Well, apparently not if you use their most recent news release as criteria for accurate reporting which we reproduce here:

Update: Vertical Tags Legal Again in Florida July 1, 2009 Source: Katie Pearce - USRiderNews Staff

On June 11th, we received an email from Doc Reichenbach/State President, Abate of Florida, Inc. following up on my previous article “Don’t Go Vertical in Florida” in reference to Florida’s vertical tag law passed in October, 2008. He notified us that there was a bill sitting on Governor Crist’s desk that would omit certain wording in the old law essentially allowing folks to use vertical tags on their motorcycles again. Governor Crist had until June 18th to sign off on the Highway Safety Bill (SB1100) that would take effect starting the next fiscal year. The previous law stated, “License plates must be permanently affixed horizontally to the ground and may not be adjusted or capable of being flipped up.” Though not explicitly stated, the law was obviously written for sport bike riders. The monetary consequences for violating this law were extreme to say the least. I am happy to report that Governor Crist did sign the bill. The amended law reads as follows: 316.2085 Riding on motorcycles or mopeds.— “The license tag of a motorcycle or moped must be permanently affixed to the vehicle and may not be adjusted or capable of  being flipped up. No device for or method of concealing or obscuring the legibility of the license tag of a motorcycle shall be installed or used.” Doc Reichenbach did relay to me via email he thinks the amendment takes effect today, July 1, 2009 though he was traveling and did not have definitive notes with him to confirm. “The law was aimed at sport bikers and the whole process stunk to high heaven.  It should never have gotten as far as it did…It now is taken care of and we will be keeping a close eye on them to see that they don't change it again.”  I was unable to find a date listed in the statute revision but believe July 1 to be correct based upon the onset date for Florida’s fiscal year. Many thanks to Abate of Florida for staying on top of our rights as motorcyclists. For more information on Abate of Florida: www.abateflorida.com KatieUSRN@gmail.com  http://www.usridernews.com/absolutenm/templates/News.asp?articleid=843&zoneid=1

Now we were in the middle of something we thought was reasonably important and hated to be interrupted, Thank you Mike, but then in the arena of Motorcycle Rights we are of the belief that until we smash the lies, the illusions, the bullshit and the myths, we are not going to make much progress in either saving lives and/or saving our rights.

So of course we had to respond, not because we enjoy constantly addressing the permutations of the truth ala ABATE of Florida President/Lobbyist James D. Riechenbach . We don't. In fact we have grown tired it and maybe even a little resentful.  As there approx. 7000 +/- motorcyclist wh refer to themselves as "legislative warriors" whose only knowledge of what goes on in the Florida legislature is what the Grand Smurf tells them.  Whats even more amazing  is he actually tells them that he can't tell them everything he is doing, yet they still pay him and still believe him.

As incredulous as that may sound. Keep in mind, this country is in the worse shape it has been in since the great depression. All because we have failed to investigate and take action against those "who claim to represent us".

For me this no longer about James D. Reichenbach. He is only an example of what our failure to involve ourselves in the issues that affect our daily lives, our predisposition to apathetically trust our freedoms to those who have other agendas brings us.  James D. Reichenbach and his "believers" and media such as US RIDER NEWS are nothing more than a microcosm of how our country is deteriorating. Through our own laziness and lack of give a damn. And so our response to US Rider News
(we suspect you will not see them print it),

Re: Update: Vertical Tags Legal Again in Florida July 1, 2009 Source: Katie Pearce - USRiderNews Staff

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from r c to KatieUSRN@gmail.com date Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:46 PM subject Re: Update: Vertical Tags Legal Again in Florida July 1, 2009 Source: Katie Pearce - USRiderNews Staff mailed-by gmail.com

hide details 6:46 PM (44 minutes ago)

Reply

Katie, One of the reasons that we have such a difficult time in the "Motorcycle Rights" arena is because "our own media" the publications
we look to to keep "us" informed has fallen into the trap of traditional media. Keep the resources aimed towards that which attracts readership and reduce resource intensive reporting on generally boring topics, such as politics, that many readers will pay little attention to.

In other words, just regurgitate whatever is fed to you with out asking any questions or doing any background.

"Many thanks to Abate of Florida for staying on top of our rights as motorcyclists"

A more incorrect and misdirected statement would be hard to imagine.  When it was Doc Rickenbach and ABATE of Florida
That insured that the bill that resulted in vertical tags be declared illegal in the first place.

For your education and for the record we present you with the following:

Links:

A brief chronology of FL HB137 and the duplicity of ABATE of Florida

And it wasn't until here (Link)
http://lic.abateflorida.com/Library/Library/HB137explained.htm

Which we reported on here:
Link
ABATE of Florida finally sees the light HB 137 is very Bad law.

They realized they screwed up.

But then Doc from the very beginning was asking people not to fight this bill claiming it was dead as  will see if you read the first link.:

The Actions of The President/lobbyist of ABATE of Florida were also being monitored at Bruce and Ray' s Biker forum (Now Bruce and Rc's BIker Forum as we chronicled the various permutations of the house and senate bills every step of the way until their final passage as evidenced by this post.
link

Sent out by Bruce of Bruce and Rays Forum

And this is where The President and lobbyist of of ABATE of Florida supported the senate versions of the bill that eventually became law that resulted in the vertical tag being illegal

Link

SB 802 becomes SB1992 and we are all in Trouble

Of course since we have counted over a combined 200 posts regarding the ABATE of Florida's Lobbyists attempts to to stop opposition to
it, to support and then to claim ABATE of Florida has remedied the situation when Rep. Lopez-Cantera posted on our own site is promise to
rectify the tag law due to the political heat he was taking from bikers in general, time precludes us listing every one.

However, should you wish to know and print the truth you could spend a little time researching the issue

Bruce-n-RC's Biker Forum  

and   Big Bend Bikers For Freedom

might be good places to start.

It would seem that all media in today's world is happy doing no more than parroting what those who claim to represent us throw at us.  We as interested parties abdicate our personal responsibility blindly believe what is spoon fed us. I would think that the current state of this country would have taught us that is not the best strategy.

rc
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