It was a Sunday morning like countless others. Thousands of Clevelanders were in their churches singing hymns, saying prayers, and listening to preachers tell the Good News. At the same time, many others were in their homes reading newspapers, doing yard work, or working. Officer Wayne Leon was working. He was working to protect and serve the people of the Third District in Cleveland where he was an honored Policeman. He had more felony arrests than anyone in the department. Many other officers looked up to this six-year veteran.

On this Sunday like so many others, June 26, 2000, Officer Wayne Leon pulled over for a "routine traffic stop." As the two men spoke in a gas station parking lot, the driver reached inside his coat, pulled out a gun and shot officer Leon in the face. Dead on the scene, EMS workers and doctors at Cleveland’s level one trauma center worked to revive him, and lose him, revive him again, and loose him finally shortly before midnight.

Officer Wayne Leon was 32. He is survived by his wife Grace, and their three children, all under the age of ten, now fatherless. They wait by the door, wondering why daddy hasn’t come home. Their mother has to tell them that Daddy’s not coming home anymore.

Last weekend, July 15th, 2001 was the second annual Police Memorial Rally in Cleveland Ohio. The rally was started in 2000 by a friend of Wayne Leon as a memorial to this model policeman. Funds raised during the event go to the Greater Cleveland Police Scholarship fund, a fund designated to helping the children of our fallen heroes. The fund will grant two $10,000 college scholarships each year. Last year’s rally had over 400 motorcycles and organizers were hoping to double that number this year. They far exceeded their goal as the parking lot at Indian Motorcycles of Cleveland was absolutely packed. Estimates are well over one thousand bikes at this year’s event. It was my first experience with a rally, and now I plan on many more!

At 9:30am we began to spill out onto the roadways of northeastern Ohio, escorted by the area’s finest motor-patrolmen. My wife and I were somewhere near the middle of the group as we began the journey. The first stop was the Akron Police Department. The longer portions of the ride were on interstate highways and what a sight it was! At one point there is a valley between two hills spanning a distance of at least 2 miles. At the bottom of the valley I checked my mirrors and the sight was a wondrous one. Motorcycles as far as the eye could see in either direction! My wife Debbie was on the back and she had a better look at the serpentine formation of iron steeds stretching from front to rear in an awesome display of honor for the men and women of our safety forces, and support for their children. I had a grin from ear to ear for the entire trip.

Arriving at the Akron PD, we packed our bikes up like sardines, filling four lanes of road in front of the municipal building. There, on the front steps, we observed a reverent and patriotic ceremony in memory of the Officers who lost their lives. The Color Guard paraded the Ensign and a local musician sang the National Anthem while all thousand-plus participants stood in silent reverence. The police chaplain opened with an invocation, and was followed by speeches from an officer who is the head of the FOP, the Chief, who presented two checks to the Fund, and a bag-piper who played "Amazing Grace," the anthem of slain officers. It was a great, sometimes emotional ceremony.

From Akron we came north to the City of Parma Police Department where we would have lunch. This was the worst part of an otherwise fantastic day. They hadn't planned for so many last-minute registrations, so there was not enough food for everyone. Other than that, it was a nice stop where riders could talk to other bikers, get ideas for customization, sit back in the shade and shoot the breeze.

From Parma we followed mostly city streets into downtown Cleveland. This was the most fun segment to drive. It was like a parade as people lined the streets to see this massive collection of motorcycles roll down the road. I happened to get next to a guy who was all about having fun on this trip. We beeped and waved at all the little kids, blipped the throttle, and had all kinds of fun. At one point as we approached some kids on a corner this happy rider beeped out "Shave and a Haircut" on his Harley's horn. I immediately answered with the "Two Bits" and we looked at each other with the absolute stupidest grins you could imagine on two fool-bikers, but we were having a ball and the kids and their families loved it.

Once in Cleveland proper, we made a turn and rode past the Third Precinct station; the former home base of Wayne Leon. As we passed, several officers stood at attention on the top of the steps of the building and the Color Guard was there with the flags. It gave me 40-grit goose bumps. As we passed we cheered and beeped and gave the police the "thumbs up" and continued into down town.

In downtown Cleveland, across from the Justice Center is the Peace Officer's Memorial; a grassy plaza with several large shade trees and a monument upon which the names of the fallen have been engraved. Here was to be another ceremony with the Cleveland Police drum and bagpipes. Earlier I said lunch was the worst part of the day. I misspoke. At the memorial site I was terribly disappointed to note, as the head of the Police Patrolman’s Association pointed out, that there were no ranking officers of the CPD, there was no Chief. The bagpipers were there, the motorpatrolmen were there, and several off-duty patrolmen in their civilian clothes, but no official representative of the CPD came to speak. That was a big disappointment.

The bagpipers played some stuff and then a few folks had some words. At the conclusion of the events at the memorial the bagpipers played Amazing Grace. They have this formation in which they play, and when they do the last verse all pipes are quiet except for one player who, as he plays turns away from his brothers and slowly walks over the hill and out of sight. You hear the melody fade away as the group is left without their comrade. This was quite an emotional display that brought on more goose bumps and a few tears in the crowd.

From here we mounted up and proceeded to the county fairgrounds where there was to be a party and raffles and entertainment. Country band "The Clark Family Experience" would be putting on concert that was free for riders, and a few vendors were on hand to display their wares. Unfortunately, carnival vendors, who were charging carnival prices, supplied the food. My wife and I made it once around the vendors, listened to the music for a while and decided to go down the street to Friendly's for dinner. We were surprised that no other bikes had the same plan, but hey, $4 for a hamburger at the fairgrounds, or $6.29 for a hamburger, fries and a sundae in the air-conditioned restaurant, what would YOU pick?

As Debbie and I headed home that evening, we both talked about how much fun it was, and we looked forward to more. She did great on the pillion for all 118 miles. It was a leisurely pace with several long breaks. The only thing I would plan better for is to meet up with friends before arriving at the staging location. We had some friends meet us, but since we didn’t arrive together we always go shuffled around the group and had to meet up at the stopping points. That wasn’t too bad, but it would have been even better to ride together.

It has been said that bikers help people, especially those who can't help themselves, and even more especially, they help children. That was definitely proved at the 2001 Police Memorial Rally in Cleveland, and we had a great time raising money for the kids!