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Atascadero biker saves drowning man

May 29, 2015
Boyd Tarwater

Boyd Tarwater

An Atascadero biker who recently gained release from prison rescued a man who was drowning in a rip current at an Oxnard beach on Monday. [KEYT]

Tarwater biked to Oxnard for a Memorial Day picnic. While at the beach, he saw people running out to the water, waving their arms and pointing to the ocean.

After seeing someone’s head go under water, Tarwater stripped out of his biker gear and ran to the water wearing just his boxers. He swam about 50 feet, grabbed the man and pulled him back to shore.

Tarwater then managed to lay the man on his back and clear his airways by the time lifeguards and paramedics arrived. The man is now doing all right, Tarwater says.

Tarwater spent 23 of his last 35 years in prison, mostly for drug and alcohol offenses, he says. He is now part of a sober biker club and is attending college with the aim of becoming a drug and alcohol counsellor.

A KABC report says Tarwater is a former Navy sailor. The article in part credits Tarwater’s Navy training for the rescue.


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Perspicacious- The sound may very well echo off of buildings in town but at least I’m aware they are around and I keep an eye out. The same thing often happens to me with emergency vehicles, I hear them long before I see them but I know to be aware that they are around. I did say that I agree there are some that are just stupid loud. I get the point trying to be made.


Sorry for not responding directly, for some reason (probably because I’m on my phone) it’s not letting me do so.


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Lame commenter- I don’t have a motorcycle, don’t ride a motorcycle and appreciate peace and quiet. There are times I hear bikes (and some cars, usually small imports playing Fast n Furious dress up) that I will agree are obnoxiously loud. However, I don’t blame the people who ride for wanting to be heard with the way people drive these days the roads are dangerous. You yourself said life saving is good. If “loud pipes save lives” then I’m okay with that. Maybe you could focus your efforts on motorcyclist awareness by other drivers, then maybe someday they won’t have the need to be heard to be seen.


And to Mr. Tarwater, great job, thank you for your service and prayers for your continued success on the “flip side”.


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The excuse that “they want to be heard” is bull. The loud motorcycles are the result of the rebel mentality. The loud motorcycles DO NOT help motorists hear them. When is the last time you heard one coming up behind you on the freeway unless it was already right next to you? In town, the sound echoes off the buildings and you have no ide which direction it is coming from.


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Charger, your soft kindness is exploited by the selfish set. Once more,

A): there has never been a credible study that noise principally behind or around a motorcycle conveys a safety benefit. It’s just a convenient biker lie. Research shows that

B): frontal impacts, with the rider at fault 60% of the time, are the injury risk.

C): bikes do not come loud from the factory (40CFR205 et. seq.), they come like a Toyota Camry which thugs derisively call “sewing machine sound”.

D): The AMA (American Motorcyclist Assn) begs it’s members to not modify, search their website, their board of directors policy says it does great harm to motorcycling.

E): US Park Service biologists are considering a loud pipe ban as it interferes with wildlife.

F): a bright green vest and a sensible rider are proven to equate to safety.

Thank you for your intent to wish them safety (I used to ride too), but you are being a patsy to allow the common selfish “look at me” sociopathic loud biker to make you think noise equals safety. Alternatively, the biker’s “right” to imagined “safety” ENDS at the interior home bedside of all of our families, or it should. You’re fortunate if you don’t have any sociopaths riding near your home before 7AM.


Hey, few issues invade people’s homes with such regularity, are so flatly prohibited by state and federal law, and I just continue to tirade trying to educate those MISLED by the noise/safety biker lie, and I continue thinking the cops should enforce laws even- handedly including at least a little enforcement pressure on the loudest of the loud, and their city councils should insist that they do on a moderate but consistent basis.


I think I’ve about beat this topic into the ground for a while, time to cool it, sorry but it’s the acceptance of biker lies that perpetuates their behavior that lays down a needless illegal and disruptive noise footprint with every mile they ride.


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