By Mason W. Canales
The Cove Herald

More than 300 motorcyclists are expected to tour Central Texas in a memorial ride remembering a local police officer.

The inaugural Ride4Danny will be on July 30 and will raise funds for the family of the late Danny Austin, a former Copperas Cove police lieutenant.

Austin died on April 9 this year after fighting cancer. Austin was a lifelong Central Texas resident who retired from the Copperas Cove Police Department with 27 years of service in July 2010.

As a member of the police department, Austin served as the department's media spokesman, but also organized and facilitated a multitude of community events, including running the department's Citizen's Police Academy and National Night Out programs. He also served as a member in several community organizations.

The American Legion Riders 573 of Harker Heights are hosting the event and will donate the proceeds from the event to the Austin family.

Austin left behind him a family and medical bills, said David McBride, owner of Dave's Icehouse, which is helping host the event.

"Honestly, (the ride) is to help raise funds for the family to help the medical bills that he acquired," McBride said.

While McBride admitted that he didn't know Austin, except for maybe a police incident during his childhood, he said an event like this is something that community members, especially longtime community members, like himself should be participating in.

"Me being a hometown boy, I was automatically involved," he said, before mentioning he grew up in Killeen.

The entry fee for the ride is $20 for singles and $30 for doubles and registration for vehicles will be from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. the morning of the ride. The bikes will take off at 11 a.m.

The ride will head to the Lampasas Veterans of Foreign Wars on Farm-to-Market 580, then head south on U.S. Highway 183 before heading east to Harker Heights and finally back to Copperas Cove.

There are several possible stops along the way with the final stop being Dave's Icehouse, McBride said.

The bar will have four bands and a DJ playing including Rare Dog and Black Lace at the time the riders come back, he said. There will also be food at the location.

While this event has a very specific purpose to help the Austin family, it's the goal of the organizers to continue the event every year, McBride said.

"We would like to make it an annual event," he said, hoping that it could help Central Texas families recoup medical costs for fighting cancer in the future, but keep the name to honor Danny Austin.

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NOTE:  If you want to ride in the event, you can sign up at Dave's Ice House located at 831 E. HWY 190 Copperas Cove, TX by 10:00 am Saturday morning.  The actual ride starts at 11:00 am. 

For questions or donations, call 254-542-3283.