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STURGIS - About
400 motorcyclists left Sturgis at 9:35 a.m. today on the annual
Mayor’s Ride, but not before officials dedicated four new
postage stamps honoring American motorcycles and demonstrators called
for protection of Bear Butte.
“Ride safe,
respect one another, respect all of our surroundings and respect this
great nation of ours,” Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told
riders, who had gathered before the ride in a large, white tent next
to the Sturgis Community Center.
“Respect Bear
Butte!” demonstrators shouted from the back of the tent after
Kempthorne finished speaking.
Indians and others
are camped at Bear Butte to protest the encroachment of bars and
campgrounds serving the Sturgis motorcycle rally.
The demonstrators
did not interrupt the ceremony to unveil four new postage stamps,
each one picturing an iconic motorcycle: a 1918 Cleveland, a 1940
Indian, a 1965 Harley-Davidson and a graphic representation of a
“circa 1970 chopper.”
Gov. Mike Rounds
said motorcycles “represent freedom." They represent an
opportunity to be free and to ride free.
Rounds rode behind
Sturgis Mayor Mark Zeigler and his wife, Gae Zeigler, as they led the
long line of motorcycles which rumbled out of the parking lot, headed
for the Crazy Horse Memorial and a barbecue at Custer State Park.
All three members
of South Dakota’s congressional delegation attended the
ceremony, as did top postal officials, but White House chief of staff
Josh Bolten was a no show. Another White House official took his
place. Sturgis Rally Department director Lisa Weyer said she
didn’t know why Bolten did not attend.
The annual
Mayor’s Ride is a fundraiser for the Sturgis fire department.
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