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SNUBBED BIKERS TAKE VETERANS RALLY TO NEW
COLORADO VENUE -- "I've got nothing against
people who ride motorcycles."
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http://www.gazette.com/
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Snubbed bikers take veterans rally to Winter Park instead
By DEEDEE CORRELL THE GAZETTE
On the same August weekend every year, you can probably count more hogs
than cars on Teller County’s highways.
They cram U.S. Highway 24 and Colorado Highway 67 on their way to
Cripple Creek, where thousands of motorcyclists have converged since
1992 for a rally honoring military veterans.
This year, though, they’ll take a different road altogether.
The tradition is moving to Winter Park after a clash with Cripple Creek
leaders over whether the rally was too “motorcycle” and not “military”
enough.
“All they see is people in black leather with patches on their back,”
rally organizer Jim Wear said.
“Most of these bikers are vets.”
“I’ve got nothing against people who ride motorcycles,” said Mayor Pro
Tem Dennis Peck. “That’s not the issue.”
But he and Mayor Ed Libby wanted an event that emphasized veterans more,
he said.
Wear — who isn’t a veteran but who was raised in a military family —
started the Salute to American Veterans rally in 1987 with a handful of
bikers in Colorado Springs.
Wear moved the rally to Cripple Creek, where by 2006, it had an
estimated 50,000 at- tendees, he said.
In recent years, tensions developed between Wear and the city. Cripple
Creek officials say they spent $91,000 to host the rally, covering such
costs as police overtime and portable bathrooms. At least $33,000 of
that was paid to Wear’s company, Pro Promotion, for rally expenses he
incurred.
“I felt the focus should have been more on military,” Libby said. “Yes,
many of the bikers here are veterans, but not all veterans are bikers.”
He said some veterans have told him the rally wasn’t inclusive of
nonbikers. Wear disagreed, saying the bikers treat all veterans — bikers
or not — with respect.
Les Stroup, a 76-year-old former prisoner of war in Korea, said members
of various veterans groups are always invited and are honored at the
rally. He said he’s attended five rallies.
“They treated us real good,” he said.
John Belcher — an IBM manager, Air Force veteran and biker — called the
situation “disappointing.”
“Cripple Creek is still in the Dark Ages, at least the mayor is,” he
said.
“It’s not about bikers,” countered Peck. “It’s about the issues that
come with them, whether it’s bikers or any other element.”
Peck said he had concerns about biker gangs and the potential for
violence, although he couldn’t cite any problems that occurred.
The Banditos group camped out in Victor, where Mayor Kathy Justice said
they caused no trouble and even gave the city $500 in thanks for its
hospitality. “They were always very polite and courteous,” she said.
City leaders and organizers also differed on the economic benefit of the
rally. The benefit to the city was “hard to ever pin down,” Peck said.
“They filled the hotels. They filled the campgrounds, but a lot of that
happens on that weekend anyway.”
Other city leaders said the rally was good for some businesses and bad
for others.
Bikers disagreed, saying they flooded the town, spending plenty of
money.
“It goes back to the stereotype of bikers that don’t have a dime in
their pocket,” Belcher said. He said he usually spent $500 during that
weekend.
In Victor, Justice said, the rally was good for business. “I did like
having the overflow. Every room in town was filled,” she said.
Wear said he sought another location in November after city officials
kept postponing a decision on whether to host it. In the past, he said,
city officials always made that commitment in late summer.
Libby said that was something a former administrator did, but that the
council never approved the event’s budget until December. He said other
council members, led by Sandra DiCamillo, would have outvoted him to
keep the rally, but Wear left before that could happen.
Libby said Cripple Creek will replace the rally with its own veterans
event on the same weekend, with a parade and traveling Vietnam wall.
But on Aug. 17 to Aug. 19, the bikers will go to Winter Park, where
officials welcome both the bikers and the money they’ll spend.
“It’s an audience we’re going after — they’re really pleasant guests,”
Winter Park/Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce executive director
Catherine Ross said. “And we love the idea it’s honoring veterans.”
Belcher said he’ll miss some things about Cripple Creek.
“Having it in an old mountain town, there was kind of an ambience to
it,” he said. But there’s a bright side — it’s a longer ride to Winter
Park. “That’s a good thing,” he said.
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Larry Scott
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