Mississippi - Gulfport's motorcycle Blowout celebrates 30 years of bikers and bikinis......

OFF THE WIRE
Bikers from all over the country started rolling into the Gulfport Dragway on Friday for the 30th annual Mississippi Gulf Coast Blowout. The event is hosted by the track and the Asgard Motorcycle Club, which is known for its charitable work around the Coast.

By the end of the rally Monday, organizers hope to have raised at least $5,000 for the Gulf Coast Multiple Sclerosis Society, Boys & Girls Clubs and other area charities.
In addition to helping out the club's favorite causes, Asgard's Smokey Stepputat said another purpose of the blowout is to elevate public opinion of bikers.
"Bikers come from all walks of life," he said. "They come together because of the desire to ride."
Bikers also get the chance to let their free spirits run wild -- within reason -- inside the gates of the dragway, which is designated adults only.
Bikers can spread out on more than 100 acres of campgrounds to keep the party going the entire holiday weekend.
Biker babes let it all hang out Friday with the Daisy Dukes contest, and with the bikini contest Saturday. Today's wet T-shirt contest is one of the event's biggest crowd pleasers, organizers said.
Saturday's festivities featured racing, a bike show, a ring-toss competition, barrel race, weenie-bite contest (bikes' passengers try to bite a hotdog hung from an arch as the bikes ride under it) and live music. More racing is on tap today, as are a tattoo contest and the wet T-shirt contest at 7:30 p.m., followed by more live music.
The Blowout was in prior years a Harley-Davidson event, but was opened up to all bikes in 2011, Stepputat said. The bike show includes motorcycles in the categories of rat, chopper, antique, dresser, trike, sport, stock and custom.
One of the custom bikes getting the most looks belonged to Joe Mangino. He said it took him two years to build, starting with a 2009 War Eagle frame. He said everything else was custom made for the bike. The most eye-catching thing about the motorcycle and matching helmet is the flame paint job.
"I wanted to look like I was on fire," Mangino said.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 motorcycle enthusiast may pass through the gates by the end of the weekend, Stepputat said. He wants the event to keep bringing a positive impact to the Coast.
"It's great when we see the local businesses with signs that say 'Welcome Back Blowout'," he said. "We want to keep it that way."
http://www.sunherald.com/2012/05/26/3972477/gulfports-motorcycle-blowout-celebrates.html

California Motorcycle Deaths on the Rise..AFEW WEEKS AGO THET WERE ON THE DECLINE......

OFF THE WIRE
The number of motorcycle fatalities on California freeways appears to be on the increase, and that trend seems to be reflected in recent deaths in the Inland Empire.
Motorcyclist Gilbert McGuire has had his share of close encounters while on Inland Empire freeways.
"People are so distracted these days," McGuire said, adding "especially on the freeways."
California Highway Patrol Officer Maurice Walker also rides a motorcycle.
"I'm trained to be a defensive rider," he said. "I’m only as safe as the environment around me."
Four motorcycle riders have died in one week in the Inland Empire and a fifth died earlier in the month.
"It could be the driver did not see the rider. It could be the motorcyclist may have been riding at an unsafe speed," Walker said.
The Governor’s Highway Safety Association reported this week that the number of traffic fatalities nationwide dropped last year to their lowest level in more than 50 years. But motorcycle deaths did not drop.
In California, a report from the association (PDF) found that motorcycle deaths had been on a downward trend until 2011, when they rose 21 percent from 2010 levels, according to preliminary data.
Caltrans named May "Motorcycle Awareness Month" in California, but spokeswoman Terri Kasinga admits it is disheartening to see the number of fatalities.
"What it shows us is we have to keep going with these campaigns," Kasinga said.
The campaign’s message? Look twice for motorcyclists.
Video: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Motorcycle-Deaths-Are-on-Rise-in-California-154263525.html

Medical pot not protected by disabilities act, 9th Circuit rules..

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Lawyer for medical marijuana patients in the cases against Costa Mesa and Lake Forest plans to seek larger court panel's review.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the federal disabilities law does not protect patients who claim to face discrimination on the basis of medical marijuana use. Their lawyer plans to seek review by a larger panel. (Rick Bowmer, Associated Press / March 28, 2011)

By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times

Medical marijuana patients cannot use a federal disability law to prevent cities from shutting down pot dispensaries, a federal appeals court decided Monday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by severely disabled medical marijuana users against Costa Mesa and Lake Forest. The suit charged that the Orange County cities were violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by closing down dispensaries that distributed medical marijuana.

The court said the disabilities law does not protect patients who claim to face discrimination on the basis of medical marijuana use.
"We recognize that the federal government's views on the wisdom of restricting medical marijuana use may be evolving," wrote Judge Raymond C. Fisher. "But for now Congress has determined that, for purposes of federal law, marijuana is unacceptable for medical use."
Fisher, a President Clinton appointee, acknowledged that the suit was brought by "gravely ill" people and involved "not only their right to live comfortably, but also their basic human dignity." He also noted that California has embraced medical marijuana as an effective treatment for patients with debilitating pain.
The patients who sued insisted that Congress' decision not to interfere with a 2010 medical marijuana law in Washington, D.C., amounted to tacit approval of the drug. D.C. laws take effect only if Congress fails to pass a joint resolution of disapproval within 90 days.
But the 9th Circuit said Congress' failure to disapprove the medical cannabis law did not amount to an endorsement.
Judge Marsha S. Berzon, also a Clinton appointee, said in a partial dissent that the disabilities law, while ambiguous, may be read to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients. "At the same time, it seems most likely that Congress did not intend the ADA to require the cities to permit marijuana dispensaries," Berzon wrote.
Jeffrey V. Dunn, who represented Lake Forest in the case, said the nearly 40 dispensaries in the city have been shut down. "My take-away on this is no city or county or a state, for that matter, can enact laws or ordinances that conflict with federal law," Dunn said.
Matthew Pappas, a lawyer for the medical marijuana patients, said he would ask a larger panel of the 9th Circuit to review the case. He called the majority ruling "incorrect" and complained that patients must now drive long distances to obtain their medicine.

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Babe of the DAY.....

Neveda - Motorcyclists join Green Berets in early Memorial Day ceremony.......

OFF THE WIRE
The roar of more than 1,000 motorcycles drowned out the sorrowful sounds of taps on Sunday during a special and somber ceremony by Nevada's Green Berets at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
But in the end, it was all good; they were just a little late.
After all, they were brothers in arms - coming together to celebrate Memorial Day a day early at the cemetery in Boulder City.
And so with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, members of the Vietnam Veteran Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club got off their bikes and shook hands and rubbed shoulders with at least a half-dozen Green Berets, all members of Nevada's 51st Chapter of the Special Forces Association who just moments earlier placed a wreath at one of its monuments.
More speeches were given, the national anthem was played and those in the audience were reminded to thank a veteran today, because without him or her, there's a good chance there would be no freedom.
"No greater love can be shown than to (lay) down your life for the life of a stranger," said Desert Storm veteran Ray Packard, 42.
Or, as Plato has been quoted as saying, Packard added, "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
That would include the roughly 28,000 veterans buried at the cemetery. The first veteran was buried there in 1990.
Since then, the cemetery has become, without fail, the epicenter of activity every Memorial Day, where tiny U.S. flags adorn the graves and where various monuments have cropped up over the years to honor the nation's armed forces.
The Green Berets' monument was created by Jerry Hocking, 72, a member of the 51st Chapter. He has been an artist on the side for most of his life when he wasn't selling cars or working in the casinos.
The bronze-colored sculpture depicts a Green Beret helping a child in some distant land where war has occurred and where the Green Berets have come to its aid.
Etched below the sculpture are the words: liberator, defender, healer, teacher, builder and soldier, all of which the Green Berets are supposed to symbolize, Hocking said.
"That has always been our mission," he said. "We liberate, we defend, we heal, we teach, we help build and we're all soldiers, first and foremost."
Since the early 1960s, 1,107 Green Berets have lost their lives in combat, said Al Hendley, 67, a Vietnam veteran and member of the 51st Chapter.
But none of them died in vain, Hendley added. Their deaths were for the sake of our freedom.
That's what Memorial Day is all about: to remember them, he added.
"Unfortunately, Memorial Day is treated like a three-day holiday," he said. "I think the general public tends to forget what it's all about - unless, of course, they've had someone who's served or lost their life in war."
http://www.lvrj.com/news/green-berets-conduct-somber-ceremony-in-boulder-city-154894185.html