bureaucratic red tape is going to strangle this industry, but we're cutting through it when we can.

Back at the end of Feb. We had a driver referred to us by another charity, he was out in California who had a medical issue with his CDL which caused him to be stranded since he couldn't drive his truck. We worked on it with him for 3 weeks and we're happy to report we got his license back today.

I'm pulling this all from memory so indulge me here.

What we did isn't normally what we do but now that we know how to "Get'r Done" we'll be able to help the next driver with this kind of issue.

This guy was in a jam bad and he had lived in a tent for almost 3 years saving the money to go to truck driving school so he could get off of SSI and become a productive citizen again. On his 2nd job in the trucking industry he collides head on with the bureaucracy we've all been dealing with for years. He's from Indiana and was delivering out in California he had received mail at home that was read to him over the phone that informed him of his CDL situation, now he's out in California stuck because he can't drive his truck. He had already went through his savings and had no idea what to do to get the issue with his license straightened out because when he personally called the BMV THEY wouldn't even tell him what the issue was except to say he wasn't medically qualified and they had frozen the CDL part of his license. He called OOIDA who referred him to another charity who referred him to us.

We contacted the BMV for him and they wouldn't let us know what the issue was either even though we had a signed release. All they would tell us was that they didn't have enough information to make a determination. The guy told us he was healthy as a horse and didn't understand why the medical was frozen on his CDL. We had him have his family Dr. send in his info.We had him do another DOT physical and sent it to the state. Again not enough information to make a determination. We sent him to another doctor and told them to run him through the mill. FULL physical including cardiogram, treadmill, breathing test, full drug test. We sent the information to the BMV. They wouldn't discuss anything with us or the driver, they lawyered up and had their lawyer call us and tell us that the release had to be notarized. This guy is in Santa Nella Ca., not a very big town so we had to find a MotorNotar to go to him and notarize the release. We called the BMV back numerous times. Not enough information to make a determination was their comment.

To make a very long story shorter the final contact we had with the BMV included all 34 pages of medical testing the driver had went through, a personal letter from the driver and a letter from us where at the bottom was noted CC Indiana Attorney General. We also faxed all of this to the Indiana AG's office explaining the long drawn out process. Within 5 min. of the faxes going through our Secretary received a call from the BMV. We finally got the answer we were looking for, what the issue was. The BMV needed a letter stating that the attending Dr. knew of the driver's passed disability and that he was now qualified to drive a CMV. Now mind you the driver had already had a current DOT physical card, this physical was for new employment and the driver told us that the physical didn't go past the interview part. No poking or prodding and no physical tests, THEN had gone through TWO more physical's including being ran through the mill.

The DOT Dr. that the driver had went to for a new physical because of a job change had changed his mind after the fact and pulled the driver's certification. WHY? Well this driver is one of the most honest people you'll ever talk to, when he was being interviewed by the Dr. he laid out his entire life history which included a back surgery in 1986 that had left him disabled until the 90's. afterwards he started working on his body to get it back in shape when he finally got his body built up enough to come off disability he went to truck driving school. This new employment Dr. gave him a ONE YEAR certification and marked on the physical "a" disability. Even with information from the driver's family Dr. explaining the situation this Dr. we guess didn't feel comfortable certifying him even after he "examined" him.

There's a moral in that last paragraph that we'll leave to you to figure out.

The driver's company, a carrier with trucks leased to Panther was very good to him but they couldn't wait forever for the red tape to be cut down and released him from their employment Friday. Just 4 days before we got the issue resolved. He's currently looking for a new employer out in California (He's done with the state of Indiana) so if anyone has any leads contact us and we'll forward the information. This driver is the type of driver this industry needs. Dedicated and determined. He has a class B CDL and is looking for expedite work.

Finally, for the certain female who unfortunately found out about this guy and his contact with us who called and woke him up at 3am in the morning to tell him "If you think you're going to get any help from those idiots, you're highly mistaken" (click) Uhmmm... We have 3.25 words for you.... We Got'r done. NEXT!