SPEARFISH — More than 400 Hells Angels made Spearfish their temporary stomping grounds at the end of July for their annual USA run. But there was no stomping to report. By the end of the week there was only one incident of note: The Hells Angels donated all the leftover food from their weeklong meeting to the Spearfish Food Pantry.Deb Martius, treasurer of the Spearfish Food Pantry, said a Hells Angel who identified himself only as “Brian” dropped off roughly a dozen pork butts for roasting, a large turkey and “a bunch” of fresh produce at the pantry on Monday, July 30. She said the pantry wrapped up the pork butts and distributed them to people as they came in. She gave the turkey and fresh produce to the Spearfish Artemis House.Some Spearfish residents said the heavy increase in law enforcement presence during the Angels' run made it seem as though the community expected nothing but the worst from the infamous motorcycle club, building a culture of fear around them.
“When you create fear like that it doesn't help other people want to come here to visit,” said Leland Ruzicka, owner of the B and B Lounge, a downtown Spearfish bar popular among bikers. “As far as when they were visiting our town, there wasn't a problem. They treated everyone with respect when they came in here. I personally thought it (increased law enforcement presense) was a little overkill — that's just my opinion.”
The Spearfish Police Department had four full-time employees on loan during the Angels' run, and the Lawrence Country Sheriff's Department had two full-time employees on loan. An undisclosed number of Federal Marshals and FBI agents hung around for the run, too, as well as an undisclosed number of South Dakota Highway Patrol officers.
“As far as actual numbers (of Federal Marshals, FBI agents and Highway Patrolmen) here, I don't know,” said Lt. Curt Jacobs of the Spearfish Police Department. “But it wasn't a mistake, that was part of the planning — if we have a lot of law enforcement in the area, odds are that less stuff's going to happen, and in our opinion that's exactly what happened. We wanted a large law enforcement presence so that we wouldn't have issues. And they were very good about policing their own, so if we had issues we were able to contact them and the issue went away.”
Captain Kevin Karley of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said he couldn't disclose the number of Highway Patrol officers brought in for the Hells Angels Rally, nor the number of officers brought in for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally two weeks later, which drew an estimated 417,000 bikers to the Black Hills area.
“We don't release the number of officers we have in the area during rally or any similar events for various reasons,” he said. “Really, when you look at the motorcyclist, or the people to cop ratio at those events, there are really not as many officers around as people think there are, we like to be visible and we like people to think that there are a lot of us. We did things specifically to make us more visible.”
Dick Tschetter, owner of the Valley Corner gas station across the street from Jo's Field of Dreams Campground off of Highway 14, where the Angels stayed all week, said he noticed a “huge police presence, along with federal agents.”
“They (Hells Angels members) were in here a lot,” he said. “They were very respectful and we didn't really have a problem with them at all.”
“When you create fear like that it doesn't help other people want to come here to visit,” said Leland Ruzicka, owner of the B and B Lounge, a downtown Spearfish bar popular among bikers. “As far as when they were visiting our town, there wasn't a problem. They treated everyone with respect when they came in here. I personally thought it (increased law enforcement presense) was a little overkill — that's just my opinion.”
The Spearfish Police Department had four full-time employees on loan during the Angels' run, and the Lawrence Country Sheriff's Department had two full-time employees on loan. An undisclosed number of Federal Marshals and FBI agents hung around for the run, too, as well as an undisclosed number of South Dakota Highway Patrol officers.
“As far as actual numbers (of Federal Marshals, FBI agents and Highway Patrolmen) here, I don't know,” said Lt. Curt Jacobs of the Spearfish Police Department. “But it wasn't a mistake, that was part of the planning — if we have a lot of law enforcement in the area, odds are that less stuff's going to happen, and in our opinion that's exactly what happened. We wanted a large law enforcement presence so that we wouldn't have issues. And they were very good about policing their own, so if we had issues we were able to contact them and the issue went away.”
Captain Kevin Karley of the South Dakota Highway Patrol said he couldn't disclose the number of Highway Patrol officers brought in for the Hells Angels Rally, nor the number of officers brought in for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally two weeks later, which drew an estimated 417,000 bikers to the Black Hills area.
“We don't release the number of officers we have in the area during rally or any similar events for various reasons,” he said. “Really, when you look at the motorcyclist, or the people to cop ratio at those events, there are really not as many officers around as people think there are, we like to be visible and we like people to think that there are a lot of us. We did things specifically to make us more visible.”
Dick Tschetter, owner of the Valley Corner gas station across the street from Jo's Field of Dreams Campground off of Highway 14, where the Angels stayed all week, said he noticed a “huge police presence, along with federal agents.”
“They (Hells Angels members) were in here a lot,” he said. “They were very respectful and we didn't really have a problem with them at all.”