Merion Botanical Gardens
and motorcycle gangs...
The Botanical Gardens on Merion Road are within the boundaries of another line, the Lower Merion Eruv. An eruv (in the Hebrew, mixture or blending) is a boundary, created by walls (loosely defined) within which observant Jews are allowed to push a stroller or use a walker or carry house keys or a prayerbook or a baby. The rules of the eruv are complicated. My Israeli friend told me that all of the rules of Judaism are complicated, but I think I get the basic concept of this one. It’s as if there is a curtain surrounding this eruv which makes it a private space so that Merion Road and The Botanical Gardens become part of an Orthodox home. In one way, the eruv seems like breaking the rules and, in another, it seems beautiful. I like to think of myself walking within this eruv, inside the walls of this home.
One Sunday, the roar of engines splintered the air on Merion Road as members of the Pagan motorcycle gang drove past, their loud bikes fracturing the peace. The Pagans are near the top of the FBI’s list of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. They also, apparently, do charity work, raising money for children’s hospitals and protecting abused children from their abusers. In fact, there’s a whole group of motorcyclists who’ve joined together to protect abused children, Bikers Against Child Abuse.
In 1998, two Amish men were sentenced to federal prison. According to court testimony, the Amish men were trafficking Pagan provided cocaine. It’s hard to tell sometimes, the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff, and on the Sabbath, I think, it is forbidden work. Not much has changed since 1998. Lancaster County, home of the Amish in Pennsylvania, remains a known drug trafficking hub, a way station between NYC, Philadelphia, and the rest of the country.
In 2006, Charles Roberts, a milk tanker truck driver with a wife and three children, went to the West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster County and took ten students hostage, all girls between the ages of 8 and 13. He shot eight of them. Five eventually died. He then killed himself. On the day of the shooting, on the day of the shooting, the grandfather of one of the girls was noted to say, "We must not think evil of this man." Later, another Amish father noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God.” In the hours after the shooting, an Amish neighbor went to Charles Roberts’ home to comfort his wife and children. Another Amish neighbor held Charles Roberts’ sobbing father in his arms for over an hour. To those who criticized the Amish for forgiving the killer, for comforting his family, they held held up the example of Jesus, the forgiving God, hanging on a cross, saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what what do.” The Amish said that our forgiveness does not negate evil, but rather, it is the first step towards healing.
The Pagan Motorcycle Gang was formed in the late 1950’s by Lou Dobkin in Prince Georges County Maryland. The club started out with 13 members, a brotherhood. They wore denim jackets with an embroidered insignia. In the 1960’s they adopted a constitution and a governing structure. They might be outlaws, but it didn’t take long for them to set down some rules. Now, members must be 21 years or older and own a Harley-Davidson. The gang is know to traffic in drugs, prostitution, and weapons, but they aren’t afraid to dabble in other criminal enterprises and so get their hands into pretty much anything that’s illegal and potentially lucrative.
The Pagan Motorcycle Gang is part of the 1%, a subculture within a subculture within a subculture. Motorcyclists are the first subculture, because, let’s face it, most of us are never getting a motorcycle. Next in the subculture strata are the motorcycle clubs, those groups sanctioned by the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) and willing to abide by their rules. Then comes the outlaw clubs, those not sanctioned by the AMA, the ones who set their own rules. Those are the 1% clubs. The story goes that someone at the AMA once said that 99% of motorcyclists are law-abiding citizens. (The AMA claims the statement was never said.) Either way the image stuck and the outlaw clubs are the 1%, the non-law abiding motorcyclists. They have their own set of guidelines, their own rules, their own subculture (within a subculture), though, so they aren’t completely lawless.
The Pagans are active mostly along the east coast of the U.S., especially here in Philadelphia, which at various times has been, basically, Pagan central. In the 1990’s, the Pagans had a lock of the meth market in Philly, producing a product called, Pagan Purple. In the 1980’s, they battled it out with the mob.
I remember going out to Darby Road in Havertown on Labor Day weekend to watch the motorcycle gang - I’m not sure it it was the Pagans, but I think it was - roar by. ZZ top beard flicking in the wind, the grind of engines, denim all along Darby Rd, the sheer, astounding mass of them. It was as if aliens had driven through, leaving behind ringing ears and smog.
There are other outlaw clubs, such as the Hells Angels. Not surprisingly, disputes arise between between them, especially between the Hells Angels and the Pagans. The Hells Angels started in California. The name, or so the story goes, comes from a World War II flying squadron called the Hell’s Angels. It’s been noted that the name of the motorcycle gang is missing an apostrophe. The gang’s website notes: “it is you who miss it. We don’t.” Honestly, I find it funny that an outlaw motorcycle gang that traffics in drugs, weapons, humans, violence, and God knows what else, feels the need to address the grammarians who comment on their missing apostrophe. But such is the strangeness of the human heart and mind.