NAMES IN THE NEWS : Bono Rides Herd on Bullet Biker

PALM SPRINGS — He doesn’t wear a badge, but Mayor Sonny Bono figures he has enough moral authority to chase down speeding motorcyclists.

Straddling his black Harley-Davidson last weekend, his honor spotted another motorcyclist rocket through an intersection on Palm Canyon Drive, the main thoroughfare in the desert resort 100 miles east of Los Angeles.

“I chased him down,” Bono said Tuesday. “He said something about not being able to read my shirt, and I told him, ‘You’d better learn to read real fast unless you want to spend the night in jail.’ ”

That’s when the young rider noticed “Mayor Sonny Bono” printed on Bono’s T-shirt. The mayor, who became famous singing “I Got You Babe” with ex-wife Cher, got his man.

“We have had hundreds of those bullet bikes come in in the last three years,” the mayor said. “If they want to behave, fine. But most just go screaming through here.”