Jim Bullins and his ‘kids’

I heard via the trucking grapevine (well, Joey and Vicky Holiday) that Jim Bullins passed away. Jim was an OOIDA member, retired truck driver for more than 30 years, and pretty special guy. Jim donated his time to helping people with special needs. He died Wednesday morning at his home in Sophia, NC.This morning, I spoke to his son, Tim, and learned that Jim had lung cancer.I first met him in

Working toward a ‘better history’

We’ve got a brand-new president who says we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get to work. “Choose our better history” is one way he put it in his inaugural address.It’s reported that he plans to start tomorrow. He’s not the only one who plans to hit the ground running.The new political landscape in Washington will present OOIDA and our members with new challenges as well as new

Truck drivers: rating the presidents

Land Line offers an unscientific Web poll each week on the landlinemag.com Web site to gauge truckers’ opinions on issues of interest. Last week, we asked who was the best president of the United States in the past three decades.OK, I know it’s tough to define “best.” In today’s world, that often means most popular or best looking or even who makes the most appearances on “Saturday Night Live.”

Doughboys?

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the U.S. Army is now relaxing its weight standards for new recruits. The new effort hopes to allow athletic but large-sized or muscular recruits to help the armed forces boost its personnel totals.It’s the kind of story that television news usually reads over video footage of oversized legs and bottoms bounding down public sidewalks in slow motion.Uncle

Sweetman: He got the call you never want to get

Many of us in the industry know by now – tragic news spreads faster than any other –that our friend, fellow OOIDA member, and popular columnist David Sweetman is dealing with a sudden and huge hole in his life now. His wife and best friend, Laurie, died unexpectedly on Sunday, Jan. 4.Dave, the matchless communicator and social person that he is, felt the need to express his anguish with an online

Watching the watchers

“And can I get your Social Security number?”How many times each year are we asked to hand out personal information? Whether it’s applying for a TWIC card, talking to our wireless provider or even giving our phone number at retail stores, we’re asked to hand over bits and pieces of our identity to be catalogued, stored and often later marketed for a variety of purposes.In the latest example, a