A.M. Executive Breifing - Sept. 1
This Morning's Headlines:
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Less-Than-Truckload Truckers Raise Rates More Than 5 Percent at Peak Period
About half of all LTL rates are going up across the country following a round of diesel surcharges. Many of the rate hikes are over 5 percent, and the raises are likely to affect yearly contracts as well.According to industry observers, the current rate increases come earlier than usual; standard practice has been to announce hikes late in the year and have them take effect at the beginning of January. These earlier hikes might be more likely to stick, since the holiday peak shipping season is coming up soon.
However, National Small Shipments Traffic Conference Executive Director Debra Phillips says the shippers her group represents "wonder why the truckers need such significant rate increases." Wall Street Journal (09/01/99) P. A2; Machalaba, Daniel
Truckers' Killer Sentenced to Die
Douglas Alan Feldman, of Richardson, Texas, was given the death penalty Tuesday for the deaths of truckers Robert Stephen Everett and Nicolas Velasquez last August. Feldman, who clapped during prosecutors' arguments regarding sentencing, had testified that he killed Everett after a traffic altercation, then 40 minutes later shot Velasquez in the back.In addition, Feldman said that the following month he shot Antonio Vega, under the impression that he was a trucker. Vega survived.
Wayne Huff, Feldman's lawyer, contended before the jury that life imprisonment would be a worse punishment for Feldman because he felt like a martyr. Steve Joachims, the foreman of the jury, says he and other jurors were swayed in large part by Feldman's statements on the stand as well as letters and confessions he had written. Dallas Morning News Online (09/01/99); Becka, Holly
Say Goodbye to Truck Speed Limits
Today marks the end of Texas' 70-year-old law requiring truck speed limits lower than those for cars on interstates and major highways. According to officials, forcing different vehicles to go different speeds increases danger. Truck speed limits remain on smaller roads. ABC NewsWire (09/01/99)Victims of Weekend Crash Identified
Using dental records, Meade County, S.D., Coroner Tom Wilts has identified the couple who died this weekend when their truck fell off an I-90 overpass onto the road below at Exit 30 in Sturgis. The dead are Raymond E. Hoeppner and wife Eva Hoeppner of Jewett,Ill. The state Transportation Department is investigating the Sturgis location, which has seen three serious wrecks in a year. ABC NewsWire (09/01/99)American Capital Finances Buyout of Dixie Trucking, Invests $4.2 Million
Former Saia Motor Freight President Jimmy D. Crisp will get the institutional junior capital he needs to buy Dixie Trucking. Crisp is being assisted by loan funding and credit from Wachovia Bank as well as American Capital Strategies' purchasing $4.2 million in debt.Crisp says Dixie "has a market niche that I don't believe any other company can touch. The move to efficient manufacturing systems in our region is driving the demand for the kind of service only Dixie can provide economically." Dixie provides early-morning delivery in the Carolinas and parts of Georgia and Virginia. PRNewswire (08/31/99)
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