RIDIN' STEEL

     On Friday I had met up with a group of a dozen riders from the Kennebunk Area. They were out enjoying a beautiful day and had stopped by THE MONKEY BAR in Brunswick to take a break. I grabbed what few RIDIN' STEEL  shirts I had left and had given them to Amanda's kids to give to the ladies, then they came back in and the kids and I had lunch and played a game of UNO. After being beaten in the game by these ruthless children I decided I'd go out on the deck and introduce myself to the riders. I learned that they were headed to Boothbay to witness a couple that was amongst them renew their marriage vows. This was their 3rd. time at this. I guess the story goes that early in their marriage they had a falling out and had divorced from each other, but I guess they soon realized that they were the only ones that could stand each others company (just kidding) and got back together. They've been with each other now for 20 years.

    Since I've started filming for RIDIN' STEEL in 2008, I've met hundreds of people with very simple but interesting personal stories. It's not always about life and death. These folks are your typical hard working class Americans that want to live their lives their way. They all have jobs and when they need a break they choose to get together with friends and ride their motorcycles and do the things that typical people like to do. Many are people engaged in their communities, doing their part to give back, because their grateful. Maybe they volunteer for the Local Food Bank, or Coach a sport, or perhaps they just cross the street that they live on and help a neighbor with something, who knows? Often times they share their frustrations with each other about politics and how absurd some of the bureaucrats are. There are so many real issues to tackle and spend your energy on, yet at this time in our lives, our fellow Maine citizens have been manipulated by a few in focusing on Motorcyclist and Noise Pollution. If you want to talk about Noise Pollution, can you imagine what it's like in Iraq when an IED explodes! Now that's Noise Polution. It baffles me as to how easy it is for people to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I wish my life was so simple that all I had to concern myself with is a motorcycle going by my house for about 5 seconds disturbing my peace and quiet.

   The riders at THE MONKEY BAR shared with me that in Kennebunk they have installed signs, so that when people are entering their town, one of the first things they read is this:

MOTORCYCLIST PLEASE RIDE SAFE AND RIDE QUIETLY. Now that was real kind of Kennebunk to put out such a caring message for all to see. They actually went out of their way to single out the Motorcyclist and do something really special and publicly discriminate the Motorcycle Enthusuiast. The new language in the LD's addressing exhaust noise also includes Cars & Trucks, yet they have no signs. In  this Sue Happy Society that we live in, I can't imagine for the life of me why some aspiring Lawyer has'nt picked up on this form of discrimination and pursued a Lawsuit. Are all you Lawyers working for Insurance Companies now?

   Remember this people, when someone's term as Legislature for York County comes up, you best get everybody you know that votes to put an end to their career as a representative of the people for the people.