Group closer to building memorial for fallen bikers

After years of planning, local bikers are a Texarkana, Texas, City Council vote away from a home for their memorial to fallen fellow road warriors.

Bikers organized as a nonprofit called Texarkana Fallen Bikers Memorial Wall seek rezoning and a special use permit for 16.26 acres at 1600 S. State Line Ave. The moves would allow a memorial to people killed in motorcycle accidents, as well as other improvements to turn the vacant, wooded tract into a private park.

If as expected the council agrees, the group will buy the land and begin construction work there, organizer Mike Thacker said.

The park’s centerpiece will be a wall listing the names of bikers who died on the road, similar in form to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It would be the third bikers memorial wall in the United States, though a traveling version tours the country, Thacker said.

Developing the wall’s surroundings will happen in stages. Long-term plans include an information center, restrooms, a cook shack, an amphitheater and a pavilion. Events including future fundraisers may take place in the park someday, Thacker said.

The council could vote on the matter as soon as its next meeting, slated for June 12.

The city planning and zoning commission unanimously recommended approval with some stipulations, including: The park will be private property, and the city will provide no maintenance; any outdoor lighting must be shielded from adjacent residential properties; the park will close at 10 p.m.; and it must adhere to the city’s noise ordinance.

Any violation of the stipulations could result in the site’s special use permit being revoked.

The project is a special one for Thacker, 55, whose brother Gary died in a motorcycle accident in September 2014. That tragedy was one among too many he has endured as part of the biker community.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends over the years,” he said. His best safety advice to drivers? “Look twice. You’ve got to look a little extra.”