Elks’ Link to Hells Angels Angers Police

SIMI VALLEY — A ride for charity that will bring leather-clad Hells Angels roaring into town and into the local Elks Lodge has prompted one police officer to quit the club and nine others to return awards from the Elks.

The flap began at a meeting Tuesday after Elks Lodge No. 2492 voted for the second year in a row to rent out its lodge to the Hells Angels, who sponsor the annual “Poker Run” in September.

While the event draws hundreds of riders and benefits disabled children, it also functions as a fund-raiser for Hells Angels chapters, some of which have been tied to illegal conduct.

After the vote, Simi Valley Det. Jay Carrott stood, held up his police badge and his Elks Lodge membership card and said:

“These two things used to mean something to me.”

Tilting his head toward his badge, he said, “This still does.”

As he let his membership card drop to the floor he said, “That doesn’t.”

Thursday, nine of his fellow officers joined in his protest, returning Police Officer of the Year plaques handed out annually by the Elks Lodge, Carrott said.

Officially the Police Department has not weighed in on the issue, saying that the controversy does not involve the department. But unofficially many officers are patting Carrott on the back for standing on principle.

“I just don’t think people should buy into that idea that these are just guys that like to ride Harleys,” Carrott said.

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At the meeting, in which only Elks Lodge members can speak, Carrott said he read a letter from an Elks member and former law enforcement officer in Arizona who had tracked outlaw motorcycle gangs there for more than 14 years.

“I wanted them to recognize how contrary [the Hells Angels] are to the beliefs of the Elks,” he said.

Simi Valley Elks members, though, said they don’t know what all the fuss is about.

The ride in September--which promises to attract hundreds of people who are not involved with the Hells Angels--will raise money for disabled children, they said.

Hells Angels also use the rides to raise money for their chapters by selling memorabilia and other items.

The Poker Run--also known as the Big Red Machine--attracts riders from across Southern California.

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They ride en masse and stop at five bars and restaurants along the way picking up cards.

The last stop will be the lodge, in Simi Valley’s east end, at which point the rider with the best poker hand wins a prize.

A similar ride last year attracted about 1,500 riders without incident, police officials said.

Taking a break from family night at the lodge Thursday, Exalted Ruler Bill Turrentine, an eight-year Elks member, read from a prepared statement.

“Simi Valley Elks Lodge No. 2492 members agreed on 6/17/97 at the regular meeting night to let an organization called the Big Red Machine use their facility.

“There has been no contract signed since there are still some problems to be ironed out before a contract can be signed by both parties. As of this date [6/19], no resignations have been received by the Simi Valley Elks Lodge from any Simi Valley police officers or Los Angeles police officers.

“Simi Valley Elks Lodge does not have any say with how the Big Red Machine distributes their moneys to charity.”

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He said the lodge has rented to other organizations, such as the Handicapped Bowlers, Salvation Army, American Assn. of Retired Persons, cancer support groups and community youth organizations.

While rank and file Elks Lodge members said they are sensitive to the concerns of Carrott and other police officers, they said they suspect the fuss will soon blow over.

At the lodge’s muggy, dim bar Thursday afternoon, Elks member Bobby Soto, 59, considered the situation over a Bud Light.

“I can’t imagine anyone getting so upset,” Soto said, taking a drag off his Winston 100. “But that’s their choice. On occasion, we have members get ticked off about some thing or another. It’s a small deal.”

To hear Soto, a retired Rocketdyne engineer, tell it, the membership vote was like most others. About 50 of the fraternal organization’s 500 members were there.

A “clear majority” voted to allow the Angels, at the invitation of a member, to use the lodge as the last stop of the Poker Run.

“It sounded like a small event that someone wanted to have,” Soto said. “And we only rent to members. Clearly, everyone was concerned, or we wouldn’t have had a vote on it. We’re as concerned about the Police Department’s concerns as the officers are. . . . Everyone voted their conscience, and that was it.”

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But it didn’t end there and now the flap is becoming the talk of the town with even the mayor walking the political fine line between the two sides.

‘I can definitely understand both sides of it,” Mayor Greg Stratton said.

In the balance are the Police Department’s wishes to keep the city calm and the Elks’ desire to raise money for charity.

“I can see the Police Department’s reluctance to desire the Hells Angels in town, because they’re not excited about the prospect of breaking up a wild party at the Elks Lodge,” Stratton said. “That wouldn’t be high on my list of priorities either. . . . But the Elks are running that lodge on a shoestring. I understand their desire to rent it.”