Yea and some places have folks that are not so scared.
Gunnison prepares for Hells Angels as club sinks roots into Colorado
ByNancy Lofholm
Denver Post Western Slope Bureau
Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post Western Slope Bureau
Monday, July 22, 2002 - Hells Angels thunder into Gunnison this week, some of the bikers' leather vests will have "Colorado" patches sewn under the club's familiar death's-head logo for the first time.
Those red-and-white embroidered patches - or "rockers," as the riders call them - mean that once the Hells Angels' USA Run ends in Gunnison next weekend and the bikers roar on to the annual motorcycle rally at Sturgis, S.D., Colorado will not be finished with the group.
In fact, this is just the beginning.
In a California ceremony last weekend, the notorious motorcycle club initiated the club's first full-fledged - or "patched" - members from Colorado. Chris Schaeffer, a Colorado State Patrol detective who investigates motorcycle gangs, said more than a dozen members of the Brothers Fast, a Denver-based motorcycle club, were inducted into the Hells Angels after being tapped as prospective members a year ago. They now represent the first
Colorado chapter of the Hells Angels. That "rocker" on the lower backs of their vests declares that status.
Schaeffer said that now that Colorado has an official chapter, more Hells Angels will come. And more will be recruited. The Hells Angels are already associating with another Colorado club, the Grand Junction-based Red Devils.
"I think Colorado will eventually be one of the largest chapters in the country, maybe even in the world," Schaeffer said.
Colorado will also have the potentially volatile distinction of being home to four of the six major motorcycle gangs in the country: the Sons of Silence, the Bandits and the Mongols all have Colorado chapters. The other two major clubs, the Pagans and the Outlaws, are based on the East Coast.
Schaeffer said the Hells Angels are drawn to Colorado for the same reason many other newcomers are: the mountain scenery and the rugged-West image.
That is part of the reason the Hells Angels picked Gunnison, a town close to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. They also pick locations central to the East and West Coast chapters, according to Hells Angels' leader Sonny Barger in his book "Hell's Angel."
The Gunnison gathering that begins Wednesday will be the largest strictly Hells Angels get-together in the United States this year - a fact that has shaken this normally unruffled ranching town.
When the Hells Angels held an annual run in Steamboat Springs six years ago, several residents who tried to associate with the club were beaten. A shooting between Hells Angels left one member dead and another wounded. Other annual gatherings, including last year's in Branson, Mo., have been relatively peaceful.
Gunnison has been preparing for the Hells Angels for six months. And as the event draws closer, the jitters are easing.
"We hope this will be the biggest nonevent we've ever had here," said Gunnison Police Chief Jim Keehne, who has spent 300 hours and $30,000 preparing for the Hells Angels' visit. "The Hells Angels just want to be left alone and do their thing. They want to come in here, conduct their business and be on their way," he said.
Keehne said recent phone calls from Hells Angels from the Washington state chapter helped defuse the tension.
"That was the best thing that could have happened," Keehne said. "They wanted to make sure we are not starting off in an adversarial relationship."
A Hells Angels member from the Cave Creek, Ariz., chapter, who would only identify himself as "Hoover," said lingering fears that Hells Angels might swarm into Gunnison and unleash five days of terror are unfounded.
"I'm telling you straight up," Hoover said, "we're not going to cause problems. We're going up there so we can get away from our problems. After it's all over those people will find they worked themselves into a frenzy for nothing."
The State Patrol's Schaeffer isn't in a frenzy, but he'll be wary as one of 150 law enforcement officers from more than 30 agencies around the state who will be helping to police the Gunnison rally.
"They don't have any respect for anyone but themselves," Schaeffer said.
He and other law enforcement members say they also no longer have concerns that Gunnison might be host to a biker gang war.
This spring, after clean-cut representatives of the Hells Angels booked hotels in Gunnison for a meeting of "motorcycle enthusiasts," the anxiety level shot up because of an apparent gang war between the Hells Angels and rival biker clubs. There was fear that violence could erupt in Gunnison as it did in Laughlin, Nev., in April. Three bikers died there, and a dozen people, including bystanders, were injured.
Geography helped allay Gunnison's fears. No other group could ride into Gunnison without broadcasting their presence far from Gunnison, a town with two highways leading in and out, Keehne said.
Some business people around Gunnison are beginning to look at the Hells Angels in terms of dollar signs as well as death's-heads.
Scott Frazier, owner of the Columbine Victorian Hotel, which has been booked solid this week by the Hells Angels, said he's not worried. "They are just like other customers. . . . They want to fax registration information so they don't have to wait."
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So while Palm Springs cowers at the thought of "Harley Riders"
This small town in Co is selling Hotel Rooms to THE Club. I say GOOD for Colorado helping keep America FREE.
