First of All…..

Happy belated Father’s Day to all of the Fathers in the Chapter!

 

Rides

 

As I type this, we had six members of the Chapter attend the street renaming in The Bronx in honor of P.O. Kenneth Mahon. We traveled as a group from Orange County and arrived at the Pelham Bay Diner where we enjoyed a great breakfast and lots of laughs. Brother Marazita tried to explain to the young pups in The Bronx what ‘Freedomland’ once was. Breakfast ended when Brother Sal offered to show us something that “we wouldn’t believe.” After all, we had just finished eating. For the young ones reading this, here is some information on ‘Freedomland’:

Freedomland U.S.A. (usually just called Freedomland) was a short-lived, U.S. history-themed amusement part in the Baychester area in the northeastern part of the Borough of The Bronx. Its slogan was "The World's Largest Entertainment Center" (later, "The World's Largest Outdoor Family Entertainment Center").

 

Freedomland opened on June 19, 1960. It closed at the end of the 1964 season when it failed to make a profit.
Freedomland was built on the site of a former municipal landfill. Although the property was spread out over 205 acres (0.83 km2), the actual amusement park itself was just 85 acres (340,000 m2) - larger than Disneyland's 65 acres (260,000 m2). The park could accommodate 32,000 visitors at one time (90,000 during the course of a day) and boasted 8 miles (13 km) of navigable waterways and lakes. 10,000 newly planted trees, 18 restaurants and snack bars, and parking for 72,000 cars. It cost $65 million to build.
Look at the date that it opened. It would have been 51 years old as I write this.

 

 

 

 

 

More on Rides

Carl Raymo and Mike Mancini attended the Salute to Veterans Ride on 6/12 and were thanked for their

 

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valuable assistance by Rolling Thunder as well as NY Chapter XII.

 

Ride Safe

There was an unfortunate incident at the ride in The Bronx when a brother from another chapter took a fall on the Bruckner. His arms were injured, the bike was damaged but he was able to walk away. At the ride was a civilian who was there to pay his respects at the renaming ceremony (he works with the slain officer’s daughter). This gentleman, Andy Perez lives on Long Island but showed up at the ride with his pick-up which just happens to have a motorcycle wheel chock in the bed and a fold up ramp. What a blessing! They were able to put the bike in the truck and deliver it to Maggie & Carl’s location after the event. Andy should be having a good meal, at least, from the injured member’s chapter. In addition, I know he will not take any credit and doesn’t want his name mentioned, but our own Carl Raymo offered up his truck and his trailer to allow the members to remove the damaged bike to their residence, no questions asked. They chose to just take Carl’s truck and Carl was able to secure two bikes in a garage for these Knights until they came back to retrieve them. Carl has a big heart and goes out of his way so many times for so many people. We are fortunate to know him and have him in our Chapter. Bravo Zulu Carl!

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Safety

I know most of you have been riding since before Harley knew Davidson but how often do you practice your skills? A professional ballplayer still hits the batting cages and takes infield practice to hone his skills and a musician doesn’t just get up on stage and play without practice. The same goes for riding without practice. You may have had some bad habits that have been compounded by doing the same bad things over and over again.

For those of you with Internet access, I suggest that you go to the Blue Knights International site and click on the “Members Only’ button on the upper right. The ‘user name’ is your BK ID#; the ‘password’ is your last name in CAPS. Then click on ‘Safety’ on the right hand side. Scroll down the next page that comes up and click on ‘Download the Basic Group Riding Handbook’. Probably stuff that you’ve seen before but some review never hurts.

There is also tons of safety information at www.msf-usa.org  Go to their web site and click on ‘Library/Safety Tips’ at the top of the page. The information there will keep you busy for a while.

Also check out www.smartridermsp.com and click on the tab for ‘Links’.

For those of you not on the Internet, go to the library and check out ‘Proficient Motorcycling’ 2nd Edition by David L. Hough. What a book!

And then go out and practice!

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome!

Our newest member is Orlando Clavell Jr. Orlando has already been on many rides with us and has been attending monthly meetings. He is retired from the NYPD and lives in the Ville (Washingtonville). Welcome to the Chapter!

 

Upcoming Events

• July 10th is the 6th COPSRUN Memorial Ride sponsored by NY XVIII.
• July 17-22 is the International Convention sponsored by VA V
• July 23rd, the Union Ironworkers are having the MC 911 Memorial Run from Ronkonkoma to Ground Zero.
• July 24th BK NJ IV is having a Motorcycle Run & Party in Newark.

 

Our Thursday evening rides have been well attended with between 10 – 12 bikes each week. Some brothers from Chapter XX have also been joining us. Good rides, lots of laughs and great friendship. Come out and join us!

Good & Welfare

Jeff Berkowitz was at the ride/meeting on June 16th and is recovering well from knee surgery.
We have another new member in the works, his application is being processed.

Any information that you want to get out to the membership, let a Board Member know and we can get it in the next newsletter.

 

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Ride safe!

Ride With Pride

Fraternally,
Paul L. Lang
Secretary BK NY XIV
paull564@yahoo.com
(845) 590-9877

Board Members Contact Information

President
Carl Raymo
(845) 742-7809
c.raymo@yahoo.com

Vice President
Donald Curfman
(845) 778-2394
dcurfman@hvc.rr.com

Treasurer
Salvatore J. Marazita
(914) 805-1988
sbanker2@hvc.rr.com

Secretary
Paul L. Lang
(845)590-9877
paull564@yahoo.com

Immediate Past President/Director
Ronald J. Fabrizio
(845) 629-6479
rfabrizio@hvc.rr.com

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