Our Mission:
"To enhance motorcycle safety and awareness on Louisiana roadways through public awareness and education."

Minutes of the March 13, 2008 Meeting 

Committee Chairman, Dean Lawrence introduced himself as the newly elected Committee Chairman and opened the meeting at 9:30 a.m. at the Louisiana State Police Building, Classroom C in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Assistant Chairman, Bryan Niebuhr motioned for a Parliamentary Authority to begin the meeting.  Upon motion duly made by Bryan Niebuhr, seconded by Gordon Perry and unanimously approved it was:

RESOLVED, that a Parliamentary Authority was granted to begin the meeting.

 MEETING OPENING

The Chairman thanked everyone that voted for him and welcomed members and guests and asked everyone to introduce themselves.  Assistant Chairman, Bryan Niebuhr thanked Poet Sisco and Warren Broussard for their service as past Committee Chairman and Assistant Chairman respectively.

Charlotte Fabre opened the meeting with a prayer. 

GUEST SPEAKER

Warren Broussard introduced Patrick Mochelle, Hog Rally Coordinator for the upcoming Hog Rally March 27, 28, 29 at the River Center in Baton Rouge.  Mr. Mochelle mentioned the dates of the rally and invited everyone to visit the vendor area outside the River Center, which will be open to the public for the first time.  Traffic around the River Center will also be a concern due to other events taking place that weekend. 

REPORTS

MINUTES

The Chairman noted the first item of business was the review of the Minutes of the Meeting held on February 19, 2008.  Upon motion duly made by Larry Ourso, seconded by Gordon Perry and unanimously approved it was:

                RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the Meeting held on February 19, 2008 are hereby approved in the form presented to the meeting. 

PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT

Joe Spearman mentioned the pins had some minor changes to the artwork and they have been ordered and should be available to everyone at the next meeting.

WEB MASTER REPORT

Skip mentioned the host server has moved and the traffic count is not yet set up; however, past traffic indicated that each user was visiting the site for an average of eight minutes.  January and February being weak months, continues to pickup in March and spikes in April, flattens during the summer months and falls in the later part of the year.  Skip asked the committee for guidance on what material should be on the website.  After further discussion, upon motion duly made by Bryan Niebuhr, seconded by Larry Ourso and unanimously approved it was:

RESOLVED, the web master is to delete any articles on the site currently and only safety related links to various resources should be on the website.  Any new links that are recommended to be added to the site will be presented to committee for a committee vote.    

OLD BUSINESS

BY-LAWS

The Chairman mentioned that Bryan Niebuhr has constructed a rough draft of By-Laws and appointed a committee to review the By-Laws.  The committee also discussed having some meetings in other cities to spread out across Louisiana. 

LEGISLATIVE BILL

Warren mentioned he has not obtained any information regarding the helmet law and education bill.    Poet mentioned that he spoke with State Representative Mert Smiley and the Representative will present a modified helmet bill and an educational requirement bill in which the educational bill would not go into effect until the Fall of 2009. Rep. Smiley is the head of the Appropriations Committee and he is recommending 2009, which would help give enough time to fund the rider education course at the federal and state levels and provide enough courses at the state level.  Warren mentioned that he would contact Rep. Smiley.  Poet mentioned he met with the Governor and has a list of what the Governor’s issues are regarding motorcycle safety and what the governor wants to address.  Poet will e-mail list to committee members.    

AWARENESS RALLY 08

Warren discussed the logistics of the rally with keeping an emphasis on “awareness”.   The rally is at the State Capital 12:00 noon, April 27^th.   The committee further discussed the details for this years rally.

The Chairman will keep the Awareness Rally on the agenda and put together a committee for 2009.

 NEW BUSINESS

SAFETY SUMMIT

The Safety Summit will be held Saturday, August 2^nd.  The Chairman will put a committee together to begin the planning for this year.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sunday, April 27, 2008 – Awareness Rally

Saturday, August 2, 2008 – Safety Summit

OTHER BUSINESS

The next meeting will be held on April 10^th – classroom to be determined at a later date.

Members present:  Warren Broussard, Doug Coles, John Colter, Charlotte Fabre, Skip Haley, Mike Jastram, Dean Lawrence, Jannie Markey, Bryan Niebuhr, Larry Ourso, Edward Patterson, Gordon Perry, Albert Pressburg, Ed Richards, Sgt. Antoine Rodrigue, Chad Romero, Poet Sisco, Joe Spearman, Willie Stevens, Theresa Sullivan, Hank Temento, and Deborah Todd.     

Associate Members:  Sandra Temento, Charles Toth and Todd Weishar.

Guests:  Mike Connors, Tommy King and Patrick Mochelle.

            There being no further business, upon joint motion duly made by Gordon Perry, seconded by Hank Tememto and unanimously approved, the Meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:37 a.m.