Bikers roar into Hollister
for Fourth of July weekend

By Anna Molin, Bay City News Service

June 30, 2006

HOLLISTER (BCN) - Hundreds of bikers and law enforcement officers are descending on Hollister this weekend as motorcycle fans roar into the town made famous by Marlon Brando in the 1953 outlaw biker movie "The Wild One."

There's just one problem: the Hollister City Council decided earlier this year to scrap the annual Fourth of July weekend event, which at times has drawn more than 100,000 biker enthusiasts to the town of about 35,000 people.

Hollister police Capt. Bob Brooke said today about 100 bikers are lingering downtown this morning, many fewer than police have seen in years past when several thousand have turned out early for the weekend festivities.

"It looks like a normal day with a few more motorcycles driving around and some bikes parked outside stores and restaurants," he said, before pausing to yell at a biker to stop driving on the sidewalk. "We don't know how many to expect. Maybe more people will decide to come down when they get out of work."

The city's main drag, San Benito Street, will stay open for traffic unlike years before when police have shut down the thoroughfare to allow some 200 street vendors to set up and bikers to roam undisturbed. This year, the City Council chose to stop issuing licenses to street vendors as part of the overall cancellation, a decision fueled in part by the event's rowdy crowd, including motorcycle gangs Hells Angels and the rival Mongols, and in part by the lack of an event organizer.

Hollister Independence Rally, a local nonprofit, had promoted the event since 1997 but filed for bankruptcy last year when it failed to reimburse the city some $360,000 for providing security and crowd control, Brooke said.

Police are operating on a $150,000 budget to manage crowds this weekend, he added. But with the help from at least six outside law enforcement agencies, including the state Department of Justice, the California Highway Patrol, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state parole board and the Modesto and Kingsburg police departments, Brooke said he hopes the city will manage.

"You plan for the worst and hope for the best," he said.

Copyright © 2006 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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