Please Donate to our Motorcycle Outreach Effort for Veteran Health Awareness

Through addressing groups, answering questions, and efforts to get in front of as many reporters and cameras as possible, this tour will measurably turn the problem around.

Honda VFR 800 Interceptor similar to motorcycle being provided by Sacramento Motorcycle Rentals.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - This is one of the most revolutionary ideas to evolve from our years of covering Veteran health issues; a solo cross country motorcycle ride designed to reach Veterans all over and inform them of the health risks they face from toxins used by the various military services but not disclosed to those who served. Large numbers of Veterans are facing imminent problems but are not online searching for this information.

August 1st, the scheduled launch date, is drawing closer and I am still trying to secure sufficient support to launch what we call Operation Red Dragonfly, our motorcycle ride for Veteran Health Outreach. If I don't do this fewer people will know what they are facing and fewer lives will be saved.

I am willing to ride thousands of miles and reach out to tens of thousands of Vets; volunteers all over the country are willing to secure venues and provide local support, but I can't do it alone. If you are interested in helping out then please write to me at timking@journalist.com for more information, or use the PayPal button below to donate, or send a check or money order. Please specify if your donation is for Operation Red Dragonfly.

I can only say that a lot of good can be done if this ride takes place. The motorcycle for this tour, a Honda VFR 800 Interceptor, is being provided by Jon Daggett of Sacramento Motorcycle Rentals. I also now have a new cell phone for the ride, a laptop, and a GoPro camera is being provided for the ride. Yesterday $300 was pledged by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, which presented Tim and Bonnie King of Salem-News.com the 2010 Excellence in Journalism award. But we need the pledges and donations to continue.

Veterans do not fully understand the peril they may face. Toxins used on military bases are often multi-generational also. This outreach is vital to the health and well being of so many people. Also remember that military spouses and children are often exposed to the same base toxins.

The government wants to keep those who served on toxic military bases in the dark, it is all very direct and intentional because responsibility is costly.

The VA has an unofficial slogan, "Deny deny until they die" and rest assured that they get their share of miles from that approach.

Through addressing groups, answering questions, and efforts to get in front of as many reporters and cameras as possible, this tour will measurably turn the problem around.

If there is insufficient support, I may be forced to scale the tour down or delay it, please help me avoid doing that, thanks.

Learn much more about the ride here:

Operation Red Dragonfly Brings Hardcore Veteran Health Outreach to America

Operation Red Dragonfly - Former Marine Will Cross Country for Veteran's Health

Road Warrior Crossroads: Taking Veteran's Issues to the Street

Please use our PayPal or send a check and please specify that the donation is for Operation Red Dragonfly:

Please send your donation via the PayPal icon below, which is also located at the top right side of Salem-News.com. This is a SAFE and secure way to help.

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If you want to send money or a check then please just write to:

Salem-News.com P.O. Box 5238 Salem, Oregon 97304

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com.

Visit Tim's Facebook page (facebook.com/TimKing.Reporter)

With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim King reporting from the war in Iraq

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.

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