Looking For Answers At ABATE
The Blessing of the Bikes is an annual ABATE event.
A lot of people have had a lot to say about what has been happening within ABATE of Colorado since the news broke that Terry Howard had been fired as state coordinator and the organization is in deep financial trouble due to a loan taken out at an apparently loan-shark-level interest rate. I’ve been trying to sift the truth out from the hyperbole.
First though, let me provide an update on Terry. She was in court again on Friday for “second advisement” and a preliminary hearing was set for February 3 at 8:30 a.m. She is facing one charge: theft. A second original charge of forgery has been dropped. What she is alleged to have stolen, however, seems to be an issue.
I asked her, because I had absolutely no further information than that it was a charge of theft, what exactly it was that she was charged with having done. Not surprisingly, she declined to discuss it as her attorney had advised her not to. It soon came out, though, in the proceeding, that she could hardly have answered the question. Her attorney, Wade Eldridge, told the judge that the defense had never received any information on just what exactly Terry is alleged to have done. It’s hard to prepare a defense without knowing what the charge is, he said (my paraphrase). The judge agreed that the defense was due a “bill of particulars” and the district attorney in the case said that would be provided right away. So that’s where things sit at this point.
In the meantime, some members–or perhaps at this time former members–of ABATE are not at all happy with how this whole matter has been handled. Some of Terry’s most vocal supporters are members of the Colorado Sportbike Club (CSC), which is a group Terry reached out to and drew into alliance with ABATE. I said when I first reported on this whole affair that I hoped the relationship weathers this storm. I’m not sure it is going to.
There have been a number of posts on the CSC forum and elsewhere that take the ABATE board to task and point fingers at persons other than Terry as perhaps responsible for whatever money seems to have gone missing. You can check these out if you’re interested:
http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/showthread.php?53440-ABATE-of-Colorado-Rotten-from-the-Inside!!!
http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/showthread.php?53434-ABATE-of-Colorado-WTF
http://thedandooligan.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/letter-from-ann-layson-on-11132014/
Trying to stamp out some of the smoldering fires, Bruce Downs, the new ABATE state coordinator, issued a letter to the membership denying a number of charges and saying that, “I ask that anyone with justifiable documentation please come forward and show me the proof. I and others have dug deep and can find no evidence to support any of the rumors. I am willing to be corrected and will say so. If no justification can be provided any statements made are based on hearsay and innuendo and will be treated as an effort to defame ABATE and will be dealt with as such.”
I had been intending to approach Bruce with questions as soon as I felt I had enough background to even know what I wanted to discuss. This email came right at the point when I felt I was ready, so I immediately replied that I would like to take Bruce up on his offer to discuss things that was also part of his note. A couple days later we spoke. This post is already getting long so I’ll go over what came out of that discussion in a follow-up post.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Former ABATE of Colorado officer faces theft charge
Biker Quote for Today
Do not ignore fear – outride it.
Tags: Colorado Sportbike Club
January 25th, 2015 at 1:03 pm
[…] in an off-handed reference: The Denver District Attorney has decided to drop the one remaining charge against Terry Howard, ABATE’s former state coordinator. Although Bruce Downs, the new state coordinator, made the […]