OFF THE WIRE
Staff photo by Eric S. Swist
As Montgomery County area bikers were inducted into Bikers Against Child Abuse as the Seven Coves Chapter on Sunday, county officials said the group’s hard work is proven in the court room.
“I remember a little girl, about 13 years old, coming up to testify,” Assisant District Attorney Nancy Hebert said to the crowd in the Children’s Safe Harbor parking lot in Conroe. “She looked over her shoulder and saw BACA in the crowd, and she wasn’t afraid anymore.”
The Seven Coves Chapter is now the 24th chapter in Texas, State President Ron “Ace” Nall said. The organization has been around since the mid-90s, Nall said, and has chapters in 40 states and even in countries like Italy and the Netherlands.
BACA’s mission statement is to “create a safer environment for abused children”, which Nall said includes bikers being present near a child’s home, if he or she feels unsafe, and in the courtroom as children testify against perpetrators.
“We give kids their voices back in court, so they are not intimidated and can testify, and the perpetrator can be put away,” Nall said. “So often they are intimidated, and that perpetrator is out there hurting more children.”
Nall said that he comes from an abusive background, as many of the bikers in BACA do. Working with state and local officials, they approach a child and ask if he or she would like to be “adopted” into the BACA family, after a short explanation of what the group does.
“If they say yes, we say yes,” Nall said. “We kneel down and say we’ll be there for that child; all the children are united by that.”
Nall said BACA’s intent is not to “hunt people down” but simply to give children a sense of protection when they feel unsafe in the face of abuse.
Gigi “Olive Oil” Vaughn, a member of the Seven Coves Chapter, said they’d been talking about creating a chapter near Montgomery, Walker, and Jacinto Counties for several months to tackle the amount of children in need of BACA’s services.
“We were just adopting so many kids ... we’ll work primarily out of the Montgomery and Willis area, and then another group will cover the Bryan/College Station area,” Vaughn said. “As a mom with two kids, we have to treat each one of these kids like they’re our own.”
As members of the new chapter signed their BACA patches to put on their vests, Nall said the image of bikers protecting children from abuse can be a shock.
“People have this Sons of Anarchy, Hollywood image of bikers ... there are people with Ph.Ds here, lawyers, doctors,” Nall said. “But we are bikers, and that’s what makes this work; you see a group of bikers come up, and it sends a message.”
Vaughn said the image can be misleading, but the intent of BACA is passionate.
“There are no words to describe how it feels to be there for that boy or girl,” Vaughan said. “Us bikers may look tough, but we’ve got a soft heart for these kid
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/montgomery-county-bikers-join-group-with-soft-hearts-for-kids/article_1e9d3db2-d8d0-5468-a775-ff8638014053.html?photo=6
“If they say yes, we say yes,” Nall said. “We kneel down and say we’ll be there for that child; all the children are united by that.”
Nall said BACA’s intent is not to “hunt people down” but simply to give children a sense of protection when they feel unsafe in the face of abuse.
Gigi “Olive Oil” Vaughn, a member of the Seven Coves Chapter, said they’d been talking about creating a chapter near Montgomery, Walker, and Jacinto Counties for several months to tackle the amount of children in need of BACA’s services.
“We were just adopting so many kids ... we’ll work primarily out of the Montgomery and Willis area, and then another group will cover the Bryan/College Station area,” Vaughn said. “As a mom with two kids, we have to treat each one of these kids like they’re our own.”
As members of the new chapter signed their BACA patches to put on their vests, Nall said the image of bikers protecting children from abuse can be a shock.
“People have this Sons of Anarchy, Hollywood image of bikers ... there are people with Ph.Ds here, lawyers, doctors,” Nall said. “But we are bikers, and that’s what makes this work; you see a group of bikers come up, and it sends a message.”
Vaughn said the image can be misleading, but the intent of BACA is passionate.
“There are no words to describe how it feels to be there for that boy or girl,” Vaughan said. “Us bikers may look tough, but we’ve got a soft heart for these kid
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/montgomery-county-bikers-join-group-with-soft-hearts-for-kids/article_1e9d3db2-d8d0-5468-a775-ff8638014053.html?photo=6