually become a motorcycle safety committee under the Oregon State Highway Traffic Safety Commission.
1982
February - Coos Bay Chapter formed.
April - Central Oregon Chapter formed.
May - The fifth annual Fossil Run was held this year as a function of the State, with different areas of its organization being handled by several Chapters under the guidandce of the State Board. The Treasury gained over $1000, which it needed badly, since the State had held no major fund raiser since the last Coliseum Swap Meet. The only funds coming in other than Fossil have been membership fees (which don't begin to cover expenses) and donations from individual Chapter treasuries.
June - Emerald Valley Chapter formed from the remains of Lane County and Springfield Chapters, using a new approach to try to increase participation of people in outlying communities. River City Chapter, having less than 10 paid-up members, went on "hold" until January '83, when Chapter will try to regain good standing.
At the end of June, 1982, here Is how ABATE of Oregon stands: there are seven active Chapters, one in limbo, and at least two more to be chartered soon. We are responsible for successfully repealing the helmet law and keeping it repealed. We have participated in passing a self-funding motorcycle safety education program, and over the past seven years have worked with much success on changing the public's (especially the legislature's) opinion of motorcyclists. We have participated In a wide variety of public service projects on both state and local level. AND THEY HAVEN'T SEEN THE END OF US YET!!!