Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
record one nine.
Hello drivers.
Welcome to rolling 18 podcast.
I appreciate you guys listeningto and or downloading my
podcast.
(00:26):
You can visit all the linksthat I have down below the
description in this podcast atbuzzsproutcom.
Just look up Rollin' 18 Podcast.
You can even Google it.
You will find me everywhere.
You can find me on Twitter,instagram, facebook.
I have my own website atmediaiowacom or you can go to
roll Roland18Podcastcom.
That'll take you right to theBuzzsprout account.
(00:48):
I'm also putting videodepictions of me driving down
the road while I'm telling youabout my podcast.
So if you like, if you prefer avideo, you can just watch me
drive down the road in a truck.
Anyway, I got some more sombernews for you guys.
If you guys remember, on May29th I did a story about a
gentleman that went missing,david Schultz.
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They found his cattle trailerand his semi parked on the
shoulder and they had no signsof him.
They spent months looking forhim.
They used drones, they usedeverything Come to find out he
was a mile and a half away fromthe truck.
The blog post I put out statedthe open road often presents
itself not only as a path oftravel, but also as a route to
(01:30):
deeper, sometimes troubling,mysteries On that episode.
I talked about how it was aperfect example of this duality,
featuring a dive into theunsolved demise of trucker David
Schultz as an exploration intothe complex future of emissions
in the trucking industry.
Well, the results of hisautopsy many months later
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finally came out, and Schultzdied of hyperthermia after
ingesting meth.
Now, if you look at the deathcertificate, it basically
describes truck driver DavidSchultz's cause of death
something that was not expectedat all of death, something that
was not expected at all.
Schultz disappeared lateNovember in 2023, after
abandoning his truck loaded withhogs on the side of the rural
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road on his regular route.
He was found on April 24th justoff the road in some corn, only
a quarter of a mile from hiscommercial vehicle.
They they said I think it wasclose enough to the road that
searchers thought well, we don'tneed to look here because we
could definitely see him.
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So obviously it was a lotcloser than even what I reported
back in may.
Initial autopsies led officialsto state there was no sign of
foul play and schultz's deathwas not a homicide, but his
family and friends feltuncomfortable with that ruling
and were planning to get asecond opinion, sparking
controversy and theoriessurrounding Schultz's death.
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As of the evening of June 20th,schultz's death certificate has
been released, stating hiscause of death as hyperthermia
in the setting of acute drugmethamphetamine intoxication.
The document goes on to stateingested drug and exposed to
environmental cold and lists thedeath as an accident.
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Now the temperature on November20th 2023, the night Schultz
disappeared dropped to 30degrees, then 35 degrees the
next day, then as low as 11degrees in the next week, and
the case is officiallyconsidered closed.
I don't know what to say.
You know, it's one of thosethings where maybe he ingested
methamphetamines and then gotspooked by the way he was
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feeling and decided to walk itoff, get out in the breast cold.
Maybe he developed an acutesweating thought, maybe he was
having a medical emergency.
I'm not sure what goes througha person's mind when they get
scared like that, but doingdrugs on the road out by
yourself is never good.
If you're gonna do drugs and Isuggest you don't ever do drugs
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make sure you're with otherpeople, because there are times
people have overdosed or taken adrug they didn't know anything
about and somebody had taintedit with fentanyl or something
else, and people were able toget them help, but the best
prevention is to not do drugs atall.
He was hauling cattle or he washauling pigs one of the two and
generally they have to getthere pretty quickly.
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He may have been beyond tired,decided to try it and maybe he's
done it a hundred times andnever had a problem.
I don't know.
Well, obviously this time wasvery fatal for him and that is
extremely sad for him and hisfamily and his children, and
we're going to miss him.
You know we reported on BrianLush up in Canada and that was a
weird case as well, because hewent into the truck stop and
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disappeared and all of a suddeneverybody's confused when is he?
Where did he go?
His daughter started getting onFacebook and social media sites
begging for help, passing outpictures Where's my dad?
I want my daddy and come tofind out.
They towed the truck back to ashop or something like that,
ended up finding his body in thetrailer of that truck.
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That's amazing that nobodylooked in that trailer.
I'm assuming he was covered upwith stuff and whatever.
Maybe he got under the blankets, maybe he got confused.
I don't know what goes on andnobody is ever going to really
know the true story, except forMr Lush, and unfortunately he's
no longer with us.
It's a sad day when we losetruck drivers and that's why I
always say we always need towatch out for each other and if
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you see anything that's weird,call somebody, let somebody know
, reach out to help somebody.
We're all out there alone andthe best thing we can do is work
together, and I've always saidthat.
Now we are definitely prayingfor David Schultz's family and
we want them to know that wecare.
And you can reach out to usanytime you want and talk to me.
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My number's on my website atmediaiowacom.
Reach out to me.
If you need just somebody tolisten, it doesn't matter, I'm
there.
I want you to know I'm there.
As drivers, we are all brothersand sisters out there and I
think generally need people tocare and that's important to all
of us.
So please, mrs Schultz, if youneed me, give me a call.
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I will listen and if you haveany other questions, you need
some investigative work done.
I can do that too, because Irun under Media Iowa Journalism,
so I do have a license forjournalism.
I can go out there and doinvestigations.
Let me know if you have anyfinal questions or if there's
anything I can do for you.
But in the meantime I'm goingto pray for you and the children
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and his other family parents,grandparents, aunts, uncles.
I'm going to pray for all ofyou folks that were left behind.
God bless all of you.
Now another important story haspopped up here lately.
On June 21st there was a newsbreak about ATA asking DOT about
its position on possiblereclassification of marijuana.
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I don't know where this isgoing to go.
Ladies and gentlemen, mepersonally, if you want to smoke
pot, that's fine.
I don't want it mixed withcommercial vehicles.
I really don't.
I don't want it mixed withfour-wheelers.
To be honest with you, I wantthe same lengthy time for you to
sit on your butt at home untilyou're completely cleared of
that drug before you operate avehicle.
Go ride a bicycle.
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That way, if you make a mistake, at least you're the one that
gets damaged and not a bunch ofother people, and I don't even
want to see that happen.
But the American TruckingAssociation, Thursday June 20th,
sent a letter to theTransportation Secretary, pete
Buttigieg, as part of theorganization's opposition to the
US Department of Justice'sproposal to reschedule marijuana
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from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule3 drug.
The association said in itsletter this policy shift could
have what it called significantnegative consequences for
highway safety, endangering allwho share the road.
Ata said it is asking Buttigiegto share whether the Department
of Transportation will maintainthe authority and means to
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conduct testing of marijuana useby commercial motor vehicle
drivers and othersafety-sensitive transportation
workers.
I know you guys have a lot ofopinion out there and you guys,
diehard pot smokers, will eventell you marijuana has no place
in a commercial vehicle.
Marijuana has no place in afour-wheeler.
None of that, because you knowit's a mind-altering drug and I
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don't care what you guys say, Idon't care how hard you fight.
Look, they're going to legalizeit all across the United States
.
Isn't that good enough?
Or do you want to go to whereeverybody's high while they're
driving down the road?
Let's be reasonable about this.
Let's make wise decisions Now.
It goes on to say without thisguarantee, industries that must
screen workers performingsafety-sensitive roles would
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operate under a cloud ofuncertainty.
According to the ATA, if thetrucking and broader
transportation industry'sability to conduct drug testing
for marijuana is restricted, theATA heightened risk of impaired
drivers threatens the nation'shighways.
I agree 100%.
The absence of reliablestandard for marijuana
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impairment in alignment withblood alcohol content measures
for alcohol impairment makes itall the more vital for motor
carriers to have visibility intomarijuana usage.
According to the ATA, it iscritical for transportation
safety that we maintain thescope and scrutiny of testing
that currently exists forindividuals engaged in safety
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sensitive industries, includingcommercial trucking, busing,
airlines and rail.
Now they wrote the AmericanTrucking Association Senior Vice
President of Regulatory Affairsand Safety Policy and they
stated while ATA does notmaintain a formal position on
marijuana legalization or theongoing testing of non-safety
sensitive employees under HHSfederal workplace drug testing
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programs, we remain concernedabout the broad public health
and safety consequences of thereclassification on the national
highway system and its users.
Now, though, ata understandsthat the process and content of
DOJ's rulemaking falls outsidethe purview of DOT, we believe
DOT and ATA share the goals ofachieving zero highway
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fatalities and ensuring thecommercial driving workforce is
qualified to safely operate onour nation's highways.
Now how hard can that be, ladiesand gentlemen?
How hard can it be tounderstand that everybody should
make it home alive?
You know, the sad part is thevast majority of accidents out
there are caused because peopleare in a hurry and they're mad
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or they're upset about somethingthat happened at work, or maybe
somebody did something on theroad and they make a stupid
decision.
They go home in a body bag.
That is not what we want andI'm pretty sure if they knew
they were going to die within afew moments, they would have
made a different decision.
If you guys want to commentabout this, do so on my platform
(10:47):
.
Let me know what you think,call me, text me, send me an
email, put it on a comment on myFacebook page, roland18podcast.
Let me know what you think andI understand there's going to be
a million different views, butthe bottom line is is dead okay?
Is killing somebody okay?
Is killing yourself okay?
Over getting high for a shortperiod of time?
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I would think not and I wouldhope that 80, 90% of you folks
agree with me.
Drivers, we got to beresponsible, and if they
reclassify this to a schedulethree and then they change the
rules on drug testing out in theroad, we're not going to know
who's high until we're pinned inthe cab of our truck, getting
rescued by the fire departmentwith a 50-50 chance to live.
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Is that how we really want itdone?
I know we took a lot of chancesin the 70s, 80s and 90s out
there on the road.
But DOT is doing their utmostdiligence to make sure that we
have zero people out theredriving while they're high, and
that is extremely important.
You don't like it when peoplecut you off.
You don't like it when youcan't find a parking spot to get
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sleep.
You don't like it when thingsaren't safe at a shipper or
receivers.
Why would you like it ifsomebody just smoked a joint and
went down the road?
Oh, it's not that big of a deal.
Pot really doesn't get you thathigh.
You have no clue, driver, ifyou say that and believe me, you
don't even believe thatyourself.
I understand people want to usepot.
That's fine and dandy with me.
Make sure every bit of it isout of your system before you
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get behind the wheel of anything.
Now, if you guys travel the I-44location, there's a new Love's
Travel Stop that opened atsarcoxy, missouri, about 23
miles east of joplin.
It's located along interstate44 and the location is open 24 7
and offers numerous amenities.
Of course I'm not going to gointo all that stuff we already
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know.
Says here in honor of the grandopening, loves will split a
five thousand dollar notedonation between the Sarcoxie
Public Library and the SarcoxiePolice Department.
So if you want to check it out,it is on I-44, and I believe
it's supposed to have 89 truckparking spots.
So that's good.
We'll take as many more newparking spots as we can get.
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It does seem to cater quite abit to the four-wheeler because
if I'm looking at the designright here and the four-wheeler
gets a front entrance with allthese different things in here
and the truck entrance is goingto be coming out along with the
car entrance.
So there's going to be someproblems there.
And of course you have to goall the way to the back of the
truck truck stop to get in witha semi, but you also have to,
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you know, and there's probablygoing to be people parking on
the shoulder at night because 89trucks may not be enough.
It's going to be a gamble.
We'll see how it works out andI'll definitely check with the
truck stop in a few months tosee how the parking situation is
going.
But at least it's another truckstop with more parking and
that's important.
I appreciate you folkslistening.
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I'm Walter Gatlin with Rollin'18 Podcast.
God bless, be safe and, asalways, keep it between the
lines driver.
Thank you.