Street Vibrations bikers find themselves on not-so-candid camera

Sunday, Sept. 26, 1999 | 1:04 a.m.

Police said the annual event brings a lot of motorcycles to the area and they wanted to assure a safe environment for everyone.

"When we have issues like this, we like to document the problem by camera or video to ensure we make better plans should an event like this be taking place in the future," Reno police Lt. Jake Wiskerschen told KOLO-TV.

He said that's why police and the Washoe County sheriff's department were videotaping participants in Saturday's poker run on Kietzke Lane, as well as scores of bikers who stopped off at a bike repair shop and a nearby biker bar.

The taping took place one day after Hells Angels Motorcycle Club of Nevada sued those two agencies, plus Sparks police and the U.S. Justice Department in Reno federal court, alleging harassment.

The police said traffic was congested for the morning run. But they were still videotaping in the afternoon.

At Easy Riders of Reno, Susanne MacDonald called it overreaction.

"They told us that we needed permits to put this poker run on they said we didn't have, which is not true. The Hells Angels got the permits. Everything was done properly," she said.

Bartender Becky Juassen said the taping hurt business at Stroker's Tavern.

"People don't want to come into the bar with police videotaping," she said.

An estimated 30,000 bikers turned out for the four-day event, which saw bikers from around the country roaring down the streets of Carson City and Virginia City as well as the Reno-Sparks area.

No problems were reported except for a massive traffic jam in Carson City, where a combination of the bikers and people headed north from the Genoa Candy Dance produced a backup from the north end of town to the south.