Truckers

I read the story about the activists in Simi Valley who are opposing the McDonald's and the truckers who want to eat there (Aug. 21). This is nothing more than a few morons who need to get a life. Truckers are people too. I have been a dump trucker in Simi for 20 years. We built all those houses and roads off Yosemite and McDonald's and most of this valley. And now a few idiots have nothing better to do than play newspeople. They say they don't have a vendetta against McDonald's, so it must be against truckers.

The truck driver convicted of manslaughter after a fatal 2009 collision on Angeles Crest Highway in La Cañada Flintridge is taking his case to an appeals court. Marcos Costa, 46, was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison after his 2011 conviction in the deaths of Palmdale resident Angel Posca, 58, and his 12-year-old daughter, Angelina. His case will be heard by the 2nd District Court of Appeal on Jan. 29. Angel Posca was driving through the intersection of Angeles Crest Highway and Foothill Boulevard on July 1, 2009, when Costa's truck, which had lost its brakes, barreled down Angeles Crest and slammed into the car before striking a building.

The Port of Long Beach has reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the American Trucking Assn. over disputed elements of a plan to clean up the air around the nation's busiest seaport complex. Long Beach officials have agreed to strip their plan of all requirements that are not directly tied to the goal of getting cleaner trucks on the road, including a demand that trucking companies file financial reports. Under the change, trucking companies would agree to comply with environmental, safety and security requirements.

Content from A&E and the History Channel -- including such shows as "Pawn Stars" and "Ice Road Truckers" -- disappeared Friday from Netflix as a licensing deal between the companies expired. People familiar with the negotiations offered differing accounts of what transpired. One party, who declined to be named because of the confidentiality of the matter, said talks are ongoing.  Another person with knowledge of the matter said Netflix elected not to renew the deal because the shows aren't heavily in demand.

The Port of Los Angeles' effort to reduce pollution and change the way cargo is hauled to and from its terminal gates survived another court battle Wednesday when a federal appeals panel refused to block one of the plan's most controversial provisions. Three judges from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for an injunction against the port's plan to require all independent haulers to become employees of approved concessions or trucking companies. The concession plan emerged from the belief that only trucking companies could help drivers buy and maintain new lower-emissions rigs.

Re "Unsafe trucks stream out of L.A.'s ports," Jan. 21 There is nothing wrong with wanting to be your own boss. However, when you start to affect or even hurt other people with your actions, then it's time to give it up. Nobody held a gun to the heads of these independent truckers and said, "You're going to be a truck driver whether you like it or not." A trucker who knowingly drives with shoddy equipment puts a lot of other lives in danger. When this same person causes an accident, how many people are delayed on our freeways?

Finally, someone is noticing the frightening road hazards caused by truckers. I frequently travel Highway 99 and the vast majority of the trucks are a real menace to all other drivers trying to drive safely and stay within the speed limit. Yet, I have never seen a single truck being stopped by any law enforcement vehicles. In fact, on my last three trips to Placerville, I didn't see one Highway Patrol car--and all my driving was done in daylight. If the truckers have so little regard for their own safety and the safety of other motorists, then it's time for the Highway Patrol to start aggressively enforcing the speed and safety laws.

This letter is in response to trucker Rick Green's letter (Aug. 31) which resorted to calling the Indian Hills activists names. I am one of those activists. We are not morons or idiots and the fact that we are activists shows that we have a life. We care about our city and especially about our immediate neighborhood. We are not against truckers but resent arrogant drivers who feel traffic laws don't apply to them and who endanger others by obscuring vision by parking illegally on the street on a dangerous curve and block freeway on-ramps and driveways.

The chief economist for the American Trucking Assn. says that job turnover rates for drivers at large, interstate fleets rose 2% in the first quarter of 2012 to 90%. That's the highest job turnover rate since the first quarter of 2008. But don't worry, it's apparently a good sign for the strength of the economy. The economist, Bob Costello, was referring to the latest numbers in his monthly Trucking Activity Report. Costello's report also said there was a huge, first-quarter employment turnover increase of 16%, to 71%, among smaller fleets with less than $30 million in annual revenue.

Diesel prices are at their highest level in nearly four years, topping $4 a gallon, but trucking company executive Fred Johring is taking it in stride. Johring's Golden State Express has bought low-emission, fuel-efficient diesel and natural gas rigs to comply with a clean-truck mandate at Southern California's twin ports — with the fortunate side effect of easing the pain of high-priced diesel. "We went from having one of the oldest local fleets to one of the newest," said Johring, whose Rancho Dominguez company sends trucks mainly on short-haul trips to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked access to several major West Coast ports Monday in synchronized demonstrations that slowed business but fell short of what some protesters hoped would be a complete shutdown of coastal shipping. The protests stretched from San Diego to Anchorage, brought work to a standstill in Oakland and Longview, Wash., and led to the closure of a major marine terminal in Portland, Ore. Demonstrators caused smaller disruptions in Seattle and in Long Beach, where a driving rain and threats of arrest put a damper on an early morning picket line.

Living in the farther reaches of basic cable are a growing number of television series about what might be called "ordinary people" at work in what most of us would consider extraordinary jobs. It is lazily tempting, though not quite right, to describe these shows as redneck or blue-collar or rural, but they are mostly set away from big cities in places that -- apart from these shows -- you don't often see on TV: Southern places and prairie places and backwoods places. You can link their titles into a kind of poetical associative chain: "Ice Road Truckers," "American Joggers," "Lady Joggers," "Ax Men," "American Loggers," "Swamp Loggers," "Swamp Brothers," "Swamp People," "Swamp Wars" -- do you see a pattern emerging?

For years, L.A. labor and environmental advocates have been claiming that it would be impossible to clean up the diesel pollution that sickens residents near the Port of Los Angeles without phasing out the independent truckers who have traditionally picked up cargo there and replacing them with unionized employees. There's just one problem: Three years after implementation of the port's Clean Truck Program, during which the labor provision was blocked in federal court, it's now clear that this isn't true.

With her ridiculously high cheekbones and legs that seem to go on forever, actress Michelle Monaghan could easily spend her time playing parts that require little more than her model-quality looks. But the 35-year-old from the small town of Winthrop, Iowa, is not willing to settle for what Hollywood wants to send her way. After gaining attention opposite Robert Downey Jr. in 2005's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and turning in interesting roles in "Mission: Impossible III" and "Gone Baby Gone," Monaghan took her career into her own hands, learning to drive a big rig to play trucker Diane Ford in "Trucker," a tiny indie film that demonstrated she's more than a set of fabulous gams.

Some truckers serving Shanghai's largest container port are back on the job, ending a work stoppage to protest rising costs as China grapples with its worst inflation in more than 2 1/2 years. The brief strike, which was started Wednesday by haulers angry over increasing diesel prices and port fees, appeared to be winding down after city officials over the weekend agreed to slash some fees. Still, it highlights a major challenge for Chinese authorities in maintaining social stability at a time when average Chinese are struggling with the soaring cost of food, fuel and shelter.

A silly food fight Re "School lunch bill approved in the House," Dec. 3 "The $4.5-billion bill was approved 264 to 157 on Thursday, with 17 Republicans joining in support. " Once again, Republicans are playing politics and forgetting about the common man or the common child. The bill will help needy children with food, but it also will help all children by teaching them about nutrition and limiting the unhealthy food for sale at the schools. As you reported, "Republicans criticized the bill as too costly and pegged it as the latest example of government overreach.