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Bike messengers
honor missing friend
Seattle Times, Friday, April 20, 2001
By Ian Ith
Anthony Reed was a bike messenger by trade, and in the tight-knit circles
of two-wheeled couriers in downtown Seattle, he had quite a name for himself.
"Tony, in a word, was just great," fellow bike messenger Peter Clark said
yesterday. "He was extremely polite, always friendly, you never heard him
say a cuss word, and he was always smiling."
So the entire community of bicycle messengers was stung by the news earlier
this week that Reed was presumed drowned after plunging from a state ferry
near Bainbridge Island on Sunday. They will say goodbye with a bike ride
to the ferry dock this evening, followed by a ceremony aboard the ferry Puyallup.
"It's very difficult to believe that he's not around," said Clark, who is
helping organize the event.
Investigators have not determined whether Reed, 30, jumped or accidentally
fell from a rear deck of the ferry as it neared Eagle Harbor. His body has
not been found.
Some witnesses said Reed was sitting on the railing before he fell, but others
said he may have jumped.
Clark said his fellow bike messengers won't second-guess investigators, but
they believe Reed's death was an accident.
"Tony was kind of an accident-prone fella," Clark said affectionately. "When
he rode his bike, he'd ride it as hard as he could."
In fact, Clark said, fellow bikers called Reed "Toothless Tony" because of
the many times he had kissed the pavement.
"He had a couple of front teeth missing, but he always had the biggest smile,"
Clark said. To help remember that smile, as many as 100 riders will gather
at Victor Steinbrueck Park, near Pike Place Market, about 6 p.m., Clark said.
Then the group will ride to the ferry dock and board the Puyallup for its
7 p.m. run to Bainbridge - the same run Reed was on when he went into the
water. At the place where that happened, the bikers will hold a short ceremony.
They asked the ferry system to stop the boat there, but the Friday peak commute
won't allow that, said ferry spokeswoman Patricia Patterson.
However, the Puyallup will slow to a crawl, and the captain will blow the
horn in tribute to Reed, Patterson said.
If Reed's friends can get his bicycle, which he rode aboard the ferry the
night he died, they want to toss it overboard, Clark said. Ferry officials,
however, say that's probably not permissible.
"Tony loved his bike, and he loved to ride it," he said. "That's what made
him the happiest."
More on Anthony
Reed
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