Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/232692
Voices Going where others won't As a young trucker, Jimmy Nevarez was told he wouldn't be able to make it as an owner-operator running short-haul in and around Los Angeles. "I'm all about proving naysayers wrong," he says. Nevarez has run dry vans and also has worked seasonal jobs and driven a company-owned cement truck. Now, based in Chino, Calif., and leased to J.B. Hunt Intermodal, he pulls containers and has found success through customer service. "People would say, 'You can't pay me enough money to come to California,' but I liked the niche," he says. "You can do what no one else wants to do, and do it better than everyone else." Nevarez has built a client list and receives personal requests because of his success in making deadlines. Jimmy Nevarez hauls in a 2014 pre-production Cascadia Evolution, powered by a Detroit DD15 and a 12-speed automatic transmission, as part of Freightliner's Team Run Smart. He blogs at TeamRunSmart.com. Nevarez is part of Team Run Smart, a Freightliner-sponsored program that functions as both a real-world test drive and a program of sharing information to help drivers with anything from fuel efficiency to exercising. "It's been an adventure – a very welcoming whirlwind," he says. Nevarez enjoys sharing what he wishes he knew when he entered the business 11 years ago. And he learns from the other pros as well as those who post on the site. Nevarez constantly has worked throughout his career to learn. "If it can be done, Jimmy can do it," says his wife, Molly. "He'll find a way to make the impossible happen." — Tara Bullock Hot Buttons Cynicism about 'nuclear' tactic ability to bring parties together and reach a compromise," remarked Tom T., commenting at OverdriveOnline.com. He suggested the president and Democratic colleagues in the Senate just didn't have the necessary skill to do what it takes. "Typical childish play," echoed Timothy H. Martin, writing on Overdrive's Facebook page. Members of both parties, he added, "should be put in a sandbox somewhere and not let out until they get along." There was, however, a measure of support for the move among commenters. "Republicans have blocked 67 nominees" to federal agencies and the courts "that the Obama administration has presented," wrote M. Rick Richards, What's your view of Senate Democrats' congressional rule change to prevent use of the filibuster to block simple-majority votes on executive appointments? It's nothing more than a short-term power grab 37% OverdriveOnline.com poll Democrats in the Senate exercised the so-called E STRR "nuclear option" U FILIB on filibuster rules, effectively eliminating their use to prevent a simple-majority vote on executive appointments (the rule change does not apply to filibusters of legislation). The "nuclear option" term was, somewhat ironically, coined a decade ago by a member of the Republican Party facing growing use of the filibuster by the then-Democratic minority in the Senate. Readers looked on skeptically over November and December on the issue. Nearly 80 percent took a negative view of the Democrats' move. "The real mark of a leader is the Democrats will regret it when they do not control the Senate 40% Other 5% It was the right thing to do to mitigate minority party obstructionism 18% presenting the crux of the problem. "The total number of blocked nominees combined for all presidents is 62." 12 | Overdrive | January 2014 Voices_0114.indd 12 12/20/13 10:10 AM