For Immediate Press ReleaseDecember 2007 Letter to all Bikers in the USA from Tony “Pan” Sanfelipoposted at Bikers USA on December 30, 2007 Fellow Biker Rights Advocates and Freedom Fighters,
There is important constitutional helmet law litigation, originally brought by Richard Quigley that requires your support for it to succeed. It is set for trial in May 2008 in the same California courthouse where Quigley obtained the judicial opinion that the California helmet law was unconstitutionally vague as applied. The present litigation, if successful, will build on that victory now to defeat the California helmet law on the same constitutional due process grounds. We anticipate, furthermore, that the appellate decision resulting from the case will also assist freedom fighters across the nation to defeat their helmet laws. The purpose of this correspondence is to request your help to properly fund the trial. We urge you to pass the hat, dig deep, and send your checks to: "Judicial Fund" c/o Abate of California, 10240
Seventh Avenue, Hesperia, CA 92345.
True to the tradition of the small but great state of Delaware, the first state to ratify the United States Constitution, the three Delaware ABATE Chapters have announced that they will be the first to stand to defend the constitution, specifically by doing their part to assure that this important constitutional litigation prevails. These three small Delaware ABATE Chapters have made an $8,000 contribution to this Judicial Fund set up as the war chest for the Quigley litigation. The contribution represents $8.00 from each Delaware ABATE member. In announcing the donation, Delaware ABATE State Legislative Coordinator, Gary K. (Hildy) Hilderbrand stated: "We are releasing this announcement as a challenge to all SMROs in every state in the nation to match what our little State has done. ABATE of Delaware is proud to represent the State that started this nation, and first on board with the desperately needed funds to maintain our freedom." We are writing to urge all SMROs across this nation to come
together, and follow Delaware's lead, to assure that this important
constitutional litigation prevails. We also want you to know that the
success we achieve will not just free California bikers from the
shackles of our oppressive helmet law; it will set the precedent that
we hope will assure that every other state can obtain or preserve
freedom.
The legislative helmet wars have entered an entirely new battlefield on which SMROs now face not only the insurance industry and medical lobbyists but the federal government now wearing the face of the National Transportation Safety Board. The September 2007 NTSB recommendations and the reinvigorated helmet law proponent activity nationwide should cause rights advocates in every state to consider whether it will be realistic to expect with any certainty that freedom can be achieved against these even greater powers lining up against us, and indeed, whether the SMROs in the free and semi-free states we will be able to hold on to their freedom. The NTSB has made a specific recommendation to every state, and that is to adopt or amend the state helmet laws to require that ALL riders wear helmets conforming to the federal motorcycle helmet performance standard set forth in FMVSS 218. This already has happened in Nebraska and North Carolina. The importance of the Quigley California litigation is in part derived from the fact that the California helmet law is precisely the law that the NTSB has recommended. It is a law requiring all California motorcyclists and their passengers to wear helmets compliant with FMVSS 218. The present litigation is the culmination of 17 years of concerted work by Richard Quigley and California freedom fighters like Steve Bianco, the truck driver responsible for the constitutional appellate law which has set the CHP up for this fall. Steve Bianco is also one of the four remaining plaintiffs in the Quigley litigation who will carry this litigation forward now following Quig's passing. If successful, our victory will hammer the final constitutional nail into the coffin of the California helmet law. It is 17 years of work which we also hope may be able to shortcut the road to freedom for those who will fight for it in the courts of our sister states. Indeed, it is our greatest hope that our victory will serve as important constitutional precedent for freedom fighters to obtain the same result in every state in which a helmet law presently requires use of FMVSS 218 compliant helmets, and every other state in which such a law is subsequently enacted pursuant to the NTSB's recommendations. Thank you for your consideration in the above regard.
In freedom and brotherhood,
Tony "Pan" Sanfelipo
Founder, ABATE of Wisconsin
BOLT National Director
Sturgis Freedom Fighters Hall of Fame, 2002 | 
