This is not about motorcycle rights.  There is some brief comment there, yes, but this is politically pertinent to those of us in NC, especially in the 3rd congressional district.  The commentary is strictly my own and does not necessarily represent the thoughts or views of any organization(s) I belong to. 
~ Fre

Someone You Can Be Proud Of

Earlier this week, Thomas “Doc Ski” Wasileski, Ph.D., Legislative Director for the Concerned Bikers Association/ABATE of NC and myself, Cindy “Fre” Hodges, life member/state MRF (Motorcycle Riders Foundation) Representative, with the same organization, visited Washington, DC to meet with the NC delegation of Representatives and Senators to discuss topics concerning to our organization, chiefly H.R. 1076 and S.B. 616 which are bills that close the loophole in the current HIPAA regulations that allow health care providers to opt out of paying subscribers health insurance benefits on a per-incident basis depending on how they were injured, and to request a letter from each office go to Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) requesting more in depth study of traffic safety issues as regards to motorcycles.  The NTSB spent a year reviewing information and recently issued its recommendations and motorcyclists of the nation find the results lacking. 

These meetings went well.  The members who had already signed on the health care bills were thanked profusely and the members who had not, were urged again to sign on.  I’m happy to report that most agreed to do so.  We also had a most excellent result in regards to the NTSB letter request.  In fact, Representative Butterfield’s office issued a letter and sent it to many of the other NC congressmen’s offices requesting they do the same. 

We had very good meetings, feel very good about what we accomplished, and the membership of CBA/ABATE of NC will be hearing more about this as soon as we can get our notes together and distilled into a readable semblance. 

But I had to say something now.  And it is not motorcycle related.  So if all you want to hear is motorcycle related news, you can stop reading here. 

This morning I read an article in the Raleigh News and Observer about the rate of suicide amongst our nation’s military after they return from tour(s) of duty in Iraq.  The article pointed out the very real picture of suicides and how the military is now responding, but also how the military does not see this as an “epidemic”.  I find “epidemic” a poor choice of wording.  I prefer to think of it as a chronic growing problem that needs addressing before, during, and after combat by the powers responsible for sending our men and women into battle, i.e. the military/government.  And as a citizen, I see it as my responsibility, whether I believe this war is warranted/necessary or not, to keep people in office that will see to it that our men and women in the armed services are treated respectfully and with the proper medical care they deserve. 

I could say many good things in specific about many of our legislators, but this moment in time, I’m devoting to Congressman Walter Jones of the 3^rd NC district. 

Rep. Jones is the first NC delegate to sign on the health care reform bill, back in March.  He signed on the day we came to see him and ask him to consider it.  I’ve been coming to DC to lobby our legislators, not every year but sometimes every year and sometimes more than once a year.  Rep. Jones is one of two legislators there that always, without fail, agrees to meet with us in person.  The legislators are fairly busy folks who often, when the appointment is set, need to be on the house floor voting or listening to a debate on an issue.  Somehow Rep. Jones manages to find time to do it all. 

Not only does he see us, but also when we walk into his office his staff seems relieved and it is not unusual to hear them say “Oh he has been out here looking for you guys!”.  This time, we were ushered into his office as usual and I’m making note of my conversation with his scheduler that he really only has 15 minutes to give us.  That is quite enough time but as usual, Rep. Jones has things on his mind and takes the time HE wants to. 

We thank him once again for signing on to 1076, and that spurs a little chat about health care in general.  From there he apologizes and tells us he feels like sharing some of what he has been dealing with in regards to health care issues for constituents of his.  In his district, lies one of the strongest military bases of our nation, Camp LeJeune. Camp Lejeune is the home of "Expeditionary Forces in Readiness" for the past 65 years, and throughout the years, it has become the home base for the II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Logistics Group and other combat units and support commands.

Rep. Jones shared some stories about servicemen who were experiencing severe PTSD and what he was doing at the urging of their families, to ameliorate some problems on their behalf.  I had to fight tears during this part of our meeting, as the situations he laid out for us were so nightmarish and sad to me.  I did not serve in the military, but at 47 years of age, I have many friends who did and my partner Doc Ski served over 20 years in our nation’s military and knows well the sorts of things Rep. Jones was discussing with us.  When Rep. Jones told us some of what he was doing to help the servicemen and women, it made both Doc Ski and myself so proud.  Proud enough to burst is how I felt. 

He also shared with us a program he is helping with to support organizations that take rescued dogs and train them as service dogs to be companions of military personnel who have been maimed, injured, and/or who suffer from PTSD.  In fact, he was taping a show about it right after we left and we met one of these service dogs and her handler in the halls of congress.  What a moment.

Once we switched back to our original intention, and talked to Rep. Jones about our issues with the recent recommendations issued by the NTSB, he not only agreed to do it, but also told us in his words just how strongly he agreed with our stance on the issue.

We left his office feeling supported, feeling like he truly cared about our concerns, like he had respect for our organizations both at home in NC and at the national level (the Motorcycle Riders Foundation), and like we were damn lucky to have someone with enough steam to make things happen in place to support our troops on an individual, as-needed basis.  The man truly does put his words to action.  He makes you proud to have a person such as he representing your state and made me wish I were one of his constituents because I’d love to be able to vote for him!

For more information on Walter Jones, you can visit his website at http://jones.house.gov/index.cfm.