The discrimination of club members in Dwight, IL on Rt 17, near I-55
Please forward this information to anyone that you know who rides a motorcycle through Dwight, Illinois.
As a citizen of the United States, under the First Amendment which guarantees the Freedom of Speech, the following st atements are Linda's personal views about this issue. They are in no way reflective of the RonDeVoo Tavern, Inc. owners' views. With that being said... The following email is an update on our ridiculous situation with the Village of Dwight Board of Truste es, the Dwight Police Department, the Livingston County Task Force Pro-Active Unit, the harassment of our biker customers and their right to wear Colors in Dwight.
Many things have happened after my first email dated 9/1/04 about the Task Force Investigating Dwight Gang Problem. A copy is included in the background section at the bottom of this email. \line \line I was and am still very angry about the way the owners and management (me) of the RonDeVoo were approached by the police department on August 24, 2004. The owners meeting with the police chief was at 2:30 PM and my meeting was at 6:00 PM. In between those meetings, I quit my job, ran home and started looking for help in the phonebook and on the Internet.
I am still very angry about being forced into doing something that is clearly unconstitutional. There were 28 open alcohol containers on the front sidewalk of our bar according to the police chief during our hog roast. The police did not issue tickets but instead used this as leverage to get us to make our customers to take off their Colors.
I went to my local ABATE Chapter president first. I also contacted the Legislative Coordinator for ABATE of Illinois. At the time, I was advised that there wasn't much the bikers could do until tickets were issued but a t least they were all aware of the situation.
I dug out the ABATE of Illinois Newspaper because someone suggested that I contact Attorney Rod Taylor's office. I did that on August 24th before going to my meeting with the chief of police. \line \line I got zero help and a not so logical question to ask. The person I talked to on the phone at Rod Taylor's office took the time to listen to what was going on. They asked me to find out if there is an ordinance banning Colors in Dwight. That is unconstitutional so how could there be?
Over the next few days, I continued to make phone calls. I contacted AIM NCOM and the Illinois Coalition of Clubs. They sent some literature but didn't get involved. All of the literature they sent (about 50 copies) was passed out in one day. I tried Attorney Michael Mandelman's office for over a week but never got a call back. The information on this website is outdated. The phone numbers have been disconnected.
I also tried Attorney Richard M. Lester's office. He was kind enough to listen and give me some helpful advice. He told me he's out in Canoga Park, California so he thought he was too far away to help so he referred me back to Mandelman's office. He gave me Attorney Mandelman's current email address and the current 800 number to their office. I called and sent email on 9/3/04. No reply to my phone calls or email were ever received.
I found a great position paper called "No Colors No Rights" on in the Internet. The paper is published by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. I took a copy to the meeting to leave with the chief of police. One of our bartenders was harassed by the police department for having this article on the front seat of her car when she was ticketed for an expired license plate sticker. Since when is someone's reading material subject to inspection by the police department?
I also called Jeff Hennie, Vice President of Government Relations, Motorcycle Riders Foundation. Motorcycle Riders Foundation - Washington, DC. Jeff had some very helpful ideas which I used. Even though the article in the Dwight newspaper about the Task Force Investigating Dwight Gang Problem never mentioned the name of the licensed establishment everyone who read this article knew or suspected that it was about the RonDeVoo. Our business has been severely economically impacted by all of this. I sent the email below around September 1st asking people to attend the next village board meeting on September 13th. I was trying to get as many M/Cs to attend the meeting and I was still hunting for a lawyer to help those who had now been issued tickets and had been followed while riding their motorcycles through Dwight.
By September 9th, at least 5-6 tickets had been issued to motorcyclists and our bartenders were being harassed (failure to use a turn signal, failure to wear protective eye wear, an expired license plate sticker, loud pipes, etc.). Every one of our customers on bikes was being followed into town and escorted out of town by Dwight's finest between August 24th and September 9th.
We had a second meeting with the Chief of Police, Tim Henson, on September 9th. A few issues were resolved between the police department and the bar owners and management at this meeting. The Village Board meeting was coming up on Monday, September 13th and I still didn't have a plan. Bob and Larry the owners had their plan but I was trying to write a letter of complaint to the mayor of Dwight on behalf of our bikers customers. I continued to research the Colors issue on the Internet. I ran across a fantastic letter written on behalf of the Outlaws M/C by Attorney Michael Hupy to the Mayor of Milwaukee: www.outlawsmc.com/Milw%20Letter.htm
Outlaws file suit against Summerfest. I am familiar with Mr. Hupy since he successfu lly settled my motorcycle accident case in 1993. I sent him an email on 9/9/04 and followed up with a phone call on 9/10/04. After playing phone tag for a couple of days, Mike Hupy and I finally connected at about 4:30 PM on Sunday, September 12th. It was the 11th hour and I was still unsure of what we should do other than attend the meeting the next day. Mike Hupy gave me his home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and home and office email addresses. I sent all of the email I had sent to other attorneys thus far. Mike called back within a few hours after reading the email and offered to come down from Milwaukee for the Village Board meeting the next day.
An hour before the village board meeting, there was a meeting at the home of the president's of one o f the M/C clubs. Representatives of 5 different M/Cs showed up for a meeting with the Attorney Mike Hupy and Bob Sumption, president of Embarras Valley Chapter of ABATE of Illinois. This was followed by a meeting between the M/Cs and with the Dwight Police Chief, Tim Henson. I did not attend that meeting since I am not a M/C member. We all attended the Village Board Meeting. Bob and Larry explained to everyone at the meeting our position against illegal drugs. They are not allowed into our bar. PERIOD!
As a result of this meeting, Colors are back in Dwight and motorcyclists are no longer being harassed. A lot of basic education material that was presented to the village board by Mike Hupy about Colors (club insignias) never made the newspapers but it should be in the minutes from the meeting. As soon as those are available I will forward to everyone.
I wish I could say things were wonderful now in Dwight but unfortunately, the Livingston County Task Force Pro-Active Unit decided to make their presence known at our annu al festival, Harvest Days. They spoiled everyone's festivities and cleaned our bar in a matter of minutes on Friday, September 17th.
Since May 2003, a group of 6 officers dressed alike, wearing either embroidered Polo shirts or Flak jackets with TASK FORCE on the back come marching through the bars in Livingston County including our bar. They search all open rooms including our furnace room. They pound on the doors and demand that our patrons leave the washrooms. They are carrying guns and batons. In short, they are a scary looking bunch. Even if you're not doing anything illegal or wrong they still intimidate everyone. Who wants to walk into a bar when the cops are outside running your license plate and writing down what time you arrived? So they can pu ll you over when you leave and bust you for a DUI?
In my humble opinion, the Task Force is the ONLY Gang I've ever seen in Dwight. They've been coming into our bar every two weeks since our poker run on July 31st. After our bar was packed with bikers weari ng Colors for our hog roast, they've been coming back even more often. They tried to come in on Tuesday, September 14th but our night bartender denied them access. We were closed and there were only two people in the bar and both of them were workers. He locked the doors and told them they couldn't come in. On Friday, September 17th (the first night of Harvest Days), the Task Force brought in a narcotic sniffing dog for the first time. I said in July that a dog was the next step. They came into our bar and several others at least 5 times with the dog. We had a food vendor on premise and it's a violation of Illinois Public Health Department codes to have an animal present when serving food.
When the Task Force took one of our off duty bartenders out back to search him for drugs all of our patrons left. We had a very nice crowd who was having a great time with the band Reaction. They found NO DRUGS on our bartender and they even searched his crotch! It was a humiliating experience for him at his place of employment all because someone said to the Task Force he had cocaine. Isn't that hearsay anyway? He is of course the bartender who locked out the Task Force only a few days before. On Saturday night, the Task Force came back and this time they got what t hey wanted, a bust at our place. The son of our bartender that was harassed over the No Colors No Right's paper in her car was arrested for Obstruction of Justice. He was checking IDs and bouncing at the back door. He told the Task Force that they could n ot come in unless they had a search or an arrest warrant.
That turned into an ugly confrontation. As her son was being arrested our bartender asked to speak to Attorney Mike Hupy. As the newspaper coverage indicates, the M/Cs assured the police department that there would be no problems between clubs over Harvest Days. I had his phone number on my cell phone speed dial so I called him. In a matter of seconds, the Task Force had a Dwight Police Department squad car with two more officers in the alley behind our bar. That made a total of eight cops for one arrest. Attorney Mike Hupy demanded to talk to one of the arresting officers on the phone but none of them would take my phone. The Chief of Police, Tim Henson, appeared on the scene making it officer number nine! He took my phone and spoke to Mike Hupy for well over a half an hour. We were not visited by the Task Force on Sunday the last day of Harvest Days but other bars and restaurants were.
Sadly, the Dwight veterans' organizations (American Legion/V FW) worked so hard to bring the Vietnam Moving Wall here for Harvest Days. They were expecting between 12,000 - 15,000 people. The opening ceremony was not very well attended. Roughly 2,000 people signed in to see the Wall. Was the overwhelming presence o f Law Enforcement officials the night before to blame?
Normally, our front lawn is covered with motorcycles during the entire Harvest Days weekend. For the past two years, there have been so many bikes out front that there isn't much room to maneuver around them. Not this year.
We normally have lots of bikers watching the parade in our beer garden which is the only place you can legally drink beer while watching the parade. This was the 25th annual parade and it was expected to be the biggest one ever. Th ere was one motorcycle parked out front of our bar.
I have yet to find out how many bikers visited the Wall. The beneficiary of our 3rd annual poker run was the Moving Wall Fund. We raised $2,595.91 to bring the Wall to Dwight. We also raised $3,334.14 at our hog roast for an injured motorcyclist. Our first poker run raised $2,050 for Futures Unlimited which runs homes in Pontiac for handicapped adults. Our second poker run was rained out but we still managed to donate $1,050 to the Livingston County Can cer Fund. Last year, we raised over $600 in bail money for the annual Muscular Dystrophy Jail 'n Bail program.
We raised enough money to buy lots of toys over the Christmas Holidays with our annual Turkey for Tots Deep Fried Turkey dinner. We had so many toys we filled up an entire Brothers of Grundy pickup truck. We had a terrible time trying to get one of the churches to take our toys last year but will happily donate them to the Brothers of Grundy ABATE Chapter again this year.
The Mayor of Dwight, Daryl Holt, said he would like to see our fundraising efforts continue but sadly not very many of the "IN" people from Dwight support our events. I've NEVER seen the mayor at any of our events. Several village board of trustees have supported our events an d donated food to our poker run. Most of the money raised has been generously donated by our regular neighborhood customers and of course our biker brothers and sisters who support us in every way they can. \line \line This community has never turned down any biker d ollars for a variety of charitable causes but when it comes right down to it they have demonstrated that they are not Biker Friendly. It's all but impossible to run a Biker Friendly Bar business in this town. If you where in Dwight last weekend and you'd like to buy a Sniffed T-Shirt please email me as well. The sew-out is white on this poster. It's been embroidered onto black Gildan T-shirts.
We are attending the next village board meeting on September 27th at 6:00 PM. If you can be there to show your support please joins us. \line Many of the other business owners that lost money over Harvest Days will be there. \line \line We plan on asking for a meeting with the Livings ton County Sheriff's Police Department (Task Force Pro-Active Unit). Hopefully, we can put an end to the "Occupation" or "Seizure" of our businesses by law enforcement officials. The drinking and eating establishments in Dwight contribute 10% of all sales tax received by the Village of Dwight. Special thanks also goes to the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association for their assistance in this matter as well.
Thanks for reading! Linda S. McNulty,\line AKA the Zookeeper (manager) RonDeVoo Tavern , Route 17, Dwight, IL
BACKGROUND INFORMATION (email of 9/1/04):}
Hello All:
The Chief of Police, Tim Henson, of the Village of Dwight has "asked" not "told" the Zoo's owners to let the motorcycle clubs know there is a No Colors policy in Dwight.
The Zoo's owners ar e asking all M/Cs out of respect for the police department not to wear their colors at the RonDeVoo. According to the Police Chief "Anyone wearing colors in Dwight will be met with the Dwight Police Department's Colors." \line \line In two separate meetings on Tuesday, August 24th, the Zoo's owners and the bar manager were told that all motorcyclists, especially those wearing colors, riding around Dwight will be followed. Tickets will be issued for the slightest infraction. Three tickets have been issued so far but there may be others that we don't know about yet. That means no more parking or riding on the sidewalk or parkway (Village property) in front of the Zoo or any other bar in town.
Bob, Larry and Linda informed the police department that there are no gangs meeting in the bar. Over the past 2.5 years, we have made a diligent effort to remove all drugs and dealers from the premises.
As a citizen of the United States, under the First Amendment which guarantees the Freedom of Speech, the following statements are Linda's personal views about this issue. They are in no way reflective of the RonDeVoo Tavern, Inc. owners' views. \line \line After our hog roast on August 21st, the Village of Dwight has decided to adopt a "No Colors" policy. Bikers walked down Main Street and frightened people and they called to complain. I bet it was a scene straight out of the movie "Wild One". The complainants said the bikers all had weapons (knives and guns).
The police chief said that anyone wearing colors to Dwight will be met with the police department's "colors". They will be ticketing and pulling over anyone with a patch on their back while on a motorcycle. I said that was discrimination and profiling much like "driving while black."
I asked if they will be stopping the Blue Knights M/C or the American Lawmen M/C (police officer motorcycle clubs). What about ABATE members? (ABATE chapters are not allowed to fly colors.) The chief of police denied any knowledge of ABATE.\line \line The section below is the law in Illinois and the Supreme Court's ruling on Colors. The Constitution of the United States under the First Amendment gives us all the right to wear what we choose.
ILLINOIS LAWS: DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF CLOTHING OR CLUB MEMBERSHIP IS ILLEGAL
Illinois Statute Section 68.5-102(A) makes it an offense for any person to deny or refuse to another the full and equal enjoyme nt of the facilities of any public place of accommodation. Persons cannot be excluded therefrom so long as they conduct themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner. City of Chicago vs.. Corney,.13 Ill.App. 2d 396, 142 N.E. 2d 160 (1957).
In addition, any person whose exercise or enjoyment of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States has been interfered with, or attempted to be interfered with may institute and prosecute a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief, including the award of compensatory monetary damages. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) that individuals have the constitutional right under the First Amendment to wear clothing which displays writings or designs. A citizen has the right to move about freely and peaceably in public places, without fear of being discriminately removed therefrom. Nanez v. Ritger, 304 F. Supp. 354 (ED. WIS.).
In addition, the right of an individual to freedom of association has long been recognized and protected by the United States Supreme Court. Thus, a person's right to wear clothing of his choice, as well as his right to belong to any club or organization of his choice is constitutionally protected, and persons or establishments who discriminate on the basis of clothing or club membership are subject to lawsuit.