Roses & Razzberries – May 2024
ROSES to Louisville firefighter Bryce Carden for his role in rescuing a truck driver from a truck that was dangling 100 feet above the Ohio River. A crash on the Clark Memorial Bridge resulted in the front half of the truck hanging over the bridge. Carden repelled down the bridge and cut the driver from her seatbelt before placing her in a harness to be lifted to safety. “I wasn’t letting emotions get to me,” Carden told ABC News. “We have to be those guys that are calm and confident. When I reached her, I just assured her and said, ‘This is what I need you to do.’ She was able to assist me, and we were able to get through it.”
ROSES for more good news from the Louisville area. In this instance, it was bus driver Larry Farrish Jr. who went the extra mile. Farrish noticed something was off with one of the students who rides the Jefferson County Public School bus he drives. Turns out, the student was down because he did not have any pajamas to wear for Pajama Day. Farrish finished his route and then delivered two pairs of PJs to the student at school. The smiles on both their faces in photos posted on the school district’s social media page say it all.
RAZZBERRIES to Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and his disservice to truckers. Johnson’s latest work is the introduction of the MOVE Act, which follows his introduction of the SHIP IT Act in January 2023. Both bills seek to increase truck weights. Increased weights not only are dangerous but also lengthen stoppage times and intensify damage to an already deteriorating highway system. As of press time, Johnson continued to ignore calls for sponsorship of the DRIVE Act to prohibit FMCSA from mandating speed limiters. Johnson has gotten behind the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, but that’s about where this list of good ends. Go to FightingForTruckers.com and remind Johnson or any other lawmakers, for that matter, that they work for you.
Editor’s Note: Rep. Dusty Johnson signed on as a co-sponsor to the DRIVE Act on April 26, after this issue of Land Line went to press.
RAZZBERRIES for the attempted smuggling of more than $3 million worth of cocaine hidden in a shipment of limes. Yes, limes. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility recently made the bust, seizing a semitruck and trailer along with the narcotics. According to CBP, the tractor-trailer was driven by a valid border-crossing card holder and was referred for further inspection. A K-9 unit then alerted officers, and 158 “suspicious packages” were discovered. This seizure was part of Operation Apollo, a joint regional operation comprised of federal, state and local agencies working to combat the threat posed by fentanyl and other illicit synthetic narcotics.
ROSES to those who helped locate “Tom the lost trucker cat” after a 40-day search. The cat’s owner, Angel Anthony Garcia, told Minnesota Public Radio that the cat jumped out of his truck at the Pilot Flying J in St. Cloud, Minn. Garcia and his wife searched for Tom but eventually had to continue on their route to Virginia. The couple utilized Facebook to get word out about the missing cat, and more than a month later, he showed up at a metal shop in Sauk Rapids, Minn., approximately 9 miles from where he’d gone missing. Fortunately, despite having lost half his weight and being dirty and dehydrated, Tom had survived those weeks outside in the Minnesota winter. Garcia told MPR he was overwhelmed by the whole situation and grateful to all who helped.
ROSES to this year’s Goodyear Highway Heroes, Timothy VanNostrand and Elijah Ramos. VanNostrand, an OOIDA member from Northville, N.Y., received the award for helping police apprehend a suspect after a traffic stop by a New York State Trooper turned into a shootout. Ramos, a driver for Ryder System Inc., earned the honor for assisting a motorist who had crashed her SUV in a remote desert area. Two additional drivers, Joshua Day and Russel Peasley, were recognized as runners-up for this year’s award and also received prizes from Goodyear. LL