Windham County Sheriff's Department
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By PATRICK J. CROWLEY, Reformer Staff
Brattleboro Reformer

"I just think there's a huge misconception about who we are," he said. "Everybody thinks we're a bunch of tattooed hell-raisers."

The Pathfinders Motorcycle Club, based out of Bethany, Conn., has an average age around the mid-40s, DiFrancesco said. For the most part, they're all family people, he said -- small business owners, veterinarians, engineers, perhaps even a lawyer or two.

DiFrancesco is leading a lawsuit on behalf of the Pathfinders Motorcycle Club of Connecticut that alleges Jamaica officials acted outside the law by ordering a stop to the Red Fox Turkey Run in August 2004.

The club's annual rally was a ride that the Pathfinders had held in Vermont for four years. They haven't back since the 2004 showdown.

DiFrancesco said the ride was just for fun and was not a race at all.

But the defendants, the Windham Country Sheriff's Department, the town of Jamaica and the Jamaica Selectboard, said in court documents that the ride was indeed a race, and had to be stopped.

"They never asked anyone who was putting on the event for a definition of what it was," said DiFrancesco.

DiFrancesco said a "turkey run" is a noncompetitive event that clubs across the country hold. For the Pathfinders' event every bike is insured and street-legal. He also said that includes a sound-test for every bike.

There are no trophies and there is no time-keeping. "It's just a joy ride," he said. "It's a gathering of people to have some fun."

The ride would start at the Townshend Dam and run over public roads and go off-road only where permission granted them to. The ride, ending in Chester, was insured up to $1 million for any accidents.

Sheriff's deputies met the 298 registered riders as they gathered at the Townshend Dam on Aug. 4, 2004. At the time deputies told the participants they needed state-approved tires, goggles, helmets, directional lights and license plates.

The club's lawsuit alleges that the bikers were lied to about those Vermont requirements.

After the cancellation of the event, the Vermont Attorney General's Office started an investigation into the handling of the situation and concluded that although the actions of the Selectboard and sheriff's department improperly caused the cancellation of the event, no criminal misconduct was discovered.

The club, along with attorney William S. Palmieri, filed a motion for class action status last month, but due to a mistake by Palmieri, U.S. District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha denied the motion, stating in his ruling that sufficient information showing that Palmieri was qualified to handle the club's case was not included.

Palmieri filed a motion for reconsideration, including his argument that he is indeed experienced enough to handle the case that involves nearly 300 people.

But this week, defendants, along with attorney Jeffrey Marlin, stated their opposition to that reconsideration.

"The fact that plaintiff's counsel employs only one other person to assist him indicates that his office is ill-equipped to handle representation of a call with 300 members," Marlin wrote in the motion.

The defendants also filed paperwork requesting a summary judgment in their favor, citing laws that show the rally was a race under certain laws.

But DiFrancesco said even if class-action status is denied to the club, they will continue their fight.

"We're going to take it all the way to the end," he said. "We're not going to go away."

He said outside of U.S. District Court, there are other options the club can follow.

"We're going to be considering this case no matter what the courts do," he said.