Speakout
10 OVERDRIVE DECEMBER 2009 Speak Out The Voice of the American Trucker It's easier, but whenever you pass through, you're in their [law enforce-ment] system and they can track you. MARY CARPENTER Childersburg, Ala. Floyd & Beasley Transfer I use the bypass because then I don't have to go on the scale. EDDIE PROCTOR Decatur, Ala. Wiley Sanders I prefer it because they just wave you on and you don't have to stop and waste your time. DAVID BOSWELL Aberdeen, Md. U.S. Army driver We've got PrePass. It was already in the truck, so we didn't have a choice. JOE McLENDON Iron City, Ga. Trucks Inc. I pull onto the scales. Our company doesn't use PrePass. With PrePass they can track you. MIKE ZAMORA Austin, Texas Leased to Frontier Transport I go into the scale house I don't have a PrePass. I have had a PrePass before, but switched compa-nies. SHON OSBORNE Ruston, La. Leased to Schneider National Do you use an electronic bypass system? In 1963, I was 14 and one of four boys running away from home in Toledo, Ohio, to become surfers in California, probably a dream for many boys since the Beach Boys were popular then. I was escaping a miserable home life. One of us returned home, but the rest continued. We slept in corn-fields, walked mile after mile, cold and hungry. Then one late night in Indiana, on a dark two-lane road, a flatbed driver gave us a ride. The driver, in his late 20s or early 30s, introduced himself with a big smile, Hi, I'm Keith Ketchum! When he pulled into a truck stop, he asked if we were going to eat. We declined, not mentioning that we were broke. Keith said, Well, boys, you can have a spaghetti dinner on me. Words can't describe how good that big plate of spaghetti and meat sauce tasted! Keith was headed in another direction, but he gave each of us $2. For three penniless boys, that was a fortune then. My first job was at a Toledo truck stop, where I put in oil, pumped diesel and washed wind-shields. I washed rims and looked over the rigs for details that needed attention, as if each rig belonged to Keith. My next job included changing tires at a Flori-da truck stop. After serving in the Marine Corps, I became a skilled tradesman. If Keith is still living, I'd want him to know that every time I'm at a stop light and a big rig pulls up, I think of his kindness toward three hungry and cold runaways. God bless you, Keith, wherever you are. R. GREG MYERS Waterville, Ohio Trucker's kindness vivid decades later E-mail your letter to the editor to Lucinda Coulter at LCoulter@rrpub.com or mail it to , Overdrive P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403. SHARE WITH OVERDRIVE I see it all the time. Trucker Baldomero Tapia tells the Dallas Morning News why a law is needed to prohibit texting while driving.