Farewell, Friend

Our condolences to the family and acquaintances of Donald P. Head of Cotati, CA. Here's the
otati resident Donald B. Head spent most of his life driving trucks, even after he and his wife purchased a Cotati bar more than four decades ago. Here's the story from the Press Democrat. .art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; }
Click to enlarge Donald B. Head

Head died Tuesday at his home after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.

Head spent many years driving big rigs, including his own truck. Even as the owner of the Cotati Beer Gardens, he regularly drove a special wrecker for Andreoli Trucking that could tow tractor trailer rigs.

“He drove the tow truck until he was 72,” said his wife of 47 years, Joan Head.

Born in Eureka, Head grew up in Oakland and Richmond. His father drove trucks for West Transportation, a company the son eventually also worked for.

Head served in the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division during the Korean War.

He came to Cotati about 40 years ago. In the early 1970s his wife and he purchased a bar and renamed it to the Cotati Beer Gardens. They owned it until the late 1980s.

Family members described Head as strong and independent, someone who enjoyed people but also could work alongside police to handle an unruly bar patron.

“He was such a man’s man,” said his daughter, Danise Head of Cotati.

But he also enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren. And Joan Head said he raised her son Everett Wicker as his own from the time the boy was 2-years-old. Wicker died in 1996.

Head was a member of Berean Baptist Church in Rohnert Park. With his family, he belonged to the Rancho Riders horse club.

Along with his wife and daughter, survivors include another daughter, Ladona Rossiter of Cotati, a sister, Marilyn Cramlett of Hercules; a brother, Robert Head of Mississippi; and eight grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 12 at Berean Baptist Church.

The family prefers memorial contributions in care of the church to the Berean Baptist Christian Academy.

— Robert Digitale

Trucker Found in Truck Stop after Leaving Accident Scene

A trucker fled the scene of a truck accident but was later found by Ontario police at a truck stop.

According to Ontario police, Francisco Lecaro of Perris of California left after hitting two people who were chaining up their own truck on a freeway off-ramp in Eastern Oregon.

Milton Belton, 49, died at the scene while Miguel Victorio-Alvarez, 45, sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Lecaro just made his situation even worse by running from the scene of the accident.
Instead of just worrying about civil liability lawsuits that could be taken care of the trucking company and its insurance company, he chose to leave the scene.

As a result, he gave the city a reason to prosecute him criminally.

The truck accident even resulted in death which means he could at be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

We all have a duty to stop after a vehicular accident. Not only because it is required by law but because it’s the right thing to do.

If he had stopped, he could have assisted the injured parties and could have avoided the death of Belton.

Instead, he left the scene and now he might be facing some serious jail time for his choices.

Illinois to Raise Truck Speed Limit

Effective January 1, 2010, Illinois joins other Midwest states in allowing trucks to legally travel up to 65 MPH on rural interstates. This is welcome news to truckers who've risked speeding fines over 55 MPH when entering Illinois from any of the surrounding states that already have a higher limit.

SNI tractors are governed at 60 MPH on cruise control (62 MPH for teams) to save fuel, but the extra 5 MPH above 55 makes a world of difference when you drive 500+ miles a day.

Only California and Oregon retain the 55 MPH limit for trucks. You can read more about state speed limits at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) website.

5 Questions About North Carolina Truck Accidents Answered

Will Owens is a member of the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America, which is a national association of committed lawyers who have joined together to help eliminate unsafe and illegal interstate trucking practices.
1. What is a "commercial truck"?
A commercial truck is a vehicle used in the course of business and/or for the transport of commercial goods. Examples are eighteen-wheeler tractor trailers, tanker trucks, delivery vehicles, and other large freight trucks.

2. What are some of the common causes of tractor trailer accidents?
• Aggressive drivers
• Unrealistic schedules
• Failure to inspect tires, brakes and lights
• Tailgating
• Long work-shifts
• Driver fatigue
• Cell phone use
• Failure to install blind spot mirrors
• Jackknifing
• Speeding and ignoring reduced truck speed limit

Added hazards include the absence of rear and side bumpers and high front bumpers that punch into automobile passenger compartments. Together these factors account for the high percentage of serious injuries and deaths in these crashes.

3. Who makes sure that big trucks and trucking companies are following the rules?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is in charge with promulgating regulations to keep us safe on the road. The rules are expansive and cover all aspects of commercial driving including the driver (e.g. training, drug and alcohol testing and licensing), the vehicle (e.g. transportation of hazardous materials, inspection and repair) and the carrier (e.g. insurance, records and maintenance). In North Carolina, enforcement of these regulations, and other state laws, falls to the State Highway Patrol’s Motor Carrier Enforcement.

4. What are the “hours of service” rules?
Under federal “hours of service” regulations, which took effect January 2004, interstate commercial drivers are not allowed to drive more than 11 consecutive hours or drive after 14 hours on duty until they have had a 10-hour break. In addition, according to federal regulations, commercial truck drivers cannot drive after accruing 60 work hours during a 7-day period or 70 work hours during an 8-day period.

5. Are there any state or federal regulations governing truck drivers?
There are many regulations, both state and federal, that trucking companies are required to follow. Some of those laws include the following:

• Trucking companies are required to follow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) regulations concerning equipment and hours of service.

• Truck drivers are required to maintain a driver’s log.

• Federal regulations require commercial trucks to carry certain levels of insurance coverage, depending on the nature of the materials hauled. These regulations protect victims of large truck crashes from truck owners who may not have the financial resources to pay damages out-of-pocket.

• The Commercial Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program requires that individual States, and other political jurisdictions unify to develop and implement programs that will ultimately improve motor carrier, CMV, and driver safety and establish a safer and more efficient transportation system.

• Commercial driver’s license standards are federal regulations in place to reduce or prevent truck accidents and resulting injuries and/or deaths by requiring drivers of certain vehicles to obtain a single commercial motor vehicle driver's license.

• Both North Carolina State and / or federal law, depending on whether the truck was involved in intrastate or interstate transport may govern truck accidents.

Risk of Loss, Holding Title

CASE: In this commercial contract, KLT Knitwear was contracted to deliver 20,000 pounds of yarn to GFG Inc. GFG hired a trucking company to pick up the yarn from KLT. KLT identified the yarn and placed the goods on the truck. From that point, risk of loss was transferred to GFG. The truck hired by GFG was hijacked and all the yarn was stolen. When GFG heard about the incident, they stopped payment they made prior to delivery, and then sued KLT claiming they must pay for the goods since they bore the risk of title.

F.O.B. or free on board means the selling price of a good includes transportation to the place named in the contract. The seller pays expenses and carries the risk of loss to the place named. If a contract is “F.O.B. seller”, it is a shipment contract and the buyer pays shipping expenses and carries the risk of loss. In an “F.O.B. buyer” contract, the seller pays expenses and carries the risk of loss until the goods are delivered to the buyer; this is a destination contract.

Prior to the hijacking, GFG sent a purchase order to KLT that stated the price for yarn was F.O.B. seller. This means the contract between the GFG and KLT is a shipment contract. In a shipment contract, the title to the goods is passed to the buyer (GFG) once the seller (KLT) delivered the goods to the designated location, in this case, the carrier. If the price for yarn was F.O.B. buyer, then KLT Knitwear would assume title until the yarn was received by GFG who would also then assume risk of loss.

In this case, the trucking company hired by GFG was hijacked. Since buyers have some legal recourse against carriers, GFG would have to seek compensation from that company. That is of course assuming that they insured their shipment.

I think the courts would find that GFG Inc defaulted on the terms of their contract with KLT Knitwear. The contract obliged KLT to deliver the conforming goods (20,000 pounds of yarn) to GFG and GFG to accept and pay for it. KLT completed their end of the contract. They put 20,000 pounds of yarn on a truck hired by GFG. In my opinion, the fact that GFG hired the truck further proves that they were assuming the title of the goods. This shipment contract determined that GFG had ownership of the yarn. They assumed the risk of loss the minute they picked the yarn up from KLT.

What protection would companies like KLT have if they had to assume risk of loss even when a buyer picked up their own goods? What legal recourse would they have to protect them against scamming buyers? It would just be bad business practice to send goods off with a trucking company hired by the buyer if they had to assume the risk of loss. This is why I think GFG doesn’t have a leg to stand on. I am not saying that they committed any crime, but laws are created to protect against such crimes and hold people accountable. I one hundred percent believe KLT will win this case.

Instructor's Notes: Excellent questions at the end. Protection in a commercial contract is the key. In this contract title passes upon the trucking company hired by the buyer receiving goods in conforming condition. FOB seller means the seller bears risk. To minimize situations like this either party who assumes risk should purchase an insurable interest in the merchandise. The key to prevent loss is the determination of interests and risk. The party who assumes risk has the insurable interest - a concept that is important in contract carrier cases.

Turn the Page

On a long and lonesome highway
East of Omaha
You can listen to the engine
Moanin' out his one note song
You can think about the woman
Or the girl you knew the night before

But your thoughts will soon be wandering
The way they always do
When you're ridin' sixteen hours
And there's nothin' much to do
And you don't feel much like ridin',
You just wish the trip was through

Here I am
On the road again...

Bob Seger, 1973

Jobs: Bring back the WPA, ...Just Do it!

OK.

Since today is President Obama's Jobs summit I thought I'd discuss what I believe needs to be done for our country.

(Executive Summary: I believe we need a new version of FDR's "WPA-Work projects Administration", that will be focused on training, service, and helping our country. I contend that this massive stimulus package can help re-focus our economy, and also make our nation less energy dependent.

There are several inter-related problems

1) Job Availability
2) Job Training and Retraining
3) Education
4) Green Economy / New "Manhattan" Project

1) I believe that the entire United States economy has been destroyed by its transformation from a supplier of GOODS, into a consumer based SALES economy. Availability of jobs, both traditional, blue collar, to high tech (technology) have fled from the United States overseas.

It is NOT an option to re-introduce trade barriers. It's too late for that. However, we can STILL overcome this, and make a great number of skilled trade jobs available. By undervaluing blue collar, and not encouraging manufacturing of any sort anymore, we have eliminated a huge number of potential jobs.

2) Job training and retraining:
Detroit. 'nuff said? I think so...
seriously, job losses and jobs exported ALSO is very high in the technical (computer) sector.
besides overseas call centers, web and computer programming, almost everything, including technical support, can and IS outsourced to other countries.

We need programs to help newly graduated, as well as unemployed, (and even) OLDER 50 and older workers learn new trades.

3) There are a great deal of studies about how our educational system has failed a great deal of inner city and urban students. For argument's sake, lets just say that 80% of the urban HS population graduates, but does not go to college.

What are the realistic job prospects for these newly graduated teenagers? The Service industry.
Not a lot of skilled labor there. If I wanted to become a plumber or electrician, becoming an apprentice is the only difficult way to achieve this.

What we need is the ability to have someone learn a skilled trade, that will allow this person to become a productive member of society, that will earn a living wage. I say living wage, because this is also a key problem in our current service economy.

4) Green Economy / New "Manhattan" Project
The opportunity to re-engineer our entire country, and create a national 'home' grid, as well as re-creating the national highway system are potential recipients of this labor.

What I am proposing is simple:
We will create a new job program (I call it the training corp), that will take workers, and depending on their talents and interests, help to train them, apprentice them, and then become skilled journeymen craftsmen in their chosen fields.

This program will take both volunteers, and eventually, all HS graduates (or over 17, which-ever comes later) for a three year, gradual program to teach these new skills.

Several aspects of the program will be familiar. The concept of military boot camp will be useful to teach new survival skills to those who may not have previously had the best learning environment.

The concepts of the "Military Academy" (West Point, Annapolis, etc) is also a key goal, as is the concept of the permanent career (just like in the military...)

Many of these "military concepts" can help to guide these programs. An example of a new service path would be for those interested in becoming engineers, or architects (for the large number of future projects).

The Manhattan Project (for Energy)
Here's a key infrastructure project that will make our country much more competitive:

It cannot be implemented using the current private US rail system, but would inter-act and exchange cargo with it.

But first:
When I recently took a trip down the NJ Turnpike (Route 95-South), on a Sunday night at about 11PM, I counted over 500 tractor trailers in one 1/2 hour period. Imagine what could be achieved if we had a new national rail system.
This new rail system would become a brand new expansion of the existing Eisenhower Interstate Highway system (Originally created to speed military operations if needed inside our country).
One of the critical factors would be to create 4 lanes (2 heavy and 2 light rail) railroad tracks, that would run down the highway, and allow trucks to offload (or even entirely load the entire truck itself) onto newly designed rail cars.
As another example, you might get onto the highway (again Route 95) after the George Washington Bridge. You (or your Car/Truck), or (eventually, just your cargo trailer) would get onto the train, and the train would carry you, your cargo, and your car or truck to your desired stop.

Cargo (as well as cars/buses/etc) would be tracked with High tech RF-ID tags, to help enable automated routing to your final destination.
A system this complicated will take almost as long to be built and implemented as the National Interstate highway system did in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. It isn't for the faint hearted.

But that's why I say it is PART of a "Manhattan Project" for energy independence. The crews, the skilled labor, (yes, pouring concrete accurately and perfectly IS ALSO a skilled trade!!!) as well as the ability to put a great deal of our young people to work in jobs that will help our country become a new model for the world is something that is visionary.

No, we won't have to develop a bomb. But eliminating Trucking via diesel rigs will be a huge step to controlling pollution, reducing our oil usage, as well as making transportation a new industry that can help our country become more competitive again.

Additional steps besides research for R&D (and to develop new types of small power generators (think solar and wind) as well as plans for deploying them across the country will help our economy better then paying bankers, or Car manufacturers.

Part of this plan would be to commercialize and economize a solar panel, so that an average house could become energy neutral, if not a major energy generator.

Combined with new energy distribution networks (grids), as well as positive (or negative) metering and billing, we can pray that we can reduce our country's addiction to coal fired power plants.


XYZZY. Oh. You're already inside.

Is this just a dream? I hope not.

Please take the time to comment, critique, and make suggestions!

thanks again..