Last drinks for motorcycle club?

Posted on November 30, 2009 | Filed Under Biker News | Comments Off

ANTI-BIKIE laws have come to bear on a Murray Bridge motorcycle group in what the club is calling an attack on its reputation.

The Murray Bridge chapter of the Longriders Christian Motorcycle Club claims it was told it would be denied a limited liquor licence for a regular open night on November 13 because the application had been received late and because the Longriders had associated with outlaw bikies at a poker run earlier this year.

A Longriders spokesman said the Office of the Liquor and Gaming Commissioner (OLGC) had not refused the club’s application in writing but said the Longriders were told they had fallen foul of association provisions in the Serious and Organised Crime Control Act (SOCCA), also known as the anti-bikie laws.

Upon hearing the licence would be refused two days before the event, the Longriders cancelled the licence application.

“This is exactly what we have been saying all along about the injustice of this SOCCA law and the potential that it has to affect law abiding members of the community,” the spokesman said.

“The association part of this law was deemed invalid by the Supreme Court yet the police are still acting on it by advising the liquor licensing commission to withhold licences.”

Longriders Murray Bridge chapter president Gus Slotegraaf said the incident had called the club's good name into question.

"We have associated with members of outlaw clubs since day one - this is the crux of the Longriders ministry.

"One club's legal standing has changed - ours hasn't - yet this law of association now restricts us and deems us as unfit and improper persons.

"The God I believe in doesn't see me like that.

"We will continue regardless to make ourselves available to those who desire the gospel of Christ."

The OLGC has also refused the United Motorcycle Council a licence to supply liquor at a function following Saturday's protest poker run from Adelaide to McLaren Vale, citing a recommendation from police commissioner Malcolm Hyde and the involvement of the Finks.

A spokeswoman for OLGC said it had no applications from the Longriders and a spokeswoman the police commissioner could not comment on the Longriders case before press deadline.

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