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Dec 11, 2015

TRUCKER STORY * USA: Driving with Multiple Sclerosis, it's possible

* Kansas - Multiple Sclerosis doesn't slow down truck driver

-- When Bill Neuville applied for a job driving a semi for Great Plains Trucking, he already had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in January 2007. The trucking company, a division of Great Plains Manufacturing, decided to hire him anyway, despite an uncertain prognosis... That was in January 2008. Nearly eight years later, Neuville is still driving a commercial truck, hauling loads of farm planting, tilling, seeding and spraying equipment to customers throughout the U.S.A. ...  Neuville often is on the road for as many as two weeks at a time, driving an average of 10 to 11 hours a day. This, despite some numbness on three fingers on his right hand and a heaviness in his left leg that causes him to walk with a pronounced limp... Neuville tells people that as long as he takes of himself and maintains a positive attitude, there is little he cannot do... “If I stop, the MS wins. And I’m not going to let it” ... 
(Photo: Bill Neuville a Great Plains Trucking's truck driver, he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis) -- Salina, KAN, USA - Salina Journal, by GARY DEMUTH - Dec 8, 2015

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Nov 2, 2015

TRUCKER WIN GOVERNOR NOMINATION * USA: Robert Gray from Mississippi

* Mississippi - Trucker on longshot quest to unseat as GOP governor

-- Robert Gray, the long-haul truck driver who surprised even himself by winning the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor, was allotted 10 minutes to try to persuade state Chamber of Commerce members they should support him rather than Republican Gov. Phil Bryant in Tuesday’s election... Unlike politicians who spend years hearing their own voices echo in legislative chambers and banquet halls, Gray stops talking when he runs out of things to say - perhaps appropriate for a man whose CB handle is “Silent Knight” ... If he becomes governor, 46-year-old Gray will complete one of the most remarkable and unexpected treks of Mississippi political history... He won the Democratic primary in August without spending a dime and without even voting for himself because he said he was busy running errands that day... Gray has spent about $3,000 on his campaign in the past three months, and said he has parked his rig to focus on campaigning... Present Gov. Bryant has spent $2.7 million this year and still has $1.4 million in the bank... “Truck driver Robert Gray is a novelty candidate and seems to be a nice fellow, but he’s totally unequipped to serve as the state’s chief executive officer,” one newspaper, The Greenwood Commonwealth, wrote in a decidedly lukewarm endorsement of Bryant for a second term... Still, during his low-key campaign appearances around the state, Gray has been talking about substantive issues like expanding Medicaid and putting more state money into education. Those issues resonate with voters such as Jackie Andrews of Byram, who said she wants Mississippi to overcome its perpetual struggles with poverty and health problems... Andrews said she disagrees with Bryant’s steadfast opposition to expanding Medicaid under the federal health overhaul that President Barack Obama signed into law... 
 (AP Photo, by Rogelio V. Solis - 7, Oct 2015 - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert Gray speaks about his campaign during a visit to the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Gray, the long-haul truck driver who surprised even himself by winning the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor, continues his unlikely quest to unseat Republican Gov. Phil Bryant that will culminate with the election Tuesday)  --  Jackson, MISS, USA - Associated Press/The Washington Times, by EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS - November 1, 2015

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Apr 18, 2015

TRUCKER STORY * USA - Punishment is excessive: TRUCKER JAILED

* Pennsylvania - Trucker jailed twice: once for inability to pay fine, again for driving overweight on restricted road 

(Photo courtesy: CANONBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT - Trucker jailed twice: once for inability to pay fine, again for driving overweight on restricted road. Francisco V. Amarales-Amarales remains in jail this afternoon with an $850 collateral set for his $8,500 fine for driving his almost 80,000-pound rig onto a street with a 10-ton weight limit)  Canonsburg, PA. USA - The Trucker - 16 April 2015 -- A Florida truck driver is back in jail Wednesday afternoon after appearing before Magisterial District Judge David Mark Wednesday morning on charges he drove his overweight truck onto a road with a 10-ton weight limit. .. 

* Pennsylvania - Trucker’s punishment is excessive

 -- In response to Tuesday’s article, “Florida trucker jailed for violating weight limit,” it seems this is about nothing more than the money, a huge payday for Canonsburg... As a truck owner and operator myself, I have total respect for the police and motor carrier enforcement officers and the job they do. But this man made an honest mistake, a wrong turn in a town more than 1,000 miles from his home, and he is locked in jail and he or his company is responsible for $17,000 in fines? ... According to the article, he hit nothing and did no damage to anything... It states that “he almost hit a car at the light,” which happens at every intersection a truck turns at, due to the wide swings trucks need to make, and the fact that cars never leave trucks enough room. It also states the driver’s truck was “59,346 pounds overweight,” which is misleading. I assume he was overweight for the 10-ton road, but in actuality he was at 79,346 pounds gross, which is 650 pounds below the 80,000 pounds he is allowed on interstate highways... With increased truck traffic in and around this area, this is becoming common, and I do agree the driver should have used common sense and not relied on GPS. But his punishment and fines seem excessive to me...
Washington, PA, USA - The Observer-Repporter - April 17, 2015

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Jun 6, 2014

TRUCKING INDUSTRY * USA: Trucker's story

* California - Why many truckers choose independence ?

(Photo) 
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Press Telegram/Opinion, by Robert Astorga -4 June 2014: -- Over the past few years independent truckers such as myself, working at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and surrounding areas, have seen an increase in misleading information by special interest groups determined to take away my right to operate my own small business... For years, this group has been able to attract notice through a well-funded but deceptive public-relations campaign that is targeted at tearing down the rights of independent truckers... However, it is time that Californians hear why many truckers like me choose to be in business for themselves... I’m sure the intentions of the legislators calling for this hearing are well-meaning, but people must understand that there are two sides to every story... Not every independent trucker is secretly an employee, nor do they want to be. Not every independent trucker is destitute. By choosing independence instead of employment, I worked my way out of the hand the recession dealt me and, within three short years, have my own business...

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Sep 25, 2010

TRUCKERS' STORIES * USA - National Truck Driver Appreciation Week

* Virginia - ATA Recognizes Professional Truck Drivers

Arlington,VA,USA -Earth Times -Sept. 20, 2010: -- The American Trucking Associations is taking this week to honor the 3.4 million professional truck drivers that deliver America's freight safely and securely everyday... "Professional truck drivers deliver our nation's essential freight safely everyday," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "As a result of this commitment, our nation's highways are the safest they have ever been, and our grocery shelves are stocked. We as a nation owe a great deal to the truck drivers out on our nation's roads everyday" ... During this National Truck Driver Appreciation Week Sept. 19-25, ATA and its state affiliates will mark the celebration by holding events across the nation...


* Wiscosin - Trucker forced to leave dock for questioning company’s bathroom policy. “Nobody wants us around, but they want us to haul their freight” he said

Owen,WI,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Clarissa Kell-Holland -September 24, 2010: -- A simple request to use the bathroom at a food packaging plant recently led to one trucker being asked to drop his trailer at the dock – and leave the premises... Erwin Page of Owen, WI, told Land Line that he arrived around 4 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16, at the Ring Container Technologies food packaging facility in St. Joseph, MO... He backed into the dock and went to bed for a few hours. Around 8:30 a.m., he said he went inside the facility and asked an office employee if he could use the bathroom... “I was told that drivers weren’t allowed inside to use the facilities, but I explained that there weren’t any Port-a-Potties or anything outside for drivers to use either,” he said. “I was told to just go back outside and pee behind my trailer by the dock, like everybody else does” ... Eventually, Page said he was allowed to use the restroom in the office after he asked to speak to the higher-ups about the company’s policy. However, not long after the incident, and after he contacted his dispatcher about what happened, Page received a phone call from his dispatcher that the facility had called and said he was “no longer welcome” at Ring’s facility... Another driver had to pick up Page’s trailer and deliver it to him at a nearby truck stop... For Page, he said it was an ordeal he won’t soon forget... “Nobody wants us around, but they want us to haul their freight,” he said. “It’s like drivers being treated like dogs” ... (Photo Ring Containers Technologies Little Rock Plant - One Industrial Park Rd. -Oakland,TN,USA)

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Apr 13, 2009

TRUCKERS' STORY * Turkey - Long road to Asia: Essential route revived

Istanbul,Turkey -Today's Zaman, by DANIEL MCINTOSH -12 April 2009: -- ... Avni Teke, a Turkish truck driver who has been on the road for 42 years, jokes that “unfortunately there is no bridge over the nation of Turkmenistan.” Teke’s humor, ironically based in fact, explains that not even a fixed vehicle bridge linking Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan exists. Instead, despite this being the year 2009, there is a floating pontoon that traverses the Amu Darya River -- at the steep cost of $100 per crossing -- highlighting the long time the region has been isolated... In the cabin of his long-haul truck, Teke strikes a match and touches it to another cigarette as he reminds himself that he cannot quit smoking. “My cigarette is my only friend,” he explains, while recalling the solitude of driving along Iran’s highways and through magnificent flat plains in Turkmenistan, describing the raw and desolate Central Asia that he has watched grow from infancy during his career... Although he has been doing this for decades, Teke explains that he still feels excited when rolling out of İstanbul at dawn setting out on the route for Central Asia. He insists that no matter what changes the region sees in the future, “the sense of adventure in driving across Central Asia will always be there.”... Indeed he has seen it all in his 42 years touring the world on wheels, but it wasn’t chance that kept him safe and out of trouble on the road. “I don’t make friends with anybody,” he explains, highlighting the inherent independence the job requires... Despite having seen a significant portion of the world’s landscapes and mountain passes and met the local inhabitants, he insists, “There’s no place like Turkey; with land as beautiful as ours and people as warm as ours, I couldn’t find a better place.”... (Photo: Avni Teke, driving the world’s highways for 42 years, says he is luckily to have never experienced a major accident)

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