Roses & Razzberries – June 2024
ROSES to VFW Post 4372 in Odessa, Texas, for providing truckloads full of goods to those affected by the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. KOSA-TV reported “Heroes for Herds” was organized in March and started as a table full of donations before growing to several truckloads within a month. VFW member Rick Mitchell owns livestock and told the CBS affiliate he truly understands the loss felt by those Panhandle ranchers. In all, the VFW transported seven semitrucks and two trucks with trailers along with 200 bales of hay that were donated by Sun Country Farms. “The feeling to give is always better than receiving to me,” Arnold Natividad, a driver for Panther Trucking, told KOSA-TV. Drivers from Hughes Transportation and Western Trucking also helped deliver the truckloads of donations.
RAZZBERRIES for a lottery scam in Utah that is targeting truckers. According to law enforcement, the scam involved three men who claimed to have just won the lottery approaching drivers in the parking lot of the Flying J in Willard, Utah. The group would tell the victims they were using the cash to reward truckers and would double whatever amount drivers had on their person. If drivers revealed the money, they would be assaulted and whatever money they produced would be stolen. Jordan Harper, an officer with the Willard Police Department, reminded the public to always be cautious in situations like this and told KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, “Sometimes, things are too good to be true.”
RAZZBERRIES for another crew of thieves who stole $30,000 worth of crab legs from a truck in Philadelphia and injured the driver in the process.As many as 12 suspects used four vehicles to steal nearly 100 boxes of snow crabs, according to local reports. The driver of the truck was asleep at the time of the heist but was awakened by an alert on the security system. Law enforcement said the driver was assaulted and treated for his injuries at the scene. His cell phone was stolen along with the two pallets of crab legs. Of note was the fact that this theft took place at the Walmart delivery dock at the Philadelphia Mills Shopping Center, where one would assume surveillance is plentiful.
ROSES to Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., for co-sponsoring the Trucker Bathroom Access Act, originally introduced by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. The bill is an effort to ensure that truck drivers are provided a place to use the restroom and has bipartisan support. Pappas’ support brings the bill’s number of co-sponsors to six – three Republicans and three Democrats. Reports of truck drivers being denied restroom access surged at the start of the pandemic in 2020, and many of those facilities have maintained restrictions. “If a business provides restroom access to customers or employees, they should provide the same access to truck drivers who are loading or unloading cargo at the business,” OOIDA wrote in its support of the bill. Truckers are encouraged to go to FightingForTruckers.com to urge their lawmakers to support HR3869.
RAZZBERRIES to the former owner of a CDL school in Pennsylvania, who was sentenced to 57 months in prison for a bribery scheme. Vladimir Tsymbalenko, the former owner of Vlad’s CDL School, pled guilty to one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of witness tampering. Officials said the former owner bribed a CDL examiner to pass students “who did not actually pass, or never even took, the CDL examination.” The original indictment against Tsymbalenko alleged that between 2015 and September 2018, the CDL school owner paid cash bribes totaling more than $10,000 to a former third-party CDL examiner. “The last thing anyone should want on our roads are people behind the wheel of big rigs or school buses with bogus CDL certifications,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero said in a statement. LL