Website Features Roadside Tourist Spots
RE: Max Kvidera’s article, R & R on the Road in the July issue. Mr. Kvidera pretty much described the essence of my website, www.semitourist.weebly.com, in his article. For the last few years I have been using photos and words to capture interesting stops. The stops are listed in order, in Next Exit format, and focus on fine dining, culture and adventure. Feedback has been enthusiastically positive. I invite you to take a look.
Karl Kuntz
Spokane, Washington
Was the punishment received by the men who were accessories to trucker Jason Rivenburg’s murder fair? Why or why not?
VIA FACEBOOK
Thirty days!!!! They are sentenced to 30 days?!?!?!?! To be served on weekends????!!!!
— Lynn C.
Are you kidding me, 30 days (weekends at that, so, what, they can go to work during the week and support their families … ha!). Jason doesn’t have that option anymore, why should these two?
— Kathy B.
The U.S. Judicial System is a joke that only works for you if you are a criminal. Thirty days … That’s all I need to say to explain why it is a joke. These worthless scum took an innocent family man’s life, and that’s what they (the judicial system) see as fair justice. We as truck drivers get harsher penalties for a log book violation.
— Tim L.
Truck drivers get worse penalties for log book violations than a slap on the hands! “Accessories” are just as guilty as the one who pulled the trigger! Thirty freaking days? And people have the audacity to wonder why truckers, like my husband and many others, want laws that protect them and their families? Duh! What the courts don’t realize is they just sentenced all truckers and their families! Truckers and their families worry constantly about crap like this!! Trucker’s spouses just got one more thing to be scared out of our minds about!
— Renee D.
You get more for littering. God has a way of dealing with those who break his laws.
— Bobby F.
This sentence is an insult to the Rivenburg family, to the law enforcement officers, to the people of South Carolina and to the South Carolina judicial system. Is this really how precious human life is?
— Traci A.
As a driver for the past 15 years, I have seen the amount of trucks on the road increase and the amount of spaces stay the same. Even when they open another travel center, (there is no such thing as truckstops anymore) we have to contend with the RV driver, which forces us to park in less secured areas. Someone needs to create and enforce laws to give us drivers more parking, or force these shippers and receivers to let us park on the premises. If it’s OK for us to be parked there when we are unloading, or loading, why not while waiting for our appointment time? As I was told at a Wal-Mart, it’s because of insurance reasons. I said, “I can’t sit here for one hour till my appointment, but it’s OK for them to make me wait four hours while they load or unload me? What’s the difference, really?” To which I just got a blank stare.
— Michael W.
Old school driver agrees with article
I agree with everything you said in your [July cover] article [“Old School vs. New School Drivers”], but here’s something else you forgot about them schoolhouse truckers. Let’s not forget about the waterheads that ride in the center lane at 62 mph in a 70 mph zone. I asked one once about being not only stupid but inconsiderate, and he said his safety man said that’s where he should ride because it was safer. Oh yeah, getting passed on the left and right is much safer. What an idiot! I gave him my cell number and asked him to please tell his so-called safety man to call me, and I’ll tell him how stupid he is.
Great article you have here. I’ve been around trucking since I was 12 years old, and now I’m 57. I think I’m considered old school, and I love it.
Steve Isgett
Sophia, N.C.
Weighing in on BMI
First of all I don’t think the government needs to stick its Pinocchio nose in truckers’ BMI. Again they show their short-sightedness.
If they do implement this BMI idea, we would lose 63 percent of the American truck drivers. Let’s face it, we are all fat boys and girls. It’s not our fault. It’s just our line of work. I hear all these clowns say you have to eat right and exercise. Well, Bozo, how do you have time to exercise when you contract a shipper to have a load at a receiver at certain times and dates. A lot of the time the shipper is late on loading and still expects you to make your on-time delivery.
So instead of exercising, you are sitting on your duff for 11 hours. Then the food we eat makes it even more impossible to keep your BMI down. Let’s walk into a typical truckstop. You have a candy aisle that is 14 feet long with 163 types of high-sugar candies, which are great for your BMI. Not. Then they have brownies, cookies and cakes. Guess what? BMI wins.
Then you are parched so you go to the cooler for a cold drink, and 97 percent of what’s in there is an ally for increasing your BMI.
Then I have these clowns that say we can control it by what we eat. Let’s go over to the salad bar. They charge $5.99 for lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. That’s good by itself, but then you put blue cheese, Thousand Island or whatever dressing on your salad. Guess what? You just spent $5.99 for that salad bar and helped increase your BMI.
You spend $6.32 for a bowl of oatmeal and two pieces of toast and coffee. But then you put sugar, butter and raisins in your oatmeal and jelly on your toast, and then Mr. BMI gets happy. I’m saying it’s a matter of mind.
Why are we worried about BMI when the very jobs we chose promote no control over BMI?
I am a type 2 diabetic and fight with my disease about sugar intake and my 60 pounds that I’m overweight every day. Exercise? When does a driver doing his or her job have time to exercise?
If the government decides to disqualify a driver because of his or her BMI, think of all the drivers who will get laid off and will have to go apply for unemployment, Medicaid, food stamps — and you have no job so therefore you stop paying state and federal taxes.
If you have been driving truck all your life, you can then go apply for SSI disability and work retraining. You go back to school and let the government pay for your education. Watch the unemployment rate climb because Uncle Sam is concerned about BMI.
Again, the government isn’t looking ahead to the future, but just at what’s ahead of them.
I’m a fat boy and, yes, I pay more for medical insurance now. Yes, I pay my taxes and do what is right. I suggest that the government leave me alone and let me do my job. I’m not trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Government, bad. Change, bad. Secretary of Transportation, bad. Greed, bad. Just remember that you are born into this world, and then you die. It’s what you do in between life and death that determines your happiness. Who decided that having health care is a right, and who decides BMI should determine where you work or don’t work? Only a dictator makes these decisions.
Daryl Osborn
Hillsboro, N.D.
SOUND OFF
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How have attempts to cut diesel emissions affected you?
What is the No. 1 issue in trucking?
“Left lane restrictions. I don’t think they should have them, especially through cities. People get on and off all of the time, and with slower cars moving into the middle lane, it can really be dangerous.”
— Mike Logston, Ocala, Fla., Paschall Truck Lines
“Tough call. Nobody makes enough money. Freight just isn’t paying enough.”
— Zerriga Nicholson,
Atlanta, Ga., company driver for Premier
“Too many crooked companies. They cheat you on rates. They cheat you on miles. They cheat you on everything.”
— John Hernandez, Canton, Mich., Bolt Express
“Just having a job. That’s a big deal. If you’re working and not laid off, that’s a good thing.”
— Robert Dozier, Mirion, S.C., Nichols Transport
