Channel 19
22 OVERDRIVE OCTOBER 2008 , 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406, or e-mail tdills@rrpub.com. Channel 19 Todd Dills SEND US STUFF `Somebody's !&$ could get whupped' Made in the 1970s and '80s, the prank calls on The Real LeRoy Mercer, recently released on CD by Nashville's Dualtone Records, were the work of Knoxville, Tenn., resident John Bean. Known for years as the Redneck Tapes, the calls were copied and recopied by Bean's friends, truckers and others after his 1984 death. They launched a raft of radio imitators, including Tennessean Lee Roy Mercer and Oklahoman Roy D. Mercer, both named in homage to Bean's most famous pseudonym, used on his call to a shoe store demanding new boots to replace a pair that got wet, folded up and it looks like a damn dog's been eatin' on 'em. ... or maybe it was just a hairy lumper If you're among the 5 percent of eTrucker.com poll respondents who claim to have seen a Bigfoot, you might have taken keen interest in this summer's reports about Clayton County, Ga., sheriff's deputy Matthew Whitton. He claimed that he'd found a dead Sasquatch in North Georgia. After reported DNA testing and a press conference, it turned out the frozen carcass was a Hal-loween costume piled high with unknown animal entrails. Craving more offbeat trucking items? channel19blogspot.com Ideal mate I'll admit it: I like a guy who drives a big ______. Cathy Day, a University of Pittsburgh assistant English professor, writing in her memoir, Comeback Season: How I Learned to Play the Game of Love, Free Press, 2008. If you guessed Hummer, you guessed wrong. Reports suggest she's still single, guys. Road rage My major problem with _____ is when they get too close up on you, and they jump in front of you with-out giving signals and they weave back and forth all the time. St. Louis resident Mark Charles, in a Fox news report detailing Missouri's plan to ban trucks from the left lane on most major highways, which went into effect Aug. 28. And if you guessed four-wheelers, you guessed wrong. What began as a contest between brother and sister to find the strangest items to be spilled on the road has now taken on a life of its own, says Dave Ference, operator of truckspills.com. Alligators, bees, lots of beer and milk (pictured) are among the lost. The most recent calamity involved a truck that overturned in August between Parshall and Makoti, N.D., on the way to a launching station while carrying a Minuteman III ICBM rocket booster. Since truckers voiced concerns to him about respect for the rigs' drivers, says Ference, accidents with injuries are not posted. No use crying over this T ruc kspills.com From the Channel 19 blog: Pop quiz: Fill in the blank Have you ever encountered anything inexplicable while on the road? No 55% eTr uck er .com poll, 735 v otes A UFO An angel A ghost A Bigfoot or other mystery critter A demon A space alien Other