Escape Claws- Truckload of Lobsters Overturns on Interstate 95 in Maine

In what must have been the crustacean equivalent of that one scene from The Fugitive, a tractor-trailer carrying 30,000 lbs of lobster overturned on I-95 in Maine last week.

A tractor-trailer carrying 30,000 pounds of live lobsters from Nova Scotia overturned early Wednesday morning on Interstate 95 southbound during whiteout conditions, according to the driver and state police.

The driver, Horst Puff, 55, of Greenfield, Nova Scotia, and his dog, Banjo, 10, were not injured in the crash, which occurred around midnight Tuesday as Puff tried to avoid striking a vehicle that had spun out in front of him, both he and state police Trooper Joseph Chretien said at the scene later Wednesday.

“I’m OK,” Puff said, as he stood on I-95, his back against the wind. “There were dry roads from Bangor down to here. Everything was OK.”

He said then there was blowing snow, whiteout conditions and a car in front of him. “The car hit the brakes. I hit the brakes,” he said. “I saw nothing and came too far left and tipped over and Banjo went on top of me. He was on my chest.”

The car that was in front of the truck never stopped, and the driver’s identity is not known, police said.

The truck came to rest in the median about two miles north of exit 133 and near the Fairfield town line. There it stayed all day Wednesday, before it was finally removed around 7 p.m. The truck had to be righted with a crane, and the difficulty as well as the strong wind that blew all day delayed the move. Both southbound lanes were briefly closed for the removal.

Puff was driving the 2007 International truck owned by Gerhardt Trucking of Nova Scotia, taking the lobsters to wholesalers in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Rhode Island.

The lobsters, in 300 crates that weighed about 100 pounds each, survived the wreck and were being taken out of state following inspection by a state agriculture official, Chretien said.

Banjo, a ten year old Australian Shepherd-husky mix, survived the collision and is being cared for at nearby Boulet's Truck Service in Fairfield, ME. Gerhardt sent another truck and trailer down from Nova Scotia to bring the lobsters to their destination in New York. Investigators and the insurance company have said that the truck would most likely be written off as a total loss.

At Least 10 Killed in Horrific Bus-Truck Collision on California Freeway

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A chartered bus taking high school students on a campus tour of Humboldt State University crashed into a tractor-trailer on Interstate 5 in California, killing at least 10 passengers and leaving 36 injured. The crash took place outside the town of Orland, north of Sacramento.

Eyewitnesses claim a Fed Ex tractor trailer crossed the median when it swerved to avoid a traffic accident in its lane and crossed over into oncoming traffic. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and California Highway Patrol were also looking into reports that the tractor trailer was on fire when it swerved into the opposite lane.

According to Fed Ex, the truck was hauling dual trailers. Fed Ex wasn't immediately aware of anything the truck was carrying that could be considered hazardous or volatile, although the company is double-checking records.

The passengers on the bus were mostly high school seniors from southern California and their chaperones who were invited up to Humboldt State University in far north California for a campus tour for prospective low-income or first generation college students. The bus belonged to San Luis Obispo, CA-based Silverado Stages, Inc and investigators were told that the driver of the motorcoach had recently relieved another driver after a stop in Sacramento. Silverado Stages reportedly has a good safety record as well.

Truck Carrying Radioactive Waste Stolen in Mexico

The theft of a truck outside of Mexico City that was carrying radioactive waste triggered international alarms last weeks as authorities searched for both the pilfered vehicle and it's contents.

The shipment originated from a hospital in Baja California and was destined for a waste storage facility in the state of Mexico. The materiel was identified as cobalt-60 and was used for radiation therapy at the hospital in the border city of Tijuana, across the US-Mexican border from San Diego, CA.

Of particular concern was the possibility that the stolen cobalt-60 could be used by terrorist groups to construct a 'dirty bomb'- a conventional explosive device that's capable of spreading radioactive materiel over a concentrated area.

According to local police, the 2.5 ton Volkswagen truck was stolen by armed men at a truck stop at Tepojaco on the outskirts of Mexico City last week.

Mexican Federal Police alerted the US Department of Homeland Security and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna while searching for the stolen radioactive materiel.

After a dragnet for the stolen truck and its cargo, a family discovered the stolen cobalt-60 and discarded medical equipment in a field near the rural village of Hueypoxtla north of Mexico City. The area was quickly cordoned off by Mexican troops as nuclear safety officials moved in to contain the radioactive materiel.

The material, which the International Atomic Energy Agency called "extremely dangerous," was found removed from its protective container. The pellets did not appear to have been damaged or broken up and there was no sign of contamination to the area, the agency said on Thursday, quoting Mexican nuclear safety officials.

Juan Eibenschutz, director general of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards, said it could take at least two days to safely get the material into a secure container and transport it to a waste site.

"It's a very delicate operation," Eibenschutz said. "What's important is that the material has been located and the place is being watched to guarantee no one gets close."

Eibenschutz said the pellets are inside an unbroken copper cylinder about 4-inches (10-centimers) long and 1.2-inches (3-centimeters) in diameter.

"What we are trying to do is put (the cobalt-60) in a receptacle that can contain its radioactivity and send it (to the nuclear waste site) to be confined," Eibenschutz said.

Alerts had been issued in six Mexican states and the capital when the cargo went missing, and also with customs officials to keep the truck from crossing the border, he said.

With police and military resources involved in combatting a bloody narco-insurgency between several Mexican-based drug cartels since 2006, some organized gangs have taken advantage of corrupt, inefficient or indifferent law enforcement by targeting trucks and freight trains and re-selling the stolen goods on a thriving black market. Between 2006 and 2010, trucking, logistics and insurance experts claim cargo thefts have increased as much as 40% annually south of the border- although more recent numbers indicate a slight decline.

Officials believe that the thieves were unaware of the radioactive cargo and were likely after the truck from a company identified as Transportes Ortiz, which had an attached crane to hoist and unload cargo. Experts from Mexico's nuclear regulatory body said that if the cargo had in fact been tampered with and the thieves exposed to the cobalt-60 without any protective gear, it was likely they could die in a matter of days [or possibly gain cool superhuman powers- NANESB!].

After the radioactive materiel was discovered, six men were taken into custody in the neighboring state of Hidalgo on suspicion of their involvement in the theft. The suspects- who range from 16 to 38 years of age- underwent tests at a hospital in Hidalgo but showed no signs of radiation poisoning.

Nuts! Truckload of Nutella Stolen in Germany

Why stop at maple syrup? Thieves in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld made off with more than five tons of Nutella earlier this week. The popular chocolate-hazelnut spread was stolen from a tractor-trailer on Monday by an unknown number of thieves.

Police said Monday an unknown number of culprits made off with 5 metric tons (5.5 tons) of "Nutella" chocolate-hazelnut spread from a parked trailer in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld over the weekend.

The gooey loot is worth an estimated 16,000 euros ($20,710).

Officials declined to speculate whether this was a well-orchestrated theft or simple joyriding, although a truckload of energy drinks was stolen from a truck in the same town in the last month.

UPDATE- 4/11 - Seemingly determined to prove that Nutella isn't the only yummy contraband sought after by cargo thieves, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested a man who is accused of stealing a truck hauling $75,000 worth of Campbell's Soup from a central Florida truckstop that was destined for a Publix supermarket distribution facility.

That's right- the soup flew the coop and the split pea and ham was on the lam. The fact that the big rig was equipped with GPS enabled officers to track down the purloined broth with relative ease after following it for about 30 miles.

With food prices on the rise internationally, food being shipped to market is becoming as equally popular as electronics, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals but it can be harder to trace. Worldwide cargo theft is becoming a widespread problem [and also the premise for the reality show Big Rig Bounty Hunters on the History Channel- NANESB!]. Even before the July 2012 theft of C$20 million worth of maple syrup at a Quebec warehouse launched a thousand groan-worthy, breakfast-centered puns, cargo theft was on the increase in Canada's Maritime provinces, with the trailers or loads eventually resurfacing in Montreal.

On the US side of the border, the FBI suspects Armenian gangs based in southern California of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of meat and dairy products by showing up at warehouses throughout the west with fake manifests and affixing the names of other trucking companies to their vehicles. Aside from electronics, cigarettes or pharmaceuticals, other targets for cargo thieves and organized crime throughout the USA apparently include tomatoes, Alaskan King Crab and walnuts.

Dallas-Ft Worth Area Raked by Massive Tornado Outbreak

Funnel cloud touching down near a residential area south of Dallas, TX on April 3rd. AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Parrish Velasco

The Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex was struck by a series of tornadoes that moved through heavily populated suburbs on Tuesday, blocking streets and highways with fallen trees and light poles while tossing around big rigs as though they were plastic bags in a stiff breeze. Funnel clouds were confirmed to have touched down as close as five miles from downtown Dallas.

BURLESON, Texas – Tornadoes raked the Dallas area Tuesday, crumbling a wing of a nursing home, peeling roofs from dozens of homes and spiraling big-rig trailers into the air like footballs. More than a dozen injuries were reported.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport canceled hundreds of flights and diverted others heading its way. Among the most stunning video was an industrial section of Dallas, where rows of empty tractor-trailers crumpled like soda cans littered a parking lot.

"The officers were watching the tornadoes form and drop," Kennedale police Chief Tommy Williams said. "It was pretty active for a while."

The confirmed tornadoes touched down near Royce City and Silver Springs, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop

The tornado also tore through a regional operations center for Wisconsin-based trucking company Schneider National, tossing trailers and big rigs around like they were Matchbox toys.



In addition to shearing the roofs off of area homes and launching parked cars into apartment buildings, one of the tornadoes reportedly collapsed one wing of an Arlington, TX nursing home while other twisters in the area had near-misses with a Flying J Trucks Stop, a schoolhouse and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.


Ranger's minor league catcher Zach Zaneski and 3rd baseman Mike Olt were inside the ballpark for the near-miss. Zaneski used his cell phone camera to film the winds ripping the tarp off the field before he and other Ranger personnel retreated further into the ballpark. Although Zaneski didn't have a twitter account, Rangers catcher Mike Napoli circulated the amateur video from his twitter account.

American Airlines cancelled all flights out of nearby DFW airport- one of the airline's primary hubs. At nearby Love Field in Dallas, Southwest Airlines suspended all service. Even after the storms had passed, airlines in the region halted all flights so that damage to aircraft and other equipment from falling hail could be assessed.

Remarkably, there have not been any reports of fatalities from the Tuesday afternoon onslaught of twisters, although at least a dozen people have been reported injured.

Teleprompters, Other Equipment Stolen from Virginia Truck Before President Obama Appearence

An NBC station out of Richmond, VA is reporting that a truckload of official White House equipment including Presidential seals, sound equipment and a pair of TelePrompTers was stolen at a hotel parking lot in Henrico, VA. [Just teleprompters? Good thing nothing of value was taken! *WHEW!*- NANESB!]

A truck filled with President Obama's podiums and audio equipment was stolen in Henrico just days before his visit to Chesterfield.

[WWBT, Channel 12] confirmed an investigation with the U.S. Defense Department. There are still a lot of questions. The biggest one being did the thieves intentionally target the President's truck or did they take advantage of a crime of opportunity and give a big "uh-oh" when they saw what was inside.

When you see President Obama speak, there is a pretty typical setup including the presidential seal on a podium, the see-thru Teleprompter and a portable sound system.

Thieves saw the truck carrying that equipment and couldn't resist the target.

We're told the truck was parked at the Virginia Center Commons Courtyard Marriott in advance on Wednesday's presidential visit to Chesterfield.

Sources said inside that vehicle was about $200,000 worth of sound equipment, several podiums and presidential seals, behind which only the President himself can stand.

They told NBC12 around 12:30 Monday afternoon that truck was recovered in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express near the airport and hotel staff confirm police activity. One guest we spoke with said he saw various law enforcement agencies examining a white box truck parked there.

According to him, the entire back parking lot was blocked off as Henrico Police along with "lots of guys in suits" investigated. He said the truck had no markings and no indication anything special was inside. That leads to another big question of whether or not any of that was actually stolen.

Late Monday evening we found a truck with US government tags still parked in the Marriott's lot. We are waiting to find out if that is the original truck returned to the staff or a second vehicle.

We were able to get this statement from a Defense Information Systems Agency spokesperson: "No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle. We take incidents such as this very seriously and a formal investigation is continuing."

We are waiting to find out if surveillance cameras on the building captured the crooks on tape.

President Obama is scheduled to kick off a second bus tour in North Carolina and Virginia this week. The truck was reportedly travelling in advance of the Presidential motorcade for a Wednesday appearance with Virgina GOP governor Bob McDonnell at a veterans-focused event in Ft. Eustis, VA.

Government Files Suit Against Trucking Company For Dismissing Alcoholic Driver

A North Carolina based trucking company is being taken to court by the government for firing an alcoholic truck driver- a move the US Equal Employment Opportunities Commission claims is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

Thomasville, NC-based Old Dominion Freight Line [NASDAQ: ODFL] dismissed a driver in June 2009 based in an Arkansas service center. The driver, Charles Grams, had approached company supervisors and informed them he had a drinking problem

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit this week arguing that Old Dominion Freight Line discriminated against Charles Grams by stripping him of his position and offering him a demotion even if he completed a substance abuse counseling program

Instead, the EEOC argued, the North Carolina-based company, which has a service center in Arkansas, should have complied with the law, known as the ADA, while ensuring safety.

“The ADA mandates that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to achieve in the workplace,” said Katharine Kores, director of the EEOCs Memphis District Office, which covers Arkansas. “While the EEOC agrees that an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”

The EEOC says alcoholism is a recognized disability under the ADA and that the company violated the law with its policy that bans any driver who admits alcohol abuse from driving again.

The EEOC wants the company to reinstate Grams and another affected driver to their previous positions and provide them with back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for lost benefits. The EEOC is also seeking to block the company’s alcohol-related policy.

Joel McCarty, general counsel to Old Dominion, wouldn’t comment on the details of the pending litigation. But he told FoxNews.com, “We intend to vigorously defend our position.”

When asked to respond to EEOC’s comments and rationale behind the lawsuit, McCarty said, “Obviously, we disagree with their position totally.”

“Our concern is safety,” he said. “And that’s why we intend to defend the policy.”

According to the EEOC’s suit, Grams, who had been with Old Dominion for five years without incident, informed the company in June 2009 that he believed he had an alcohol problem.

The company suspended him from his driving position, which paid him nearly $22 per hour, including benefits. In compliance with U.S. Transportation Department regulations, Grams met with a substance abuse professional who notified the company that Grams would participate in an outpatient treatment program and could return to work.

But Old Dominion told Grams that he wouldn’t be allowed to drive again for the company and instead offered him a part-time position as a dock worker as soon as it became available. The position paid $12 per hour without benefits, the lawsuit alleges.

Grams then decided he couldn't afford treatment because he believed he would have to pay for it upfront and be reimbursed by his insurance company only if it approved the treatment. Instead, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Old Dominion fired him in July for job abandonment.

The EEOC contends that the company's actions deprived Grams and other affected drivers of "equal employment opportunities and otherwise adversely affect their status as employees, in violation of the ADA."

"Grams is a qualified individual with a disability under ADA ... who can perform the essential functions of a driving position," the suit says, adding that Grams and other employees wouldn't need treatment to perform non-driving duties.

Does anybody else remember that King of the Hill episode where Hank hires this seemingly clean-cut guy to work at Strickland Propane only to learn that he's a drug addict? Then once he's hired, he's next to impossible to get rid of because he's a drug addict?

So this begs the question if Alcoholism is covered under the ADA, what about drug use? I mean the potential ramifications of a driver operating a commercial vehicle impaired and over the road is no different if that driver's been knocking back Jack Daniels or snorting cocaine. And moreover, the government is ordering that the company assume the risk and liability that comes with a driver with a history or alcohol or substance abuse.

Lisa Kelly: With the Angels

And by "With the Angels", I don't mean there was some sort of unfortunate mishap on Atigun Pass- think more like the US Navy's Blue Angels.

Wasilla, AK native and Ice Road Truckers star Lisa Kelly was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of flying with the US Navy's Blue Angels Precision flying team at an Air Show in Fargo, ND this month.

She says she has always wanted to fly in an F-18. In Kelly's line of work, she faces danger daily, but she says that's nothing compared to what the US Navy faces.

She says chasing this dream was a great experience. Kelly says, “We flew upside down, and I’m like hanging from my seatbelt dangling upside down looking at the canopy. We would go straight up and spin and it looks like the sun is just going around the nose of it.

The flight took place immediately prior to Fargo's AirSho between Aug 13th and 14th.



Both Lisa Kelly and Canadian ice road trucker Alex Debogorski will be making an appearence at England's Truckfest in a few weeks.

Borderline Psychosis (Mostly) El Norte Edition- ATF Arming Mexican Criminals? Border Patrol Agent Armed w/Beanbag Rounds in Deadly Shootout

ARIZONA: You know how gun control advocates have been lobbying for stricter gun control laws in the USA citing the number of American weapons turning up at crime scenes in Mexico? I initially derided such claims as unmitigated bullshit, but it turns out they were more on the nose than anybody thought. But what nobody banked on was that the cartels and Mexican criminals were arming themselves thanks in large part to the complicity of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms.

BATF Agent John Dodson has come forward and in an interview with CBS went on record as saying that allowing suspect sale of firearms to straw purchasers in Arizona go through before they were smuggled to Mexico in a tactic known as letting the guns 'walk'.

Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

ATF named the case "Fast and Furious."

Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.

One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."

Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there."

Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.

Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."

There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..."

Agent Dodson and others knew that allowing the guns to walk wouldn't end well, and their fears were confirmed in December 2010 when two guns from Fast & Furious were recovered from the scene of an Arizona shootout that killed US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Not surprisingly, Mexican authorities were kept in the dark about Fast & Furious as well. Mexican diplomats have petitioned the US Department of Justice for more details regarding the operation over the weekend.

Dodson has formally sought protection as a whistleblower under Federal law and has been providing information to the Senate Judiciary committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

ELSEWHERE ALONG THE BORDER: Speaking of the late Agent Brian Terry, documents detailing the Dec 14th gunbattle outside of Nogales, AZ in which the Border Patrol agent was killed indicates that the Border Patrol agents were instructed to use non-lethal beanbag rounds in their shotguns.

The documents say the group of illegal border entrants refused commands to drop their weapons after agents confronted them at about 11:15 p.m. Two agents fired beanbags at the migrants, who responded with gunfire. Two agents returned fire, one with a long gun and one with a pistol, but Terry was mortally wounded in the gunfight.

Terry's brother, Kent Terry, said the other agents who were there that night told him that they were instructed to use the non-lethal beanbags first. It's a policy that doesn't make sense to Kent Terry.

"You go up against a bandit crew that is carrying AKs, and you walk out there with guns loaded with beanbags - I don't get it," Terry said in a phone interview from Michigan. "It's like going to the Iraqi war with one knife. It boggles my mind. ... These guys (Border Patrol agents) are professionals; they should be able to use their judgment call on their own."

[snip]The Terry family remains upset about allegations that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed a gun smuggler it was investigating to purchase and smuggle into Mexico the weapons used in the shootout in which Terry died. The Justice Department has denied the allegations, but U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, continues to insist on the validity of the claims.

"Your government is telling you to use beanbags, but you are selling guns back to the Mexicans," Kent Terry said. "There's a lot of questions that they haven't answered."

The Border Patrol has declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

WASHINGTON D.C.: In a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the White House last week, President Obama announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with Mexico that would allow Mexican truck drivers to use US Highways in exchange for Mexico dropping retaliatory tariffs on American goods once the first Mexican truck completes its run inside the USA.

OK....let me just come right out and say that this is like the layer cake of bad ideas.

Let me count the ways: I guess to start off with, expedited border crossings from Mexico mean that some criminal enterprise is going to take advantage of this which will most likely lead to expedited drug smuggling or human trafficking, abetted by corrupt officials on both sides of the border.

Last I heard, things like weigh stations, logbooks, preventative maintenance, hours of service, and safety inspections were these whimsical, novel foreign concepts to the majority of truckers on the Mexican side of the border. Even if Mexico reciprocates and allows American truckers to drive further into Mexico's interior, there's the the matter of rampant crime in the form of hijackings and roadblocks set up to rob drivers or steal their cargo. Either that or set it on fire as part of an impromptu blockade while one cartel or another lays siege to a Mexican city.

And lastly, I fail to see how allowing more Mexican trucks onto US highways would benefit the American economy or create American jobs- union or non-union.

MEXICO CITY: A Major in the Mexican Army is suspected of leaking information to drug cartels, training hitmen and enforcers through a private security company and funnelling weapons from the Mexican military to cartels like Los Zetas, according to a US diplomatic cable released on Wikileaks.

Major Arturo Gonzalez Rodriguez was assigned to President Calderon's security detail before being arrested in December 2008 for accepting $100,000 a month bribes from multiple cartels in exchange for relaying the travel plans of Calderon.

"Based on statements from a former cartel member turned witness code-named 'Jennifer,' PGR (federal attorney general's office) has accused González of passing information related to the activities and travel plans of Mexican President Felipe Calderón to the Arturo Beltran Levya organization (ABLO).

"González also stands accused of leaking military intelligence, training ABLO hit men through a private security company and supplying military weapons to various (drug trafficking organizations), including los Zetas."

The cable also alleges that another official working for the Calderon administration leaked copies of his medical file to drug traffickers.

CHIHUHUA: The 20 year old woman who found herself in the limelight in 2010 for becoming police chief of the border town of Praxedis G Guerro after her predecessor was murdered and beheaded by narotrafficantes was fired on Monday after failing to show up for work.

City officials released a statement saying that the mayor had decided to remove Marisol Vallez Garcia from office after she failed to show up after a leave of absence in which she had to attend to a family emergency. She was accompanied by a local official as far as the International Bridge connecting El Provenir with Ft. Hancock, TX last week.

Marisol Valles, then a 20 year old criminology student studying at the University of Guadlajara, was the only person willing to take the job and was sworn in on October 18, 2010 a year after the previous police chief was kidnapped, murdered and beheaded and his severed head left outside the Paxedis G Guerro police station.

Valles is reportedly seeking asylum in Texas after her infant son was being treated for an unspecified illness there. She also was reportedly subjected to a number of anonymous death threats during her brief tenure as police chief.

Guilty Pleasure Update- Ice Road Truckers in the Himalayas? Canadians Keep Write On Trucking

Photo Courtesy of Alaskaroads.com

OK- I missed last week's Ice Road Truckers largely because I was imbibing in large quantities of alcohol and watching fireworks before leaving a trail of bottles and patio furniture (but mostly bottles) back to Chalet Fenway. But apparently the History Channel showed a promo that I just now heard about that will feature some of the Ice Road Truckers hauling cement on one of the mountain roads on the Indian side of the Himalayas.

Besides the discussions on the History Channel bulletin boards (apparently some people actually saw the Ice Road Truckers: Himalayas promos themselves but couldn't believe it), a number of articles interviewing Lisa Kelly or Alex Debagorski make mention of their trip to India appear after my customary half-assed internet search while some video of a blue-mohawk sporting Rick Yemm in the Himalayan foothills have been circulating.

OK...besides the really obvious questions like 'What would Lisa Kelly look like in a sari?' or 'Is there some smoldering Bollywood bombshell out there who secretly longs to become a truck driver on a dangerous mountain road?', I have to wonder if the road they're using for Ice Road Truckers: Himalayas would actually be an 'ice road' in the show's definition where they drive across frozen bodies of water. Technically the Dalton Highway might not count but Jack Jessee and Lisa Kelly were shown continuing on past Deadhorse and onto Prudhoe Bay itself.

The two Canadian truckers who have been with the show since its inception- Alex Debagorski and Hugh Rowland- can now add 'author' to their resumes. Last month, Hugh Rowland's On Thin Ice was released by Hyperion press. Alex Debagorski, who wore many hats before the History Channel series even began, has a book due out in November.

Guilty Pleasure Alert- New Season of Ice Road Truckers Begins Tonight

Some people readily 'fess up to having American Idol or Top Model as their requisite guilty pleasure for TV viewing. I'm going to have to say mine is the History Channel's Ice Road Truckers, which has the distinction of being one of the few shows on the network that I've warmed up to and is still around. To be fair, I was watching before the petite Lisa Kelly (above) made an appearance in season 3. The first two seasons were spent on the seasonal ice roads of Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories with 18 wheelers hauling supplies across frozen lakes into and out of the otherwise inaccessible diamond mines there.

Season 3 featured the Dalton Highway, which serves as a corridor for oilfield equipment and supplies between the North Slope and Fairbanks, AK. Apparently season 4 will see a return to the Dalton Highway, which marks the first time the History Channel and Thom Beers' camera crew hasn't been booted off an ice road.

It's also worth noting that for all the bitching and moaning I did about a set aside, no-bid contract where an Alaska Native Corporation pocketed about $20 million for doing nothing earlier this year, the transportation company that's responsible for most of the commercial traffic on the Dalton is in fact a subsidiary of an Alaska Native Corporation itself.