Bikers turn out to support Jill's House

Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan spoke at the third annual "Mayor's Ride," declaring May as motorcycle safety and awareness month Sunday at an event on Sixth Street on the square. Kruzan addressed topics such as motorcycle safety and the benefits of motorcycles as fuel efficient vehicles. The actual ride, a luncheon and awards ceremony followed his speech.\nThe event was organized by region six of American Bikers Aimed Toward Education of Indiana. ABATE is divided into 14 regions thorughout the state, and region six includes Monroe, Brown, Green, Owen and Putnam counties. ABATE's Monroe County representative Joe "Pappa Joe" Cochran explained that the organization provides such services as training and skills tests for motorcycle licenses.\nProceeds from the event are split between ABATE and Jill's House, Inc. Jill's House will be a low-cost temporary home for patients recieving cancer treatment at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute. The MPRI offers a more precise attack on cancer cells and is only the third center of its kind in the United States, Jill's House President Peg Howard said. \nHoward said that the "treatment has turned a 90 percent fatality rate into an 80 percent cure rate." She went on to explain that the six to eight week long treatment provided by the MPRI is usually the only expense covered by an individual's insurance. The other two centers offering treatment like MPRI are located in Boston and California. Since Bloomington is within a 300 mile radius of a quarter of the U.S. population, Jill's House will provide a much needed service to the MPRI's wide range of patients.\nABATE has organized rides for other charities such as the Muscular Distrophy Association. With over 20,000 members ABATE is also a powerful lobbying group in the state and fought against the motorcycle helmet law that Kruzan took advantage of as he left the event on the back of Jack Eads' motorcycle. ABATE member Joe McNeill explained that they are not against the use of helmets, but "believe in the right to decide." One of ABATE's biggest fund raisers is the Boogie (formerly the Bean Blossom Boogie) which is held in Lawrence county every year on the third weekend in July. The Boogie featured southern rock legend Lynyrd Skynyrd last year for its 25th anniversary, and is planning to feature Ted Nugent this year.\nThe mayor's ride began at Sixth Street on the north side of the square, headed north on Walnut Street toward Griffy Lake, went south on College Avenue to Tapp Road and ended at the Monroe County Airport with lunch and awards for eight classes of bikes: custom, sportster, dresser, foreign, antique, ratt, big twin and mayor's choice.\nFor more information on Jill's House, call 855-8468 or e-mail howard@iucf.indiana.edu. Information is also available on the Web at www.indiana.edu/~jshouse/.