New Member Welcome
Membership Renewal
2008 Banquet Sponsorships
Director Elections
TWNA @ GATS
Greg Berg Passes
End Of The Internet
Chairman's Corner
Chairman's Corner - Part Deux
Welcome New Members !
TWNA's Board of Directors
held its most recent meeting on September 11. It was the occasion
to learn that three new members had joined our ranks. We want
these new members to know how glad we are to welcome them:
* Brooke Dennis -
Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council
* Gary Meeter - R.L. Polk
* Zbigniew Witamborski - www.truckauto.pl
Don't Forget To Renew Your Membership !
This meeting also
allowed the Board to notice that the renewal process of actual
members is a little slower than previous years. We encourage
you strongly to renew your membership as soon as possible. For
more information about the process, please contact our Executive
Director, Tom Kelley, at 704-599-0570 or by e-mail: admin@twna.org.
Next year's renewal process will be held earlier in the year,
in order to avoid delays and communication difficulties related
to summer vacations.
2008 Banquet Sponsorships Still Available
The annual Communication
Awards Banquet, which will take place at the Mid-America Trucking
Show in Louisville, KY, is well on its way. Major sponsors have
already indicated that they would be back. This is great news
because the more sponsors we have, the easier it is for us to
present a high-quality event.
Note to our Associate
Members who would like to benefit from the extraordinary exposure
to the editors attending the banquet: some spots are still available.
Once again, please contact Tom
Kelley for all the details 704-599-0570.
Director Elections
Out of the six Board
of Directors positions up for election this fall, only one is
challenged, the seat of Supplier Associate Director. This position
is currently held by Sherry White (Truck-Lite) but Barbara Gould
(Bendix) showed interest and will also run to be elected.
The following Directors
are re-elected, since there was no opposition:
Press, Canada/Europe
- Eric Berard
OEM PR - Melissa Epping (Peterbilt)
Agency PR - Susan Fall (LaunchIt Public Relations)
Organization/Other - David Kolman (Ol' Blue, USA)
Southeast - Andy Haraldson (Randall-Reilly Publishing)
REMINDER:
Supplier Members, if you haven't already voted, please do so
by Friday, September 28.
TWNA @ GATS
TWNA was present
at the Great American Show (GATS) in Dallas, TX. There were
presentations made on website tips and audio program content,
and the attendance was satisfying. A couple of things need to
be fine-tuned with the show organizers to better accommodate
the media for future shows, but all indicators show that the
organization is very cooperative and that the minor issues will
be settled for next year. Tim Brady recommended putting together
a list of suggestions for improving the show. If you have any
suggestions of your own, please share them with Tim: info@writeuptheroad.com.
Also at GATS, supported
by a recent grant from TWNA, RJ Taylor of Ol' Blue, USA and
Senior Trooper Monty Dial of the Texas Highway Patrol conducted
a total of four seminars on the changes to the HOS regulations,
updating more than 100 truckers regarding the latest developments
in the law. Between this summer's two shows in Las Vegas and
Dallas, RJ's efforts have resulted in a dozen seminars with
375 attendees. Kudos to RJ for his work on truck industry safety.
Gregory J. Berg Dies
Greg Berg, a former
TWNA member and older brother of Tom Berg, passed away August
28 in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was 72. He had suffered for
years with diabetes and a weakened heart, and his heart gave
out while he was doing some light chores in his yard. His wife
was with him and his death was peaceful.
He was born in Milwaukee
in 1935, and in 1957 got a degree in Journalism from Marquette
University (working his way through college by driving newspaper
delivery trucks). He worked in corporate public relations and
as an association writer until retirement in 1990. Greg and
brother Tom worked together on truck writing projects in the
mid ‘90s through early ‘00s, and Greg independently
wrote articles for Heavy Duty Trucking and RoadStar.
Greg and wife Rosey,
who married in 1956, had a girl and three boys; two played Little
League baseball, and he managed and coached the team in suburban
Chicago during their involvement and afterwards, for more than
13 years. He was an avid Green Bay Packers fan and enjoyed playing
Sheepshead, a German card game popular among Wisconsinites.
Rosey and the four
children and their spouses survive him, as do nine grandchildren,
two great-grandchildren, two brothers and four sisters, many
nieces, nephews and cousins, and numerous friends. They all
miss him. Memorials in his name may be sent to the Whitewater
(Wisconsin) Lions Club, of which Greg was an active member,
to the American Diabetes Association or the American Heart Association.
The End Of The Internet - A Look At New Media
& Old Media
Check out this link
for an interesting take on the evolution of media:
Chairman's Corner - Are You Ok With A Freelancer
As Chairman?
TWNA's Chairman,
Eric Berard, is leaving his position of Editor-In-Chief of L'Echo
du transport. He will keep writing for L'Echo and other publications,
but on a freelance basis. In order to be as transparent as possible,
Eric asked the Board members if they still had confidence in
him to act as TWNA's Chairperson in this context, and the response
was positive.
Any reaction, comment
or suggestion by members are welcome at: eric.berard@sympatico.ca.
Eric's new company,
BERARD Communications is offering journalism, translation, corporate
writing and photography services. The agency has no customer
that could put Eric in a conflict of interest.
Chairman's Corner - Part Deux
By John Baxter - Randall-Reilly Publishing
Last month, our chairman,
Eric Berard, has raised a worthy point in refusing to support
legislation requiring the use of speed limiters. The legislation
is a classic case of pure politics overcoming sophisticated
reasoning. Those who understand the laws of physics know that
it is not speed that exposes us to danger, but the wrong combination
of speed and following distance. Also, those of us in the transportation
community know that providing a virtually tamper-proof speed
governor on a truck would be prohibitively expensive.
A far more practical
solution, if, indeed, technology is needed at all, would be
to require trucks to use one of the devices that measures the
distance and speed of the vehicle ahead, calculates a safe following
distance based on the relative and absolute speeds of the two
vehicles, and then warns the driver when he is too close. Requiring
the driver to respond to the indications of the warning device
by law might be an additional provision.
Experienced drivers
know there are times when 60 mph is too fast because of dense
traffic, and others when 75 is perfectly safe because vehicles
are spread out thousands of feet apart. Putting a speed governor
on trucks set at 65 or 68 mph is no more logical than setting
a standard speed limit that would apply everywhere, whether
on Interstate highways or in school zones.
