Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/904267
VOICES CHANNEL 19 6 | Overdrive | November 2017 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. Owner-operators associated with the anti-electronic logging device protests and beyond were abuzz Oct. 10 as news circulated that President Trump would be addressing truckers and others in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Coming so quickly on the heels of the protests the preceding week, inde- pendents at least hoped for an olive branch regarding an ELD delay or repeal. But Trump had coordinated the speech in part with the Amer- ican Trucking Associations, which supports the ELD mandate, to pitch his tax plan. The mood among ELD protestors soured, to say the least. ELD or Me organized a tweet- storm that directed hundreds of thousands of anti-mandate messages to @realdonaldtrump and @POTUS Twitter accounts. The following weeks, the group turned its focus to a distracted national news media, which at press time had continued to ignore the anti-mandate movement. Using the #ELDorMe hashtag, the group emphasized its support for the H.R. 3282 ELD mandate delay bill and dissociated itself from ATA's industry representation. Clinton Seals, commenting at OverdriveOnline.com, summed up another focus, increasingly promi- nent among owner-operators: "Hey Trump, get a clue — you're not addressing the real issues. The one regulation that needs to be addressed is the Hours of Service. It's creating the fatigued driver problem, amongst others, but I feel that this is our num- ber-one issue. … As far as the ELDs, I could live with them if they would just modify the hours of service so we can breathe again." Find more commentary, and weigh in yourself, via the Oct. 12 post on the Channel 19 blog. 'Hey Trump, it's ELD or me!' Todd Dills In the September 2016 post on the blog, fi nd a tour through Von Ormy, Texas-based Jarco Transport small- fl eet owner Joe Regalado's "Blue" cus- tom 2000 Peterbilt 379 and 2018 Ar- mor Lite end dump, the trailer newly customized to match the tractor. Regular readers might recall Regalado from the Overdrive Pride & Polish national championship last year, when he came away with a big win for his working combo. That was a diff erent trailer, how- ever, with a steel frame. This one's all-aluminum, spec'd to maximize payload in the operation his small fl eet acquired from nearby San Antonio-area dump hauler Madden Materials, the former sand-hauling contractor whose next generation is soon to be headed out on its own. (Find the Sept. 7 post if you missed my video run through 17-year-old Ethan Madden's fi rst Pride & Polish entry of a custom 359 he's spent his teens on, and which has been in his family for decades.) Yet Regalado's 2017 visit to the Great American Trucking Show was similarly award-winning. He bagged a 2nd in the working combo class and nods for paint (1st) and engine (3nd). Regalado says he's using the unit here for a load or two a day within Texas hauling sand to golf courses, which allows him to put his best custom tire forward and, better yet, keep the truck out of the excavation sites that are typical for the Jarco side of his aggregate/haul-off business. Fleet continues winning ways after acquiring another In the wake of the ELD protests Oct. 3-7, ELD or Me protest group member Charles Claburn shared this meme as part of the #ELDorMe Tweetstorm aimed at getting President Trump to pay attention to the ELD mandate. Subscribe to Overdrive Radio via iTunes or an Android podcasting app, or visit the Oct. 5 and 16 posts on the blog, to hear a variety of voices from the D.C. protests and around the country on efforts against the ELD mandate. Jarco Transport/Madden Materials small fleet owner Joe Regalado and his son, Chris, at the Great American Trucking Show with their 2000 379/2018 Armor Lite combo, "Blue."