Berlin Bautista was a dispatcher for DOT Foods in Liverpool,NY. He kept track of the travels and expenses of truck drivers. But, it is the way he was doing it that concerns the police, and they want to talk to him.

Sounds to me like he was doing a double dip, as he added money to fuel cards for drivers, he made duplicate demands and the duplicated money went into his own bank account.

He is accused of making over $20 thousand in profits over a four month time period. Sgt. Robert Conley, with the Fugitive Task Force says, â€�He tried to pin the blame on truck drivers who had the cards issued to them, when the money was going into his own account.”

He was living on Syracuse’s North Side, and investigators are learning about his ties to New Jersey and Detroit.

The Fugitive Task Force is looking for anyone who has information on Batista’s whereabouts, or any history on him. In April, Bautista was living on Highland Street in the city of Syracuse.

If he’s caught, Bautista is facing charges of grand larceny and falsifying business records. He’s 5’ 5“ and weighs 150 pounds

If you have any information on where he could be living now, give the Fugitive Task Force a call at 473-7625.

From

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

I know times are tough for some companies, hell all these trucking companies are feeling the pinch today. But, come on now you have to keep these trucks up and running. I work for a crappy company as far as getting screwed on some thing’s I am asked to do in regards to pay. But, my company will fix things that are broken including the air conditioning.

I have been driving for a long time now, and when I first started driving a truck it was a 1976 International Cab over, with NO air conditioning, and not much of a heater in the winter either. But, it was a local job and I went home everyday so I didn’t have to worry about getting a good nights sleep, I just had to survive driving it in the heat plus taking on the heat from the engine. Which in case you didn’t know it, on a cab over the engine is right beside you. I still to this day have a scar on my right leg from a burn I received from the shifter tower plate that my leg laid against while driving this beast.

Now, getting back to my original reason for this post this morning. These over the road companies that require their drivers to STAY in their trucks over night for weeks at a time, need to get a clue. You, don’t tell a driver who is out on the road and breaks down, well loses their turn signals to go to a shop and get that fixed, and will NOT FIX the broken air conditioning problem. There is not a LOAD out there that is worth ME sweating my ASS off in YOUR truck just because you want me to WAIT and bring YOUR JUNK passed YOUR SHOP. And to tell a driver also, “We don’t fix a/c problems on the weekend” at our shops. Um, so T/A and Freightliner are mostly open 7 days a week 24 hours a day, and they will fix it.

There is no reason why a driver should have to suffer, while driving a COMPANY truck. I can see an owner operator wanting to get it back home to repair it. But, not a COMPANY truck, I don’t care if the load was going to be late or not…I WOULD NOT SWEAT MY ASS OFF FOR NOBODY.

Also, the funniest damn thing I ever heard was YOUR policy of charging a DRIVER that drives YOUR truck and delivers YOUR freight with idling YOUR truck in order to stay comfortable. The only thing I can say to that is, you had better be glad times are slow and NOBODY else is doing much hiring right now or YOU would be losing some drivers or should lose them I should say. That’s insane, trying to charge a driver for idling YOUR truck too much, who are you to say I have idled too much? Myself, I like my truck ICE cold all the time so me and YOU would have problems from the get go.

You know this could be considered a safety issue, as everybody knows when it is cooler you rest better. Now, it would be different if the a/c didn’t work before I decided to drive YOUR truck that would be my fault. But, it didn’t happen that way because I would not have driven YOUR truck 10 feet if it didn’t work.

Drivers, need to stand up to these dispatchers and say enough is enough. I’m not driving this piece of shit truck no further until the problem is fixed.

I did this one time way out west years ago, back when they actually would call and tell you we got a HOT load that needs brought out here to the west coast.

I got a phone call from my wife who was crying and yelling at me that she didn’t know we were going to do. I said whats the problem, she told me she received my check and it was NEGATIVE some many hundred’s of dollars. I said that can’t be right, and this was coming up on the weekend. The load I was under was a really hot load and was suppose to be a non-stop except for fuel kinda deal.

I pulled in the next truck stop, and called into dispatch and ask why my check was in the negative amount he said he didn’t know and could not find out until the following Monday. I said OK, well this load is sitting here, until my wife calls me and says the positive amount is deposited into my bank account. The dispatcher asked me if I was trying to hijack the load, I said no but I refusing to move until they righted what was wrong.

It went back and fourth for a few minutes, and then it turned into a couple hours. Then the dispatcher finally gave in, and funny thing was a few minutes after he gave in my wife called and said the right amount had been deposited. Funny how much power a company has when it really wants to use it. Anyway, they told me to drop that load off, at the home terminal I figured i was fired when i got there. I told that dispatcher, I was on my way, and if he knew any better he would not be there when I arrived. The point of this was a driver has a lot of pull when it comes to getting things fixed that the company knows needs fixed.

Oh, BTW the dispatcher was gone when I arrived and took a long weekend off..LOL!

©2009~Truck Drivers News

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

OCALA – For the third time in three days, sheriffâ€�s deputies have responded to a truck stop where a semi and its trailer have been stolen.

The latest incident was reported at Gator’s Chevron at 4410 W. County Road 326, where driver John Lane told officials he parked the semi, which had a 53-foot shipping container attached to it, on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and went home.

Around 2:30 a.m. Thursday, Lane said he returned to the truck stop and discovered that the trailer, which was empty and was locked, was missing.

Lane, according to the Sheriff’s Office report, leases the semi tractor to DDI Transport out of Ashland, Va. He told deputies he picked up the trailer and its cargo in Jacksonville on Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. The cargo was delivered to Cone Distributors in Ocala at 8 a.m.

The semi and the container were valued at approximately $15,000.

Officials noted that last June, Lane had another 53-foot container trailer stolen from the same location. The trailer, worth around $6,000, was also empty in that case.

On Monday, two drivers reported they parked a semi and trailer at separate truck stops over the weekend and when they returned, the items were stolen.

Deputy’s first call was at 10:20 a.m. from driver Jeffrey Jaquay, who told officials he parked the rig Saturday at the Petro truck stop at 7401 N.W. County Road 318, and when he returned on Monday, it was gone.

The trailer, described as a white with red refrigerator unit on the front and No. 18 on the back, was empty at the time, and was estimated at $Ȓ,000, officials say.
Full Story

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

After months of planning, the big day had finally arrived.
And with only hours until the big rigs were set to depart Charlottetown for Summerside, Vanessa Ferguson was tossing and turning.
But Ferguson didn’t care about sleep. Her dream was about to come true.
“I didn’t have a trailer on,” said the trucker, who led Convoy for Cancer. “Every now and then I’d look in the mirrors to see how big the convoy was and I kind of got a little teary eyed and thought ‘Wow, it did come together’.”
The total isn’t tallied yet but it’s expected that the inaugural Convoy for Cancer has raised several thousands dollars for the P.E.I. chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society.
“I know there were a couple of really big donations,” said Ferguson.
She came up with the idea as a way of honouring her late father, Jack, a heavy-duty mechanic who passed away in 1995 from thyroid cancer.
Speaking on behalf of the truckers involved, Ferguson said, “We wanted to do something good. We did something good.”
It took months of planning, but the trucker had some time to devote to the cause after breaking her hand.
Full Story

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

I did a little research, and found this is the meaning of Father’s Day. from the history of Father’s Day.

It would be interesting to know how Father’s Day came into practice and celebrated worldwide with an equal sincerity and respect as any other significant holidays. Here’s a short history on the holiday, and meaning of the different colors of roses to be worn that Day. You may even refer the page to others to share the information by clicking on the link given below.

About 4,000 years ago a young boy named Elmusu wished his Babylonian father good health and a long life by carving a Father’s Day message on a card made out of clay. No one knows what happened to Elmesu or his father, but the tradition of having a special day honoring fathers has continued through the years in countries across the world.

The Countries, where the Catholic Church were of significant influence on the culture of the society, Father’s Day is celebrated on St. Joseph’s Day (March 19). However, a more secular celebration which is not associated with any religion is followed in recent times to highlight the increased diversity among people from all over the globe coexisting together in one place.

Father’s Day is celebrated popularly on 3rd Sunday in June in many parts of the world. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

In 19Ǹ President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. President Nixon, in 1972, established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father’s Day was born as a token of love and gratitude that a daughter cherishes for her beloved father. Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.

Now, what does it mean to me? Well, I love my dad he was kinda of a hard ass on me. But, now that I am grown up I understand why he was like he was. I just hope I was half the dad to my daughter as he was to me.

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

The other night I had gone to check my e-mail as I do quite often, and to my surprise there was a e-mail from a Publishing company in New York City ~ Mark Batty Publisher.
I get quite a few of these kind of e-mails every week, I figured it was another scheme or something related. But, I figured why not and I opened it, it was a press release announcing this book. The PR person who had sent it to me, thought it would appropriately fit on my blog, which is about truck drivers and the industry.

So, I figured I could try and help them out a bit with some free advertisements. I placed the press release on the blog, and sent an e-mail back to the PR person for the publisher. A couple days later I received a package in the mail from this PR person and the publisher. It was the book, for my review I suppose, I will admit I hate to read but this wasn’t so bad so I read the book.

“Truckers” by Mary Richardson ~ my review..

I really like this book, it is not the sort of drama book you would take to bed with you and read. It is what I would like to call a coffee table book. It is a hard back, and is 128 pages from cover to cover. When you first open the book, the first thing caught my attention was the first page, it is an original log sheet the yellow copy, and also has the back of the sheet as well. I thought this was a nice addition to this book, as many people have never seen a log book in the first place.

The book, is written more towards people in general and not truck drivers. As we have already been down these pages/roads a thousand times before. But, the general public has no idea what really goes on while we are on the road, they just see us as big ole noisy trucks rolling up and down the highway.

The book puts into perspective what we, as truck drivers, do on an everyday basis. It also has lots of photos so you not only get to read about it, but it has a visualization added by looking at the pictures. It kinda breaks it all down into what we as drivers deal with on a daily basis.

I give this book a thumbs up for anyone, although I don’t really think truck drivers will get into it as they live the story she has written everyday.

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

A group of kind-hearted truckers honored six people with serious illnesses on Saturday at the Sumter Wal-Mart.

As part of the Wal-Mart Hearts, a volunteer program started by one of the company’s drivers to help people with chronic medical conditions, drivers from around the country make the individuals “honorary Wal-Mart drivers” during several hours of festivities that include gifts, balloons and cake and culminates with a ride on a Wal-Mart 18-wheeler truck.

Wilson Frerichs, 5, a Sumter resident who suffers from T-Cell Acute Lymphoma Leukemia, enjoyed the cake and the teddy bear, as well as the truck ride that he made with his mother, Catharine, 38, and his father, Brian,಩.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” said Catharine Frerichs, “but it was nice. Everyone lined up and clapped for us when we came in.”

But it was the Sumter firefighters that held Wilson’s attention the longest.

Mikayla Ferrence, 8, also received a lot of attention — as well as a silver locket presented by James Blackstone, a trucker from Ashford, Ala., who works out of Shelby, N.C.

“This is unlimited,†Blackstone said. “We do it for schools, stores, individuals, store associates — you name it. Wherever you want us to go, wherever there is someone with special needs, we’ll go.”
Full Story

More information on Wal-mart Hearts: Currently, the Wal-Mart Hearts involves more than 100 drivers who have reached out to thousands of individuals. For more information, visit http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/234.aspx

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.

Vermont truck driver Peter Carrara wasn’t supposed to make a second trip to Pennsylvania, hauling in tombstones for Memorial Day, the week in May 2007 that his rig slammed into and killed a Hollidaysburg woman, his attorney said Friday.

He was tired; he wanted to get it done. And when he stopped at a truck stop and someone offered him methamphetamine, he took it.

A short time later, his speeding truck bulldozed into 57-year-old Bonnie Weaver as Carrara passed her in an intersection where she was making a left turn.

“This is the rest of the story,” attorney Brian Manchester told President Judge David E. Grine, ending more than two years of fights and speculation over whether Carrara was high when the crash happened.

“It was wrong, but he did it,” Manchester said, later adding, “But he does understand he has to be punished.”

Grine said Carrara, convicted by a jury in April of homicide by vehicle, should have known better. “I believe you know or you should have known that your actions … could cause or would cause serious harm to others,” Grine said. “Your conduct in using the drugs could not be ignored.”
Advertisement

Grine sentenced Carrara to spend one to five years in state prison. He’ll be eligible for early parole in about 10 months.

Earlier, Carrara broke down into tears apologizing to Weaver’s family.

“I am truly sorry for what happened,” Carrara said. “Words cannot describe how terribly I feel and how I wish I could change what happened that day. Someday you may forgive me.”

At trial, jurors only heard that

meth was found in Carrara’s urine after the crash. DUI charges he’d faced were dismissed because a judge ruled police got his urine illegally.

â��Had we not faced problems (with evidence) in this case early on, the defendant may have been facing a three-year mandatory today,” District Attorney Michael Madeira said.

Manchester argued Weaver contributed to the crash, by turning left into Carrara’s path after signaling right.

Carrara was cuffed by sheriff�s deputies after the hearing and began serving his sentence Friday.

His two sisters both stood and addressed Weaver’s family, saying they too were deeply sorry. They explained how they lost their parents when they were young, and Carrara helped raise them.

Weaver’s husband, son, daughter and grandchildren were in the courtroom, but didn’t address the judge. Grine said he did receive letters from both sides.

The sentence was close to the 18-month sentence Madeira recommended.

“He made multiple decisions that said, â€�All I’m really concerned with doing is getting where I’m going as fast as I can go,’ ” Madeira said.

Read more:

© 2009, Truck Drivers News. All rights reserved.