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Hernando Today

Fallen Captain To Be Honored With Bike Ride

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: March 7, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Art Waskey has pedaled hundreds of miles to honor people he will never meet.

He's grieved for strangers at a wall of names honoring officers who died in the line of duty.

But as keenly as he felt the pain of loss in those moments, Waskey didn't fully understand the shock of losing a brother deputy until Feb. 19.

On that day, Waskey was riding to Tampa on his motorcycle for a radio show interview. He was scheduled to speak about his annual bicycle ride for the national Police Unity Tour.

Waskey was listening to the program when the DJ announced that a sheriff's captain with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office had been killed that morning in a car crash.

Shocked and overcome with emotion, Waskey pulled over and called the station. It was then he learned about the death of Scott Bierwiler. Suddenly his memorial bicycle ride was all too personal.

"There was no question about it. We would be riding for Scottie this year," Waskey said in an interview Friday.

The Police Unity Tour was organized in 1997 as a way to bring awareness to law enforcement line-of-duty deaths. Officers from around the country ride bicycles on a roughly 250-mile route in memory of a recently killed officer.

Additionally, they raise money to support widows and their children through the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial Fund. Some $1.25 million was collected last year.

This year's ride through Virginia begins May 10 and culminates with a candlelight vigil on May 13. The names of every law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in the United States will be read out loud. The survivors are escorted to their seats by the bicycle riders who rode in their memory.

"The hardest part is seeing the kids (of fallen officers)," said Joe Reid, who accompanied Waskey on the last bicycle ride.

Although Reid, Waskey and a Tampa DJ are riding in Bierwiler's memory this year, the 42-year-old captain will not be included on the wall of fallen officers until next year.

Supporting the team in their venture are their wives, Jayne Waskey and Darlene Reid.

Darlene Reid said the wives of deputies are hit hard by line-of-duty deaths, too. While there isn't the same sense of losing a brother, it still hits close to home.

"You think 'It could be me in that position,'" said Darlene Reid, who is raising three children with her husband.

To raise the money for their trip and the memorial fund, Waskey, Reid and others are planning a motorcycle run in Bierwiler's memory.

Registration begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 28, and closes at 11 a.m. The cost is $20 for a driver and $10 for a passenger. The ride will start in Brandon and wind its way through several back country roads to its conclusion at Adventure Cycle Center in Brooksville.

For more information on the event, visit www.putmmr.com.

"We can't take back (the crash), but we can memorialize his name," Waskey said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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