OOIDA member Jeff Warta wants to be sheriff of Benton County, MO, but first he must win both the August Democratic Primary and the November general election.

Jeffrey Warta, an OOIDA life member from Warsaw, MO, is running for sheriff in Benton County, MO. He thinks he has a good chance of winning the election.

Warta describes himself as “a common man with a commonsense plan” for improving the Sheriff’s Department. On his campaign Web site, www.warta4sheriff.com, Warta promises to “never lose sight of who pays the bills.”

He’s no politician. In fact, the closest he’s been to a politician was when he served on vice presidential security detail while stationed with the 8th Army Headquarters as general security staff.

Warta joined the Army in 1981 right after high school graduation and has served as an airborne ranger and military police at home and overseas in Korea, Grenada, Honduras and Panama.

He started his trucking business in 1987, specializing in military transport. At the same time, Warta served as a part-time deputy sheriff in Benton County since 1996 and as a part-time reserve detective for the Appleton City, MO, Police Department since 2002. He earned his degree in criminal justice from Central Missouri State University in 1996.

Warta, his wife, Shelly, and their two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, have lived in Warsaw for 15 years. His oldest daughter, Jennifer, her husband, Marcus, and their 18-month-old daughter, Kalyn, live there, too.

As a 41-year-old grandfather, Warta says his granddaughter is the No. 1 reason he is running for sheriff.

“I want her to have a safe, drug-free place to grow up,” he said. He’s expecting a second grandchild in September.

Warta doesn’t like the direction his community has gone of late.

“I have seen a wonderful county going downhill for the past 10 years or so,” he says. “Illegal drugs are probably the biggest contributor to the problems in our county. I have seen good people destroy their lives after becoming addicted.”

“Let’s get rid of the ‘good old boy’ system and make our county one where we feel safe and secure,” he added, “where no one is above the law, and all are treated equal.”

Although he will be too busy to drive, Warta plans to continue his trucking business when he becomes sheriff.
Campaign contributions can be sent to: Committee to Elect Jeff Warta, PO Box 1656, Warsaw, MO 65355.

—by René Tankersley, feature editor René Tankersley can be reached at rene_tankersley@landlinemag.com.

The latest series of cards, Series Six, was just released in April. The cards will be randomly distributed on CAT Scale weigh tickets through the end of 2004. The cards are attached directly to the weigh tickets so each time you weigh, you will automatically receive a Series Six collector card. There are 60 different cards in all. Collector books are also available to keep your cards protected and organized.

You’re probably wondering, “how can I get my truck on those cards?” Fill out a Super Trucks Limited Edition application, available at www.catscales.com, or request an application by calling 1-877-CAT-SCALE. Send the completed application and some color photos to: CAT Scale Co., Super Truck Cards, PO Box 630, Walcott, IA 52773. Include a list of the basic truck specs and any awards or special mentions the truck has received. Also, don’t forget to include your name, address and phone number.

—by René Tankersley, feature editor René Tankersley can be reached at rene_tankersley@landlinemag.com.

Steve Barnes of Cascade Locks, OR, has been in the trucking business for 25 years, most of that as an owner-operator. In recent years, he started to notice differences in how states handled speed limits.

States with lower limits seemed to have heavier law enforcement. And in states that raised their limits, the predicted carnage and law-enforcement problems didn’t seem to appear.

Barnes started to research the topic. He found all kinds of information about how traffic engineers set speed limits. And he discovered that under those standards, split speeds made no sense.

Speed limits, Barnes found, are literally based on majority rule. Engineers use a standard called the 85th percentile. He explains the concept on his Web site: “The 85th percentile speed is the speed at or below which 85 percent of the motorists drive on a given road ... This speed indicates the speed that most motorists on that road consider safe and reasonable under ideal conditions.”

“Under federal regulations, posted speeds are not supposed to slow traffic down,” Barnes told Land Line. “They are supposed to be in response to the driving habits of a majority of drivers on any given roadway.

“If people perceive that the posted speed is unreasonable,” he said, “people tend to ignore them.”

Barnes called his legislators to support uniform speeds, but he didn’t stop there. He set up a Web site, www.fightthe55.com, designed to “educate drivers so that they can discuss the issue with facts.”

The Oregon trucker also had 1,000 bumper stickers printed to promote the idea, and he also spent plenty of time at truck stops and on the CB educating his fellow drivers.

It may seem at times like he’s tilting at windmills, but Barnes says split speed foes have made progress. Ten states have split speed limits: California, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, Indiana, Idaho, Arkansas, Montana and Barnes’ home state of Oregon. Battles for change are under way in Oregon, Illinois and Ohio.

If truckers want split speeds to end, they need to call their state lawmakers, he said, and they need to be prepared.

“They need to be able to talk the facts; they need to be able to talk an argument that is based on safety,” he said.

“Since there are actual standards, and the research has been done to establish those standards, and those standards are shown to be based on safety, then if the real interest of these states is having safety, then we have to go by what is proven to be safer,” he said. “My purpose is not to encourage people to speed; my purpose is for people to understand what the basic speed rule is and for everyone to drive in a way that is reasonable and prudent.”

Truckers should keep track of the OOIDA and Land Line Web sites, he said, especially the Legislative Watch and Call to Action sections.

“Truckers need to pick up the phone and lend their voice in support,” he said. “Everyone who does make a call is having a big impact.”

—by Mark H. Reddig, associate editor Mark Reddig can be reached at mark_reddig@landlinemag.com.

I am By Kory Zehner

I am a boy who loves big trucks.
I want to be a big truck driver.
I hear the running of the big diesel.
I see the truck in the mountains.
I want to drive over the hot blacktop.
I am a boy who loves big trucks.

I pretend to be a big truck driver.
I feel the steering wheel.
I touch the standard stick.
I worry that I will hit a deer.
I cry when it does not start.
I am a boy who loves big trucks.

I wonder if I can drive every day.
I will love to drive a big truck.
I dream about the day I get a big truck.
I try to be the best driver in the world.
I hope to drive all of my life.
I am a boy who loves big trucks.