This is from Land Line magazine. Please take a look, keep an eye out for this driver and pass it along to others you know are traveling the roads. There is a phone number at the end of the article if you have any information on Mr Eischens.
SPECIAL REPORT: Former Arrow driver now officially ‘missing’
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 – A missing persons report was filed last night by the family of John M. Eischens Jr. of Mabank, TX, a former Arrow driver.
The family reportedly has not heard from the trucker since before Christmas, when the Tulsa-based motor carrier suddenly shut down operations and stranded nearly a thousand drivers on the road.
As volunteers were trying to locate those drivers and get them home or to a safe place, the driver of truck number 6325 emerged “unaccounted for.” After two weeks, he remains missing.
According to Iowa driver Eric Mende, a volunteer working to help stranded drivers, Qualcomm reported no activity on the truck that Eischens was driving for Arrow. Mende said the “last ping was to a tower in the Butte, MT, area.” Mende began calling truck stops in the area and that’s how he found truck number 6325 abandoned at the Pilot in Butte, with keys in it.
Mende told Land Line Magazine that he asked the Pilot security guard to check the lot. The guard found the Arrow truck and reported that the driver’s belongings were gone. The guard told Mende the truck had been there since Dec. 25. There was no sign of Eischens.
Volunteers who have talked to Eischens’ family in Texas report that his mother is worried that he’s not contacted them for several weeks and “it’s not like him to fail to call on Christmas.”
Det. Steve Williams of the Anna Police Department told Land Line that the report was filed last night and going “into the system” Wednesday morning. Williams said because it was a new investigation, details were not available.
If anyone has information on whereabouts of Eischens, please call Det. Williams of the Anna, TX, Police Department. The office phone is 972-924-2848; after 5 p.m. calls will be handled by dispatch at 972-547-5350.
I am an editor and have been writing over on “The People’s Journal” about the PGR, “Road Dogs on Hogs” and workman’s comp. Yesterday the site published a story from a good friend of mine, Walter Twohorses, about his dealings with Trimac‘s workman’s comp insurer, AIG. I have to say that being friends with Walter over the last two years I have seen and heard of the difficulties he has gone through in trying to get non-invasive medical treatment and other benefits due him.
In July 2007 I started training where I learned how to run the pumps, measure the oil and several other required duties. After two weeks I was turned loose with my own truck. It was a ‘96 Freightliner FLD that was originally an OTR truck and had been converted to run the oil fields. It was probably the biggest piece of crap I have ever driven and should have been “retired” a long time ago. I suspect that instead of buying new equipment, they would purchase older, worn out trucks from other branches of the Trimac company to show a profit and saved the company some money.
I drove this worn out Freightliner for a year with the air-ride seat bottoming out an average of 3 to 4 times a day. The impact to my spine took it’s toll over that amount of time.
One day I got out of the truck to hook up my hose. When I stepped down it felt like someone had stuck a very sharp knife in my back and I went down. I could not move. Other drivers at the pumping station helped me get up because I could not do it on my own. I have never experienced pain like that before and it scared the hell out of me. It was about half an hour before I could move. The other drivers helped me get back into my truck and I drove myself the 35 miles back to the yard. Good thing I know how to float the gears because I could not push in the clutch due to the pain and weakness.
Sadly this is a common problem with some trucking companies. Trucks that are deemed “safe” by DOT standards are not always in the best shape when it comes to the drivers body. Truck drivers spend hours upon hours sitting behind the wheel bouncing down the roads of this great Country. These are not always the best roads and can give a very rough ride. These roads take a toll on the trucks. the suspension gets weak and any air-ride equipment no longer works as it should. I don’t know what regulations are for running in the oil fields as Walter did, but I know that any road truck, even if it is new, is NOT set up to be running off-road. They need a much heavier suspension as well as many other beefed up parts to keep the truck from falling apart.
Whereas I have had a rather easy time in dealing with AIG, my injury was a very obvious one, Walter’s is not. The damage to his spine was incurred over the course of a year. I realize that can make a case harder to settle, but if he has the documents to prove that this damage was done while driving for Trimac, why are they not taking care of him? Is AIG to fault for this or Trimac? I know that any time I had a problem with AIG I could call my company and they would get in touch with my adjuster and get things straight. Trimac has not done this for Walter. They have left him swinging in the wind, fending for himself.
Lindy Kyzer, a Public Affairs Specialist, with the Online and Social Media Division of the Army, posted a “Message to Milbloggers” a couple of days ago on the ‘Army Live’ blog. This is the official blog of the US Army. The message is in response to the milblog world going “silent” in support of CJ Grisham.
She starts by making this statement:
As a huge fan of milblogs – personally and professionally – I do my best to keep up with issues in the milblogosphere. And to be honest, I have to say I wasn’t aware of huge issues among our bloggers. There has been at least one high profile case, but I haven’t been on the grapevine of information about widespread shut downs of military blogs. From my foxhole, I meet new commanders and leaders in our Army every day who openly embrace milblogging in the ranks. Gone are the days when LTG William Caldwell was one of the few champions of engaging the blogosphere. These days everyone from the Secretary of the Army to battalion and brigade commanders across the field aren’t just supportive of blogging – many of them are blogging themselves.
I absolutely admit that there are still areas, and leaders, where blogging in the ranks is not met with open arms. And most of the issues milbloggers have are with their local command, not a headquarters Army action item. We consider our left and right boundaries when it comes to social media engagement and blogging to be the Uniform Code of Justice and Operations Security. Contrary to some opinion, you don’t avoid UCMJ responsibility when you log into the Internet – you’re responsible for maintaining military standards and decorum even online.
And commanders remain free to set localized policy when it comes to social media use by their Soldiers. That doesn’t mean a Soldier’s right to free speech is lost, but it does mean that we hold our military to a higher standard.
OK, I can understand that we hold our military personnel to a higher standard and that some of the local command may be a little slow on embracing the new medium. But what gets me, even though “this isn’t official Army policy or regulation” is the “tips and tricks” she offers.
1. Consider a pseudonym. I know many of you may consider this sacrilegious in this new era of transparency. But if you want to be free to gripe and moan to your heart’s content, if may save you some trouble. Pen names have existed for a long time and they open up artistic freedom, especially for a Soldier. I concur with those who view pen names as a hindrance to authenticity. But I think too many discard the idea without giving it full consideration.
2. Little brother is watching. The military, more so than any other job or place of employment, creates a sense of family. And we all know how the family gets over Christmas when Uncle Bob has had a few too many glasses of eggnog. If you’re a Soldier in our Army – or an Army Civilian – you have to consider how what you write will be looked at by not just your commander, but those in the ranks underneath you, as well. If Private Johnny notes that you just wrote a scathing post about some military issue or that you’re writing things about your personal life that will make it difficult to see you in a professional light, think twice. If the military is a family, try to be sensitive (but not too sensitive – this is the Army, after all) to the feelings of those serving alongside you.
3. Don’t get political. I love politics. But I came to the understanding that when I took a position with the Army, as a government civilian, I needed to avoid too much political speech in my professional interactions – to include posts on my Facebook wall and tweets I send from my personal account. It doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally slip up and let my political leanings show, but it does mean that I’m not going to write any scathing reviews or political statements. It just makes my life simpler.
4. Don’t diss the boss. We’ve probably all read the stories by now of individuals who have lost their jobs because of a Facebook status update or blog post that did not reflect well on their supervisor. It’s just better for our job security that we don’t talk negatively about our boss or other coworkers online. In the military, it’s not just a good idea, it’s crucial to the proper operating of the chain of command.
Now tell me how a soldier can truly have freedom of speech if they follow these “tips and tricks”? I know not everyone is going to agree with the statements I am about to make, this is just my opinion, and a citizen of these United States, I have the right to voice my opinion.
Since active duty bloggers that are over seas have to inform their command that they have a blog, and what the web address is, using a “pseudonym” would be useless. If the command watches over the blogs of the soldiers under them, then they know who is who! Once it is registered with the command, does it go into that soldier’s file? If so, then every command after that will know that this soldier has a blog and where to find it.
To a point I do agree with writing like ‘little brother is watching‘. There are ways to question a policy without making it sound to “scathing”. But what about the advice of “writing things about your personal life that will make it difficult to see you in a professional light”? What does that mean? What may be offensive to one person may not be to another. I understand there has to be a balance between the personal and professional, but does anyone really know where that line is. Being big brothers and sisters, as with being in command, one should lead by example. If you have honor and courage in you heart and personal life, would that not be an inspiration to all who read your blog?
Ms Kyzer’s opinion on “Don’t get political” may make “life simpler“, but tell me something. If you wanted a simple life, would you have joined the military? If you are willing to lay your life down for this Country and the freedoms it hold dear, should you not be allowed to enjoy those freedoms as well? Yes, there are probably some situations in the military, that to be able to command your subordinates, you should keep your personal opinions to yourself. But are military personnel expected to NEVER have an opinion? Are they expected to keep their mouths shut if their opinion differs from the mainstream? I know that with signing up for the military you agree to protect our country from threats, foreign and domestic, and are expected to follow orders. But do you loose your right to voice your opinion? It seems to me that as long as you agree with the higher-ups and the policy, you are free to blog to your hearts content. But the moment you disagree with them, then “it might be better if you keep that to yourself”.
And last but not least, the comment of “don’t diss the boss“. She is right about that one, to a certain extent. When the big boss is the President of the United States I believe there is a catch 22. Yes, if you are in the military the President is your boss, but do you give up your rights a United States citizen when you join the military? As long as you are not forcing your opinion on your subordinates while on the job, are you not entitled to your opinion? Maybe that is where you should use a “pseudonym” and act like you have another author to your blog. But would that still not bring down the mountain on your head if your command read it? Would they not demand that you kick that author off the blog? What about going to far as to create 2 blogs, one as yourself that kisses the ass of the main stream and one that you use with a “pseudonym” and is in your face? It wouldn’t take much digging with the tools in place now days for “them” to find out who is really running the blog. Would the punishment not be more sever then?
I have lots of questions in reguards to Ms Kyzer’s comment and since I am not in the military maybe I am missing out on some rule some where. But to me, her “advice” lacks something. It doesn’t address the injustice that CJ suffered when in the role of “parent”, he was discriminated against. This discrimination was not just by the school and the PTA, but by his command. Grisham’s service should have never been an issue in the PTA meeting. The police should have NEVER been called! And his command should have listened to the complainants and then asked the question, “Was Grisham acting on behalf of the Army, or as a parent?”
If this kind of injustice and discrimination is the norm, then I would recommend that military service personal NOT have children, don’t have a life out side the military, heck, don’t even fall in love and get married! If you do, someone in the civilian world may not like it and go to your command. If that happens you can kiss you military career goodbye, because they will not stand up for you!
The times are tough for everyone these days. But for many Arrow Truck Lines drivers, it got worse yesterday. All I ask is read the story below and look into your hearts and help how ever you can. Living on workman’s comp right now I can’t afford to help with money, or a ride, but I can offer a place to stay for a few days.
I am sure that many of you have seen the white and green Arrow trucks rolling down the road over the years. Yesterday they closed their doors and left their drivers stranded all over the country. According to “Tulsa World“, the 61-year-old Tulsa-based flatbed company, closed it’s door without any notice to the office staff or the drivers.
After closing down the company phone system Tuesday morning and not accepting cell phone messages throughout the day, the company issued a statement from CEO Doug Pielsticker at 6:21 p.m.
“The company has been in negotiations with its principal lender,” Pielsticker said. “Those negotiations are continuing, but the lender has elected to proceed with securing its collateral. The company is communicating with several interested parties and continues to seek a prompt resolution.”
Beginning just before noon Tuesday, callers to Arrow’s west Tulsa offices were greeted with a recorded message: “Drivers, if you’re in Freightliner KW, please take your truck to the nearest Freightliner shop. Call this hot line number to Daimler, (877) 294-9679. They will arrange for you a bus ticket home.”
“I’m shut down near Cheyenne, Wyo.,” Arrow driver Denny Carter said by phone. “They asked me to bring the truck and load into Tulsa, but I don’t have fuel to do it. I’ll be taking the truck to a Kenworth dealership in Cheyenne.”
“I haven’t heard nothing and haven’t been able to get ahold of anybody,” driver Ruben Bradley said by phone. He shut down his rig at a truck stop in Wichita Falls, Texas, on Monday night when other drivers phoned to tell him their gas credit cards weren’t working.
Bradley was hauling a load of steel pipe for delivery in northern New Mexico. He had three-quarters of a 240-gallon tank of diesel fuel he thought would take him to his delivery but not enough to return the truck to a terminal or Tulsa.
And with no working fuel card, he didn’t have $500 to $600 of his own money to fill the tank.
“I’m not going to move the truck. I’m not going to get stuck way out in New Mexico without fuel and no way to get home,” Bradley said. “I can’t get ahold of anybody, not even extended operations or the fuel desk.”
Doug Evans was in similar straits early Tuesday.
“I’m not in a very good mood,” the Arrow driver said by phone, his fuel gauge at a quarter tank as he motored west toward Little Rock with a load of steel tubing.
“I’m fixing to be out of fuel. I can’t get any answers. I got a message to take the truck to the nearest Freightliner dealer. We haven’t gotten any paychecks, either.”
By Tuesday evening, Bradley was driving south to a Freightliner dealer and a new job he’d just been offered in Houston. He had just enough fuel to make it, he said.
Evans, whose load was bound for Houston, had run out of fuel. He was parked in a truck stop 60 miles east of Little Rock.
“I’m waiting for somebody to send me some money — Western Union so I can get enough fuel to get the truck to the Freightliner dealer in Little Rock,” Evans said. “And then I’m going to have to walk home to Monroe, La. There are seven drivers I know about — from North Carolina to Arizona — who are walking home.”
Carter, who was stranded in Cheyenne, almost 2,000 miles from his home in O’Brien, Fla., was nearly alone among the drivers in that he will have a merry Christmas.
“Friends out here, people I met on the road, pooled together and bought me an airplane ticket home,” he said.
“I’m flying Cheyenne to Gainesville on Wednesday.”
Land Line Mag reported the story yesterday with the following statement:
Stephanie Ortega, who works in the Fleet Services department at Daimler, said she found out when she arrived at work Tuesday morning that Arrow Trucking was shutting its doors and about the company’s plan to help get Arrow’s drivers home.
She was instructed to tell drivers to drop their vehicles off at the nearest Freightliner dealership and to leave their keys with an attendant there or at a truck stop if they are out of fuel.
Ortega said drivers are asked to then call Daimler at 877-294-9679 and she and others there “can get them a bus ticket through Greyhound or the company will reimburse up to $200 for alternative transportation costs.”
However, one drawback to the plan is that drivers are on their own to find transportation to a local Greyhound station once they have surrendered their trucks.
“If they can get themselves to a local Greyhound station, we will get them a bus ticket and get them home,” Ortega told Land Line.
The trucking world is coming together to helps it’s own. There has been a Facebook page created with the sole purpose of helping drivers connect with people that can help. Weather it is with money, a ride home, or just a place to stay till someone can get them home, any help a person can give would be greatly appreciated by the many drivers left standing in the cold.
“CDL of it” also have a list going in their Christmas Group Forum of drivers that need help and people that are willing to help. According to a message felt on the Facebook page, there are 2 lists there, one with drivers needing rides, fuel, help. another with a list of folks that can provide rides, help, etc. you can also call 866-929-9627 or 417-200-4411.
All of us at CSM certainly feel for these Arrow drivers that may end up stranded. If someone knows of a driver that needs a lift home for the Holidays, please contact us at customerservice@chromeshopmafia.com and we will try our best to hook them up with one of our customers, fans or friends to get them back home. We all agree that the trucking business can be tough, but things like this shouldn’t happen.
A few days ago I made a post in comment to “A Soldier’s Perspective” and the controversy that has been brewing with the Huntsville Schools, the PTA and the Army. Today, the milbloging community is going silent in support of CJ Grisham. Though I did time in Iraq as a civilian contractor truck driver and have never been in the military, two years ago CJ invited me to join the family on “A Soldier’s Perspective” and be a co-author.
As part of that family I too will join the protest of silence by many milblogers.
90-year-old Medal of Honor winner Colonel Van Barfoot will get to keep his 21-foot flagpole in his front yard.
According to a spokesman for Senator Mark Warner, The Sussex Square Homeowner’s Association has dropped its request to remove it. The association has also agreed to drop any legal action against Barfoot, releasing this statement, “The Sussex Square Homeowners Association Board has agreed to withdraw legal action previously announced for Friday, December 11, 2009 at 5:00pm against Colonel Van T. Barfoot regarding the flagpole located on his property.”
They would not comment any further on the matter. Neither would a spokesman for Senator Mark Warner.
CBS 6 also went to Colonel Barfoot’s home tonight and spoke with him. But he did not want to comment on camera.
The Sussex Square Homeowner’s Association had threatened to take Barfoot to court if he did not remove the pole from outside his Henrico home by Friday. It claimed the pole violated neighborhood guidelines.
I know we have heard a lot of these stories over the last few years, but I have to say this one sticks in my craw more than most. OK, I get that he can have a flag, as long as it is at an angle and attached to his house. Is this just down right crazy or what? Why can’t he have a free standing flag pole in his own yard? Why is it that the Homeowners Associations across this great nation insist on telling the people of this nation in what manner they can be patriotic? Should patriotism be governed by such an association? I THINK NOT!
In a time when so many are attacking our country in so many forms, should the people of this country not have a right to stand up and say that they are proud of their country and proud of their service to this country? And if there is no direct LAW or rule stating that a free standing pole is illegal, why did they deny his request? Just because a few people may think that something is “not aesthetically appropriate” does not mean that others will feel the same way. To me, the flying of the American Flag, no matter how it is displayed, is a beautiful thing!
There is no provision in the community’s rules expressly forbidding flagpoles, Barfoot’s daughter said. But she said the board ruled against her father’s fixture and ordered it removed in July, deciding that free-standing flag poles are not aesthetically appropriate. Short flag stands attached to porches dot the community.
“Dad sort of feels like this is the end,” said Margaret Nicholls, Barfoot’s daughter, who lives a few doors away. But she said this morning that she and her husband are attempting to generate support for her father’s cause, a flag-raising rite that he has undertaken for most of his life.
Barfoot received the Medal of Honor on the battlefield during World War II in Italy and fought as well in the Korean and Vietnam wars. A portion of a highway in rural Mississippi, his native state, was named in his honor this fall. A building at McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond also carries his name.
Barfoot began regularly flying the flag on Veteran’s Day this year despite the Sussex Square board’s decision.
He said in November that not flying the flag would be a sacrilege to him.
“There’s never been a day in my life or a place I’ve lived in my life that you couldn’t fly the American flag,” he said.
I have never had to face something like this, I live in the country and don’t have to worry about some one telling me that I can’t put a flag pole in my yard or telling me how big of a flag I can fly. This country has become one of so many rule and regulations and as much as I hate to get into the politics of things, I am beginning to wonder if there are any laws that state what a Homeowners Association can and can not govern. Maybe, since there are so many people that want to tell others when, how, and how big they can have their flag pole and American flag, it is time for our government to step in and put a stop to these Homeowner Associations from running a muck!
You can read more stories from the Dispatch about this here.
You can also find out more about Col. Barfoot’s supporters on his Facebook fan page.
LAS VEGAS (AP) – An auto dealer vowed Thursday to fight a city order to take down the 109-foot pole from which he flies an American flag about the size of a competition volleyball court.
The City Council voted Wednesday to order the Towbin Hummer dealership to take down the flag after officials said the pole was too high and neighbors complained the flag flapped too loudly.
“The American flag stays,” dealership owner Dan Towbin declared. “I’m not convinced that people are complaining because of noise. This is about vindictiveness and power.”
Towbin says the 30-foot-by-60-foot flag fits with his oversized dealership selling oversized cars, but rejects opponents’ claims that it’s an advertising tool.
“All I can tell you is we never sold a vehicle based on a flag,” he said.
The council action followed a similar decision in May. Towbin sued the city, and a state judge last month sent the issue back to the council, ruling that he should have been allowed to have an attorney represent him before the body.
Towbin’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, said Thursday that case remains pending.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to keep the American flag flying,” he said.
City regulations limit poles to 40 feet, but the council grants case-by-case exceptions.
Towbin got permission for a 100-foot pole in 2006, and the city has approved eight other flagpoles of that height or higher. Assistant City Attorney Bill Henry, however, said Towbin acknowledged last year that the council could revisit the decision if it bothered neighbors.
“We think it’s arbitrary that they decide who gets it and who doesn’t,” Towbin said Thursday, adding that noise meters he put at a neighboring house didn’t support complaints about loud flapping.
“If I was convinced I was truly disturbing people, I would have taken it down a long time ago,” he said.
I really wonder what the HELL this country is coming to!! How long till no one can fly the AMERICAN FLAG? If there is one thing in this country that you should NOT have to bicker with people about it is how big and how high you fly the AMERICAN FLAG!!!!
The number for the dealership is 866-283-5601
To reach the city council call 702-229-6405
I encourage everyone to call them and show your support for the dealership and you disgust for the city council decision.
