Stolen Wedding Gowns Recovered in Mexico

Remember that truckload of wedding dresses that was stolen in Arizona on its way to a charity sale in West Hollywood? About half of the dresses have been found, in Mexico.

U.S. border officials found more than 1,000 gowns last week in a tractor trailer attempting to enter the U.S. The gowns are valued at more than $2 million. The driver of the 40-foot-long trailer was arrested and the rig was impounded.

The gowns were originally stolen from the parking lot of an Arizona hotel in November. They were on their way to a fundraiser held by the Making Memories Foundation, which grants the wishes of women diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.

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“ Beat the Record " Is The Theme, And There’s A New Race Date For The 2007 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - July 21!

Tickets On Sale May 1

Racing fans and media can jump-start their plans now for the 85th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Saturday, July 21, three weeks later than the 2006 edition.

The 2007 race will be staged with an expanded three-day practice week that begins on July 17.

Tickets go on sale May 1 . Applications for press credentials will open on May 15th and close two weeks before the historic race. (www.ppihc.com)

This year''s theme is "Break the Record!" And Japan''s Nobuhiro Tajima will return to the mountain and hopes a revamped race schedule will help him break one of the oldest records in motorsports.

Rod Millen''s 13-year-old record time of 10:04.06 currently lives in legend as the longest streak in the fabled 85-year history of America''s second oldest race.

In 2006 Tajima was well under record pace in his Unlimited class 940 horsepower Suzuki until an afternoon snow storm stopped him at the 13,000 foot altitude mark.

Racing will begin earlier this year,and the traditional lunch break has been scrapped to give the racers a better chance to reach the 14,110-foot summit before potentially-inclement Rocky Mountain afternoon weather could move in.

More information is available at www.ppihc.com

The Nation's Weather

Winter-like conditions spread snow across the Northern Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley early Tuesday, while thunderstorms raked across the Deep South. The Rockies, too, were to be snowy.

Snow was forecast across the Dakotas, Minnesota, northern Iowa, and western Wisconsin, with some places getting as much as 6 inches and dealing with wind gusts up to 65 mph.

Further south, widespread rain with scattered thunderstorms was predicted for the Central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley. Some strong thunderstorms may be capable of producing hail and gusty winds.

A persistent warm front over the northern Gulf of Mexico was expected to lift northward over the next two days, creating showers and thunderstorms throughout the Gulf states and Florida. Southern Louisiana and Mississippi, in particular, can expect heavier rainfall amounts with a potential for hail and gusty winds.

Out West, scattered snow showers were forecast over parts of the Rockies and High Plains. More coastal rain and mountain snow was looming over the Pacific Northwest.

Cloudy skies and scattered drizzle were in store over upstate New York and northern New England. Dry weather was expected for the Intermountain West, Desert Southwest, as well as California.

Elsewhere, a storm system was expected to race northeastward from northern Texas and Oklahoma to Missouri and Arkansas, producing scattered showers and thunderstorms along its path.

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Monday ranged from a low of minus-8 degrees at Wakefield, Mich., to a high of 97 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.

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20 hogs perish in semi accident

WAVERLY --- Motorists and sheriff's deputies spent early Monday rounding up about 30 hogs wandering along the side of U.S. Highway 218.

The swine, bound for Tyson Foods in Waterloo, got loose when the trailer they were traveling in tipped over, according to the Bremer County sheriff's office.

"Citizens decided since there were pigs (moving) around it would be a good idea to make a citizen fence," said Sheriff Duane Hildebrandt.

"They could have easily gotten on the road," he added.

The driver of the semi pulling the load reportedly fell asleep at the wheel. Brian Petty, 40, of Good Thunder, Minn. was charged with failure to maintain control a vehicle and for a seatbelt violation.

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Trucker logs 1 million miles without a wreck WTI Transport employee says his strategy is leaving early

TUSCALOOSA | Most days see 59-year-old truck driver Willie Barnes up and hard at work well before the sun, tying down loads, running a pre-check on his tractor-trailer and planning out the day’s haul.

When he does hit the road, usually during the pre-dawn hours, it is with plenty of time to make the 300- to 500-mile trip safely.

“I don’t wait until the last minute," Barnes said. “I always give myself a couple of hours to play with."

A common-sense philosophy, but one that has helped lead Barnes to an uncommon achievement: more than 1 million miles traveled without a recordable accident.

“I just can’t say enough about the accomplishment," said Steven Rumsey, CEO of WTI Transport and Barnes’ employer. “You just don’t ever hear of it."

Ford Boswell, spokesman for the Alabama Trucking Association, agreed.

“A million miles without an accident is pretty remarkable," Boswell said. “The fact that he did that with one company is also a pretty outstanding feat."

Actually, 1 million miles is a conservative estimate.

“He’s probably got 3 million-plus miles, but all that we can go back and record put him over a million," said Rendy Taylor, president of WTI Transport on 51st Avenue and Stillman Boulevard.

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Driver of logging truck charged in fatal accident

A Chester man was jailed Monday and charged with two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of two Lewisville Elementary School children in a fatal collision March 26.

Lance Cpl. Bryan McDougald of the S.C. Highway Patrol said Monday afternoon that the driver of a logging truck that struck the van in which the children were riding ran a red light, causing the fatal collision.

"Obviously you can say that," McDougald said. "He has been charged."

Since the accident, McDougald, a spokesman for the patrol's Troop 4, has said repeatedly that one of the drivers in the collision ran a red light, but he could not say which until a report was completed by the patrol's Massive Accident Investigative Team was completed.

Hannah Quinton, 9, of 4113 Lanksford Road, Fort Lawn, and Nicholas Wayne Cherry, 7, of 3094 Lizzie Melton Road, Fort Lawn, were declared dead at the scene by Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker. The cause of death was massive body trauma.

Hannah's mother, Alice W. Quinton, 39, was picking the children up from Lewisville Elementary School. She was driving a 2003 Dodge van.

Also in the van were Timothy Quinton, 6 and Taylor Cherry, 6. Timothy and Taylor, along with Alice Quinton, were flown by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Alice Quinton was pulling out of Lewisville High School Road in her van headed north into the intersection of S.C. 9, McDougald said.

A 1988 Freightliner tractor trailer logging truck driven by George Rogers, 51, of 2625 Ashford Road, Chester, was headed west on S.C. 9.

The truck was owned by Levister Logging of Carlisle.

The two collided. The van was broadsided and was caved in. The log truck flipped to its side into the median, spilling its logs many yards from the point of impact.

The MAIT team can "get the speed of the vehicles down to a tenth of a mile an hour," McDougald said.

Rogers was taken by ambulance to Chester Regional Medical Center.

Helicopters carried the other two children and the driver of the van to the hospital.

McDougald said the report on the accident is not complete, and would not be released until "the case has been adjudicated."

But the available evidence reached a point at which it was presented to Sixth Circuit Solicitor Doug Barfield, who decided the two charges would be appropriate.

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TSA Sets Final User Fees for TWIC Program

Transportation workers who require unescorted access to security-sensitive areas of U.S. ports will have to pay a standard fee of $137.25 to obtain a Transportation Worker Identification Card, the Transportation Security Administration announced March 20.

Drivers who already have completed a comparable security-threat assessment to receive a hazardous materials endorsement or a Free and Secure Trade card will pay a $105.25 fee, TSA said.

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Speed Limiter Petitions Draw Heavy Response

The Department of Transportation received nearly 3,700 responses, many of them anonymous, to a pair of petitions seeking a federal regulation to limit truck engine speeds to 68 miles per hour, with comments ranging from strong support to warnings of increased road rage.

Backers of a speed limiter requirement included advocacy groups and truck fleets, but many of the opponents were largely owner-operators and organizations representing them.

Some supporters wanted speed limiters retrofitted to all trucks, rather than only newly manufactured trucks, as cited in the petition American Trucking Associations filed last year requesting the regulation (10-23, p. 1).

“Speeding is a serious problem,” said Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “Advocates supports retrofitting existing heavy trucks with speed limiters to the extent possible and a requirement for speed limiters on all newly manufactured heavy trucks.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued their request for public opinion after American Trucking Associations and Road Safe America filed petitions seeking a speed-limiter rule.

Road Safe’s petition sought a speed limiter requirement for all , including those already on the road.

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Tuition credit program OK’d for aspiring truckers in Arkansas

Gov. Mike Beebe has signed a bill into law in Arkansas that will reimburse students for training in the trucking industry.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jack Critcher, D-Batesville, said he offered the bill because something needed to be done to help fill the projected 1,000 trucking jobs available today in Arkansas. He cited a U.S. Department of Labor study that said professional truck drivers will be the state’s top job growth occupation through 2014, accounting for nearly 12,000 new jobs.

To help fill jobs, Critcher offered a two-year, $9 million appropriation bill to institute a tuition forgiveness program for Arkansas residents who want to work in the trucking, transportation and logistics fields. The money is slated to come via the state’s general fund.

Critcher said the new law, previously SB703, is intended to help residents get jobs and will cost less than incentives to lure jobs to the state.

“What this would do is offer up to a $3,500 tuition credit for individuals to become truckers if they agree to live in the state for one year” and stays on the job for that year, Critcher recently told “Land Line Now” on XM Satellite Radio. “This program will pay for itself in two years and it will generate about $90 million in wages.”

There are 11 schools in the state where prospective truckers can attend and be eligible for the tax credits. People who don’t live up to the standards set up in the bill would be responsible for reimbursing the state for their tuition.

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Washington’s ‘stuck truck’ still in a rut

There’s new news on the stupendously overweight truck that’s been stuck in Washington state for several weeks. During the weekend, a company that’s helping build the Tacoma Narrows Bridge decided to hire a new trucking company to haul the truck’s payload – a 100-ton expansion joint for the bridge – across the state.

The original company – Big Boat Movers out of Zavalla, TX – was forced to let the load sit at the state border for two weeks while it tried to figure out how to comply with Washington’s overweight regulations after being stopped at the Washington-Idaho border.

Big Boat Movers has since determined that its rig couldn’t be reconfigured to meet the regulations, according to Kelly Stowe, a spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation.

Stowe told “Land Line Now” on XM Satellite Radio that a new company called Omega Morgan is taking over.

“The permits are ready to go,” Stowe said. “Once the expansion joint is moved (to the new truck), they’re going to inspect it and weight it, and hopefully, then it will be able to move, and we’re hoping that will be tomorrow.”

The steel and neoprene expansion joint is currently awaiting transport at a state DOT maintenance facility near Spokane, WA.

Once handed over to the new company, the truck will only be allowed to travel during daylight hours in rural areas, and will be restricted to traveling four hours in the early mornings once it reaches the greater Seattle area.

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