Sorry if this is a repeated post: Arrow Driver's Family Files Missing Person's Report
amykae
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20100107_298_0_Svnend757045
Family of Arrow Trucking driver files missing person report
John Eischens not seen since Christmas Day
By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Published: 1/7/2010 7:29 PM
Last Modified: 1/7/2010 7:29 PM
Seventeen days after Arrow Trucking Co. suspended operations,
stranding drivers, trucks and freight around the country, dozens of
drivers — possibly more than a hundred — are missing or unaccounted
for, industry officials say.
The family of one Arrow driver, John Eischens, 34, of Mabank, Texas,
has filed a missing person’s report with the Anna (Texas) Police
Department, police department officers said.
Eischens was last seen Christmas day in Butte, Mont., where he cleaned
out his truck, which was out of fuel, and turned over the keys to the
manager of the Pilot Truck Stop, officials said.
Eischens had no money because his previous Arrow paychecks bounced,
his family said.
Steve Williams, a detective with the Anna Police Department, 30 miles
north of Dallas, said the missing person’s report on Eischens was
filed Wednesday by Christopher Eischens, the driver’s brother, who
lives in Anna.
Neither Christopher Eischens nor his mother, Connie Salik, could be
reached for comment.
“He (John Eischens) was seen in Anna the first week in December,”
Williams said. “John Eischens’ wife, who lives in Mabank, Texas (30
miles southeast of Dallas), said they’ve had phone conversations in
the same time frame — the first week in December and at Christmas.”
Neither his wife, brother or mother has been in contact with Eischens
since Christmas, Williams said.
Eischens is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs 230 pounds. He is clean-
shaven and has no tattoos or scars, Williams said.
Persons with information on Eischens may contact Williams at the Anna
Police Department at (972) 924-2848.
After the missing person’s report was filed, the Montana Department of
Justice became involved in the case, said Jennifer Viets, coordinator
of the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse.
“I will put out a statewide broadcast to every Montana law enforcement
agency that we are looking for him (Eischens) on a check of his
welfare,” Viets said. “I will attach his photo.”
People with information about Eischens can contact the Montana Missing
Persons Clearinghouse at (406) 444-2483.
Arrow’s lender, Transportation Alliance Bank of Ogden, Utah, canceled
the company’s fuel credit cards on Dec. 21 after the company’s unpaid
bills and debts mounted, drivers, employees and industry officials
said.
With no fuel, drivers were forced to abandon their trucks and loads at
truck stops and rest areas from Baltimore to Bakersfield, Calif., and
from Butte, Mont., to south Texas, drivers and industry officials
said.
More than two dozen drivers said their last paychecks from the company
bounced, depriving many of the means to get home.
Sandi Soendker, managing editor for 22 years of Land Line Magazine, a
publication of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association of
Grain Valley, Mo., said the Arrow collapse is the “messiest” she’s
witnessed.
“I have seen a lot of companies go under,” Soendker said. “For a big
company, you would expect an orderly shutdown. This is the sloppiest I
have ever seen.”
Soon after company executives closed its west Tulsa offices and told
dozens of employees to go home on Dec. 22, drivers around the country
found they were on their own, drivers and officials said.
But with the help of OOIDA, trucker message and bulletin boards, 7,500
people across the country became involved with the effort to bring
stranded drivers home, said Lisa Philpot, a volunteer with “Support
for Stranded Arrow Trucking Drivers” who lives in Baltimore.
“There were a couple of drivers up here (near Baltimore),” Philpot
said by telephone late Thursday. “There are 300 to 460 drivers who are
not home or (whose whereabouts) we can’t verify.”
John Eischens is one of them.
“I will do everything I can to bring John home,” Philpot said.
By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
Roughrider50
wrote:
I don't mean to sound crass or uncaring, but there has to be a lot
more to this story than what we're hearing. From what I've read He had
only been at arrow for about a month, is last two paychecks bounced,
and his advance and fuel card had ceased to work the week before. In
one story I was reading it said he wanted to quit but his mother
brought up some BS about company loyalty and that he would be taken
care of by his employer. Now in my humble opinion his disappearance
has less to do with arrow trucking than with other factors. Now in
all probability arrow trucking, in their financial quagmire, had
probably resorted to hiring "seat meat" like a lot of other carriers
that have a hard time filling their trucks. But even at that I
seriously doubt that he just wandered off aimlessly totally lost
without his employers help. In the many years I've been driving
truck, most of the US and half of Canada, had this happen to me I had
other resources for getting home. Now for sake of argument let's say
this individual did not have any resources whatsoever (credit cards,
friends back home, relatives, etc.) there is still things a person can
do. We have chemically dependent transients (hobos, bums, winos
etc.), wandering this country and surviving, albeit not in a grand
fashion, but they do manage to get by. He turned his truck in at the
pilot in Butte and hasn't been seen since. Okay, Butte Montana is not
exactly the epitome of civilization but neither is it the wilds of
Alaska. I'm sure somewhere, within walking distance, is a county
welfare office, or Red Cross office, or someplace he could be referred
to for assistance. It's also located on an interstate highway so
there's lots of opportunities to hitch a ride with a sympathetic
driver. Hell for that matter call OOIDA and I'm sure they can offer
assistance. I mean this fellow was 34 years old, if he's not capable
at this point of finding his way home then he had no business being on
the highway to begin with. Now something else could have happened to
him, like foul play or a hot chick at the truck stop, or whatever but
it boils down to it's his responsibility to get back home. Some
posters have even said just drop the trailer and bobtail as close as
you can get to home and go from there (my choice). For that matter
I'm sure there's carriers in Butte Montana looking for drivers. While
what arrow transportation did was reprehensible some of the
responsibility has to go to the individual, not for what happened at
arrow, but for taking care of themselves. It's a cruel world and
shift happens so be prepared.
.
The problem with socialism is that eventually
you run out of other people's money."
-Margaret Thatcher
CCBlack
> http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=2...
> Family of Arrow Trucking driver files missing person report
> John Eischens not seen since Christmas Day
Here is a photo of the driver from a local radio station here in
Dallas/Ft.Worth :
http://www.wbap.com/Article.asp?id=1652869&spid=
Chris