Roses & Razzberries – July 2021
ROSES to former NFL defensive lineman Brandon Bair for risking his life to save a truck driver back in May in St. Anthony, Idaho. Bair saw a train colliding with a truck and immediately sprang into action to help. He ran toward the crash and found the driver inside the burning truck after hearing him cry for help from within the wreckage. Bair managed to get the driver – Steven Jenson – out of the truck just seconds before it went up in flames. Bair said he just had to act and there was no time to think. What’s more, he’s kept in touch with Jenson and says, “I’m sure I will know him for the rest of my life.” And thanks to Bair, Jenson will have the rest of his life to look forward to.
ROSES to the employees at the Petro in Girard, Ohio, whose quick-thinking and even quicker actions led to the rescue of two puppies earlier this year. The company said a panicked customer ran into the store and told fuel cashier AJ Hamil that two puppies had fallen into a hole in the grassy area behind the store. Hamil then told General Manager Kerry Khoury, who in turn called facility maintenance technician Bob Stanko. The three quickly found the puppies in an open drainpipe. Khoury suggested using the long-handled grabber sticks used to clean the fence line to get them out. It took a couple of tries, but they were able to lift the puppies to freedom. And, of course, they capped the drainpipe so it wouldn’t happen again.
ROSES to Montana, the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Manitoba, North Dakota, the Iowa 80 Group, and everyone else who stepped up this past spring to help make a COVID-19 vaccine available for truck drivers who wanted one.
Truckers have been on the frontlines since this pandemic began and when the vaccines began rolling out earlier this year, how to get them to truckers – literal moving targets – was almost an afterthought.
Thankfully, numerous states and companies stepped up to help – in many cases they were even able to give out the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, knowing how difficult it can be for truckers to get back to the same spot twice within a short period of time. This has been a difficult year for everyone, but stories like this are a reminder that we’re all in it together.
RAZZBERRIES to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, for suggesting the possibility of a truck-only vehicle-miles-traveled tax earlier this year. Cornyn made the suggestion at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee – calling for a 25-cent-per-mile fee on most Class 7 and Class 8 trucks. Remember that earlier bit about us all being in this together? Apparently Cornyn didn’t get the memo. Truckers already pay way more than their fair share of the money that goes to funding roads and bridges, and a fee like this targeting only truckers is discriminatory, unfair and just plain wrong. Something we’re sure Cornyn has heard by now from many, many truck drivers out there.
RAZZBERRIES to Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., for trying yet again to raise the minimum insurance requirements for trucking operations. In a bill introduced earlier this year, Garcia sought to increase the minimum from $750,000 to nearly $5 million. And if that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same thing he attempted with a similar bill in 2020. But as with that one, the only ones who stand to benefit this time around are the ambulance chasers. Not only that, but similar bills have been tried even before that as well – and thankfully they all failed.
Hey, congressman, you know what they call doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Insanity.
ROSES to Savannah, Ga.-based trucking company Veteran Carriers and convenience store chain Enmarket for teaming up to help feed hungry truckers all this year. In a program started this spring, the groups began providing free meals to truck drivers at the Enmarket location on Pine Barren Road and Highway 80 in Savannah on the last Friday of the month and planned to continue for the rest of the year. Connect Savannah reported that the location is one of Enmarket’s trucker-friendly stops, serving trucks going in and out of the Georgia Ports Authority. The groups said they did it as a thank-you to truckers for keeping us fed and supplied during the COVID-19 pandemic. LL