Rick C Johnson

Bob Marley sang:

> Get up, stand up: dont give up the fight!
>
> Most people think,
> Great God will come from the skies,
> Take away everything
> And make everybody feel high.
> But if you know what life is worth,
> You will look for yours on earth:
> And now you see the light,
> You stand up for your rights. jah!
>
> Get up, stand up! (jah, jah!)...

:-)
Rick

Edward Kendrick Sr wrote:

> Ben Franklin described our gov't as a republic, if we can keep it.
> All of us should keep watch over this, because it's so easy to loose.
>
> In this post 911 world, where we have become desensitized to the
> extreme acts of gov't, comparisons to traumatic historical events are
> very appropriate.
>
> */Scott and Cheryl McElroy /* wrote:
>
> Thank you Aaron to bring some rational thought to this ongoing
> diatribe.
> Thankfully I don't get this email chat delivered to my work email,
> or else I
> would go crazy during the day with all the babble. A better
> subject might
> be to talk about how my team mate Jenn Wangerin made the Oregonian
> sports
> section today, and how her achievement is also now promoting track
> racing
> and young women in our community. Oh well.
>
> The Police Chief probably didn't respond exactly as any of us
> would like;
> and as another poster stated we should be happy that he took the
> time to
> respond. As many of you, like me ride all year and roll stop signs
> know, if
> you get caught you get a ticket. Cops deal with all sorts of
> a-holes in
> their job, and they generally see us as a bunch of elitists who
> will bitch
> about anything. Last week on July 4th, I was sprinting and
> inadvertently
> unclipped and went down really hard (35mph) on a sprint with some
> old team
> mates on Skyline. The first to arrive was a state trooper, who was
> extremely attentive to my situation. Someone must have also seen
> how much
> road rash I had, and also called the fire department who showed up
> and were
> really good to me. My point is that these folks are trying to look
> out for
> us, and provide services that maybe some of the riders in our
> community
> don't think apply to them. I assume that some of my tax dollars
> and ticket
> revenue went to support their positions, of which I am thankful.
>
> We can debate whether we should or shouldn't have a real brake on
> a fixie,
> stop signs should be marked "slow and look around" for cyclists
> since we can
> hear and see better than folks in cars (are scooter riders also
> exempt?), or
> whether we should correct the grammar/syntax in response from a police
> chief. However, while we are doing all this, we might consider
> that we are
> sharing the road with others, are the minority with cars, and have
> some
> acceptance of risk while being out on the road. Whenever I talk to a
> non-cyclist about the amount of riding we do on the local roads, they
> overwhelmingly don't get what we are doing and their general
> response is
> irritation for having to slow way down and tail us before they can
> find a
> safe place to finally pass us. Whether we like it or not, drivers are
> performing an accommodation for us on the road everyday. We are
> not usually
> going the speed limit on many roads with no shoulder or bike lane,
> and they
> have to pay special attention to deal with us. We are small
> compared to
> cars, and like it or not they don't see us. If a driver runs us
> down and
> are at fault, they should be cited and penalized. This is a
> separate issue.
> The debate got way off track between penalties and how they may not be
> strong enough for some major offenses.
>
> You can't bring people to our cause by berating them and calling
> them out.
> Win their hearts and minds and we will bring them to understand
> the pastime
> we all love.
>
> Scott McElroy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org
> [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
> Behalf Of Aaron Coker
> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 9:12 PM
> To: obra@list.obra.org
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Comment by North Plains Police Chief at
> bikeportland.org
>
> To compare the Police Chief of North Plains to the SS
> (Schutzstaffel) is
> highly irresponsible, and I'm personally offended as I'm sure Chief
> Whitehead would be, as well. Why don't you take a few minutes to
> open a
> history book and read up on what the SS represented in Nazi
> Germany before
> you start throwing insults like that out. As the son a former Police
> Officer I can say that what they deal with day in and day out
> often times
> makes their job thankless.
>
> The Chief was simply doing his job, which is to protect the
> community. I
> don't think we need to pray for him. I think we need to thank him for
> having the courage to stand up for his position and enforce the
> law. It's
> pretty simple, don't run the stop sign and you won't get a ticket.
> Cyclists
> are always bitching about not being given a fair shake while on
> the road,
> but then complain after being cited for disobeying the law. It
> seems like a
> bit of a double standard to me. We all run stop signs from time to
> time.
> I've been pulled over and I know others who have. If we get caught
> we need
> to take responsibility for our actions. If you can't afford a $335
> ticket
> then don't break the damn law.
>
> -Aaron Coker
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