THE Original Freedom
Fighter
The Most Terrifying Words
In The English Language Are: “ I’m From The Government And I Am Here
To Help You” Palm Bay resident John “ROGUE” Herlihy went to the
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota this past August like he
has numerous times in the past. “ROGUE” as he prefers to be called
was inducted into the Freedom Fighters section of the Hall of Fame
in2005 due to his commitment and dedication to protect the rights of
those who ride motorcycles, something he has been doing for almost
50 years. Originally from Bridgeport, Connecticut he became involved
in motorcycle rights when the city attempted to ban motorcycles from
the city parks. He joined the Fairfield County Motorcycle
Association when invited to do so by the owner of the local
Harley-Davidson dealership. The Association was successful in
overturning the ban.
In the 1970, when the
National Highway Transportation Administration tried to Blackmail
States into passing five laws with the threat of withholding highway
funds if they did not pass one of the following laws a year. Those
five laws were a Mandatory 55 Mile per Hour Speed Limit, Mandatory
Seat Belt Usage, Uniform 1.4 Blood-Alcohol content, Licensing School
Bus Drivers and of course the Mandatory Helmet Law for motorcyclist.
The 55 Mile Per Hour law was tried and the citizens of this country
were just not going for it so then they tried the seat belt law and
that did not go over to big either. Well they finally got around to
the motorcycle people figuring that was going to be an easy law to
pass and enforce. They were wrong. Motorcyclist from all over the
country started to band together to fight the Helmet laws. In, the
Connecticut Motorcycle Rights Association was formed. The
motorcyclists in Connecticut were successful in getting a Mandatory
Helmet Law Repeal bill passed by their House in 1976, and the
Governor at that time was Ella Grasso. She stated to Rogue, that she
was afraid of losing Federal Highway Funds if she signed the bill
and if he could remove that threat she would sign the repeal. Rogue
appeared before the Federal Transportation Sub-committee in our
Nations Capitol and when Rogue explained he was from the
Constitution State and he wanted to know when the Federal Government
started condoning Blackmail and Extortion, you could have heard a
pin drop.
The chairman told Rogue
you better have a good reason for asking that kind of question to
which Rogue told him what Ella said. He also stated he had seen the
letter to her from the Federal Government. The chairman wanted to
see a copy of the letter which was there the next morning, presented
to the committee. Rogue WON. Money would not be withheld from states
not passing these laws. This allowed all the states with pending
legislation to repeal the mandatory helmet laws. Ella was good to
her word and signed Connecticut’s Repeal Bill. Connecticut, to this
day, does not have a Mandatory helmet law for those over 21.
The CMRA was run by
Donald “Pappy” Pittsley with the sponsorship of the Connecticut
Motorcycle Dealers Association. Rogue became good friends with
Pappy. Pappy’s job was to work through the legislature. Rogue’s was
to put on Helmet Law Protests. He became very good at doing that and
was soon assisting other states in doing the same. Lou Kimzey,
publisher of Easyriders motorcycle magazine, contacted Rogue
and asked him to start writing about what was going on around the
country. Lou Kimzey and then associate editor, Keith “Bandit” Ball
got together with motorcycle rights leaders throughout the country
and started the organization ABATE. Rogue is one of the founding
members.
After repealing
Connecticut’s Helmet Law Rogue moved to Melbourne and opened a
motorcycle shop on US1. Here he, Ted & Connie, Big Mac & Judy, Jerry
Perkins, John Dean and a host of others started Spacecoast ABATE.
That organization was successful in getting a repeal bill through
the House and Senate of the Florida Legislature only to be vetoed by
Governor Bob Graham who had previously given his word to Not Veto
the Bill. Many years later the state of Florida decides to give
motorcyclist over 21 the right to decide what was best for them
providing they had medical coverage. Rogue is still very active in
fighting for motorcycle rights and is a lifetime member of the
American Motorcycle Association (AMA), ABATE of Florida, and Harley
Owners Group (HOG). He is also a member of the Motorcycle Riders
Foundation and BRO. He is a past certified motorcycle safety
instructor with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
After working many years
as a motorcycle mechanic, Director of Research and Development for
Melbourne motorcycle manufacturers, American Motor Works, and later
as a supervisor of the motorcycle manufacturing company, American
Quantum. His own company is called Rogue Motorcycle and Event
Photography in Palm Bay. He also does product testing and research
and development for numerous companies in the motorcycle field. He
laughs when he says “I may be good at a lot of things but I can
still only ride one motorcycle at a time”.
Rogue and I go back many,
many years. We first met in 1975 and our paths crossed again in the
late eighties when I moved to Florida, this time for good. He is
always looking for the young bloods who can this keep up. Contact
him at his website
www.bikerrogue.com
and see for yourself how an original freedom fighter works in a new
age. Don’t ask how you can help unless you really mean it.
Support those who live to
ride and ride to help you. Some of us have been doing this for a
life time.
Katmandu
--
Catherine "Katmandu" Palmer
