Letter to the Editor

Bring on the bike rally

You know, I have been a Pahrump resident since 1988 and have seen a lot of things happen in Pahrump. There have been some pretty strange goings-on in the time I have lived here. Not many of them inspire me to vent but I find that recent comments about the proposed bike rally taking place here require me to comment also.

My husband and I owned several motorcycles in our 35 years of marriage, the last one took his life 4 years ago. (He was killed by an unthinking and inconsiderate girl on her cell phone.) We went many places together on that bike and met fellow bikers everywhere we went and you could not meet a nicer bunch of people. They are simply people who enjoy the freedom of the open air without the confines of a metal box! It is a wonderful feeling! Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!

Anyway, my point is that most bikers are just normal people. They say statistically that the average motorcycle rider is 50 years old and most of them are professionals, stable businessmen and just normal tax-paying citizens like the rest of us who enjoy the wide open spaces on the weekends. Most are family men and women and some are grandparents!

My son-in-law is not only one of the greatest guys I know but he is president of one of the local motorcycle clubs and I know they do things for the community like fundraisers for charities and the homeless. There are several such motorcycle clubs in our area.

In every walk of life and every situation there will always be some butthead around who wants to pee on your picnic, get used to it! If there are concerns about security measures, it seems to me that our sheriff’s department handled the Fall Festival just fine and that was a lot more people than will probably attend this rally.

The image of bikers that clubs like the Hell’s Angels helped to foster is outdated and totally false. Sure they had a problem in Laughlin at the River Run but that type of thing happens everywhere, read the papers! I say let them come! Pahrump could use the exposure and the money they will bring in shopping in our stores and restaurants.

Pam Christie