Carefree Truth
Issue #786, November 11, 2019
Linda Rawls began by saying that she appreciated Mayor Les Peterson's invitation to start the Pledge of Allegiance, and offered to explain to anyone who was interested why she refuses say or stand up for the Pledge.
Linda Rawls
Photo by Herbert Hitchon
She came to talk about Bike Week and the year round motorcycle traffic. She has lived on Cave Creek Road in Carefree for over 10 years, and has never come to the Town to complain about anything before, which shows how much this issue is getting to her.
Cave Creek has been using Town resources to attract people for their businesses, and it caters to the motorcycle crowd. Carefree bears the brunt of this income generator to Cave Creek. The traffic noise has increased greatly in the past couple of years as the motorcycles have increased. Most do not follow the 30 mph speed limit, traveling at 50-60 mph on a regular basis. She is increasingly picking up beer cans from the side of the road, and the noise is clearly above Carefree's Noise Ordinance. She read a national article stating that Carefree is one of the few towns that would fine $750 for exceeding the noise Ordinance, but she doesn't believe that is being done.
Mrs. Rawls comes from a Harley family, so is not innately anti-Harley. Harleys come off the line at the same decibel limit as Carefree's Ordinance. Most are customized, mostly with aftermarket straight pipe exhaust systems that exceed the Ordinance. If the symbol on the exhaust doesn't match the symbol on another part of the bike, it's been customized and is well over the decibel limit, and not by a little bit. It has been guesstimated that some bikes get up to 115 decibels. And it's not just a linear advancement of decibels. Like an earthquake, it's exponential. 90 decibels is 4 times as loud as 70. 100 decibels is 16 times as loud. She has to turn her stereo up loud in order to read at her house on Saturday afternoons due to the constant roar from the motorcycles.
She went onto the website of Buddy Stubbs, who owns the Harley shop in Cave Creek, to check the equipment for sale there. The ads read, "a rich, aggressive exhaust note that lets everyone know you are around", "an exhaust note with some extra bass for those who like deep bass", "plenty of low end guts", "an aggressive raspy sound", and "tuned to provide a rich exhaust note, a deep bass rumble, a great throaty sound when you roll on the throttle". Her town is being taken over by these "funny but serious" exhaust systems and she doesn't like it.
Mrs. Rawls called herself a "tough gal" who was born in Gary, Indiana and went to law school in the South Side of Chicago. She is not a "fraidy cat", but would not confront most of these people who are coming into town. She knows some of them have ties to the Hell's Angels. Her husband is a defense attorney who had to represent some of them.
People moved to Carefree for a nice quiet existence with animals and each other. Mrs. Rawls asked the Council to do something about the noise, the litter, and the drunkenness, since most of the cyclists have been at the Cave Creek bars before going 60 mph past her house on the way out to the lake. If the message is not out to the bikers before Bike Week, as all the Cave Creek residents tell her, we should just leave town. She guesses she's expected to leave her own home because she's afraid to pull out of her driveway, and can't hear herself think. She thanked the Council for listening.
https://vimeo.com/371775873
Mayor Peterson replied, "We agree". The Town had their 3rd meeting with Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone that morning. They had also met with the County Board of Supervisors and a representative from the Governor's office.
The Town takes this seriously. The Mayor said someone is going to get hurt. It may be a resident, a biker, or both. He thanked Mrs. Rawls for speaking.
https://vimeo.com/371782082
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.
Photo by Herbert Hitchon
She came to talk about Bike Week and the year round motorcycle traffic. She has lived on Cave Creek Road in Carefree for over 10 years, and has never come to the Town to complain about anything before, which shows how much this issue is getting to her.
Cave Creek has been using Town resources to attract people for their businesses, and it caters to the motorcycle crowd. Carefree bears the brunt of this income generator to Cave Creek. The traffic noise has increased greatly in the past couple of years as the motorcycles have increased. Most do not follow the 30 mph speed limit, traveling at 50-60 mph on a regular basis. She is increasingly picking up beer cans from the side of the road, and the noise is clearly above Carefree's Noise Ordinance. She read a national article stating that Carefree is one of the few towns that would fine $750 for exceeding the noise Ordinance, but she doesn't believe that is being done.
Mrs. Rawls comes from a Harley family, so is not innately anti-Harley. Harleys come off the line at the same decibel limit as Carefree's Ordinance. Most are customized, mostly with aftermarket straight pipe exhaust systems that exceed the Ordinance. If the symbol on the exhaust doesn't match the symbol on another part of the bike, it's been customized and is well over the decibel limit, and not by a little bit. It has been guesstimated that some bikes get up to 115 decibels. And it's not just a linear advancement of decibels. Like an earthquake, it's exponential. 90 decibels is 4 times as loud as 70. 100 decibels is 16 times as loud. She has to turn her stereo up loud in order to read at her house on Saturday afternoons due to the constant roar from the motorcycles.
She went onto the website of Buddy Stubbs, who owns the Harley shop in Cave Creek, to check the equipment for sale there. The ads read, "a rich, aggressive exhaust note that lets everyone know you are around", "an exhaust note with some extra bass for those who like deep bass", "plenty of low end guts", "an aggressive raspy sound", and "tuned to provide a rich exhaust note, a deep bass rumble, a great throaty sound when you roll on the throttle". Her town is being taken over by these "funny but serious" exhaust systems and she doesn't like it.
Mrs. Rawls called herself a "tough gal" who was born in Gary, Indiana and went to law school in the South Side of Chicago. She is not a "fraidy cat", but would not confront most of these people who are coming into town. She knows some of them have ties to the Hell's Angels. Her husband is a defense attorney who had to represent some of them.
People moved to Carefree for a nice quiet existence with animals and each other. Mrs. Rawls asked the Council to do something about the noise, the litter, and the drunkenness, since most of the cyclists have been at the Cave Creek bars before going 60 mph past her house on the way out to the lake. If the message is not out to the bikers before Bike Week, as all the Cave Creek residents tell her, we should just leave town. She guesses she's expected to leave her own home because she's afraid to pull out of her driveway, and can't hear herself think. She thanked the Council for listening.
https://vimeo.com/371775873
Mayor Peterson replied, "We agree". The Town had their 3rd meeting with Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone that morning. They had also met with the County Board of Supervisors and a representative from the Governor's office.
The Town takes this seriously. The Mayor said someone is going to get hurt. It may be a resident, a biker, or both. He thanked Mrs. Rawls for speaking.
https://vimeo.com/371782082
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Copyrighted
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list.
Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.