&euro&oeligYour father was captain of a starship for 12 minutes.
He saved 800 lives &euro“ including yours. I dare you to do better.&euro &euro“from the J.J. Abrams&euro&trade film &euro&oeligStar Trek&euro The line of dialog above comes from a scene in the upcoming movie &euro&oelig&euro (directed by the great J.J. Abrams, the creator of the television miniseries &euro&oeligLost&euro) when a young not-yet-a-starship-captain James Kirk is reprimanded following a bar brawl. It&euro&trades a powerful moment, challenging young Kirk to seek greatness through service. If anyone is up to a challenge like that in trucking, it&euro&trades Charlie Claburn (at right), who&euro&trades been the driving force behind a large-scale effort by truckers from all corners in this industry to raise money for the in upstate New York. Charlie&euro&trades no stranger to this space, as he helped in September last year to protest the swift spike in diesel prices that were rapidly bankrupting owner-operators like himself. Though diesel prices eventually plummeted sharply from their record highs last year, the worldwide economic collapse that followed helped torpedo the freight market in the U.S., forcing Charlie to give up his truck and go back to being a company driver. &euro&oeligI have a nephew that attends that school, and I toured it with my good friend Billy Sutton (below, left),&euro he told me by phone, waiting on a load in Alabama. &euro&oeligThey needed financial help, and I said to Billy, &euro&tildeIf we don&euro&tradet try and help them who will&euro&trade Damn sure it won&euro&tradet be the politicians.&euro So they put their heads together and came up with a classic trucker solution &euro“ hosting a convoy plus show and shine competition at Lake George, NY, on June 27 to raise much needed funds for the center. For $20, a trucker gets to join the convoy, while $30 gets them into both the convoy and show truck competition.
Charlie and others put in some long months banging on doors, calling fellow truckers and businesses, trying to raise as much money as they can for the Prospect Center. And the response has been great, to say the least. Bryan Martin &euro“ the owner of and head of the now-famous &euro&oeligChrome Shop Mafia&euro &euro“ donated all kinds of stuff for a raffle Charlie is putting together, along with a turbocharger and installation certificate from Turbo 3000 D.