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WheelsOfGrace.com | Volume 12 Issue 1 | 29 HANDLEBAR NEWS also include false endorsement and unjust enrichment. The Caboom character is described by Disney Pixar as a 1970s motorcycle-riding toy based on "Canada's greatest stuntman," according to the lawsuit. Photos in the court-filing put Caboom side-by-side with Knievel, who became an American icon a er his near-fatal 1967 Caesars Palace crash. An Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle toy released in 1973 featured a Knievel ac on figure clad in a white helmet and jumpsuit with red, white and blue embellishments on a motorcycle that could be propelled with a wind-up device. In vivid descrip ons of the movie, the lawsuit notes the Caboom character is a 1970s-era daredevil clad in a white jumpsuit and helmet with Canadian insignia and a "Duke Caboom Stunt Cycle." A propelled toy was marketed in conjunc on with the movie, Knievel's a orneys note, and the Caboom character became part of a McDonald's fast-food "Happy Meal" promo on. Consumers and film reviewers "universally caught on to the connec on," the lawsuit observed, while the movie company and Reeves avoided making any public associa on, connec on or comparison "even if directly asked." "Evel Knievel did not thrill millions around the world, break his bones and spill his blood just so Disney could make a bunch of money," Kelly Knievel said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. Knievel was seriously injured many mes during more than 75 motorcycle jumps. He died in 2007 at 69 in Florida of lung disease, not in a crash. THE EAST BAY DRAGONS, THE FIRST ALL-BLACK MOTORCYCLE CLUB TO EXIST IN THE BAY AREA, HAS FILED A FEDERAL LAWSUIT AGAINST SOLANO COUNTY ALLEGING THAT A COUNTY EMPLOYEE CONCOCTED A REASON TO CANCEL A PLANNED CLUB B Y N AT E G A R T R E L L VALLEJO, CA — The East Bay Dragons, the first all-Black motorcycle club to exist in the California Bay Area, filed a federal lawsuit against Solano County alleging that a county employee concocted a reason to cancel a planned club event at the fairgrounds a er hearing that one of its members had associa ons with the Black Panthers. The suit, filed last June, claims that the Dragons planned a 60th anniversary event at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo that was to be a ended by at least 3,800 people and would have featured an impressive lineup of music and comedy. Instead, the event was canceled at the last minute, a er the Dragons had spent thousands in fees and planning. Now the club is suing to recoup those funds, which includes cash to pay for the planned list of featured rappers, singers, and comedian: Whodini, Too Short, Doug E Fresh, Richie Rich, Dru Down, Tony Tone Toni, and Mark Curry, according to the civil complaint. The suit is s ll in its early stages. The county has not responded in court. The fairgrounds' CFO, Mike Ioakimedes, said he has not yet reviewed the suit with his a orney and declined to comment. According to the lawsuit, the trouble for the planned August 2019 event started when a county employee learned that a member of the Dragons owned It's All Good Bakery in Oakland, the Black Panthers' first headquarters. The bakery's website says its founder, Kim Clark, is proud of that fact because his family benefited from the Panthers' free breakfast program as kids. According to the suit, all of this was a problem for the employee, who allegedly remarked that the Black Panthers were "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country," and started working to cancel the Dragons' event. As a result of this, the suit alleges, fairgrounds staff invented the ruse that there was a credible threat to the safety of the event, "but there was no credible threat at all." "This insidious belief of EBD's threat traveled all the way to Oakland and with the help of the Oakland Police Department, and at the conclusion of the 60th anniversary celebra on, on September 2, 2019, the EBD were surrounded by Oakland Police Department officers due to racist mo ves as they were enjoying themselves at Level 13 in Oakland," the civil complaint says. The Dragons were founded in the 1950s as a car club, but switched over to motorcycles in 1959. Their founder, Tobie Gene Levingston, remained president un l his death last year. In East Oakland, the biker club is beloved, said Councilman Larry Reid, who said the group's clubhouse in his district on Interna onal Boulevard has produced food distribu on on Thanksgivings and toy drives during Christmas. "The East Bay Dragons are an incredible organiza on," Reid said. "They really interact with the young kids out here in East Oakland and with families." Reid said the Dragons have held events at the Oakland Zoo and never faced complaints except about the noise of their motorcycles. "If you came out here and talked to folks, no one is going to say anything nega ve about the East Bay Dragons," Reid said. "They'd only talk about the good things they do and how they are posi ve role models for our children." LATIN AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION RALLIES 100 BIKERS FOR BOY WHO IS RECOVERING FROM BULLY ATTACK B Y Z A C H E R Y L A S H W AY JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – More than 100 people on motorcycles showed up at Triton Bradshaw's home in Yulee, surprising the 7-year-old s ll recovering from a head injury and mild concussion he received when a teenager smashed a pumpkin in the boy's face. The members and supporters of the La n American Motorcycle Associa on and Gear Bragin' Motorcycle Club held a Cruzin For Triton to surprise the boy. "We just want to make it big for him," one biker said. "Today is his