Biker buddies nip bullies in the bud

Saint Albert, Alberta (February 19, 2019) — Being bullied at school sucks. Having a friend stick up for you is awesome. Having a dozen bikers escort you to school rolling up on Harleys is a total game changer. That’s the philosophy behind Bullying Enns, a group that started as more than a bully deterrent: it stops them right in their tracks.

Another satisfied customer gets a free ride on the back of Steve Enns' Harley.

 Photo credit: BULLYING ENNS/Photo

The non-profit, volunteer-driven group shows up en force in response to applications made on its website at www.bullyingenns.org. Since 2017, they’ve done dozens of rides in and around the Edmonton area, though they sometimes take the long path to places like Coronation, east of Red Deer. They came to St. Albert for the first time just last week, when a stretch SUV limo pulled up to Sir George Simpson School . Two years ago, Beaumont’s Steve Enns heard of a boy who was having a rough time because of bullies at his school. Enns gathered up several of his motorcycle-riding buddies and “it made a little bit of an impression,” he said. “After I gave this first ride, the bullying stopped and I realized that as simple as this is, it works.”

Enns says the power move isn’t like showing up with a gang that’s bigger and badder than the other guy’s gang. Instead, Enns prefers to call it passive intimidation. They don’t bully the bullies back. They only look tough, and having strength in their numbers does help the show a little bit too. “When we show up there, we’re all smiles, laughing and joking. We never know who the bully is. Everybody gets treated the same as if the kids want to come take a look at our bikes. We’ve had all sorts of kids just jumping on our bikes and asking questions. There’s absolutely no intimidation meant,” he continued. “It’s a big ego boost. ‘Hey, this guy’s got cool friends,’ you know? ‘He’s not so bad.’ They get the conversation going in the school. Also, it’ll get kids talking to the bullied kid that might not normally talk to them.”

St. Albert’s Jessica Jones said it was a very special moment for her daughter last week, who she said has been bullied horribly for more than four years, including racial and other slurs, physical violence, cyber bullying and relentless text messages suggesting she kill herself. Jones added she has tried dealing with school officials but their “hands are tied.”

 “It breaks my heart to have my daughter coming home on a daily basis saying that she doesn’t want to go to school and everybody hates her and she’s stupid, basically repeating everything that everybody else is saying to her,” she began. After making the arrangements with Steve and his riders, her daughter told her something entirely different.

 “My daughter, for the first time in her life, looked at me and said, ‘Mom, I’m going to be so popular tomorrow.’ She was so ecstatic to go to school. They told her, ‘You’re going to be our sister. You have 100 brothers just like us. To her, it put a spark back in her eye.”

 Tracy Detta-Fehr said her 11-year-old daughter has been on suicide watch twice in the last two years because of bullying. Steve Enns showed up with some of his friends to help out. One day last June, 35 motorcycles roared up for the first time. Those riders kept coming back to see their “little friend,” too.

“My daughter was giving up. This was such a huge support for her. She realized that these guys care and will continue to care. She’d be all excited that a group decided to drop in,” she said. “These guys do it from the heart. She’s going through a down time, but she is strong enough now to know besides Mom, she has big friends she can reach out to.” Enns says he has talked with a lot of people who want to help because of the scope of bullying and the pervasive impacts it has on its victims.

“It’s actually a pretty big problem. I wish I could help more people there. There’s been a lot of rides where I have welled up. There’s been a lot of rides with big burly bikers come up to me and they go, ‘Man, I had to keep my sunglasses on because there were tears coming down.’ It is actually pretty emotional. I hear some pretty crappy stories. There’s some rides that you almost actually feel emotionally drained afterwards.”

Because it works as a non-profit, Bullying Enns fundraises and hosts special events to support its activities. Next month, it will host a ski event at Sunridge Ski Hill and a poker night in Okotoks later on.

SOURCE: St. Albert Gazette

Bikers ride to help pay for funeral

Anderson, Indiana (January 7, 2019) – Andy Deane knows all too well the stresses on parents having to plan and pay for not one but two funerals. He went through it with his two daughters, who died of illness.

So he understands what the mother of Javon Blackwell Jr., 12, and Jayzon Blackwell, 11, must be going through personally and financially as she prepares to lay her boys to rest.

Andy Deane prepares to start up his motorcycle in front of DT's R Bar in Anderson in preparation for a benefit ride to Mount Summit on Sunday.

That’s why Deane put on his bandanna and his leather chaps and joined a couple of dozen motorcyclists who raised money Sunday on a ride sponsored by Second Amendment Riders. The ride started at DT’s R Bar and took participants to 1,000 Degree Wood Fired Pizza in Mount Summit, where the pizzeria pledged 10 percent of its food sales to the benefit.

“It hit home, losing two kids. It hit home hard,” he said.

The motorcycle ride is one of several efforts to raise money for the funerals of the two boys, whose classmates at Anderson Preparatory Academy return Monday from winter break. A GoFundMe page has raised a little more than $1,800 of the $5,000 requested.

Donations may be made at www.gofundme.com/8nzpw-help-for-funeral-cost

The Blackwell brothers and their father, Javon Blackwell Sr., 42, were found shot to death Dec. 30 in a home in the 2300 block of South Gallatin Street in Marion.

Deane, who bought his motorcycle about a year ago, has participated in about three benefit rides since then.

“All the bikers get together when something like this happens in the community,” he said. “I lost two daughters myself, and the community helped me out. I like to pay that back.”

Brothers Javon Blackwell Jr., 12, and Jayzon Blackwell, 11, died Dec. 30 in a Marion home. Both were students at Anderson Preparatory Academy. Photo provided by the family to Fox 59

The motorcyclists benefited from unusually great weather for early January. But that didn’t matter, Deane said. “I’d have been here, rain, shine or snow,” he said.

Jason Mahla of Second Amendment Riders said deaths involving gun violence are exactly the kind of cause his organization gets behind. “We don’t believe firearms should be taken away. We believe firearms are for proper use,” he said.

Though the motorcycle club is helping to pay for the funerals of the two boys, it is at this point helping to pay for the funeral of the father. That’s because the not-for-profit can’t help when gun violence is the result of drug deals or bar fights. “With narcotics found in the house, it prevents us from doing a benefit for him,” he said. “It’s got to be an innocent victim. There’s no way the boys could have been doing something where they deserved to be shot.”

In the end, however, most would prefer to ride because the weather is nice and hope there won’t have to be any more benefits this year, Mahla said. “We wish this cause would never have to be, but it seems people just aren’t prepared for funerals,” he said.

Funeral arrangements

Visitation for Javon Blackwell Jr., 12, and Jayzon Blackwell, 11, will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, 1204 W. 14th St., Marion.

Services will take place following the visitation at noon at the church.

SOURCE: Herald Bulletin 

Hundreds of bikers ride for Durant infant

Durant, Oklahoma (January 5, 2019) — Usually, it only takes a little sunshine to bring this many motorcycle riders together. But on Friday, it was all for Dahlia Ussery, who died three days after Christmas, just eight days after she was born.

"She was going to be on a bike before she could walk, so this means a lot to me that we had this many people here," said Dahlia's father, Dakota Ussery. Born into a family of bikers, Ussery's only request was to have an escort of bikes that would lead Dahlia to her final resting place. "He asked me to have a few bikes," said grandfather Tim Ussery, "and I just sent out this request and I just sent it out to anyone to help."

Little did they know the request would be shared more than 7,000 times on Facebook, uniting bikers from across the country. "There's no way to describe it... folks from Arkansas, Kansas, all over Oklahoma, all over Texas," said Calera Police Chief Don Hyde.

Brandi Peek is a biker who came all the way from Dallas, can relate to the Usserys' grief. "I lost a child before, so I know how it feels, so I said, 'I want to go out and support this guy and whatever I can do,'" Peek said.

Hundreds of riders escorted Dahlia down U.S. 70, showing that behind the black leather and metal rims are hearts of gold. "People have bad things about bikers, and they come together like you wouldn't believe for each other, and they are good people," Ussery said. "Keep on pushing is knowing that I have a community like this around me."

 A selfless act bonded these bikers forever. "It's renewed my thought, my appreciation, my love in people," Hyde said. The family said they're planning a poker run to start a non-profit in Dahlia's honor.

SOURCE: KTEN News