And the Oscar goes to...
Best Picture:The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Winners! A Complete List From the 2011 Oscars
Crystal Estrella
First Ever Trucker Buddy Teacher of the Month
Trucker Buddy recently recognized Crystal Estrella, a first grade teacher at Rio Gila Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz., as its first ever Teacher of the Month. Crystal, who was nominated for this award by her Trucker Buddy and driver for Walmart, Lynn Rhoades, also won the Rodel Exemplary Teacher Award in December 2010. Lynn and Crystal have been a mother/daughter Trucker Buddy team for five years, with Lynn doing the driving and Crystal handling the teaching.
“The first year Crystal asked me to do Flat Stanley, I did not belong to Trucker Buddy International,” explains Lynn. “I took Flat Stanley and put him in a clear backpack and he traveled all over the United States with me and several of my fellow drivers. When I did a class visit with the truck, I was hooked.”
Later, Lynn and Crystal realized that their arrangement was a natural match for the Trucker Buddy program and joined. Crystal has a board in her classroom with all the information, pictures and postcards Lynn has sent the class. There are also a couple of company collector trucks, books and other memorabilia.
Although Lynn doesn’t travel as far anymore, Walmart has a bear program where the bear travels all over the United States and collects information and stories in a journal from everywhere he or she goes.
“I really enjoy visiting the class and talking about my truck, transportation, safety, geography, history, animals and the company I work for,” says Lynn. “ This is a great learning tool for the kids. It offers the opportunity for the students to see that trucks are necessary for our way of life and truckers are not what the news makes them out to be. Crystal has shared her class with me, and for this, I am truly grateful.”
Since working with Crystal and Trucker Buddy, Lynn has been very impressed with Crystal’s school as well.
“Teaching is all about the kids and their future. They deserve the best and the school goes above and beyond for the students,” says Lynn. “Crystal tells me she is ’nothing special,’ and that everybody on her team is as good a she is, but she really is a great teacher. “
For more information about Crystal’s award-winning career, please visit: http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2010/12/09/rio-vista-elementary-school-is-home-to-several-exemplary-teacher-award-winners/
Trucker Buddy International, an independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization often called the number one trucking image campaign in North America, has helped educate schoolchildren and introduce educators to the trucking industry. This gives them the world through the eyes of a professional truck driver. The Trucker Buddy program helps to educate and mentor schoolchildren via a pen pal relationship between professional truck drivers and children in grades K-8 as supervised by their teachers.
After an extensive screening process, the professional truck drivers are matched with a class and, as directed by the teacher, share news about their travels with their class. Students write letters and send pictures to their drivers. Students' skills in reading, writing, geography, mathematics, social studies and history are enhanced and learning is made fun.
Since 1992, Trucker Buddy International has helped educate over a million schoolchildren and introduced them to caring, compassionate professional truck drivers. The ongoing success of the program is due to driver volunteers, participating teachers and the contributions of sponsors. There is no cost to the drivers or teachers to participate in the program. The Trucker Buddy program is funded entirely by sponsorships and donations.
Charlotte Diesel Super Show Announces 2011 Dates
Second annual trucking and construction
extravaganza will be held October 7-8, 2011
The 2011 Charlotte Diesel Super Show will be held Friday and Saturday, October 7-8, 2011, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C.
Attendees will experience live equipment and truck demonstrations, industry- related exhibits, ride and drives and activities for all ages. On Friday evening, a headline entertainer will perform a live country music concert. Saturday will include Truck Drag Races and an awards ceremony for Custom Rigs’ Pride and Polish truck beauty contest winners. Additionally, there will be opportunities for drivers to do a test drive down the zMax Dragway.
“Last year’s inaugural event was a great success,” says Alan K. Sims, vice president, executive director of events. “The show was well received by sponsors, exhibitors and attendees, and everyone wanted to make sure that we plan to do it again in 2011. New offerings this year will make it a must attend event.”
Tickets can be purchased on-site. Adult admission is $20 for a two-day pass; tickets for children ages 7 to 16 are $10 for two days. Children 6 and younger can attend for free. All events, exhibits, concert and parking are included in the purchase price. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase on the show grounds.For more information, go to
www.dieselsupershow.com.
The Times, they are a Change-ed.
ICC is a checkin' on down the line
Well I'm a little overweight and my log book's way behind
Well nothin' bothers me tonight I could dodge all the scales alright
Six days on the road and I'm a gonna make it home tonight
~ Earl Green and Peanut Montgomery ~
“Six Days on the Road” was a one million selling, gold disc song in 1963 as sung by Dave Dudley. I didn’t come upon the song until the 1990s, but even then the times had changed. In another verse of the song, there’s the line “I’m takin’ little white pills and my eyes are open wide.” (Some later versions changed this to something about white lines on the highway.) The times have changed: were ole Dave driving today, he might make it home tonight but the odds are that after one of these trips he’d make it home and not be back on the road as a commercial driver for a heck of a lot longer than six days.
In October of this past year, the drug and alcohol regulations were changed. Some of the more significant changes were:
- Testing for MDMA (Ecstasy) - MDMA will be a target in the amphetamines screening assay, with confirmation testing for MDMA, MDA, and MDEA.
- Lowering cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines;
- Conducting mandatory initial testing for heroin.
I know what most of you are thinking: “I don’t do drugs, not a problem.” And I’ve sworn off writing about drug and alcohol testing several times over the years as it seems to fall under the “Duh” category of advice. And yet I get emails and talk to drivers every month who have made a mistake. The calls usually start with something along the lines of “Okay, I know I was stupid. I mean really stupid. But I was home after three weeks and….” Or here’s a sampling of recent emails:
- I failed a drug test over six years ago with {XYZ company} and since then I went into rehab completed the program and have been drug free for five years I have certificates on completing the program and paper work why is this still hindering me from getting employment can you please let me know why this is still a problem I need work desperately
- I recently had a applied for a job with [ABC} trucking company and I was refused the job because I tested positive for illegal drugs. I had applied again elsewhere for another trucking company and even though I passed the drug test there I was let go because of what was on my report
- I TOOK A DRUG TEST WHILE TRAINING FOR MY CDL LICENSE, WOULD THAT SHOW UP ON MY DAC REPORT AND IF IT DOES, COULD IT PREVENT ME FROM ATTENDING ANOTHER DRIVING SCHOOL TO OBTAIN MY CDL LICENSE?
And so, I’ll say it again: forget the moral, safety and big brother issues surrounding this issue—if you want to drive commercially, about the best way to waste money and screw up your driving career is to gamble in this area. Even if you just got back from Iraq, it was your 40th birthday party or you got back with your high school sweetheart after 30 years. The times have changed. Cut off levels are going down, new drugs are included in the screen and it’s easier for mistakes to follow you.
In 1963 Dave Dudley was singing about the ICC, Georgia Overdrives and little white pills. During the third shuttle mission in March, 1982, the wake up song for the astronauts was…Dudley’s version of Six Days on the Road. Good song, but the times, they have a changed.
Derek Hinton is the CEO of TIES, LLC, better known as www.DOTJobHistory.com. DOTJobHistory allows drivers to obtain and verify their employment (DAC), driving and criminal records. They may then make this information available over the web to employers who can access the information instantly.
Derek has over 20 years experience in the areas of employment screening, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Motor Carrier Safety regulations. He began his career at DAC Services in 1984 and is the author of The Criminal Records Manual, a book that details criminal records in the hiring process.
The Old Mailbag
From: pc
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 3:40 AM
To: jobs@truckdriver.com
Subject: RE: Spring is in the air and the e-report is in your in box!
Thank you TruckDriver.com for keeping me up to date on the latest in the industry.
Editor: You are welcome!
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