Thursday, December 30, 2021

A Rookie Driver Comes Across His First Accident Scene

In 1980, I was a newbie, only a few weeks into my first trucking job with Harry H. Long Moving, Storage and Express out of Milwaukee when I came across my first accident scene. I had to deliver a load to a small town in northwest Wisconsin early and was on a very rural two lane highway at about 3am in the morning. Coming around a shallow curve I saw an object in the center of my lane which turned out to be a large truck tire and wheel which had evidently fallen off a semi. It was very dark but I saw it in time to go around and as I came back into my lane saw the taillights of a car sitting past the ditch quite away off the highway. 

I pulled off on the shoulder, activating my 4-ways and got out to check. Before exiting the cab I called out on the CB radio but got no response. I remember the sickening feeling in my stomach as I ran through the the weeds and brush to the car which was a Chevy Caprice. I could hear the engine idling but saw no one in the vehicle. Approaching and looking in the side window there was an older woman laying across the seat and I hollered, asking if she was OK and opened the door.

Her voice was weak and she responded that her back hurt and she couldn't move. I thought to myself "what do I do now?"  

Seeing the transmission lever still in Drive, the car was wedged up against a stump or something preventing it from moving, I put it in Park, left the heater on, and told her to stay still while I get some help. Running back up to the highway, I went to the truck wheel and tire, moving it to the shoulder so no one else would run into it. There were no houses that I could see in the area, I ran back to the truck and tried the CB again with no luck. Finally after a few minutes I saw the headlights of a car approaching and got out to wave it down. There was a woman inside and I asked her to go to the nearest phone and call for help. She agreed and left the scene. That was way back in the days before cell phones and it was a lonely feeling wondering if she actually went to a farmhouse to phone or just blew me off. 

I stayed at the truck, still trying to get a response on the CB, and finally the police and ambulance showed up. I reported my contact info and story to the Sherriff's deputy who checked my truck over to make sure the tire and wheel had not come off my rig. He then sent me on my way and I never did find out the status of the woman in the Caprice. Pretty eye opening and scary stuff for a rookie truck driver. 



Sunday, November 28, 2021

Classic Car Stories - My 1962 Chevrolet Impala SS

In early 1970, before graduating high school, I continued to drive a 1957 Chrysler New Yorker for a while which I kind of “inherited” after my dad bought another vehicle. The car had a hemi engine and I was satisfied with it. One night I stopped at the Clark gas station I worked at to visit for a while, staying an hour or two. I walked out to the car to leave, opening the door to a cloud of electrical smoke billowing out! The engine was not running as I had the keys in my hand. I raced to the front, opening the hood to disconnect the battery, which took a few minutes as I had to find a wrench to loosen the bolt on the terminal. It was way too late as a mass of electrical wiring had shorted out under the dash with the plastic coating melted off. Thankfully, a huge blaze and a call to the fire department was averted.

That meant my hemi Chrysler was toast as it would have been way too costly and time consuming to fix with well over 100,000 miles on the odometer. My dad came out, said “forget it” and towed me to Larry’s junkyard in Butler for my last drive in it. That put me in desperate need of a vehicle as it was winter and all I had was a Honda 160cc motorcycle for transportation. A few days later, my buddy, Ross called, telling me he had seen a nice 1962 Chevy Impala SS in a parking lot with a “For Sale” sign on it. I asked how much and he replied “$400”. Exactly how much I had! Well, I wasn’t a Chevy guy, but figured I’d go take a look at it. We went over and it was in great shape, had a 300hp 327 V-8 and factory 4-speed. I drove it around the block and the guy said he would take $375 for it. I then went home and got my dad to come tell me what he thought about it. He looked it over and said “It’s your money, buy it if you want it”.  


That was the first Chevrolet that I ever owned and have had quite a few of them since! First thing I did was install Cherry Bomb glass pack mufflers, Hurst shifter, the biggest wheels and tires I could stuff under the rear of it and had a lot of fun “breaking” it. My auto mechanic buddy Rich came over with some tuning tricks up his sleeve. He advanced the timing a couple degrees more than the spec factory setting and there was a very noticeable increase in power that I could feel. Able to get rubber hitting third gear, I was drag racing it out at the strip and on the street. One time, racing a guy in a 383 Roadrunner, he got a half length on me in 1rst and 2nd gear but I pulled up even to him in 3rd until we had to shut it down. That 300hp 327 ran strong all the way up to 5800rpm where I set the red-line on the tach as you could actually hear the weird engine noise as the valves began to float. For all the abuse that engine took, it never let me down.


There was an abandoned Army Disciplinary barracks compound and old Nike missile site near Hopkins and Florist in Milwaukee that still had some concrete paved roads in it. I had an absolute blast going over there at night and racing around those streets treating it like it was my own personal race track. I would be sliding sideways around the corners having a great old time beating on that car. 

The Impalas of that model year had two piece driveshafts between the transmission and differential with what they called a center support bearing in the middle with three total u-joints. I had to replace that center support bearing numerous times which was frustrating. A mechanic speculated that I probably twisted the suspension out of line as the cause of all the failures. I blew the transmission twice, clutch, two rear ends and several u-joints! Lying under that car in the back of the Clark gas station in January was no fun. It was about 5 degrees and I was freezing my butt off putting a differential in it.


All in all though I came of age as a driver in that car. I learned a lot of skills that helped me immensely later in life as a professional driver. Also learning a few hard lessons, I remember driving one night with Rich on the 41 freeway just northwest of Milwaukee in a snowstorm. Joyriding around, the roadway was snow covered and I was drifting the car sideways back and forth at about 65mph and no traffic. I was trying to impress a buddy with my driving skills and lost it, spinning the car around into a snowbank. The driver’s side had some body damage and a flat tire. While changing it out a county sheriff’s deputy drove up and chewed me out big time. He must have seen the see-saw tracks in the snow and figured out what I had done. I didn’t get a ticket but he ordered me off the freeway at the next exit.  


By the time I went to Army boot camp in 1971, there wasn’t much life remaining in that car. Having blown the 4-speed tranny twice, I couldn't afford another, so I replaced it with a junkyard 3-speed with a bad synchro in second gear! That's how I first learned to double clutch. My dad sold it for $20.00 after I left for Fort Polk. A lot of great memories in that car, one of my favorites and a great classic car story!


Other of my car story posts:
Classic Car Stories:1970 Pontiac GTO - Dick Hands me the Keys!
Classic Car Stories: My Buddy's 1968 Plymouth GTX
Classic Car Stories: My Hemi Chrysler
Classic Car Stories: My 1965 Buick GS400
Classic Car Stories: Mopar Man to Chevrolet
Classic Car Stories: My Second Corvette
Classic Car Stories: My First Corvette
Classic Car Stories: My 1993 Camaro Z28
Classic car Stories: My Three Camaros - One Good, One Bad and One Great!
Classic Car Stories: Mom's 1961 Plymouth Valiant




Sunday, August 8, 2021

What's Next in the War Against Motorists? Noise Cameras!

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-noise-cameras-could-used-16406899
I'll preface this post by saying that I am not a fan of people driving around in unmuffled cars, trucks, motorcycles, atvs, etc. Especially frustrating are semi drivers using straight pipes with unmuffled jakes trying to sound "cool" and make noise!  Then we wonder why so many communities are putting up "no engine brake" signs all over. The older I get, the more I appreciate peace and quiet. Sensible noise laws should be on the books and enforced by law enforcement. However, if you read the following newsletter put out by the National Motorists Association, we need to be aware of the reasoning behind ideas of such things as "noise cameras". The number one "government" motive behind this is revenue generation. But the more insidious backing of this bad idea is the anti-car tree hugging crowd, as you can read in the newsletter below. Consider their statements as to why they support something like this. Please support motorist's rights by joining the National Motorists Association at the links provided.

Presenting the Next Automated Traffic Enforcement Device—the Noise Camera: NMA E-Newsletter #656

August 8, 2021  Let's face it—most of us dislike loud motorcycles or vehicles revving up next to us at an intersection, blowing by us on an interstate, or disrupting the solitude of our neighborhoods. But to use automated devices to catch people who are exceedingly noisy seems to push us deeper into the world of Big Brother than we should ever go. Unfortunately, the anti-car folks are using loud vehicles as an excuse to advance their agenda.

New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes recently introduced two bills to fight loud vehicles. The first is S9009, the SLEEP Act (Stop Loud and Excessive Exhaust Pollution). This bill would increase the punishment for noise limit violations and streamline the process for officers to enforce noise limit law. Currently, the penalty for violations attributed to after-market muffler and exhaust systems is up to $150. Gounardes wants to increase that amount to $1,000.

The New York criterion for a violation was described only as excessive or unusual noise that was left to the officer's discretion. Under the bill, the noise limit would be defined as 95 decibels for motorcycles and 60 for cars. Here is a reference point—a vacuum cleaner within 10 feet has a noise level of approximately 70 decibels. If the SLEEP Act becomes law, it would also require that all police vehicles be equipped with sound level meters.

The second bill, NY Senate Bill S6057, asks for noise-monitoring cameras to be implemented in New York City. Similar to speed cameras, the devices would capture photo and video footage of vehicles that exceed the noise limits outlined by the NYC Noise Control Code.

Westchester County, New York, has already decided to do a trial run with these microphone-enhanced cameras. In July, the Westchester Board of Legislators approved a $125,000 noise camera pilot program located along the Bronx River Parkway. The county would not be able to issue any tickets during the six to nine-month program since S6057 hasn’t been passed by the state legislature in Albany yet.

Where this all gets insane is through the overwrought rhetoric spewed by the anti-car crowd. Here are some snippets from a recent opinion piece on the Streetsblog NYC website:

"Loud driving is destructive recreation that glorifies fossil-fuel consumption."

"Promoting car culture by letting loud drivers do what they want normalizes driving for another generation of impressionable New Yorkers. It mocks our climate goals."

"Deliberate, fossil-fueled noise is a growing public-health threat demanding a multifaceted, whole-of-government solution."

"As with Vision Zero, better engineering of our public spaces is the most important part of confronting loud driving. The opportunity to speed is an opportunity to make noise. Engineering solutions to speeding—road diets, narrowed lanes, automated enforcement, and more—will also quiet traffic."

"Law enforcement should focus on the loud-driving profiteers, from carmakers to gas stations."

We would laugh if the people behind those thoughts weren’t so dead serious about canceling car culture.

The acoustic cameras are currently being tested in the United Kingdom. In 2016, the British government enacted a law to limit new cars to no more than 74 decibels. The targets of the regulation are mostly older cars and modified motorcycles. At issue, though, is whether these type of cameras can identify one vehicle's noise emissions from another's and single out cars from other possible sources of sound.

The website DriveTribe has a funny take on noise cameras that only a Brit might appreciate. Meanwhile, UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling remarked that the acoustic cameras could help the already stretched thin police officers enforce noise regulations on 'boy racers in souped-up vehicles.'

The mission creep of automated enforcement is impressive, and not in a good way.

Click the Donate Today button to find out how you can support drivers’ rights.


Donations to the nonprofit National Motorists Association are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law.



Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Comments on "The Mad Bomber" Frank Balistrieri

The following two very interesting comments were submitted this week by an anonymous contributor concerning my Tales of the Milwaukee Mob and Two Cigarette Men post. Great first person accounts of him meeting Frank Balistrieri on a couple of occasions way back in the 1970's. There are so many great comments I have received at the end of this very popular post that are interesting facts and not well known. There is a link to the original post after his comments. Many thanks to all the people contributing great information!

Comment received, July 24, 2021:
After a divorce, I lived in the Antlers Hotel next to Centre Stage. There was a pool hall in the hotel where I spent a lot of time playing pool. I saw plenty of well-dressed men frequent the pool hall just to talk with whoever was running it. There was a parking lot on the other side of the hotel with a White Castle on the corner. I became friends with the parking lot owner's son who ran it. Centre Stage customers would get their parking validated to park there for a dinner show. Once I went with my friend to go collect the validated receipts. Frank's big Caddy was always parked in front of Centre Stage with a parking ticket under the wiper. My friend said Frank always put the ticket there himself. We went upstairs and were let into the room where Frank was. Frank asked my friend, "Who's that?" because he usually came alone. My friend said my name and I quickly (too quickly) went to shake his hand. Another guy in a suit went to reach for something under his coat, Frank gave him a look and he relaxed but he refused the handshake with a wave. We met a lot of celebrities that came to perform at Centre Stage and parked in the lot. Tom Poston being the friendliest and funniest. Just a distant memory and I thought I'd share my brush with Mafia greatness. Good stuff on your page!

Comment received, July 26, 2021:
I wrote the above brush with Frank . . .

Several months later after I had moved from the hotel, the lead guitar player, steel guitar player in my Country band and I along with our dates, attended a dinner show featuring Johnny Rodriquez. As we were finishing our dinner, Frank approached the table and said, "Aren't you Dave's friend?". I said, "Yes". He said, "Welcome" and quickly walked away without a chance for further interaction or to introduce my friends. Came time to pay and I was told that our entire evening was 'comped' so the waitress smiled and said, "Can I get you all another cocktail or some desserts?" I didn't want to 'look a gift horse in the mouth' and quickly declined. I never got another opportunity to thank him but I did mail a Thank You card to Centre Stage c/o Mr Frank Balistrieri with a hand-written note thanking him for his generosity.

Link to the original post: https://mafiahistorymilwaukee.blogspot.com/2013/08/tales-of-milwaukee-mob-and-two.html


Thursday, June 24, 2021

Ever hear of Anaplasmosis?

Be aware of ticks, this update from my cousin's wife last night. He got bit by a tick at his cabin near Lakewood, WI. Tim got home today: "18 days in the hospital, 7 days in rehab at a nursing home and now he's home. Tim got bit by a tick, he got Anaplasmosis, which is an infection in your blood and got septic, Which caused his kidneys to shut down and other issues. It took 9 days to find out what was wrong and then they started treating for it. He's tired and weak, kidneys are working a little, so he's still on dialysis 3 times a week, but he's home and on his way to recovery. WE ARE BLESSED."

There was no obvious bite mark and the delay in diagnosis nearly cost him his life. Awareness is critical if you are in tick infested areas. Not only Anaplasmosis, but Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are caused by tick bites. Awareness is key!

Signs and Symptoms of Anaplasmosis

  • Signs and symptoms of anaplasmosis typically begin within 1–2 weeks after the bite of an infected tick.
    • Tick bites are usually painless, and many people do not remember being bitten.
  • See your healthcare provider if you become ill after having been bitten by a tick or having been in the woods or in areas with high brush where ticks commonly live.

Early Illness

Early signs and symptoms (days 1-5) are usually mild or moderate and may include:

  • Fever, chills
  • Severe headache
  • Muscle aches
  • Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite

Late Illness

Rarely, if treatment is delayed or if there are other medical conditions present, anaplasmosis can cause severe illness. Prompt treatment can reduce your risk of developing severe illness.

 Signs and symptoms of severe (late stage) illness can include:

  • Respiratory failure
  • Bleeding problems
  • Organ failure
  • Death

 Risk factors for severe illness:

  • Delayed treatment
  • Age: being older puts you at risk
  • Weakened immune system: People with weakened immune systems (such as those receiving some cancer treatments, individuals with advanced HIV infection, prior organ transplants, or people taking some medications) are at risk for severe illness.
https://www.cdc.gov/anaplasmosis/symptoms/index.html


Friday, June 4, 2021

Vision Zero is a NO for me

https://twitter.com/motorists
I received an email this morning from a Susan Caro at meritmile.com asking if I wanted  to speak to an "expert" in support of vision zero issues. I assume she was expecting me to use this blog to promote the "plan". For the record, I do not agree with the "plan" and fully support the National Motorists Organization's stance on the issue, of which I attached an article by written by a NMA board member below:

The Orwellian Era of Transportation Planning

By Christopher M. DiPrima, NMA Board Member 1/31/2021

George Orwell’s seminal 1984 has defined political discourse for over 70 years. Among the book’s most prescient concepts is doublethink, the practice of using contradictory terminology to obscure the government’s actions. In 1984, the Ministry of Peace propagates war; the Ministry of Plenty rations goods; the Ministry of Love incarcerates and tortures; and the Ministry of Truth distributes the state’s official lies.

Americans across the political spectrum recognize that we live in an era of doublethink, certainly when referring to our governments’ brazen lies to its people on any number of topics. While the country’s political left, right, and center can come up with their own lists of examples, here I point to only one among many: the Vision Zero movement.

In attempting to reach the noble goal of eliminating all preventable traffic deaths, the Vision Zero movement has propagated one of the most pernicious and effective forms of doublethink in use today: “traffic calming.” People who have been subjected to traffic calming know well that the actual mechanisms of “calming” should more accurately be called by their opposite name: traffic aggravating. In classic Orwellian style, the term “traffic calming” almost always refers to roadway design changes which worsen, rather than alleviate traffic, and causing aggravation, not calming, for motorists and other users of the public right-of-way.

A hallmark of doublethink is that it forces the user to accept odd contradictions as gospel, like the famous “WAR IS PEACE” slogan of 1984’s Oceania. Here again, Vision Zero excels in doublethink:

Vision Zero teaches that moving more people requires fewer traffic lanes—a half-truth at best which obscures assumptions about coercion and mode choice elasticity. “MORE IS LESS.”

It asks that we increase the price of driving, but then claim that this is meant to increase economic and social equity. It decries subsidies for motorists, but ignores that all mass transit is, and always has been, heavily subsidized. “CHEAP IS EXPENSIVE.”

It advocates “complete streets,” then attempts to remove motorists—often the largest user group—from those streets. “INCOMPLETE IS COMPLETE.”

It advocates accessibility, but then removes parking and encourages dangerous bicycling behaviors which present elderly and disabled people from accessing parts of their cities. “LESS ACCESS IS MORE ACCESSIBLE.”

It claims that faster speeds always lead to more fatalities, ignoring the mediating factor of crash rate and thus disregards the fact that the fastest roads, freeways, are also the safest. “SPEED KILLS.”

Most recently, Vision Zero extremists have added the term “traffic violence” to the lexicon, painting any traffic collision as a deliberate attack on innocent people. We live in a world with real traffic violence, from car bombs to the horrifying use of automobiles as weapons against protestors and other mass gatherings, and yet Vision Zero advocates insult the memory of those victims of actual violence by equating all traffic collisions to these acts of terrorism—and by extension, all motorists as murderers-in-wait.

The broader anti-automobility interests use doublethink in an attempt to dupe voters into supporting their programs. For decades, these advocates have pitched mass transit improvements to motorists as a way of reducing traffic congestion. The sales pitch is that improved access to transit will take people off the roads, thus reducing congestion for those who choose to remain. But then, they make sure to take away general purpose travel lanes, cut back traffic signal timings, and prioritize slow and inefficient street-running buses rather than grade-separated transit. They fight against any measure which would improve traffic congestion because they believe that if traffic is less congested, then transit would become less appealing. So, congestion mitigation through transit improvements isn’t allowed to mitigate congestion.

Motorists who have been subjected to Vision Zero doublespeak know better than anyone that the tenets of “traffic calming,” “road diets” (a euphemism for lane reduction), shortened signal timings, arbitrary turning restrictions, and unnecessary and unsupportable speed limit reductions—all serve to aggravate rather than calm traffic, and all road users suffer. Motorists in cities which have implemented “traffic calming” know that the driving mindset has changed from a relatively polite and orderly world to a Hobbesian war of all against all—where every second of delay cascades into gridlock, and where courtesy becomes the enemy of efficiency.

I posit that this is the primary reason why Vision Zero has been such a spectacular failure in our cities, failing to reduce traffic deaths while also failing to deliver on meaningful transit improvements or congestion mitigation. All that Vision Zero has offered American cities is a state of perpetual warfare between modes. Is it any surprise traffic aggravation techniques have failed to produce calmer, safer streets?

Far from being a fringe set of ideas, Vision Zero is now embedded into the transportation philosophies of many major cities. We now live fully in the Orwellian era of city transportation planning. This is doublethink’s most complete victory: cities’ Ministries of Transportation now attempt to prevent us from transporting ourselves.

It was all right, everything was all right—the struggle was finished.

They love Vision Zero.

Please support the National Motorists Association, you can join at this link:

https://www.motorists.org/



Sunday, May 30, 2021

Memorial Day Weekend - Remembering Our Fallen Heroes

January 14, 1945. On that single day in the history of World War II there were 810 American casualties. One of those was my father’s cousin, Captain Gene Sucharda, who was killed while commanding a tank company at the Battle of the Bulge. I remember seeing his picture hanging on the wall of Gene in uniform when we visited my dad’s Aunt Claire and Uncle Edmund in Akron, Oh. It was above a small table with his memorabilia laid out on it, like a small shrine. He was their only child and I, even at my young age, wondered how the parents could have gotten through something like that. His remains never made it back to the USA. My youngest brother Gene was named by my parents in his honor. So many heroes are responsible for the lives we have today. What follows is an account written by David Kasavan, a fellow soldier, for the 11th Armored Division Legacy Group:

 

“The Captain was leading the way as he always did, when the shell came from his right flank. It must have been right in line with him, for suddenly he fell, and slumped down into the turret. The tank started burning, and Ramee gave me the order to back up quick behind a house. I saw Cpl. Armin Stodolenak, the Captain’s gunner get out of the tank after he looked around and saw he could help the CO or the loader, Pfc. Stan Chadwick. The bog and the driver Pfc Clarence Busch and T/4 Key both got out of the tank but not before it was hit the second time. And then suddenly our tank was hit, right in the back deck which was sticking out past our shelter. No one was hit bad, and dodging all of the mortars and artillery, we finally made it back to a house where we were later picked up.”


The Captain and Chadwick must have been killed instantly. Stodolenak had some nasty shrapnel in his hip, and he hopped into Sgt. Jones’ tank for safety and first aid. “That made six men in the tank,” Jones said, “and before long there was a knocking on the tank. We opened up and there was Pfc. Sid Meyer, loader in Cohen’s tank, so we took him too and sat him on the transmission. Then the artillery started falling in town. Lt. Brendan Burns, who was to lead us through the rest of our battles, was outside scouting around with Captain Dick McCoy, from the battalion staff. They both hopped into the tank, too, so we had a total of nine men there. Probably set some sort of record.”

Link to the entire article:http://www.11tharmoreddivision.com/history/c41tk_revised.htm


Sunday, April 11, 2021

3PL Explained: What Is It, Benefits and How to Choose

Photo: Kevin Bidwell

The following is a guest post written by Lassee Petersen at https://www.mactrans.ca/ 

3PL, or third-party logistics, is an order fulfillment strategy. To best understand what 3PL is, it helps
to talk about 1PL and 2PL.

Imagine a maple syrup farm that has to transport its produce to market. The owner decides that the
most convenient way to do this is to buy a truck and do the transportation himself. That is a first-party logistics strategy or 1PL.

As the farm grows it might start producing so much maple syrup that it doesn’t make financial sense to invest in more trucks. It hires another company to take care of transportation. The company that they hire is second-party logistics or 2PL.

Now imagine that the operation grows so big that the 2PL company can’t handle logistics and
transportation efficiently. The farm owner hires a subcontractor or logistics management company, which subcontracts some (or all) of the transportation logistics. The subcontractor is a 3PL.

A 3PL supply chain model comprises three components: the business (manufacturer/producer), the logistics provider who takes care of warehouse management, packaging and other services, and the carrier who is in charge of making sure that goods get to their intended destination in time.

Benefits of 3PL Providers

Why do so many businesses opt to involve 3PL companies for transportation services? There are several reasons, and they have to do with efficiency and cost-cutting:

  •  Cost Savings
Companies are able to negotiate lower transport costs based on frequency and volume of deliveries.
The other option would be to hire individual drivers to move goods, and the downside to this is that
it leaves packaging and warehouse management unattended. The cost will quickly rise and efficiency
will likely drop.

  • Wider Networks
3PLs come with networks already in place which allows businesses to deliver goods over vast areas.
The business owner doesn’t need to worry about whether goods will get to faraway locations; that
headache falls to the 3PL. The best ensure that they have networks that go far and wide.

  • You can scale
A good 3PL allows you to adjust depending on demand without hurting your business. During peak
season they can help you handle the growth without eating into your profits or your time. If it
shrinks, you only need to let the 3PL that you have fewer logistical needs.

  • Stellar service
One of the primary functions of a 3PL is to ensure that all deliveries are made on time. You can
avoid retail vendor chargebacks that occur as a result of logistical delays. Your customers will come
to trust your brand, which, in turn, helps grow your business.

  • Access to the latest technology
Your customers expect you to use the latest technology to provide timely deliveries, and this falls
squarely on the 3PL you choose. It is up to them to invest in equipment and software that facilitates
transportation, driver and inventory management.

  • You can focus on your core competencies
You’re not in the business of providing transportation. A 3PL company takes this function out of
your hands so that you can focus on what you’re good at.

  • Driver management

Managing drivers happens to be one of the most complex tasks in the logistics chain. When you hire
a 3PL company it’s taken out of your hands. The subcontractor you hire vets drivers and makes sure
they meet their goals as mandated.

How to Choose a 3PL

What is the best third-party logistics provider? Many companies provide these services, and their
offerings differ. Before you hire, look at the following:

  • How long has the company been in business? Ideally, the longer the better. They should be able to provide testimonials from their long-term clients.
  • Capability – this includes things like kitting and equipment, multi-channel logistics, software and systems. The company you choose should be able to handle your company’s evolving needs.
  • Safety and security – hire a company that complies with safety regulations and has a good track record for personnel and assets safety.
  • Good customer service – this is one of the essential features of a good 3PL.
  • Customization and scalability – can the company you have in mind handle your business’s unique needs and can they scale as you grow?
A good 3PL company can help you simultaneously streamline logistics and grow your business.

Look for a provider that is transparent about its processes and that doesn’t charge hidden fees.


Tuesday, March 30, 2021

The Mantua, Utah Speed Trap (Updated 3/2021)

Tickets funding this small town's revenue

(Original post from 2015:) Our drivers have to pass through here on a daily basis. Using speed traps for the primary purpose of revenue generation is just wrong! He's basically writing tickets to pay his salary. All the local and regional people are well aware of this situation, so all the town cop does is trap motorists who are not familiar with the area. The southbound side of the highway is a down slope and a driver unfamiliar with the area can easily be unaware that his car/truck is speeding up if not watching the speedometer. Help support the fight for motorist's rights by joining The National Motorists Association. You can join for free at this Link.

Article and video thanks to KUTV.com and Chris Jones. Links provided:

April 28, 2015  (KUTV) If you’ve ever driven Sardine Canyon, between Brigham City and Logan, you might be familiar with the little town of Mantua.

But, with a population of 741, the town is less known for its hospitality than its vast ticket writing. 

“The cop down there is like a sniper,” said Sheri Leishman, whose husband has been ticketed multiple times on the stretch of road. “Everyone knows he comes right out of nowhere and slides right in.”  

In Mantua, police wrote 2,185 tickets in fiscal year 2014. That helped the town bring in more than $221,000 in speeding fines, which makes up more than a third of the town’s $649,000 revenue.  

So how does this compare to other similarly situated Utah towns?  

Take neighboring Williard, also in Box Elder County. Its population is three times that of Mantua — with three times the number of highway to patrol. But in fiscal year 2014, Willard wrote only 706 tickets. 

“The main thing with speed is the excessiveness on it,” says Mantua Police Chief Mike Johnson, who is also the town’s mayor. (He is paid $42,000 a year to be chief, but is unpaid as mayor.)  

In 2012, the Utah Department of Transportation had to write a strongly worded letter to the town warning them that the location where they camp out was being torn up by the town’s patrol cars.  UDOT told the city their actions were “creating an immediate safety issue,” and the town did eventually fix the problem.

Johnson says their speed enforcement is critical. Not only does it reduce speeds on the highway, it helps support a police department that is a constant presence in the small town, he said.  

But, in 2014, the town’s police made only a few dozen arrests unrelated to speeding. Among the most recent citations: fishing without a license.

With the meager crime rate it begs the question:  Does the town of Mantua have an addiction to speed?  

The fees collected by the town help support Mantua’s two part-time officers, the full-time chief, a court judge and a court clerk. The highway, and the tickets that come from it, stand as a major revenue source funding a large chunk of the town government. 

“We could [still] have both of those,” Johnson said, “but it would just be a lot more limited. There is no doubt that we benefit somewhat by the highway.”

The chief is quick to point out if you are not impressed with the work he and his two part-time officers do in the town, then look at dangerous Sardine Canyon, where speed is a killer. 

“Everything we do basically comes back to safety of motoring public,” he said, noting UDOT began making an effort to make Sardine  Canyon more safe about 15 years ago by reducing speed limits, adding rumble strips and barriers.  

Fatalities have been reduced by 93 percent since the improvements to the roads have been made, according to UDOT statistics.

Update: 3/30/2021

by KSL.com

MANTUA, Box Elder County — The police chief of the small northern Utah town of Mantua has been let go after eight months on the job and other officers there resigned on Monday.

Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dale Ward confirmed the dismissal of Chief Michael F. Castro, who became the city's police chief in July, according to a Facebook post.

City officials have not said why Castro was dismissed.

Ward wasn't sure if all the officers had resigned Monday, but did say that the Box Elder Sheriff's Office will be helping out in Mantua in their absence.

The small city has had several police chiefs in recent years, including current Mayor Michael Johnson and more recently, Shane Jacob Zilles, who was arrested and subsequently fired for impaired driving in February 2019.

Zilles, who was pulled by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper for driving in the highway median, was later charged with five counts of falsifying, altering or forging prescription drugs, a class A misdemeanor.

Castro made headlines in December after rescuing an ice fisherman who had fallen through the ice in Mantua Resevoir, telling the Deseret News: "It just wasn't an option to see him drown right in front of us."


http://www.kutv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/The-Mantua-speed-trap-tickets-funding-this-small-town-39-s-revenue-123998.shtml#.VUab2vlVikp




Thursday, February 11, 2021

Witnessing the famous 1990 Tower Drive bridge crash

The terrible news today about three major traffic catastrophes in this country due to bad weather got me thinking about the day I was witness to a catastrophic accident in Green Bay, Wisconsin on the Leo Frigo bridge in March of 1990. It was called the Tower Drive bridge before they renamed it later. The changed namesake was actually a cofounder of the Frigo Cheese Company, the company I worked for in Lena.

We made regular deliveries of cheese to Northland Cold Storage, a facility that was located just off I-43 near the Atkinson Drive exit before crossing the Leo Frigo bridge. We generally arrived there around 7am to off load on a FCFS basis and I had planned my trip to get there about that time. It was only about 30 miles south of Lena and I noticed the fog really getting thick as I got within a couple miles of the exit I needed to take. The exit is immediately before the rise up onto the 1.5 mile long bridge over the Fox river which flows into the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan.


The closer I got to the exit, the worse the visibility and I slowed down with traffic coming up and passing although I had seen much worse. I remember being relieved to be able to exit the freeway at Atkinson Dr. After getting off the interstate, I had to turn north and go under the bridge and then east and south to the warehouse.

Hours later after the fog cleared
Hours after the fog cleared

After my final turn and approaching the warehouse, I started hearing drivers yelling on the CB radio that there were cars crashing on the bridge. I pulled up to the staging area, got out of the truck and could hear vehicles crashing as I was standing there. Of course I could see nothing because of the limited visibility.


The bridge being about 2,000 feet north and overhead, the dense fog must have the perfect conditions to carry sound and it was horrifically loud to me, almost like I was in some kind of terrible dream. It actually went on for 4 or 5 minutes listening to crash after crash feeling helpless trying to think of anything I could do. I could actually hear people screaming and hollering up there! There was an explosion and I just remember this helpless feeling and deep sorrow. Hearing sirens in the background, I knew rescue was on the way, but I’ll never forget that feeling. The sound of those vehicles crashing while I stood there effected me for quite a while.


What happened was that there was a perfect accumulation of factory smoke combined with fog and wind direction that made a blinding wall of zero visibility across the interstate and three people died that morning along with thirty injured. 52 vehicles were involved.


In my 37 years of professional driving I've seen and experienced a lot, but that was one of the worst. Among one of the days that I will never forget. Please drive careful out there. Link to my book below, published in 2020: