600 Reisterstown Road
Suite 404
Baltimore, MD 21208
VOICE: (410)486-7430
FAX: (410)486-7478

President
David A. Koohlman
Truck Sales & Leasing

Vice President
Carol Birkland
Fleet Equipment

Secretary-Treasurer
Bob-Deierlein
Freelancer

Directors
Paul Abelson
Super Driver

Rolf Lockwood
Today's Trucking

Jim Mele
Fleet Owner

D. Mike Pennington
Rockwell International



December 1999 Vol. X, No. IX

Election Of Officers Coming

The election of the officers that will guide the TWNA over the next two years will take place in early February. Balloting will be done via fax and mail-in ballots.

Election results will be announced during TWNA’s annual Mid-America Trucking Show meeting, set for 3-5 p.m., March 23, 2000, in room SW 109/110.

The newly-elected officers will officially begin their term of office at the close of the meeting

As in the past, Peterbilt will again sponsor the meeting.

Only those members who have renewed their membership for the year 2000 by February 1, 2000, will be eligible to vote.

Renew your membership now. Dues remain the same

as last year, a mere $35. A renewal membership application is attached.

Here are the candidates:

  • For President (unopposed) - Rolf Lockwood, TWNA vice president, editor, Today's Trucking
  • For Vice President - Carol Birkland, senior editor, Fleet Equipment Bill Hudgins, editorial director, Road King
  • Secretary-Treasurer (unopposed) - Bob Deierlein, TWNA secretary-treasurer, freelancer
  • Directors (Full) -
    1. Tom Berg, Super Scribe, freelancer
    2. Tom Gelinas, editor, Maple Publishing
    3. Ruth Jones, senior editor, Land Line
    4. Deborah Lockridge, senior editor, Newport Communications
  • Allied Director (unopposed) - D. Mike Pennington, director-marketing communications, Meritor Automotive

Welcome new members

Jim Smith, editor, Tire Review, Akron, OH.
Rob Whitehouse, public relations manager-commercial tires, North America, Goodyear, Akron, OH.

Member News

  • Secretary-Treasurer's Report: As of December 1, 1999, TWNA had $3,676 in its bank account and 172 members.
  • TWNA will be listed in the 37th edition of the Yearbook of International Organizations.
  • Brenda Grant (formerly Yarrow):

    Dear Fellow TWNA Members:

    I wanted to drop TWNA a quick note to say "farewell - for now, anyway."

    As most of you already have heard, both rpm and Truck Owner Magazines have been sold to Cahners Business Information. With the sale of the publications, I feel this is a very opportune time for me to take a much needed break from the publishing business.

    I have been a truck journalist, and have known many of you, for 14 years now. During those years, I have had a great deal of fun and have cherished the friendships developed with Y'all (that's for my southern friends). I will miss you as I head out to pursue other interests in that world beyond trucking.

    One thing is for sure, I will carry with me the many tidbits of knowledge that I picked up from you, my trucking friends, including Mr. Berg's advice to the wise: "Feed them and they will come." I am sure these words of wisdom will help carry me through life. Who knows? Maybe I'll even be able to put them to good use in the trucking industry again some day. I'm certainly not ruling that out.

    Thanks for 14 great years.

    Cheers,

    Brenda Grant (formerly Yarrow)
    bgrant@istar.ca

  • Cahners Business Information in October acquired rpm, a trucking recruitment publication, from Classic III of Cummings, GA. Included in the acquisition was Truck Owner, a bi-monthly publication serving owner-operators and small-fleet owners in the U.S. and Canada.
  • LOADS (Loved Ones and Driver's Support) joined the Truck Net family and together are developing a new LOADS web that will have interactive features to further the organization's motto: "Members Helping Members."
  • Lowboy Lucas has a new e-mail address: lowboytv@aol.com. Of late, he has produced an album for country singer D. Royce Baird, and is a featured singer on the cut, "Lonesome In A Crowd." Lowboy is planning a tour to select events to perform and promote the album and artist. Sponsorships are still available. Contact Lowboy at: (850) 479-8419.
  • Newport Communications has launched a new "destination" web site - www.truckinginfo.com. - that contains, among others: daily industry news, reports on trucking-related stocks, weather information and diesel fuel prices. There's also a load finder, trucking-related career center and product and services guides.
  • The Trucker has been sold to Landmark Communications, a Norfolk, VA-based publishing company which owns newspapers, numerous specialty publications and The Weather Channel.
  • Tom Moore, formerly the editor of Fleet Owner, is now editor in chief of Randall Publications.
  • Transport Technology Today, starting with its January issue, will be published monthly. Lawson Marshall is the editor.

    Presidents Page

    All the Very Best Wishes

    I wanted to use this space to wish everyone all the very best of the Holiday Season and for the New Year. May 2000 bring each of you all that you desire.

    As you make your resolutions for the coming year, I would ask that you add one more to your list: Become a more involved member of TWNA.

    The power of any association is only as strong as the force of its members.

    It is not enough to just pay your annual dues. The real force comes from members being actively involved.

    As you begin this new year, cultivate your tomorrows and those for the Truck Writers of North America.

    Sincerely,

    David A. Kolman

    Help Wanted

    Key editor and salesperson for new monthly publication directed to the emergency road service/trucking field. Company publishes a leading trade magazine and produces the largest convention and trade show in its market segment. Contact Steven Calitri at: (800) 732-3869.

    Membership renewal

    Dues payment for 2000 membership -- $35 -- are due by January 31, 2000. Payments received after February 1, 2000, will be considered late and must include a $5.00 late fee for a total of $40.

    To renew your membership, complete this form (so we can update your information) and return it, along with your dues payment, to Bob Deierlein, TWNA Secretary-Treasurer, 41 Preston Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604.

    Send money order or check made payable to: TWNA/R.J. Deierlein. International members must remit dues on a check drawn on a U.S. bank.

    [ NOTE: Members who joined after October 1, 1999 do not have to pay 2000 dues. ]

    1999 TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

    All members of TWNA are invited to nominate products or services introduced to the North American trucking industry in 1999. You may nominate as many as three (see the rules below) on this form and then fax it, please, to Rolf Lockwood, chairman of the Technical Achievement Award Committee at: 416-614-8861.

    You may also simply send him your nominations in an e-mail message: rolf@todaystrucking.com, or by mail: 130 Belfield Rd., Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada M9W 1G1.

    Feel free to justify your nomination, but this is not required.

    Rolf will assemble the top 10 nominations and the Committee, made up of 10 volunteer editorial members only, will then consider them carefully and vote again amongst themselves. The winner and two runners-up will be announced at the TMC (The Maintenance Coucil) meeting in Nashville next March.

    Please submit your nominations by January 7.

    The Rules

    1. The product or service must have been introduced -- or first made available to the industry in commercial quantities -- in calendar-year 1999.
    2. Whole trucks cannot be nominated, but truck sub-systems can -- for example, the driver-side steps of the Freightliner Argosy cabover.
    3. The product or service must be applicable to a broad cross-section of the trucking industry, meaning it must have broad usefulness as opposed to improving life for loggers in Oregon only.

    KOLMAN'S KORNER

    I realize that humor isn't for everyone. It's only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life and feel alive.

    - - -

    Overhead: "My wife divorced me on the grounds of incompatibility, and besides, I think she hated me."

    - - -

    If you won't be better tomorrow than you were today, what do you need tomorrow for?