A bear gets a good buzz on

Responding to a report of someone being attacked by bees, North Carolina Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Jenkins was himself trapped in his cruiser for close to 15 hours in August. According to CNN, Jenkins found a disabled tractor-trailer with a truckload of honeybees, many of which had escaped the trailer and now swarmed on Jenkins’ Dodge. Bee experts from North Carolina State University were summoned to rid the cruiser of the insects. After a long history of being disturbed by bears, it must have been a sweet moment for those bees to take revenge on one.

She’s bolder with her shoulder

When Ellen Voie launched Women in Trucking three years ago, she boasted she’d be so happy when membership reached 1,000 that she’d get a WIT logo tattoo. At the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, she followed through before listeners of the Sirius XM Freewheelin’ radio show’s remote broadcast. The logo was inked on the back of her right shoulder by Monster Tattoo (www.monsterink.net) artists. Joining her in the chair were member and driver Sherri Franko and three others. Search “Ellen Voie, tattoo,”

More ‘dummies’ in D.C.

The Smithsonian in July took delivery of “Vince and Larry” crash-test dummy costumes and related auto safety items donated by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Their public service announcements from the 1980s included one in which Larry convinces Vince to get out of bed in time for a crash test by noting Barbara Mandrell was saved by a seatbelt. Today 72 percent of commercial drivers use seatbelts. Now that’s smart.