In 1987, when ABATE of Colorado had less than 100 members and was looking for ways to increase membership, an ad was run in the Rocky Mountain News. Mark Buckner saw that ad. He was familiar with motorcycle rights organizations (MROs) in other states and knew this was something he wanted to be a part of. He attended the November, 1987 ABATE meeting and joined on the spot.

After he had been a member for a few months, Mark asked then State Coordinator, Pat Smith, if there was anything he could do to help. There was a vacancy for newsletter editor and Mark took the job.

The newsletter at that time was printed on 8 ½ x 11 photocopied sheets, double sided and generally about 8 to 10 pages. The organization was so deep in the red, Mark and Silver Newnam ran the copies at work. Mark tells us they “graduated” when a member who was a Xerox technician started doing the organization's printing at night on the large xerox machines – a job which had previously taken several hours (and burned up more than one machine) started taking only a couple of hours.

Mark held the editor position until 1989, when he became Assistant State Coordinator (the Regional Coordinator positions had not yet been created). He held that position until being elected as State Coordinator in February, 1991.

Mark describes those early years as “dynamic” – things were happening and “ABATE was moving”. In 1989, District 13 formed and the first meeting was held in the basement of Mark's house. In 1991, District 7 reorganized. By 1992, District 6 had reorganized and new districts were forming almost every month. By the end of Mark's tenure as State Coordinator in 1994, eight new districts had formed and two had reorganized.

During this time, motorcyclists were busy fighting helmet laws every year and ABATE was active on the battlefield. Motorcyclists (and legislators) began seeing that ABATE was getting serious about legislative issues and membership began to grow, almost doubling annually in the years between 1992 and 1994 – over 1100 new members joined ABATE in 1994 alone.

By 1993, membership had grown to the point it became necessary to “regionalize”. There were by now too many districts for two state officers to handle. In addition, many board members were from central Colorado and some felt District 5 had too much representation. The ABATE Board of Directors amended the By-Laws – the position of Assistant State Coordinator became four Regional Coordinators so to give all districts more representation.

Mark also tells us that, while the new districts were forming, they let everyone know up front about the history and mistakes ABATE had made in the past. New members were given our word that we were learning from our mistakes.

Mark was elected president of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) in Sept, 1994 at the Meeting of the Minds in St. Louis, MO. He held concurrent office in both organizations for three months before stepping down at the November ABATE board meeting. The board voted then NE Regional Coordinator Maggot in as State Coordinator pro-tem until the next regular election.

Mark's work in motorcyclists rights did not end with his resignation as MRF President in September, 2000, nor did his involvement with ABATE. Today, Mark is executive officer for ABATE's sister organization, BIKEPAC of Colorado.  He and BIKEPAC lobbyist Maggot Mike Williams regularly present workshops and seminars at motorcyclists rights conferences and for ABATE districts. 

A commonly used phrase in the motorcycle rights movement is “[he's/she's/I've/you've] been Bucknered” – a term which originated with Mark's “recruiting” success. Probably the first people to be “Bucknered” were his own family members. During ABATE's  growth spurt of the early ‘90s, Mark's wife Sherry handled the challenging job of membership secretary. In May 1994, when ABATE began operating a bingo game to raise much needed funds, Sherry volunteered as the bookkeeper/games manager – ordering supplies, filing reports and working the games (along with assorted Buckner offspring). 

Thanks, Mark, for your long-term commitment to ABATE.

Mark Then

Mark in 1992 on his 1977 FX Superglide.

Always willing to help raise funds (and beat the heat), Mark anticipates being dunked (again).

Mark now as our BikePac President

Mark & Sherry at the 2003 All ABATE campout

Mark & Sherry finally relaxing!