To know Lou is to like Lou. He is laid back, and always smiling. He treats everyone fairly, until they push him past his limit. Basically, if you don't like Lou, it's typically because there's something wrong with you.
Lou never knows a stranger, and talks freely with people. One of his favorite activities was to shoot the crud with the other drivers at the truck stop. Although he had me on the road for the longest time, he remembered the lonely days on the road, and what it means to have someone hold a conversation and smile, letting you know you're not alone.
Lou helped in almost every situation he came across. The exception of the rule came on an early morning run (just after midnight) on I-70 in Indiana, right before Illinois. A suicidal woman stepped out and stopped in front of our truck. He knew it was a situation better handled by another woman, and let me handle it, while he watched from the cab, until the situation between her boyfriend and her required back up from him.
He didn't care what company you're with. He'd call out to every truck on the shoulder, to see if they needed help. Once, one did. He walked back a mile to try and help the guy, to no avail. He still had to be towed off. An old man came up to him in negative temps and a snow storm, asking help sliding his tandems. He helped a Werner driver learn where to put coolant in and what the coolant light meant. He re-routed for several drivers who needed help with break downs. To him, a little extra time or miles was worth it if he could help someone. Two of the things he enjoyed most were Wishes on Wheels Midsouth and Trucking Santas, for he could see the help.
The load above changed something on helping matters. Lou severely damaged his back while transloading it from trailer to trailer. He herniated a disc in two different spots, causing nerve root compression, facet hypertrophy, and pressing the disc into his thecal sac (the sac of fluid protecting your spinal cord). He fought the pain for six months. Then, one day, he couldn't even climb into a truck. Within two weeks, his world had been turned upside down. He no longer drives, for he ended up having issues getting the brake pedal to agree to his leg, for he had issues pushing the brake pedal down hard enough to stop. He is awaiting the doctor to pull his medical card and sign off on disability, and has already secured a disability attorney. We are also a month into waiting for a decision from St. Christopher Trucker Fund. He now has me tend to him around the clock, for he can't move very far before his body is ready to quit, but still tries to be hard headed about it.
The hardest part, though, has been to accept that he needed help. Our friends realized that him being done trucking meant that we were in bad shape. They realized this meant that we didn't have the money for the doctors or even for rent, and they weren't taking no for an answer of being there to help. We literally came off the truck, not even having a place to live. Lou tried to refuse their help, not wanting to have it get in the way of Trucking Santas. Finally, Mitchell Stein told me to make a fundraiser on YouCaring. So, that night, while Lou was asleep, I swallowed my pride, and did just that. The turn out was amazing, and humbling. Many times Lou and I were both left speechless and in tears, realizing how blessed we were to have such great friends. We would like to take a few minutes to thank everyone who helped out, including the anonymous people I can't list on here. We would like to thank those that we know will be continuing to help us as we wait for security and for my work to start paying off. We would also like to thank those that couldn't help, but have been there with tremendous moral support. Having all of you there, and knowing you care have made a huge difference in our lives. It has given Lou a new belief in humanity also.
We would like to thank Todd McCann, who couldn't help himself, but ended up relentlessly pursuing others to get involved, with good results. We would also like to thank Evan Lockridge from The Lockridge Report, for raising awareness of the situation online and on the radio.
We would also like to thank Brenny Transportation, Lone Star Large Cars, Jack Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Christy Kuppler, Thomas Heatherman, Joel Sims, Gracie Berry, Jana Huolt, Jeremiah Adams (especially for hauling all our heavy stuff for us), Shirie Shipp, Lightning Logistics (Bekins), Riggs & Recruits, Sarge Lewis (he's been our transportation, and forced us to eat out), Brian Peters, Jacquie Vincent, Shane ?, David Beem, Jurgen & Tracy Reid, Matt Grigsby, Michelle Sutton, Mike & Tina DiBartolo, Porter Corn, Everett & Melody Appelt, George Baisden, L. Dawn Tait, Mike Laffey, NosillaCast on Twitter, Deuspenny on Twitter, Good Time Charlie, Todd Neva, Steve & Michelle Piatkowski, Yvonne Mansini, Carrie Marrero, Timothy Boswinkle, Danielle Donnelly, Sheri Olson, Ang Anderson, King (who is King?), Dale Buckley, Peter Toft, Hole in the Head (James Hightower), Bartkomt Overal, Mack & Becca Allison, Roadway Safety Store, Jim Johnson, Tess & Ravin Smith, Frog Truck Escort, Tiffany & Allen Parker, MaidenAmerica on Twitter, Eddie Gudino, Marty Hunt, Lisa Yingling, Mitchell Stein, Mark Fornaro, Bear and T Whiterhurst, Deb Swenson, Tim Nichols, the anons, and the person who threatened to kill me if I ever mentioned his name in so many words. I will adjust this list as more people step up, for they deserve full credit.
Thank you again, everyone, for your full support of whatever kind, while we go through such a hard transition, I'd list the names of everyone who reposted, but that would be enough to fill up an entire book. You've touched us to no end, and we will never forget the love and support.
So that I don't have to answer how to help every time that someone would like to help, I'm including an easy donation button at the bottom of this. Thank yall again! We can never repay yall for what your love has done for us.
WARNING! THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS!
Boy meets girl, and they fall in love. They become engaged. He's in the military, and is called off to war. They email each other and Skype, planning their wedding, and their future together. They talk of how many children they want to have, how he wants to retire from the military, and wants her proud of him. He's coming home soon, and she is so excited. His friends he's fought with make sure he makes it home.
He arrives home early. He promised he'd come home. The children, the retirement, the future, all gone. She is proud of him. She makes sure she lets everyone know, through her grief, that she is so proud of the sacrifice he's made.
The soldier's sacrifice is commemorated daily by patriotic Americans. He has one special day, that he shares with many. This day is Memorial Day.
I've had people ask me what Memorial Day means. This is disturbing at best. The commercialism surrounding this holiday drowns out the meaning to the point people actually forget. All you hear is "Memorial Day Sale," and to the younger generations who haven't experienced a close loss in war, believe that's what this day is about.
It isn't. There's a saying. "All gave some, some gave all." What does this mean you ask? It means everyone fought, and some died. It tells in six short words the sacrifices men and women have given to serve our country.
My dad taught me the meaning of Memorial Day, and re-enforced it to the core. His friend he had fought with in Nam was finally going home. When he went to board the carrier in Nam to get sent to the airport, he turned around to wave at my dad, and was shot dead while waving by the enemy. My dad brought the young man's body to the family, and delivered the awful news. To him, Memorial Day bared significant meaning due to his loss of a friend.
These men and women leave behind mourning families and friends. Their friends who fought beside them are the ones to ensure that "No one is left behind." They are scarred for life, as is the family of the deceased. In Vietnam and now, the grieving takes on a whole new toll. In Vietnam, the deceased soldiers, as well as the living, were called "baby killers," due to the Vietnamese using children as shields. The anti-war protesters had no empathy for the lost one's family members when screaming how they were baby killers, and it cut them to the bone. Now, we have Westboro Baptist picketing fallen soldiers' funerals, with signs praying for more dead. I'm thankful to the Patriot Guard and other volunteers for helping shield the families from these insults.
Before equal rights, though, it was tougher for the families. In the earlier wars, if the husband passed while fighting, the wife had to struggle harder to ensure the families' care. The wife would be thrust into a man's world, with none of the equality given today to working females, while grieving over her husband, and rearing their children.
If you see this flag at someone's house/yard/barbeque, thank them. The gold star is symbolic of a family member lost to war. Each loss is a gold star.
Memorial Day started as Decoration Day during the Civil War time frame. It was not officially federally recognized federally until 1968. Politicians then changed Memorial Day to a Monday for a convenient three day weekend. The VFW and SUVCVW want it changed to the original date, May 5, established by the Union Commander-in-Chief in 1868, due to the non-chalant attitude of the American public.
This year, I encourage ALL to fly their staffs at half mass this Monday until noon, then fly it back at full mass, as is the correct treatment of the flag on this day of memorial of the over million soldiers who've given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Light a candle for the fallen, say a prayer for the fallen, and don't forget the real meaning for this day; the lives lost, the grieving family, and the country that, to them, was worthy of their life. Don't let their death be in vain!
Disclaimer: The pictures above are not my personal property. I used them for educational purposes, and to ensure the true meaning of Memorial Day is instilled to a non-chalant public. I own no rights to any of the pictures.
These
are at the center of an international smuggling controversy. Due to one man's "mistake" that led to him to lie to police in a different country, breaking the law. Let's bring the face of Jabin Bogan Akeem or Jabin Akeem Bogan or Bogan Akeem Jabin or Bogan Jabin Akeem, depending on which source of media you are using.
You see, Jabin turned the wrong way on a street. All of us do this. The difference is, most would make a u-turn before they went into another country illegally. He claims there was no place to do that. Let's look at the evidence shall we? These pictures are right at the border, going into Mexico.
Also, all outbound traffic (i.e. traffic going into Mexico) passes through a Mexican checkpoint. The U.S. is not responsible for traffic going into Mexico, just as Mexico is not responsible for traffic going into the U.S. If you decide to go from Mexico to the U.S., you must pass through the U.S. Border Patrol. If you decide to go from the U.S. into Mexico, you deal with Mexican border patrol. The claim that a checkpoint on the U.S. side told him to go into Mexico and turn around is bunk. The color of the uniform doesn't even match. He claimed they were in a dark blue uniform. If you've ever been through one of the many checkpoints along 8, 10, 40, and the ones sprouting up on 90 and 80 on occasion, you'd know they never wear dark blue. They are always in military colors or black. The colors don't change right at the border.
Now, he might've been dumb enough to not believe the Mexican agents could speak English, and somehow missed the Spanish writing all over the uniform, after all, he couldn't read the many signs warning him that he was about to enter Mexico, but how did he miss the HUGE sign in Spanish saying Welcome to Mexico in Spanish? How did he not think "I'm stopping right now, and will stay stopped until someone helps me turn around?"
Also, how he did he forget he had something, or shall I say, 268,000 some things to claim? They go through a list, in English, of things to claim. Including, but not limited to, guns, AMMUNITION, alcohol, cigarettes, knives, food, etc. Yet, he, while hauling bullets, forget he had them on there? This is where the mistake went to being a total felon. Jabin lied to police, stating he had nothing to declare. This made him, by his own omission of the facts, a smuggler. Not an innocent, hard working American who made a mistake. You see, he forgot to claim all this:
Sadly, the lies have yet to stop right there. Now, Jabin's mother, Ms. Smith, is acting like the typical drama queen you can only expect when someone is trying to glorify their loved one as a political prisoner. She, along with the owner of Demco Express, the owner of United Nations Ammunition Company, and several others, who I mentioned in my last piece about this debacle, know exactly what Jabin was doing, thinking, and saying, although they weren't there, and they have no clue. They lie by acting like they have a clue of the situation. For the sake of Jabin, I think they need to hush, let the courts play out, and let the three ring circus they've created die out. One quote I absolutely love on this one is how Howie, owner of the bullets, claims they can't fit inside of an AK-47. These are .308, or 7.62 mm NATO grade, bullets. I kept thinking, as the gun enthusiast I am, that this sounded erroneous at best. Certainly, my research led to the fact that this is also a blatant lie. You see, AK47world.com verified my thoughts. Click here to see the ammo list for an AK-47. Howie Glaser, you are a LIAR!Howie also wants you to believe that all the ammunition was intended for shooting sports. I do not believe blood sports, such as war and militias are known as shooting sports. His web site has many items that are just what he claims, NATO grade. But NATO grade weapontry aren't used to hunt deer or moose or wolves or bison or hogs; nor are they used for shooting competitions, unless it is a higher level reserved for military and police personnel. So, his innocent claim about his ammunition is bunk. The .308 or 7.62 mm NATO grade are fitting of guns mostly used by military, SWAT, guerillas, militias, and cartels. I mean, are you going to use a Heckler & Koch G3KA4 to defend your home? No! They have to be deactivated in order to legally be sold. The cartels in the country he smuggled the bullets into use them though. G3KA4's and the rest of the H & K G3 family are hot commodities on the black market. Also fitting for this type of bullet are: Saiga 308 (7.62), Kel Tec RFB, AR-10, etc. Now, keep in mind, I am a gun enthusiast. As a teenager, I did plenty of shooting competitions. I've shot a majority of these for fun. These are not home defense or hunting weapons, and unless used for war prep, domestic terrorism, or doomsday prepping, there's no reason to buy these in the huge bulks that Howie offers them in. On a Fox News video, one of the boxes was clearly marked "PAKISTAN." What does that mean to us? (This isn't including his parachute flares, golf ball launchers, or other horrible ammo.) Please, Mexico, destroy the ammunition, don't give him back his bullets!Here's my stand, and my final word here:1. The blind should be silenced. They don't know exacts because, simply put, they weren't there. I don't know specifics. I do know he broke the law. Breaking the law, and lying to law enforcement, is not an honest mistake.2. C. H. Robinson being the broker for the other drops does not mean that certain people, namely Allen Smith, should throw them under the bus. They have nothing to do with this situation.3. The hysterics and claiming your son is a political prisoner makes me wonder if you drink from the same kool-aid as the 9/11 truthers. Get a grip woman. Yes, he's your son, but he's a grown man who had a blatant disregard for the law and international borders, and shall be punished accordingly. My father would've tried to raise awareness for a lighter sentence without hosting a three ring circus ran by ass clowns (sorry, there is no better description for them). 4. The owner of Demco Express, Dennis Mekenye, needs to stick to one story. It changes too much, exposing more lies. In a recent interview with Allen Smith, he claimed he maintains constant tracking. Yet, he told ABC News, "Mekenye became worried about his employee's whereabouts when he turned on the tracking system linked to Bogan's truck and saw Bogan was in Mexico. He reached Bogan by phone Tuesday afternoon." You can't keep it on constantly, then say you just turned it on. You contradicted yourself. Lastly, I think Texas Fred said it best, "From the *How STUPID are YOU?* files comes this story.
Driver with 268,000 Rounds of Ammo Took Wrong Turn to Mexico
A *wrong turn*? Seriously?
I lived in El Paso for YEARS and it is damned near IMPOSSIBLE to take a wrong turn into Juarez. Unless you’re STUPID. I mean TOTAL MORON stupid.
When I lived in El Paso, even if you did get headed to Mexico by mistake, there was a U-turn BEFORE the border, you know, just in case, and there were NO GUNS signs all over the place, no guns in Mexico that is."
Anne Ferro's own words, she's "all about safety."
So, Anne, let's explore where the safety is, shall we?
This is a hard one to write, for you have to decide where to start. You have to decide when to tie in the TCA and the ATA also. If I go off track for a minute, please forgive me, for there is a lot to cover in a short span.
BMI
I've taken a look at the BMI standards the administration has been looking at implementing over and over again. You see, a recent doctor's visit had this BMI scale there. If you look at my pictures, I'm fit. If you've met me in person, you know I've got 10-15 extra pounds on me, and this doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the BMI is height versus weight, and isn't factoring in muscle mass. This scale put me at morbidly obese.  This is not morbidly obese! Yet the FMCSA's erroneous BMI scale says it is! In this picture, I'm in a size small Aeropostale shirt. So, in the name of fairness, how is punishing people for being very muscular fair? How is that safe? You'd think you'd prefer a lot more muscleheads, and would discourage the practice instead of pushing them away. According to this scale, the picture above is at much at risk due to weight as the picture below. (Picture courtesy of Ron Pridmore.)
No offense to the man above, but he looks like he'd run out of breath in 10 steps, and is only one stress away from a huge cardiac arrest. My heart is healthy. I run with my dog, and spend two hours a day in rigorous play with Autumn (this includes dragging and picking up a 100 pound pit/boxer by her toy for hours). Maybe, just maybe, before they try to push BMI again, they can figure out a common sense approach.
HOS
They keep trying to change around the hours of service to make them "safer." This is erroneous in so many ways. First of all, in this industry, there never will be a "one size fits all." This is why there are different sets of rules for different aspects on everything but HOS. Household has their own regs, oil has their own regs, haz-mat has their own regs, and oversized has their own regs. Yet, all of these, once again, fall into the same category, with the exception of oil and local haulers, under HOS. Teams fall into the same rules as solo drivers, for the most part, even though the two aspects are literally worlds apart.
Their new safety solution with HOS is going backwards in safety now, not forward. For starters, you can't do more than one reset in a week. I'm sorry, but you would think an administration trying to battle fatigue would make a mandatory weekly reset instead of saying no to more than one. A driver should never be punished for the amount of resets they take. Lou has been known to do two in a week. He's well rested on those weeks, for he takes more time off. This reset also now has to contain two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods, and can only be obtained once per week. First, it was clearly stating every 168 hours, and I'm sure once all the lawsuits are cleared, it'll be shown in the fine print. Let's explore this.
First of all, this mandatory timing of 34's puts in a huge issue on the already dilapidated parking structure in the highway system. If you're one of those who've tried to find a parking spot once the sun goes down, you know parking is at a high premium. This parking situation is so bad, that when complaining of a Schneider truck trying to squeeze his truck and trailer into a 6' wide spot (our 14' wide was in the parking spot), I was actually told by someone who has no clue on oversized loads, "At least you can give him credit for trying." Now, I'm no rocket scientist, but you do the math. These guys who deserve credit for trying is the reason you see so many of the oversized haulers parking their bobtail next to their load nowadays. They are being forced to take evasive action to protect their load. With more and more trucks entering the highway system daily, and fewer and fewer parking spots being available, this time constriction will make it less safe for the drivers, by cutting out many finding safe parking spots. On top of this, it'll force drivers to be fatigued. If they drive non-daylight hours, they will be forced to take a break longer than 34 hours, and will mess up their sleep cycle. If one of these drivers shuts down at 3 a.m. on Friday, they will not be allowed to start up until 5 a.m. on Monday. That'll amount to a 50 hour break just to include the 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. rule. This will also mess up their body's sleep cycle, leading to more fatigue, not less.
The old rules helped household drivers when they needed to load a house, bullhaulers when tending to the customers at livestock auctions, oversized haulers with monster loads to tarp, and specialized haulers who had to set up their loads after hauling or do rigging duties after making it to the job site. You were allowed up to 14 consecutive hours on-duty/not driving after your 14 hour clock was up, but had to take a consecutive 10 hour break after your extraneous on-duty/not driving portion. Now, any on duty time constitutes a 16 hour window. If I'm reading this correctly (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), you will only be allowed an extra 2 hours now, which will force drivers to cheat on their logs, and drive fatigued to get the job done in certain fields.
Maximum on-duty time within your driving window was 14 hours, which is crucial for anyone who needs to do 150 mile/3 hour load checks (car haulers, flatbeds, specialized haulers, etc). Now, though, you are only allowed 13 hours on duty, forcing you to flag your load checks or do your load checks off-duty.
Originally, the proposal said you could not drive/work more than 8 hours without a 30 minute break. Now, it is 7. I just saw this change. So, if you're oversized, chasing daylight, you are mandatorily forced to stop. This isn't so bad. Everyone, at some point in time, stops, uses the restroom, grabs a drink/snack. That's 30 minutes right there. My issue in this, honestly, is if the governments are going to tell small business owners in trucking when they have to take a break, they have to tell every small business this. This takes away more freedoms than the FMCSA is allowed to impede upon in my opinion.
The only thing they got right is for the teams. The teams no longer have to break the law to sit in the front seat. If you are in the passenger seat for up to 2 hrs before or after your 8 hour sleeper berth, you can log it off duty. This, however, becomes trickier for teams in large companies. Most large companies have went to EOBR's that weren't set up for teams. So, while said team member is in the passenger seat, they can't show off duty until the other member logs out of the system, thus leading them to once again be illegal upon entry into a scale.
In my opinion, the worst part of the HOS, current and proposed, is the hard 14 hour clock. Owner operators aren't plagued so much by this. Large company drivers with EOBR's are. They can't nap when tired. This makes it unsafe. Lou will be the first to say if he has to tread into a gray area and cheat due to the fact he wants a nap, he will. He sees it safer to possibly face a fine than to drive tired. Many will agree with him on this one. People who do not travel in a truck every day do not understand the adjustments a trucker's body had made to their lifestyle, and can't safely tell a driver what's best for them in my opinion. Some days, a driver can go 1000 miles without being tired, the next day, they would only be able to go 90. Give them a soft 14, i.e., they can only work a total of 14 hours in a 24 hour period. Let them rest when they need to. Don't tell them what's best for them, for, if you aren't them, you don't know. Joyce Brenny mentioned a retina scanner one time. This would be mounted to read your retinas, and make you stop when tired. I think this would actually serve better than any act of legislation, for you can go how you need to, instead of how a bunch of pencil pushers think you should.
EOBR's
A major thank you to OOIDA for getting this thrown out the first time. Unfortunately, Ferro is pushing for it again. Are they safe? Are they legal? Is their a safety oriented necessity for them?
EOBR's are a flawed system. Data can be changed, drivers can slightly cheat the system. You see, when Lou was at ATS, we agreed to try them out. We figured out how long we could go in rush hour traffic without having to show driving, how to go out to the boonies in the wind mill sights without showing it, and many more things. There were days that the log would look like an EKG while Lou was low on hours. Why? He cheated for every 15 minutes he needed. These pushed his limits, forcing him to drive tired because he couldn't just stop and nap, there was no way to bump the data that much. He was chastised by safety when the logs decided not to go through, or the GPS in the system would mess up and have us in Nebraska, even though he was logging in from Goose Creek, South Carolina. You see, if the log messes up on the EOBR, you have to have hard logs. This is actually listed in CSA. If you dont' have backup logs and your EOBR messes up, you get points and a ticket, for you don't technically have a logbook. But, if you're doing paper and electronic, you're breaking the law by having two logbooks. Many EOBR's now have you show pre- and post-trip inspections on the EOBR's. There's an illegality here also. According to 49 CFR 396.13, if a driver finds a malfunction during inspection, inspection must be signed. How do you have your actual signature on an EOBR? In FMCSR 395.8 (d)(5), it requires a driver's signature on each log. How do you, once again, provide an actual signature on an EOBR?
DISTRACTED DRIVING
The FMCSA is constantly pursuing stopping distracted driving. They made regulations against handheld cell phones, so now the drivers are more dangerous while trying to hide the fact that they're texting, opening apps, etc. When they chose to ban handhelds from CMV's, they should've had the NTSB push through a nationwide CMV ban for POV's also. How many times does a driver have to avoid the person next to them with their head up their posterior body part because they are too distracted with one of 100 things? Drivers can tell you many stories of scary stuff idiots due while driving, for they see them every day.
EOBR's and Qualcomm's can not be seen when the driver is rolling. So, instead of safe driving practices, you get to see some yahoo at least once a week cut straight across several lanes of traffic and hitting the shoulder to see what their company wants. How did this make things safer?
While talking about distractions though, why are there so many ads and billboards and vehicles on the road with those little scanny things? (You know, those odd, square shaped images that can be scanned for apps or coupons.) How is that not distracting and tempting?
Now that they've started on banning distracted driving, where will it end? I mean, to get a sip of water/coffee/juice/milk is distracting to some. Smoking a cigarette. Scantily dressed women. Radio. CB. Nice cars. Needing to pee. Your load. Your pilot car. Beefy men. Billboards. Smells. Contruction workers. Scenery. All of these can be seen as distractions. Will they ban everything, including scenery? Or will they finally realize accidents and fatalities from at fault commercial drivers is the lowest it's been in a long time, and finally realize their regulations against distracted driving make things more dangerous?
Instead of boring you to sleep, I will make a part 4 with even more erroneous safety regulations they want to push.
 How does one miss this? What a clash the trucking industry is seeing. On one end, you have the blind leading the blind. In we bring Hotels 4 Truckers, Allen Smith, Dan Fuller, Todd Dills (I'm sorry Todd, but I truly believe you're too much of an ass kisser to tell the real news...........just sayin), and a new guy on the scene, William Stewart, who claims a website. You see, he claims it, for www.williamstewartonline.com is listed on his Facebook, but if you click it, what do you see? (Thanks for the free advertising deary!)
On the other end, you have the voices of reason. Porter Corn, myself, and a few, rare others.
"We all take wrong turns" declares the blind. Yes, everyone, no matter what you drive takes wrong turns. They figure out how to "flip a bitch" somewhere, and get on the right track.
If he would've been chastised for making a u-turn, even I would speak up. Yet, he ILLEGALLY entered another country with ammunition, carried in ILLEGALLY. The man did not have milk or cat food, he had AMMUNITION.
He then LIED to federal agents, saying he had nothing to declare. Not only do they ask if you have anything to declare, they go through the list. So, it's not like he wasn't asked about money, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, weapons, ammunition, etc. It was that he felt it was appropriate to LIE, which is also ILLEGAL.
So, yes, originally, he made a mistake, but instead of LEGALLY correcting said mistake, he broke several laws, making him a FUGITIVE. This is where the difference between innocent mistake and illegal activity and blatant disregard of the law comes into play.
And, this was if he had entered where he claimed he did. I've hinted to this, Porter from Mexico Trucker has hinted to this, and now in the El Paso Times, a man much more knowledgeable on this kind of law has hinted to this: HOW DO WE KNOW HE DIDN'T SNEAK ACROSS? Read:
 One of many signs upon entry to Juarez. Apparently, part of Jabin's mistake was not being able to read the English language. Regardless of Bogan's intentions, René Jáquez, former assistant country attaché in Juárez with the ATF, said that U.S. customs officers should have intercepted the cargo. "In my opinion, the real question to ask is how is it that our customs agents with all heightened security were able to miss this type of shipment going into Mexico? How was it that this truck was able to get into Mexico with all those ammo?" he said.And if the cargo was indeed legitimate, Jáquez said, U.S. customs officers should have been able to see the ammunitions, check the paperwork and steer the driver in the right direction. (Click here for full article.)  This shows where the driver had an intersection to turn around at before the bridge, had he came in on the bridge. Thanks again Porter! So, here is my main question. If this had been a Mexican trucker bringing the ammo into the U.S., would the blatant disregard of the law be a mistake? If this was an American going into Canada will all that ammo, would you still sing the same tune? If this was one of the very apparent Muslim immigrants in Canada bringing this load into the U.S., turban and all included, would you be singing the same tune? Where do you draw the line at stating this is not just a mistake. It may have started off as a mistake, but if this was a mistake, I'll give you another mistake:
The next time, wrong turn might be a dynamite load that Jabin takes. That load would end up right in front of a school, him hit the wrong speed bump, and the explosion would kill hundreds of children. But, he just took a wrong turn and make a mistake.
Do I need to further make my point on the moronacy of "just a mistake?"
 I don't know how it's possible to miss so many signs. Especially, when you notice they're no longer in ENGLISH.  Do I need to post more pictures to get people to understand there are dozens of signs making sure you don't "accidentally" go to Mexico?
You know the old addage, "Do unto others as you'd want them to do unto you?" It should also have a twist of "Do unto your back as you'd want your back to do unto you."
Everyone knows your back has your back. But, if you don't have your back's back, your back won't have your back anymore. (Confusing enough yet?)
I am writing this in hopes someone out there will listen, heed my advice, and save themselves heartaches, headaches, and lifeaches. (Yes, I just made the word up.)
Men and women are both severely hard headed. Any time there's pain, unless the person is a hypochondriac or schizophrenic, they try to shake it off. They try to make themselves believe it'll get better, or that it's a mind over matter thing. Anyone reading this has been there. I was there. When I was temporarily paralyzed, my stupid self believed I'd wake up the next morning and walk. It didn't happen. I'm lucky when it happens now, but now at least I know what the issue is.
Lou shook it off, denied it, did the mind over matter thing, for six months. Six months is a long time to allow a severe back injury to not be treated. Now, six months later, his hardedness has led to his "world being turned upside down."
In October, we took an emergency trans load, paying through the nose for us to go from Amarillo to Albuquerque empty, then from Albuquerque to Tracy loaded. The truck dealership the load was abandoned at had agreed to help with the transload when the big carrier brokering the load out spoke to them. They didn't. We had five 5000-7000 pound military trailers to attempt to transload by ourselves.
As I changed into shorts and a tank top (I was wearing slacks and a blouse) to be able to assist in the transload, Lou chose to try and do it alone. His main concern was always my back, and he knew how much pain I'd be in if I helped switch the load to our trailer. He actually moved one trailer onto our trailer, but his body screamed, and he had to wait for me. When we started getting ready to continue, two Knight Transportation drivers jumped in to help out. After we moved another trailer with their help, a Marten Transportation driver jumped out. I would like to thank those three from the bottom of our hearts. If you guys ever read this, the camaraderie shown by the three of you was off the top, and we will never forget the hard work it took to help us out that day.
If it weren't for the three gentlemen helping us out, I do believe Lou and I would have both been in the emergency room that day together. Lou walked away with pain he had never felt before.
Let me backtrack on Lou for a minute, then I'll fill you in on the rest of the story and give you advice to take to the bank.
Lou started bull riding in high school. He quit when he realized that, although he might be good, he'd never make it to the pro circuit. He then went to bed bugging. He was one of those guys that you see carrying appliances by theirselves or see them carrying a couch on their back, thinking, "He's going to regret that later on in life." He then moved onto flatbedding, and specialized hauling. Twelve hour tarp jobs were nothing, helping move heavy freight was part of the job. All of this, from high school on, caused the issues to come around with the ferocity that they did. This isolated incident was just the straw that broke the camel's back.
We had to stop early the next day. Lou was in so much pain that he couldn't stand to be in the driver's seat. We got a hotel, he stretched out, and there was no change the next morning. A few days later, the pain was still nagging at him, and we took him to a chiropractor, who gave him some short lived relief.
For the next six months, anything from sleeping wrong to twisting wrong to lifting tarps to just about anything made Lou's back scream in pain. He tried to treat it with long, hot baths, OTC pain relievers, and went to a massage therapist on our last trip through Primm. The pain became excruciating after the massage. By the time we made it to Cedar Rapids, he was having problems lifting himself into the truck. We went to the emergency room. The doctor believed it was a bulging or herniating disc, and ordered him to bed rest. Three days later, he was feeling no better, so we went to a different E.R. Same conclusion came from there, except they told him no bed rest. Neither E.R. could order an MRI though. We took our load to PA, then brought one to TX. We then went to a third E.R., trying to get an immediate MRI. No luck there either. So, the doctor ordered the MRI for us.
Lou's world has been turned upside down. An hour before the MRI yesterday, his company cancelled his contract. Loyalty and being the top earner mean nothing to them, and apparently, it was appropriate to kick the man who tried to overlook several contract breaches on their part down further. (We are exploring our options on how to pursue at the current time.) The hoot of it all is this shitty company knew when his MRI was, so there was no accidental timing flaw.
Today, the diagnosis came. It's grim to say the least. He's herniated at the L4-L5, with nerve root compression at the right S1. The herniation is pressing into the thecal sac and is herniated to the right and center. He's also got facet hypertrophy. Basically, he will have to have surgery, and with back surgery, your best chances are 50/50.
The worst part is, he let above named company convince him to opt out of worker's comp. Lou had never been hurt, had practiced safe lifting practices, and felt it was an extraneous expense when we were attempting to buy our truck and trailer. On top of that, we were comparing health insurance companies so we could get a policy started in June, while saving up for our premium. His injury fell in at the wrong time.
If you read this, walk away with this please! If you're in severe pain, be seen immediately. Prolonging being seen and working will only further your chances of permanent damage. If you don't have it now, get health insurance, and if you can, get worker's comp. Protect yourself. It doesn't matter your age, or how physically fit you are, shit does happen.
As for us, Lou can't walk five feet without screaming. I'm now his caregiver while in excruciating pain myself. I'm trying to sell advertising, and branching my business out to include other things, to try to pay the rent, bills, and be able to eat. Lou is done trucking for at least several months while we also struggle to figure out how we will paying for expensive specialist bills and the impending surgery with cash. We are awaiting the decision of St. Christopher's, while doing fundraising of our own. His gross was too high for any other form of assistance now, although our net, like most owner operators, would allow us to pull it if they didn't look at gross. He can't qualify for disability until the doctor signs off on it, and most people are denied two or three times before they are accepted. We've got a long road to go, and Lou is scared we won't make it.
I will keep everyone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook up-to-date on fundraising efforts by others. Right now, due to Mitchell Stein's persistence, we've got a fundraiser online you can visit here.
Please, take care of your back, and the rest of your body. It's a tough blow to have it throw you out of your life and lifestyle.
Ali and I are sitting at the TA, him eating, Lou and I visiting with him. This redneck (for lack of better words to describe him) decides to join in, and one of the first things he says is "ragheads." I'm normally a calm person, but I have a volatile streak, as many know, and have been drug out of a few places by Lou. This almost happened this time around. You see, my dear friend Ali is part Pakistani, so he is one that would be considered a "raghead" to this country bumpkin, and he was too stupid to realize it. I stayed calm. The looks given by Lou told me to swallow it so we could enjoy Ali's company.
K-Bob's Steakhouse in Childress, Texas was another incident. Two african american males were eating there. They were polite, held an intelligent conversation, but were treated different by the all white, country bumpkin, staff. At seeing how they were treated, I stormed out, letting them know someone needed to teach them a lesson. Upon talking to corporate about the abhorrent and apparent racial profiling, they seemed to be unphased.
In Temple, Texas yesterday, at the Wal-Mart on 31st Street, I was doing the self check out. I was the only white person doing self checkout. The african american cashier walked up, loudly and rudely accusing me of stealing merchandise. I told her to look at the last scan, and she would clearly see I scanned. She got loud again, and I got loud back. When I went up to the older, balding, obese, white man who was the CSM, he seemed to be unaffected. The assistant manager, on the other hand, was rather unhappy.
In Rialto, California, Michael and I went to Wal-Mart (MPG was my driver). We went through checkout, and the man wouldn't speak to me. Every question and statement ended in sir. MPG explained to him that I was actually the customer. He still did not acknowledge me. The issue being that he is Muslim, and apparently follow the Islamic code to a T. I almost told him MPG was a Jew just to see how he would react. Needless to say, I raised a stink over this.
These incidents weren't seen as often until the new form of racism took over. I will go into crime rates and sensationalism in another piece, right now I just want to deal with the racist undertones in this nation and where we went wrong.
While most were hoping a black president would erase any racist undertones still in this country, they were let down in a harsh way. The people who voted for him didn't do the research necessary to know that the racist undertones would be one of the highlights of his presidency.
Reverend Jeremiah Wright should've been the first indication of what was to come. This broke before a large group of idiots voted him into office. Wright's sermons had deep racist undertones, and Obama took his family to the church, until it was looking to doom his presidential bid. Then, he publicly chastised the preacher he believed for so long, and separated ties. If he went there before, with the same racist undertones, he ran, apparently he agreed in the racist undertones.'
Eric Holder said on television we were a nation of cowards for not openly discussing racism. First, when he said the entire nation was cowards, he was also talking about the men and women in the armed forces. This offended me to no end. Secondly, talking about racism does nothing to help. Educating people at a young age that all colors are equal is the way to do it. This is not something you can teach in school. This is a parenting lesson.
Reading Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis says a lot also. It shows her feelings of racism, as to whites vs. blacks. She never saw herself as an equal. When you give yourself ingenuous feelings of being below another race due to skin color, it's a racist undertone also. This is known as reverse racism. It's equal to those with severe neurotic problems who always need to be a victim.
The people Obama surrounds himself with are known as racists also. Frank Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA, and was one of Obama's mentors. Tony Rezko, a friend of Obama's, has been exposed for funding the same terrorists Obama's supposed to be against. Louis Farrakhan, a well known friend of the Obamas, is the leader of the Nation of Islam and a devout racist. Raila Ordinga is Obama's cousin. Raila is a fundamentalist Islamic candidate in what many people believe is Obama's true birth country of Kenya. This is just a few of the racists that are friends with, and back Obama. He came from a line of Marxists.
When the flash mobs started rocketing the nation, the leader of the nation ignored the situation. For those of you with your head in the sand, flash mobs were mobs of young african americans that were targeting whites. In Madison, Wisconsin, the situation became so bad that the politicians started teaching racial understanding classes. The KKK came out of hiding and marched to try and get the mobs to stop.
Then, lastly, we get to the Trayvon Martin case. Obama's statement that if he had a son, it would look like Trayvon fueled the fire. The typical racists, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, received backing from the White House. If this had been a white kid killed, would he have said such a charged statement? If Zimmerman is white, so is Obama. For Obama is half black, half white; Zimmerman is half Hispanic, half white. You can't choose which race is best for you. If you're going to use one race to favor one and not the other, you, in fact, are racist.
Where did we go wrong in the matter of racism? Easy. Our country elected the wrong buffoon!
The gentleman that runs Mexico Trucker and I fight over many issues, except for one, the case of Jabin Bogan, I tweeted to Porter Corn my opinionation that if this were a trucker from Mexico going into the U.S. the same way as Jabin went into Mexico, the same liberal sensationalists in trucking crying to "Free Jabin" would be crying to hang the Mexican trucker. He concurred.
First, let's get into the impact this does to the trucking industry, then let's go into more information on the case I'm taking directly from here and other sources. The American public is engrossed in this case, every bit of liberal media is blasting this man's face and case across. Before we go any further, let me explain to those without the intelligence to discern words that I am using the term liberal as in loose, non-precise; not Democratic. It is now known, according to reports by the Federales, that Jabin had ammunition hidden. This may or may not be true. The world over knows that the Federales (Mexican police) are known to not always be on the right side of the law. It is clear that he went into Mexico without the right to go in. So, hidden or not, he technically smuggled ammunition into Mexico. This is a high crime. With people up in arms about Fast & Furious, are they now okay toward the crime of smuggling more deadly items into Mexico?
Secondly, he never declared the ammunition. If, in fact, he was told he could go in and turn around, he would have still had to have declared the ammunition upon entry and re-entry. Secondly, the U.S. Border Patrol would've checked him, as they check all trucks for proper identification upon exiting and entering the country. At this point, had he been properly checked, and would not have had a passport, they would've detained him at the border. I would personally like to see solid proof he entered where claimed.
Thirdly, the routes from El Paso to Ciudad Juarez are clear marked signs indicating Mexico traffic only, and no guns allowed, along with other clear signs. If he was a haz-mat driver with such a dangerous load, why couldn't he have read one of half a dozen signs?
So, in the eyes of the public court, if they judge all of us on the one, their opinionations will include ignorant, unintelligent, dangerous, smugglers, illiterate, etc. Yet, people are defending him, making us look even worse. If you think that the U.S. Government isn't already scheming up a dozen new rules due to this international incident, think again. Maybe condemning him for his faultiness instead of screaming to free him might help with not having a dozen more regulations handed down.
What if it had been a Mexican carrier coming across thanks to NAFTA? Would you be so relaxed and understanding if a Mexican carrier entered our country with hundreds of thousand of rounds of assault rifle ammunition, undeclared, and illegally here? Think on that while you read the tracking information Porter brought into the mix.
First, for many who do not know, Porter is a driver who drives in the U.S. but lives in Mexico. I believe he had dual citizenship. He understands life and driving in both countries and is an outspoken and sometimes crass advocate.
"Mexico Trucker Online has learned where the locations and route of Jabin Bogan’s deliveries in El Paso where he claims to have accidentally and inadvertently entered Mexico with 9 pallets of prohibited military grade ammo. Bogan was immediately arrested by Mexican authorities for importing illegal munitions into Mexico and yesterday was formally charged. Bogan’s first of three stops in El Paso was to (A) Siemen Energy and Automation, 1400 Henry Brennan in El Paso. As you can see from the graphic, Siemans is north of I-10.
The second of three stops was at (B)Nichirin Coupler Inc., 9600 Plaza Circle in El Paso, just off of Loop 375 commonly known as the border highway.
Finishing this stop, Bogan’s final stop in El Paso would have been (C) Carefusion at 1550 Northwestern Dr on the far westside of El Paso.
The logical and most direct route that most truckers would take to get to the third and final stop in El Paso, would be to backtrack on Loop 375 (Avenue of the Americas) to I-10 and continue west to Sunland Park where his final drop was.
I used GOOGLE MAPS to generate the graphic and route between Bogan’s stops and of course, it shows the shortest route which would be Loop 375 that parallels the border. While this is the shortest, it is not the best route due to stop and go traffic and numerous stop lights.
Since Bogan found himself in Mexico, for whatever reason, it is obvious he was mindlessly following a GPS routing instead of using common sense.
But here is where it gets interesting and either debunks Bogans claim that he “accidentally” made a wrong turn that put him into Mexico, or it shows Bogans incredible stupidity and lack of common sense.
Referring back to the graphic, you can see the route Bogan would have taken. In the area of the Bridge of the America’s that Bogan eventually crossed, Loop 375 dog legs away from the border.
Bogan would have had to deliberately exited Loop 375, come to the stop light and gotten into the left hand turn lane for the bridge to Mexico. There are many signs at this point warning motorists that they are about to enter Mexico and signs pointing out the prohibition of bringing guns and ammo into Mexico.
Even had Bogan continue straight onto an alternate highway that takes you within sight of the Bridge of the America’s, he would have had to again, make a deliberate left hand turn onto the bridge lanes. The alternate road would have joined with Loop 375 further west of the bridge turn off.
Dennis Mekenye, owner of Demco freight company and boss of Bogan, has continually claimed he was on the phone with Bogan as Bogan made his “mistake”. The question that needs to be answered then is why Mekenye did not tell his employee to stop and under no circumstances cross into Mexico. By Mekenye’s own admission, he continued with the call as Bogan told him Mexican authorities were arresting him and were going to search the trailer."
With the facts in front of you now, do you still cry to free the man, or will you even see he needs justice? Don't free him, don't bring that cloud down us. If you smuggle stuff into Mexico, accidentally or not, you broke a law. It's no different than the drunk driver many of you will crucify for killing someone.Porter, a very special thanks for allowing me to use some of your research to re-inforce what I've already been saying.
The two words free and cheap combined with chrome is a dream come true for me!
Josh Foster and I got to talking today, and we figured we'd map something out for everyone, that even a company driver can afford. So, here's the deal:
Call Josh or Roger at The Chrome Shop and order the ABS high impact chrome with threaded locking nut covers and removable center cap hub cover complete set for $199.95. (You have to decide and let them know if you want the cone or round.) They will ship them to you for free! But, if you are a slow poke, you will lose out. With only 40 available at the current time, and at $50 off the entire set or more (our last purchase cost us $100 for 2 steers), these won't stay on the shelves long.
After the 40 are sold out, I'll try to bring you another deal immediately. The phone number for the guys at the Chrome Shop is 501-724-8789. Call now, or you'll kick yourself later.
As always, remember when it comes to chrome, it's always easiest to ask for forgiveness instead of permission!
I've only hired one person to work for me in several years, and that was Lou. Now, I'm in the hiring process again.
We need a flatbedder. More than that, we need an experienced specialized hauler that can handle general, oversized, and supersized, freight. We may need more than one, as we are looking into opportunities to expand our business further.
As an employee of mine, you will receive 30% of the line haul for each and every load. If you are a company driver, please understand that line haul is developed after fuel, permits, tarping, stops, pilot cars, etc come out. You will get 100% of payment of all accessorials, for you do all the work to receive them, and it is only fair you get them. I will provide you a copy of any settlement statement we receive any time you request, so you have full transparency of the amount of money we made, and to ensure you know the correct and full amount owed you was paid.
The following is expected from us:
*professional appearance
*intelligent language
*2 or 3 years minimal verifiable oversized experience
*minimal 5 years driving experience
*the ability to tarp (you rarely will)
*cleanliness
*self-sufficiency (we will not hold your hand!)
If you are interested in working for us, submit your resume by clicking here. If we like your resume, you will be sent a securement test. Fill it out and send it back. If you're still at the top, we will arrange an interview with you. If hired on, you will sign a confidentiality agreement, and we will get you to orientation for the company we're leased onto.
This is a permanent position, and only the best will fill it. Good luck everyone!
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