Burnside’s Ride to Remember – Blue Knights

Below is a story from the Commonwealth Journal to that tells about last year's event…

The Blue Knights rode into Burnside this past weekend, and took the town by storm.

The “Ride ‘2’ Remember 2011” — the ninth-annual memorial ride for fallen law enforcement officers — was held on Saturday. It began at the law enforcement academy in Richmond, Ky., and ended in Burnside.

It’s not the first time the motorcycle ride for the Blue Knights has ended in Pulaski County. In recent years, it’s finished at both the Shopville-area site of former sheriff Sam Catron’s untimely death, and at the Hal Rogers Fire Training Center.

This time, however, one of the participants — Burnside Mayor Ron Jones — managed to get “the only town on Lake Cumberland” in on the act at the destination for the cyclists.

“It was a beautiful day,” said Jones. “You couldn’t have asked for a better day.”

The Blue Knights is a fraternal organization made up of active and retired law enforcement personnel, the largest of its kind in the world.  In 29 different countries, with around 20,000 members, the Blue Knights annually hosts rides for its motorcycle enthusiast members for a good cause, with all the proceeds going to charity. Among the causes the Blue Knights have supported include the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Toys for Tots, and Concerns of Police Survivors, which aids families who have lost a loved one in the line of duty.

This time the ride was held in honor of Officer Bryan J. Durman, Lexington Division of Police, who was killed in April of 2010, when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Lexington.

Around 250 cyclists participated, from Kentucky and Tennessee, and as far away as the states of Georgia and Wisconsin.

“It was a heck of a turnout,” said Jones.

Involved with the police department in Murray, Ky., before moving to Pulaski County in the 1970s, Jones holds an honorary membership with the Blue Knights as he was inactive but not considered old enough to have retired as a law enforcement affiliation.

Jones rides a 2004 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, and has spent most of his life riding motorcycles for recreation and racing.

“It’s just the freedom, the air hitting you in the face,” said Jones when asked what he enjoys about riding motorcycles. “They say that when you go to the psychiatrist’s office, you see Porsches and Mercedes, but you never see a Harley. It is my psychiatrist.”

The Burnside mayor was not the only local to ride — others included Delynn Gibson, familiar for his work with the National Guard, retired state trooper Bruce Hatfield, Doug Nelson and Jeff Phillippi from the Somerset Police Department, Gerald Martin of Alton Blakley, and appellate court judge Mike Caperton.

The group received a warm welcome coming into town, with individuals lines up along the side of the road, holding friendly signs, all the way from the Ky. 914 bypass. Jones reported that he heard nothing but favorable comments about the town and that the ride could have done a lot for Burnside’s tourism’s prospects.

“The head of the Kentucky Chapter (of the Blue Knights) was riding and said this was the nicest one he’s been in,” said Emma Lou Jones, Ron’s wife. “He said he’d never been greeted in any town with the welcome they had in Burnside. Many said they will be back, and would schedule vacations here. They never had such a warm ceremony as they had here.”