Baltimore (MD) Councilman Blasts Tow Companies Over Rates

Here's the story from the Investigative Voice:

By Stephen Janis

A million dollar industry that brings “misery” to the people of Baltimore was the topic of a contentious City Council hearing this week to vet several new laws that would reduce private towing fees charged to motorists.

Citing the city’s high private towing fees – the most expensive in the state - Councilman Robert Curran (D-3) blasted tow company executives and Department of Transportation officials for not doing enough to reduce the costs for drivers.

“Public perception is this is somewhat of a racket,” Curran said at the hearing on two separate towing bills. “You can’t turn a blind eye to this.”

“Forty thousand cars a year are towed in the city,” Curran said. “That’s 12 million dollars a year of misery.”

Curran, who is pushing two bills – one that would reduce the maximum amount trespass tow trucks could charge and the other that would reduce the cost of private tows to the city’s impound lot – was combative with city officials, asking them to back both bills.

But Curran also used the hearing to air his concern that private tow companies and the Department of Transportation were too cozy.

Recounting the day he followed a tow truck and a parking enforcement officer on a circuitous route of several miles around the city as the duo issued citations and then towed vehicles, the councilman questioned if the DOT had investigated the incident.

“It infuriates me,” Curran said of the apparent collaboration between private tow companies and city enforcement agents, which city law prohibits.

“Is there any mechanism for folks on your staff to investigate this?”Curran asked Alfred Foxx, who admitted that his agency was more reactive than proactive when it comes to employee misconduct.

But Foxx said that as long as the enforcement agent was not communicating with the Auto Barn tow truck diver, the pair’s actions were consistent with city policy.

Still, Foxx admitted his agency was not proactively policing DOT employees.

“Most of our investigations are complaint driven,” Foxx said.

Throughout the hearing, City Councilwoman Rikki Spector appeared to be squarely on the side of tow companies.

Spector took exception to Curran’s proposal to create a uniform fee system for so-called trespass towing, in which vehicles are removed from private property. She noted that charges for private tows vary widely.

“Is a cop of coffee at McDonald’s the same price as Starbucks?” Spector asked sarcastically. She also peppered city officials with questions about the feasibility of the DOT doing the work of private tow trucks.

“How much would it cost for the city trucks to do this?” Spector asked Foxx, who said that private tow companies offered flexible fleets that could expand or contract depending on economic conditions.

Tow company owners also defended steep fees, citing city requirements that private lots be open 24 hours as well as the demands of servicing a large city.

“We try our best as trespass towers to enforce good habits,” said Greenwood Towing chief Burt Greenwood Jr.

“Sometimes when I tell people what I do, they say ‘How can you do that?' ” he said. “But I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished."

Still, Curran said he would seek support to reduce the maximum trespass towing fee to $385.

“This is really a tragedy,” he said.

sjanis@investigativevpoice.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

FL Man Takes Tow Truck Repo'ing His Vehicle

Here's the Tampa Bay Online story:

NEW PORT RICHEY - Evidently, Jerry Lee Robinson couldn't bear to watch his vehicles being repossessed, or so say Pasco deputies.

So he ran out of his Seven Springs home, hopped into the running tow truck as workers attempted to load his 2008 BMW, and drove away with his 1996 Nissan van already in tow, according to a sheriff's office report.

Deputies found the van still attached to the tow truck a few blocks away from Robinson's home. A few minutes later, Robinson was walking eastbound on Putman Circle from Mexicali Street. Witnessed told deputies he was the man who stole the tow truck. As Robinson approached, he yelled at the employees of Seven-X Enterprises about repossessing his van.

He said he was current with payments on both vehicles.

Robinson, according to reports, denied stealing the tow truck. He said he saw it with his van attached a few blocks away from his home but he didn't take it, according to reports.

Robinson, 49, of 7945 Putnam Circle, is being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail on a charge of grand theft auto. Bail is set at $5,000.

He had been out on bail on a previous domestic violence charge but a bond company revoked his bond on that charge. Bail on that charge is set at $2,500.

Denver, CO's I-70 Winter Tow Program Clears 184 Vehicles

Here's the Examiner.com story:

DENVER (Map, News) -

More than 184 commercial vehicles were towed on Interstate 70 between Floyd Hill and Vail Pass last winter in the Heavy Tow Quick Clearance Program.

It was the first season for the program, meant to keep things moving on a highway notorius for stalled traffic and harsh winter conditions.

The Colorado Department of Transportation said Wednesday the program took an average of 23 minutes to clear obstructions, four minutes faster than during a pilot program in early 2008.

Officials say four severe storms were included in the 2008-09 winter season.

The program costs about $500,000 per year.

Everyday Tow Hero In LA

Kudos to the unnamed driver from Roadrunner Wrecker Service! Here's the 2theadvocate.com story:

A 21-year-old man is accused of going on a 20-minute robbery spree late Monday night while brandishing a handsaw, authorities said.

The crime spree started at 11:39 p.m., when Travion Deshawn Dickerson, driving a stolen car, allegedly began flashing the lights of the car at a man driving a red Lexus, police spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly said.

The Lexus driver pulled into the parking lot of the Exxon on the Run station, 4503 Perkins Road.

Dickerson, holding the saw, took the man’s cash and keys before driving off in the Lexus, Kelly said.

Dickerson, still armed with the saw, robbed clerks at the Exxon on the Run, 5857 Essen Lane; RaceTrac, 4665 Essen Lane; and B-Quick, 4105 Perkins Road, Kelly and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks said.

After the B-Quick was robbed, the clerks were able to alert a wrecker driver from Roadrunner Wrecker Service who was pulling out of the parking lot, Kelly said.

The wrecker driver followed Dickerson to the Circle K, 3375 Perkins Road, Kelly said.

There, police caught Dickerson trying to rob the store, Kelly said.

Cpl. Mickey Duncan, who was out on DWI patrol, took Dickerson into custody.

Dickerson, 2720 Edgewood Drive, was booked into Parish Prison on four counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery, booking documents show.

His bond was set at $100,000.

Kelly said Dickerson may later be booked on an additional count of armed robbery for a robbery that occurred on Highland Road around 9:30 p.m., in which a man with a saw robbed a woman of her car.

Dickerson has two previous drug-related arrests, but the charges in one of the cases were dismissed.

VA Towing Company Employees Indicted

Here's the Washington Post brief:

Towing Company Employees Indicted

Two employees of a towing company in Prince William County who allegedly overbilled thousands of drivers after removing cars and trucks from private property were indicted by a grand jury Monday, prosecutors said.

Andrew Manson, 34, and Stacey Fulker, 30, both of Woodbridge, were indicted on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses, extortion and racketeering for their work with Dominion Wrecker Service. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jerrold J. Negin said the company did not follow county regulations for towing charges and collected $50 to $300 more than it was entitled to in as many as 6,000 cases last year alone.

Negin said the company's extra charges netted it about $300,000 in ill-gotten profits. Authorities learned of the problem when customers complained, but, Negin said, "most people, unfortunately, just paid the fees."

Alleged Victim Testifies In CA Sexual Assault Trial

Here's the Appeal-Democrat story:

Testimony begins in trial of ex-Marysville tow company boss

June 05, 2009 01:06:00 AM

By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

An 18-year-old woman took the stand Thursday in Yuba County Superior Court and said her boss, former Marysville towing company manager Joseph Patrick Griesa, sexually abused her when she was 16.

It was the first day of testimony in the jury trial for Griesa, who is facing 13 felony charges, most involving abuse of teenage girls.

The woman, who is not being named by the Appeal-Democrat, said Griesa offered her a job as a dispatcher in September 2006, shortly after she graduated early from high school. Griesa had been her brother's probation officer and was a longtime family friend, she said.

At the company Christmas party that year, Griesa told her she looked attractive "in a weird way," she said.

After the party, Griesa began sending her text messages at least once a day, sometimes at 2 a.m., calling her "baby" or "sweetie," she said.

"It weirded me out," she said.

Then, about a week after the party, Griesa called her into his office when she was not scheduled to work and told her to sit down. He started playing a pornographic video on his office TV, she said.

When she tried to leave, Griesa grabbed her by her long hair and told her to sit down, she said.

"I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to do," she said.

Griesa is charged with striking the girl and masturbating in front of her while the video played.

The woman said she didn't mention anything to her mother or sisters.

"If that happened to my sister, I wouldn't want to know about it," she said.

Similar incidents happened regularly before she finally left Mitchell's Towing in November 2007, the woman testified earlier before the grand jury that indicted Griesa.

Griesa paid her wages in cash "under the table" or gave her checks made out to an older sister who also worked for the company. The sister then signed the checks over to her, she said.

Griesa is also charged with failing to pay workers compensation taxes for the teenage girls who worked for him.

Griesa's attorney, Charles Smith, told jurors in his opening statement that the woman was, at age 16, "mature beyond her years," telling Griesa she was nearly 18 when she wasn't. She exchanged text messages of a sexual nature with Griesa and other adults, including Mitchell's Towing drivers, Smith said.

Testimony will show the girl gave authorities a photo of a bruise around her eye, saying Griesa inflicted it when it was actually her father, Smith said.

Text messages and cell phone records will show that Griesa was elsewhere at times the woman said abuse was happening at work, he said.

Smith said the woman added allegations about Griesa after filing a civil lawsuit against him, including an accusation that he gave her a date rape drug before sexually assaulting her.

"The story now becomes one of rape," Smith said. "The worse the claims are, the more money might be recovered. This case is about money."

Marysville Police Department Detective Randall Elliott said the girl and her family first contacted him about the abuse in November 2007. The girl was "very carefree in her attitude" and gave information "freely and rapidly," he said.

The behavior was not typical of sexual assault victims but was not uncommon, Elliott testified.

The girl never mentioned being drugged or raped, but victims don't always reveal everything at first, Elliott said.

Later that month, he received a call from Griesa's attorney, David Vasquez, who said a "civil compromise" was pending between Griesa and the girl. At that point, Elliott said, he thought the girl had decided not to seek criminal charges against Griesa.

"It seemed on the up and up to me," Elliott said.

But Police Chief Wallace Fullerton advised him that a civil compromise might not be legal and the case was submitted to the Yuba County District Attorney's Office, he said.

Asked by Deputy District Attorney John Vacek if Fullerton's stance was one of, "You can't buy your way out of sexual assault," Elliott agreed.

Vasquez and attorney Jesse Santana, who briefly represented the girl, are charged in a separate case with trying to bribe the girl and obstruct justice.

Elliott said Santana called him Dec. 11, 2007, and told him the girl would not talk to police or would not testify if subpoenaed.

The woman is expected to resume her testimony today.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.

OR Lawmakers Vote To Place New Restrictions On Towing Companies

Here's the OPB News story:

Oregon lawmakers voted Thursday (6/4/09) to limit when towing companies can make off with your vehicle.

The measure would require tow truck drivers to take a photo proving that any car they tow is parked improperly.

It would also require towing companies to contact the parking lot owner to confirm that a vehicle is subject to towing.

Democratic Representative Chuck Riley says the goal is to protect people from predatory towing practices.

Chuck Riley: “Like picking up your car from a parking space when it’s not clear that you shouldn’t park there. This has been a practice in this state for too long and we’re going to get rid of it.”

Towing companies objected to an earlier version of the bill that would have banned them from paying drivers on commission.

Critics say that practice gives drivers an incentive to be overly aggressive about which vehicles they tow.

The scaled-back measure now heads to the governor’s desk.

CA Auto Service Company Owned, Managed By Women

Here's the San Gabriel Valley Tribune profile:

Auto service company owned, managed by women

By Ryan Carter Staff Writer

Posted: 06/05/2009 07:05:15 PM PDT

SAN GABRIEL - Wendy Holten doesn't hesitate when she has to grab the keys to one of her firm's 15 tow trucks and go out on a call.

It's the customers who sometimes do.

It's not every day that they see a woman out on a towing call.

---

LADDER OF SUCCESS:

BUSINESS: Dickson Motor Service

WHO: Owned by Diane Dickson Oberlander and Leanne Dickson and managed by Wendy Holten.

WHERE: 220 Agostino Road, San Gabriel.

CONTACT: (626) 287-9951

SECRET OF SUCCESS: Honesty and service.

---

But when things get busy, Holten, manager of Dickson Motor Service in San Gabriel, jumps into action.

She manages the towing business along with her mother Leanne and her aunt Diane Dickson Oberlander, who own the company.

The world of automotive service and the towing business is a natural fit for Holten. She grew up in it.

The business dates back to 1946, when her grandparents Joe and Olga Dickson started their auto repair business at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Huntington Drive in Alhambra.

From there, the business gradually evolved with the region's growing car culture. First came a gas station.

And then, in the mid-1960s, thanks to a contract with the Automobile Club of Southern California, the business branched into towing.

It was something the owners never intended, Diane Dickson Oberlander said.

By then, Jim Dickson, Holten's father, slowly began learning the ropes.

"His world was there," Holten said.

That world continued to grow, with the company towing for local police departments in such cities as San Gabriel and San Marino.

In 1972, the company moved to San Gabriel, where it has been ever since.

And in that time, Holten began learning the business from her father, even as she answered calls and helped out.

"I remember my dad always working late ... we had a lot of dinners with Johnny Carson," she said.

But when Jim Dickson died four years ago, Holten, her aunt and her mom decided to continue the business.

"A lot of people had doubts at first," she said. "But it's what we've always done."

Four years later, despite an economy that has put a dent in their business, Holten and her aunt are hopeful.

The number of cars on the road is down and gas prices are up along with the general cost of running a business.

But family members hope a new generation of Dicksons will take over some day.

If they do, they'll have to remember what made the business survive in the first place, Holten said.

"Just being honest," she said.

ryan.carter@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, ext. 2720

D'oh! in OR

Here's the OregonLive.com story:

Joke's on tow-truck driver; he's going behind bars for a year

Steven Gerald Syverson showed up 27 minutes late to his sentencing hearing Friday -- just as a judge was readying to issue a warrant for his arrest.

During the hearing, Syverson's cell phone rang, drawing a scowl from the judge. And things went even farther south when Syverson reiterated an old excuse as to why he loaded a Gresham police cruiser onto his tow truck in December 2007: It was a prank. He'd planned to take a picture to show a friend.

"I wasn't going to tow it," Syverson said. "I didn't expect the officers to come down so soon."

During a trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court in February, Syverson's story was all over the place.

He said loading up the cop car was a prank. But he also insisted he didn't know he was about to tow the marked police car.

He testified that he couldn't see well because it was 2 a.m. and dark at the apartment complex. He didn't turn on his truck's lights because he didn't want to tip off owners that one of their cars was about to be towed.

And he said exhaust from his tailpipe was obscuring his view, and he thought he was loaded up a white SUV instead.

Eventually, Judge Eric Bloch said he didn't believe him, and convicted Syverson of first-degree aggravated theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The judge said he believed prosecution witnesses who said the 34-year-old was seeking revenge from police for writing him two speeding tickets.

Police, who were responding to a domestic-violence report at the Kempton Downs apartments near Mt. Hood Community College, intercepted Syverson before he could drive off. Syverson was fired from Retriever Towing, and managers said they didn't endorse such behavior.

At Friday's sentencing hearing and the series of missteps, matters weren't looking good for Syverson. He turned a deep shade of pink and, as others spoke, muttered comments to his mother, who sat in the front row.

The judge told Syverson he didn't think he was accepting responsibility for what he'd done. He said he worried about Syverson's flawed way of thinking, and said Syverson could have prevented the officer from responding to a new emergency call by stranding him without a car.

"It's just about the stupidest, unnecessary criminal act that I've ever encountered in the eight years I've been sitting on this bench," the judge said.

Bloch followed the recommendation of the prosecutor and a pre-sentence investigation writer by ordering Syverson to one year behind bars.

Syverson has had other brushes with the law. In 1994, he was convicted of two instances of possessing or using stolen cars. According to Oregon court records, four women have filed for restraining orders against Syverson, a father of two.

Prosecutor Aaron Knott said Syverson has an attitude problem: When a police officer pulled him over for speed racing, he embarked on "a profanity laden rant" for 20 minutes.

The judge also sentenced Syverson to two years of post-prison supervision, anger-management classes, a mental-health evaluation and cognitive-restructuring therapy.

-- Aimee Green; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com

GM To Stop Making Medium-Duty Trucks

Click here to read the full AP story.

DETROIT (AP) — After unsuccessfully trying to find a buyer for four years, General Motors Corp. is giving up on its medium-duty truck business, saying that it will wind down manufacturing by the end of July.

That means GM will stop making the GMC Topkick and Chevrolet Kodiak commercial trucks at its Flint, Mich., Assembly Plant by July 31. The plant employs 2,100 people but also makes Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Company spokesman Jim Hopson said 398 people work on the medium-duty assembly line, and GM is working with the United Auto Workers union to determine what happens to them.

"We'll continue to try our best to keep the employment levels as high as possible," he said.

The factory last year made more than 22,000 medium-duty trucks for GM and Isuzu Motors Ltd., and almost 73,000 pickups.

Hopson said GM will work with dealers to sell down the remaining Kodiak and Topkick inventory over the next 18 months or so.

The DMAX factory in Moraine, Ohio — a joint venture between GM and Isuzu — also will be affected. The plant near Dayton makes engines for the Topkick and Kodiak, as well as for pickups and heavy-duty trucks. GM says the staffing of that plant, which employs 544, is under review.

Medium-duty trucks normally are built for commercial use such as dump trucks and tow trucks. GM's main U.S. competitors in the segment are Navistar International Corp., Isuzu, Freightliner, Volvo Truck, Peterbilt, Kenworth and Mack.

Arrest Made In Murder of NY Tow Truck Driver

Here's the Mid-Hudson News story:

Arrest made in murder of tow truck driver

CARMEL – The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in the murder of John Marcinak, 49, of Garrison on New Year’s Eve day, last December 31.

Authorities charged Anthony Grigoroff, 18, of Lake Peekskill, with murder in the second degree and other charges.

Marcinak’s body was found lying alongside Route 9 near his towing business. He had been shot several times. Initially, authorities thought he had been struck and killed by a passing vehicle.

Sheriff Donald Smith said Marcinak was shot to death when he interrupted a burglary in his garage being committed by Grigoroff and one or more other people. The investigation into their identities is continuing.

Grigoroff had been serving time in the Putnam County Jail on an unrelated drunk driving charge. He was arrested on the murder charge and arraigned Tuesday. He was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and two counts of attempted burglary in the second degree, said Putnam District Attorney Adam Levy. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Days after the murder, a Tarrytown towing company owner pledged a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed Marcinak. That was on top of a $2,000 reward offered by the New York State Crime Stoppers.

At the time of the killing, Sheriff Donald Smith called it “one of the most heinous crimes” in Putnam County in recent memory.

You Can't Hide Outside Footnotes!

Footnotes' national account manager, David Abraham, was returning from lunch the other day when he snapped this shot outside our building of Master's Towing responding to a police-directed tow :)

New MI Law Makes It Harder For Drivers To Appeal To Judges After Vehicle Is Impounded

Here's the 5/24/09 story from the Detroit Free Press:

Judges and consumer advocates are sounding a warning about a new state law that makes it harder for Michigan drivers to appeal to a judge after their cars have been impounded as abandoned vehicles.The law, enacted last year at the behest of the state's towing industry, requires vehicle owners to post their entire towing and storage bill before they can ask a judge to determine whether the tow was proper and the storage fees reasonable.

In many cases, that could mean having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in towing and storage fees.

The Michigan Towing Association said it pushed the law to prevent drivers from walking away from their financial responsibilities and vehicles -- especially clunkers -- after judges invariably deny the drivers' appeals and order them to pay the towing and storage bill. It said many of the appeals were frivolous.

"Many people were simply rolling the dice in hopes of getting their cars back," said Lansing lobbyist Bill Zaagman. "They either didn't show up for court, or showed up and lost. Either way, the towing and storage companies were stuck with a largely worthless vehicle."

Previously, some courts allowed drivers to pay as little as $65 to get a hearing.

But consumer advocates and some judges say the new law will make it harder for people with legitimate grievances to get their day in court.

"Poor people aren't going to be able to afford this," said Mark Plawecki, chief judge of the 20th District Court in Dearborn Heights. "This law closes the courthouse door to some people. I think it's very unfair."

Angel Reed, 25, of Detroit found out about the new law last month when a 36th District Court judge in Detroit dismissed her appeal of a $1,075 towing and storage bill on her 1995 Mercury Villager.

The judge told Reed she could refile her petition after posting the towing and storage fees -- which Reed said she can't afford.

"My vehicle was important to me, and it was not abandoned," Reed said. "This is so unfair."

Leave your car unattended on public or private property and you could wind up like Reed.

Reed, 25, a single mother of two and a medical assistant at a Detroit clinic, said she left her 1995 Mercury Villager on an east-side residential street in October 2007 so a friend could troubleshoot a mechanical problem. A couple of days later, her vehicle disappeared.

Unbeknownst to Reed, the police had ordered her van towed, possibly in response to a neighbor's complaint. Three months later, authorities notified her that her van was sitting on a private storage lot, accumulating $8 per day in storage fees.

Faced with a $600-plus towing and storage bill she couldn't afford to pay, Reed appealed to 36th District Court and waited for a hearing that never came -- because she had improperly filed the paperwork and didn't realize it until more than a year later. Reed refiled her claim in April.

But at a hearing April 28, Chief Judge Marylin Atkins dismissed Reed's appeal and a dozen others because they were filed after a new state law took effect requiring owners of abandoned vehicles to post their entire towing and storage fees before they could be heard by a judge.

Reed, heartbroken, said she later discovered that her van had been heavily vandalized. She blames the police and the storage lot, saying her van should never have been towed. The police and the lot owner say the van was damaged before it was towed.

"I'm going to have to suck this up as a loss," Reed lamented, saying she has had to rely on friends, relatives and taxis to get around. "There's nothing else I can do."

Atkins said she had no choice but to dismiss Reed's appeal.

"As a judge, I'm absolutely bound to follow the law," she said.

Atkins and other judges said the new law makes it more imperative than ever that drivers -- especially the newly unemployed and others who are struggling to pay their bills because of Michigan's economic meltdown -- park where they won't get towed.

And if they do get towed, the judges said, they must immediately redeem their vehicles to prevent the daily storage fees from escalating.

The Michigan Towing Association, which lobbied for the new law, said that's precisely what Public Act 539 of 2008 was designed to achieve.

The law, which handily passed the Legislature with little fanfare last year and was signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Dec. 31, is the latest installment in an eight-year crackdown on abandoned vehicles.

Sometimes the vehicle is a newer model worth thousands of dollars that angry owners are eager to redeem. But more often then not, they're older cars that, while possibly valuable to their owners, rarely are worth the price of the towing and storage fees. In other cases, owners ditch them on the side of the road after a mechanical breakdown.

"Abandoned vehicles are a terrible problem, especially in Detroit," said Warren Police Chief William Dwyer, a former Detroit police executive. He said the vehicles are a target of vandals, pose a safety hazard to neighborhood children and are eyesores. They also distract police from crime-fighting.

In 2008, the Michigan Secretary of State sent abandoned vehicle notices to 79,500 vehicle owners. It has sent out 26,700 notices so far this year.

The towing association said it lobbied for the new law because its 200 members were tired of losing money disposing of the state's vehicle litter.

Under the old law, the group said, car owners had to pay $65 to contest towing and storage fees and post a $40 abandoned vehicle fee.

"It became a crapshoot because they had so little invested in the hearing," said Bill Giorgis, owner of Mike's Wrecker Service in Saginaw and former towing association president. So, they'd file an appeal on the outside chance that a judge would rule in their favor.

When the judge rejected their claim, Giorgis said, drivers refused to pay their towing and storage bills and walked away from their cars, which were in such poor condition, they didn't attract any bidders at subsequent police-supervised vehicle auctions and had to be sold as scrap for $200 -- too little to cover the towing company's costs.

"Towers are one of the few entities that provide 24-hour emergency service, whether we get paid or not," Giorgis said. "Whenever we incur legal delays in disposing of vehicles, we can't turn cars into money to pay our employees and our fuel, insurance and equipment bills."

Requiring drivers to post accrued storage and towing fees will force drivers, especially those who own clunkers, to decide early on whether they're serious about redeeming their vehicles or letting the towing and storage companies auction or sell them as scrap, he added.

"It's not a very profitable line of work," added Sheila Gismonde, owner of H&B Land, a Detroit towing and storage company where Reed's vehicle wound up. She said she likely will assign Reed's case to a collection agency if Reed doesn't redeem her vehicle.

Gismonde, one of two-dozen towers for the Detroit Police Department, said she relies on more profitable police towing assignments, which often involve more valuable vehicles that are towed because of accidents, criminal investigations or illegal parking.

Many judges are bothered by the new law. Several Wayne County judges shook their heads in a briefing last month.

Some told the Free Press that, while all but a few motorists are to blame for their vehicles being towed, the law will prevent low-income motorists, including those with legitimate grievances, from getting into court.

"It's outrageous," Lorray S.C. Brown, consumer law specialist at the Michigan Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group at the University of Michigan, said of the new law. "Talk about the denial of access to the courts. Poor people will find it difficult to pay those fees upfront."

Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER: dashenfelter@freepress.com

The law on abandoned vehicles

A vehicle is considered abandoned in Michigan if it's left on a city street or other public property for 48 hours, on a state highway for 18 hours or on private property without the owner's consent. It can be towed immediately if it's on a state highway without a license plate.

The law also says:

# Abandoning and failing to redeem a vehicle is a civil infraction that can result in a $50 fine. The last titled owner is presumed to have abandoned the vehicle unless the owner can prove otherwise.

# A private property owner can have a towing company remove a vehicle left without permission. But commercial property owners or operators must post warning signs.

# The police must notify the Secretary of State within 24 hours of towing by making an entry in the Law Enforcement Information Network computer. The state has seven days to send a notice to the vehicle owner and the finance company. The owner has 20 days to redeem the car or appeal the towing and storage fees to a municipal or district court.

# To appeal, the vehicle owner must pay a $65 filing fee, a $40 abandoned vehicle fee and the accrued towing and storage fees, which enables the owner to retrieve the car.

# The court must conduct a hearing within 30 days and decide whether the police, private property owner, towing company or storage lot should reimburse the vehicle owner if the fees were improper. If the vehicle owner loses, the car must be redeemed within 20 days or it can be sold at auction or as scrap.

# The finance company can redeem the vehicle if the owner doesn't by paying the fees.

# Auction or scrap proceeds are applied to towing and storage fees and other expenses. Any surplus goes to the car owner or the finance company. If the auction or scrap sale doesn't cover the costs, the towing and storage company can pursue the vehicle owner to collect the rest.

# The maximum storage fee is $1,000.

# Car owners can run the license plate or vehicle identification number on http://services.sos.state.mi.us/autolostandfound to find out whether their cars have been towed.

Sources: Michigan State Police and Free Press research

BC Rule A Tribute To Fallen Canadian Tow Truck Driver

Here's the Vernon Morning Star story:

By Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star

Published: May 28, 2009 6:00 PM

Vernon Towing manager Keith McLachlan had to lose an employee, and a friend, before the laws would change to reflect common sense.

Ernie Semkiw, a Vernon Towing employee, was struck and killed by a passing van while assisting a disabled vehicle in Vernon on Dec. 13, 2006. Although his flashing lights were activated, vehicles failed to slow down for him.

At that time, there were no laws forcing vehicles to slow down and move over for emergency personnel, including tow trucks.

Emotionally overwhelmed by Semkiw’s death, McLachlan vowed to bring the law to life.

“I made a commitment to his widow that I would see it to its fruition,” said McLachlan, who immediately started writing letters to and calling the solicitor general and other government officials.

He was soon joined with support from others, such as the BCAA Traffic Safety Council, Auto Retailers Association, MLA Tom Christensen and even the driver of the vehicle who Semkiw was assisting when he was killed – Larry Jackson, who is also the executive director of the Ambulance Service for the Interior.

“Ernie was the driver that came to assist me, I was standing beside him when it happened,” said Jackson, recounting the events of that tragic day.

“Although it’s a very difficult situation for me, I wanted something good to come out of this,” said Jackson, who made a strong push to have the legislation changed.

Fast forward two years and both McLachlan and Jackson take comfort in knowing that their efforts helped to force common sense into the motor vehicle act.

Effective Monday, a new motor vehicle act regulation requires drivers to slow down and pull over for every and all emergency vehicles. McLachlan calls it “Ernie’s Law.”

That includes tow trucks, highway maintenance vehicles, conservation officers, commercial and passenger vehicle safety officers – along with paramedics, firefighters and police.

“Essentially what we’ve done is legislate common sense,” said McLachlan.

Jackson adds: “We really need a better level of understanding and caution out there.”

The new regulation requires drivers in an 80 kilometres per hour or higher zone to slow to 70 kilometres per hour when approaching, from either direction, a stopped emergency vehicle with its lights flashing on or beside the highway.

Drivers in a zone posted less than 80 kilometres per hour are required to slow to 40 kilometres per hour.

Motorists must also move into another lane (even an oncoming lane) if it is safe to do so and if another lane is available.

Particularly with the local loss of a tow truck employee, area RCMP are pleased to see the new regulation coming into effect and ready to enforce it.

“Vehicles don’t slow down for them, they just whistle by,” said RCMP spokesman Gord Molendyk. “It is to protect those individuals out there.”

The penalty for not slowing to the designated speed, not moving over if it is safe, or both, will be a fine of $173 and three penalty points.

The fine is considerably higher than the one for failing to yield the right of way to an approaching emergency vehicle, but it reflects the greater risk of injury or death for emergency personnel who may be working outside their vehicle.

As a tow truck driver being in harm’s way more times than he’d care to remember, McLachlan is pleased to see his efforts pay off.

“It’s not going to save everybody but if it educates two-thirds of the general public to slow down...then we’re all going to be a little safer.”

Although it took the loss of a life, McLachlan is pleased to see that his employee and friend’s death wasn’t in vain.

“It’s a huge thing. It’s somewhat a degree of closure to what had happened to Ernie.”

New AAA Arizona CEO Foucuses On 'Peace Of Mind'

Here's the story from AZCentral.com:

Michael Tully's new job has him selling "peace of mind" to 800,000 Arizonans.

The former financial officer for AAA Arizona took over as chief executive officer in April, assuming the job that his predecessor held for 12 years.

Tully said his goal is to preserve the non-profit auto club's positive reputation, which he says is the reason it has been able to maintain its rankings, earn more money and increase the number of services it offers people for their $53 annual membership, such as remote windshield repair and battery replacements.

"It's not like any company I've worked for," said Tully, who ran his own export-financing company and was a finance officer for a data firm and motor-sports products company before joining AAA.

His diverse finance experience comes in handy with the club, which offers roadside towing and auto repair, travel planning, auto-repair shops, driver education and insurance, and which lobbies for safer transportation laws.

New initiatives include an application for Apple iPhone owners using the phone's global-positioning system to direct members to the nearest retail store, restaurant or hotel where they can get a discount with their AAA card.

Tully has been with the company 11 years, hired initially as the financial officer and most recently serving as president.

Former CEO Jim McDowell, who Tully replaced, said Tully's financial acumen helped the state organization earn more money. Because AAA is a non-profit, that helped the organization launch new services for its members.

"We've been able to add new insurance products, new financial services, we have our third auto-repair facility," McDowell said. "We never could have done those things 12 years ago (before Tully was hired)."

AAA's assets increased from $22.4 million when Tully was hired in 1998 to more than $62.6 million last year, according to the latest report from the Arizona Corporation Commission. AAA Arizona reported $3.76 million in profit last year, according to the report.

A few years ago, the Arizona club was the fastest-growing in the nation. That has tapered off amid the recession, which has Arizona memberships essentially flat, McDowell said.

But maintaining its memberships is a testament to the club's strength, considering that earlier economic slowdowns have brought membership losses to the national club, McDowell said.

"We keep our contractors on their tippy toes because they know if they don't do the job well, we will do it ourselves," said McDowell, who remains on the board of directors.

McDowell said he had no reservations about placing a finance expert at the helm of a company geared toward customer service.

"(Tully) knows the most important thing we do is serve our members," he said. "He knows that is our focus. I think that is one of the things he likes.

"One of the nice things about AAA is that, while we have to make a profit and we do make a profit, we are not chasing quarterly dividends."

Tully said the club's biggest challenge in recruitment is educating people about what benefits they get with a membership besides a free tow when their car breaks down.

Many members don't even use the free travel services that once were the club's bread and butter, he said, let alone those perks totally unrelated to autos, such as the 30 percent discount on paint at Dunn Edwards, Tully said.

"Our challenge is how to get people to really get the value of our membership," Tully said.

The club is expanding into services where it can leverage the company's strength, which Tully described as "peace of mind."

That's the idea behind the auto-purchase program, where members who want to buy a car can have AAA negotiate the price of a new car, purchase it and then resell and transfer the title to the AAA customer.

The club also runs a used-car lot near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

"We basically go after businesses where there is a mistrust of service," he said. "Most people feel underequipped in the car-buying process. The same for auto repair."

AAA will act as an arbitrator for participating auto shops in the event that members feel the shop is trying to sell unnecessary repairs, he said.

The 800,000 members in Arizona represent about 33 percent of the eligible, driving population, and is a little better than average for AAA penetration in a state, he said.

Nine in 10 members renew annually, he said.

AAA also uses some of its revenues to pay lobbyists and promote safer-driving laws.

For example, AAA is trying to get a "move-over law" expanded to include tow trucks, he said.

Drivers in Arizona must move left a lane, if it is safe, when there are emergency vehicles stopped on the right side of the road, and AAA is advocating that rule be expanded to include tow vehicles. Last year, a member of AAA and a tow-truck driver both were killed on Loop 202 by a large truck that rear-ended the tow vehicle.

Tully said a law change would make it safer for the drivers and AAA-affiliated tow-truck operators who respond to 450,000 calls for help a year in Arizona.

He said he thinks that once the legislators are finished with the budget, the law has a good chance. A booster-seat provision AAA is seeking may be more difficult, he said.

"But we tried for years to pass a graduated driver's license, and that finally went through," he said, referring to a law that became effective in 2008 that restricts driving privileges for young licensees.

AAA supports speed cameras, one of the most controversial transportation issues in the state, but Tully said AAA wants the cameras only in places with high accident rates, where they will improve safety the most.

"We're not actually sure that is happening now," he said.

AAA spokeswoman Linda Gorman said the club opposed the way former Gov. Janet Napolitano initiated the freeway speed-camera program.

"We have been critical of the freeway program from the beginning due to the way in which Governor Napolitano focused on the revenue-generating aspects of the program," Gorman said.

Driver education is a major concern for the club. AAA has been expanding beyond teaching young drivers good habits to helping elderly drivers stay sharp on the road with free "Keep the Keys" seminars to help them keep their licenses and drive safely.

"The anxiety associated with losing the ability to drive ranks up there with a death in the family," Tully said.

Group of AL Tow Truck Drivers In Trouble With The Law

Read the WAFF48 News story here

Bank Seeks Role In IL Towing Fight

Here's the story from The Republican:

Sunday, May 31, 2009

By PETER GOONAN

pgoonan@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD - An area bank is seeking to intervene in a court battle between the city and its terminated towing contractor, due to the contractor's defaulted loan of more than $70,000.

United Bank of West Springfield recently filed a motion in Superior Court, seeking to intervene in the civil case involving the city and CF Inc., doing business as the Springfield Towing Alliance.

CF Inc. owes the bank $70,619, plus interest, and the bank "is trying to protect its rights in terms of repayment of the defaulted loan," said bank lawyer Jerry B. Plumb Jr. on Friday.

The city terminated its contract with the alliance last November after accusing it of 17 significant contract violations, including owing the city more than $142,000 in fees.

In addition to the funding dispute, the city claims that the alliance's towing forms and weekly reports were incomplete, payments were repeatedly late, and the firm failed to provide final invoices as required by contract. The city also claimed, following its own audit, that there was under-reporting of tows and unauthorized credits taken by the alliance.

The city also stated that the company initially failed to submit criminal background checks on tow-truck drivers, and that a performance bond was deemed invalid by the city.

The alliance, through its president, Robert L. Jones, and its lawyer, Mickey E. Harris, has repeatedly defended its past performance and compliance with its contract. The loan from United Bank helped establish the alliance and helped it "stay afloat" before the termination, Harris said.

Under a temporary arrangement, four local companies have shared towing duties, as hired by the city since the alliance was terminated.

Both Harris and City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula said on Friday they will not object to the bank's motion to intervene.

"CF Inc. has no objection to United Bank intervening," Harris said. "The reality is that the city of Springfield, in terminating this contract, disrupted several business arrangements in the city, which certainly impacted United Bank, each of the nine members (subcontractors) of the towing alliance, CF Inc. itself, and certainly is responsible for the reduction in the quality of service being provided the citizens of Springfield."

Pikula said the termination of the contract and termination of the alliance's lease and use of the city's storage yard on Chandler Street "was in the best interest of the city."

"The only issue now is how much the city is owed, and how it collects the money," Pikula said. "With regard to towing, we are moving closer to having a new system in place which will protect consumers as well as taxpayers."

The city has secured a temporary court order preventing the towing alliance from removing about 600 cars from the city's storage yard, that were towed by the alliance but remained unclaimed by motorists. The fate of those cars, including some held as police evidence, remains in dispute, officials said.

Pikula said the bank's intervention, if allowed by the court, may help resolve what happens with the stored cars. The city has kept watch over the lot with at least one on-duty police officer 24 hours a day since November, officials said.

Harris said he believes an ongoing state review of the towing contract termination "will reflect that CF Inc. is owed a substantial amount of money associated with the contract." The city has disputed claims of funds owed.

UPDATED: TN Tow Truck Driver Killed In Accident

Yesterday, I posted a VolunteerTV.com story (below) about an unnamed wrecker driver who died in a May 29 crash. I received the following information today from senior editor, Bill Candler, who was emailed by Jerry Riggs, the president of the Tennessee Towing Association:

Bill tell Cindi that her story on a Tennessee Tow Truck driver is mis-leading. He IS NOT a tow truck driver. He worked for a farm equipment dealer out of Crossville , TN delivering Farm Equipment. I talked with the owner of Tri-County Equipment and it is 100 per cent Farm equipment. Jerry Riggs President Tennessee Tow Truck Association

Nontheless, we still send our condolences to the family and acquaintances of this as-yet-unnamed driver who died in a May 29 crash.
Here's the story from VolunteerTV.com:

KINGSTON, Tenn (WVLT) -- A wrecker driver is dead after a car accident on Highway 70 in Roane County this afternoon.

Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers have released few details about the accident, only saying so far that a vehicle crossed the center line of Highway 70 around 2 p.m. this afternoon and slammed into the wrecker.

The driver, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

No details on the other driver or the extent of any injuries.

Everyday Tow Hero In IL

Even though this was a story relating to an incident from 1983, tow truck driver Frank Sterioti deserves a round of applause for his cool head in a tough situation!
Here's the Herald-News story:

By BRIAN STANLEY bstanley@scn1.com

There was no hesitation when Will County Forest Preserve Chief Mike Ganster was asked to recollect the most exciting arrest of his career, but the retiring officer says it was a sharp tow truck driver who was responsible for catching a killer.

Ganster was a Lockport patrolman in 1983, when 17 people were murdered in the Will County area between June 25 and Aug. 26. Herald News stories from that summer reflect tension in the community with an increase in handgun sales and decrease in people going out at night.

On Aug. 26, a man delivering newspapers found Mary Mae Johnson tied in a chair in the living room of her house on Mills Road in Joliet Township. The 82-year-old woman had been stabbed and beaten to death with a hammer.

Evidence technicians matched fingerprints found inside the house to Donald Lego, a roofer who had worked at Johnson's house several years earlier and learned she kept a large sum of money there. Detectives interviewed employees at a nearby lumberyard who recalled seeing a man who looked like Lego near a brown car parked in the area during the day of the murder. The car was turned out to be an Oldsmobile owned by a friend of Lego's, and police gave the license plate number to the media on the morning of Sept. 3.

"I was at home when it flashed on TV and decided to write it down on top of the cigar box in my tow truck," remembered. Sterioti was stunned when he was then called out to tow an overheated vehicle in Romeoville and looked at the license plate, but played it cool.

"I hooked up the car like nothing was happening and drove (Lego) to the Texaco station on 13th Street in Lockport that's not there any more," Sterioti said.

Despite the risk Lego could've looked over to see the tow truck's gas tank was almost full, Sterioti pulled in to say he needed to refuel.

"I just wanted to get him out of the truck," Sterioti said. When he went inside the service station and called police, Ganster was the first officer sent to the scene.

"I pulled around and parked down from the pumps, trying to make it look like I was going in to get cigarettes," Ganster said.

But while he was "being gregarious" in sight of the tow truck's cab, Ganster's demeanor changed instantly as he circled around to the man fueling up his car on the other side of the island.

"I walked up and just said 'Take a walk' and there must have been something in my eyes because the guy just turned around and left," he said.

Ganster went to the passenger side of Sterioti's truck where Lego was sitting and "stuck my gun to his head and told him he was dead if he moved."

Lego surrendered without incident. He was initially sentenced to death, but was later committed to a mental institutions for the rest of his life.

"Five minutes after I had the cuffs on him, a TV crew was there and the chief had me talking to the cameras," Ganster said.

Three days later Sterioti was a guest on "Good Morning, America." He was given a $500 reward by CrimeStoppers the following week, but donated the money to the police benevolent fund.

"I knew Mike since he started (as a police officer)," Sterioti said. "He's a good guy."

Sterioti later hired Ganster to work as a security guard after burglars started stealing stereos from the vehicles in his impound lot.

"And within two weeks I securitied myself out of a job by catching the guys doing it," Ganster said. "That's how I ended up coming to the Forest Preserve."

Go Slow For Emergency Crews in Canada's British Columbia

Here's The Vancouver Sun story:

Beginning today (June 1), B.C. drivers must slow down when approaching emergency crews, and move over into an adjacent lane, if there's another one going in the same direction.

Rule-breakers face a $148 fine and three penalty points against their licences.

Where the speed limit is 80 km/h or more, drivers must slow to 70 kilometres per hour, 40 km/h in areas where the limit is below 80 km/h.

Saanich police said B.C. is the sixth province to enact such a regulation.

Const. Paul Lamoureux applauded the law, recalling a now-retired Saanich officer who was injured when he was rear-ended on the Patricia Bay Highway by a wayward motorist.

"The bottom line is it's going to help improve the safety of police officers, ambulance paramedics, firefighters, tow-truck operators -- all those people who have, in the past, been killed by motorists flying by.

"It just gives us one more layer of protection on the road."

Besides police, ambulance and fire crews, the regulations require drivers to yield to tow-truck operators, special provincial constables and conservation officers and park rangers working outside of their emergency vehicles.

Twenty-one emergency workers were killed or injured on B.C. roads between 2001 and 2007.

One of them was Ernie Semkiw, a 50-year-old Vernon tow-truck driver.

The grandfather was struck and killed in December 2006, while helping tow a disabled vehicle near Vernon. Semkiw had stuck flashing lights all over the vehicle, but the driver who killed him failed to slow down.

The car struck Semkiw and he died from his injuries on the roadside.

"That could have been avoided with this kind of legislation in place," said Keith McLachlan, owner of Vernon Towing, Semkiw's employer at the time.

McLachlan lobbied for three years for the change and picked up some powerful supporters along the way -- ambulance drivers, police and firefighters.

"There was no adversity bringing this law to bear."

TX Tow Truck Bill Lands On Governor's Desk

Here's the KGBT-TV story:

A bill to curb predatory towing practices has landed on desk of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Texas State Rep. Veronica Gonzales (D-McAllen) filed House Bill 2571 earlier this year.

Gonzales told Action 4 News on Monday morning that the bill has passed both the Texas House and Senate and is now waiting on Perry’s desk where it can be vetoed or signed into law.

If signed by the governor, the bill would raise fees and increase penalties for towing companies operating outside the law.

Tow-truck operators could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a possible fine up to $2,000 and six months in jail.

A towing company's license would also be suspended for failing to adhere to court orders requiring towing companies to reimburse vehicle owners for expenses associated with unlawful tows.

Action 4 News investigated predatory towing practices in McAllen in an exclusive report last year.

The bill was prompted by the situation in McAllen but Rep. Gonzales said Texas lawmakers heard testimony about predatory practices across the state.

"This bill strengthens the state's regulating power and ensures that towing companies cannot hold vehicles hostage for profit,” Gonzales said in a written statement. “We have worked hard to make sure this bill protects Texas drivers without punishing tow truck operators who abide by the law."

Thief Takes Canadian Tow Truck Driver On Terror Ride

Here's the story from the Toronto Star:

Madeleine White
STAFF REPORTER

A tow truck that was about to remove an illegally parked car from a bustling downtown intersection was stolen yesterday afternoon.

The truck was called to the intersection of Bay and Bloor Sts. around 4 p.m. to remove a car that was illegally parked south of the intersection.

While the driver was out of his vehicle, hooking the illegally parked car to his wheel hitch, a passerby on Bay St. hopped into the running truck and took off, said Staff Sgt. Robert Brown of 52 Division.

In an attempt to stop the theft, the tow truck driver leapt onto the side of the moving truck, which was heading north on Bay St.

When the truck turned onto Bloor St., the tow-truck driver was tossed off and run over by the back of the truck.

He was sent to hospital to be treated for a crushed ankle.

Police stopped the fleeing truck a few blocks north, at Dupont St. and Avenue Rd.

A man was arrested and has been charged with theft, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and dangerous driving.

Asked about the motive behind the haphazard theft, Det. Chris Trites described it as "a moment of opportunity."

After the bizarre incident, the tow truck sat on Avenue Rd. with its rear hitch, which had dragged behind the truck, still on the ground.

Police said the truck was doing work for the City of Toronto. It was marked as a CAA roadside assistance truck owned by A Towing.

Police shut down the intersection of Bay and Bloor until 7:30 p.m. while they investigated.

Proposed MA Law Would Give Notice Of 'Absurd' Towing Fees

Here's the story from the Somerville Journal:

Somerville —

Bay State tow yards are routinely and quietly racking up large storage fees on vehicles, including cars abandoned by troubled owners, leading to a call Tuesday from bankers and lenders for a notification law.

For many in Massachusetts, towed cars appear to fall into a “black hole,” according to Rep. Steven D’Amico (D-Seekonk), who heard about the problem from a fellow Lion’s Club member and is now pushing a bill requiring tow lot owners to notify lenders within 15 days of towing a vehicle.

Tow yards are currently keeping some vehicles for months and eventually hitting lien holders, often lenders stuck with loans that borrowers can’t afford, with thousands of dollars in “exorbitant” storage charges, according to James Kelly, vice president of Lee & Mason Financial Services.

“Our goal is merely notification,” said Kelly, who told members of the Legislature’s Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee that New York and Rhode Island have strict notification laws.

“It’s costing consumers and lenders money needlessly,” said D’Amico.

The Seekonk Democrat said that in the current economy, it’s likely that more car owners are having trouble paying loans. He said “we’ve all heard stories” about individuals parking their vehicles in a “bad neighborhood” and then reporting the vehicles stolen. “It stays lost for a long time,” he said.

One tow company in Lunenburg charged Clinton Savings Bank $2,051 to recover a vehicle, a sum that included a $1,740 charge for storage of the vehicle at a rate of $20 a day for 87 days. If the bank had been notified earlier, as the bill requires, it would have saved $1,300 in storage fees, according to Joy Mills, president of the New England Adjustment Managers Association and a bank collections officer.

The fees add to the costs of actions against consumers after vehicles are liquidated at auction and passage of the bill could help financial companies and insurers with the rates they charge consumers, Mills said. Tow companies, she said, could also collect fees more quickly.

The Massachusetts Credit Union League also supports the bill (H 234. Mary Ann Clancy, the group’s general counsel, called it a “fair and balanced approach to this issue” and said credit union members are collectively bearing unnecessary costs.

Committee co-chair Rep. Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers) said towing statutes, including the notification bill heard Tuesday and others raising maximum tow charges, have been “under the radar screen probably a little bit too long.”

Saying consumers have “love affairs” with their automobiles, Speliotis told the notification bill proponents, “I think we can reach a consensus.” He told bill advocates that the committee would report “something” out “fairly soon.”

After the hearing, Speliotis said constituents had filled his ear with tales of towing woes and called the hours after an individual’s car is towed a “vulnerable time for consumers.”

“They’re at the mercy of the towing companies in many ways,” he said. “I’ve heard some horror stories in the past about towing.”

The lenders and bankers who testified for a notification bill “deserve to be protected,” Speliotis said, adding: “If the consumers had a similar group, they would be here in masse.”

Observant Tow Truck Operator In Kansas City

Here's the story from the Kansas City Star. Kudos to the observant (and unnamed) tow truck driver!

A 44-year-old Kansas City man was critically injured late Tuesday when the car he was driving slid into a tree.
Police said the accident near the Oldham Road and Gregory Boulevard intersection in Swope Park might have gone unnoticed had a tow truck driver on his way to another accident not seen the man in the wrecked car. Police were notified about 11:15 p.m.
Sgt. Bill Mahoney said the man was extricated from the car. Rain on the street likely was a factor, he said. The second accident did not involve serious injuries

Still On The Hook: 1991 Ticket Haunts Canadian Tower

Here's the story from the Ottawa Citizen:

The government has a long memory. It will, happily, hound you into the next decade, or into old age, or into the grave.
In or near 2000, municipalities in Ontario took over the cataloguing of your sins, at least those covered by provincial statutes: speeding, careless driving, some alcohol offences, animal control infractions, building code boo-boos, dozens of others. As part of the download package, they inherited hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid fines, some of them going back to the 1970s.
Well, not much stands between a collection machine and new-found money. Get fined, get found.
John Webb knows it.
He's a tow-truck operator based in Innisville, a village along the Mississippi River off Highway 7, just southwest of Carleton Place.
Last week, he received an official notice in the mail. Pay up or lose your driver's licence. In fact, the letter threatened: "Your driver's licence may have already been suspended by the Court for non-payment of your fines."
The fine was for $136.25. The date of the offence? May 16, 1991.
Eighteen years later, almost to the day, the provincial offences court was still trying to collect its
money.
Here is the sticky part. Webb, 47, is quite sure he paid the fine, though he no longer has a receipt or record of payment.
In the intervening 18 years, Webb says he never received a single notice the fine was outstanding. How, he wonders, is he supposed to defend himself now?
"If they say I didn't pay it, why didn't they take my driver's licence away a long time ago?"
(The only explanation he was able to get from a collections officer in Perth is that the fine is recorded as unpaid.)
Webb remembers getting the ticket. He said he was driving back from Smiths Falls one night with a group of friends when they were stopped by OPP. A passenger had open alcohol in the car and, as the driver, he was charged under the Liquor Licence Act.
It is no trifling matter.
Webb depends on his driver's licence for his livelihood at Jack's Towing and Recovery.
A longtime truck driver, he said he only started the tow-truck business about a year ago after taking out an $80,000 loan. Clearly, as a one-man operator, he can't afford to be off the road.
"It has been 18 years. This is pitiful. And another thing: Is my licence suspended, or is it not?"
Webb said he just renewed licence plate stickers on six vehicles in April, and not a word was said about the unpaid fine. Nor was he hard to find. He has lived in the same house for 12 years.
He has appealed to area MPP Randy Hillier for help and the Conservative, who built a reputation on getting the state's pushy fingers out of the face of the ordinary man, is looking into the matter.
It is a tricky area.
Some of these fines seem to attach to the offender's driver's licence, while others do not.
(We were not joking about the dead. For 2007, the town of Perth in February forgave $31,263 in unpaid fines because the transgressors had joined the choir everlasting.)
Ken Hughes is the deputy treasurer for the city of Ottawa. It is sitting on a pile of unpaid fines totalling about $38 million. The pile never decreases too much, as old fines are paid, but new debts are added.
"It's like an inbox that never empties," Hughes said.
The city inherited the deadbeat fines in 2001.
Typically, the fines cannot be collected because the offender has moved, sometimes out of province. Strangely, Hughes said, for privacy reasons, the city cannot cross-reference a missing person with the tax rolls.
What often happens, Hughes said, is that the offender will pop into the system again -- with another speeding ticket, for instance -- and then the old fines are added to the fresh one.
"Most people say, 'I thought you'd forgotten about this'," Hughes said.
Municipalities generally have in-house collection staff, but also employ the services of outside agencies who are expert in the practice of skip-tracing.
The money is significant, with the unpaid portion across Ontario totalling $250 million or more.
Fines can be massive, too, as they cover so many different statutes. A holding company attached to high-tech mogul Michael Cowpland, for instance, had to pay a $1-million fine under the provincial securities act in 2002.
The first 25 per cent of the funds went to the province, but the remainder went into city coffers, Hughes said.
In any case, the fine demanded from Webb is surely a breach of a fundamental right to judicial fairness. At the very least, the province -- via the town of Perth -- should be required to produce documentation defending its finding of guilt and showing Webb was notified about the fine.
Better yet, it should use its discretion and forget about the whole thing.
Plain and simple, 18 years later, it's too late.
Contact Kelly Egan at 613-726-5896 or by e-mail,
kegan@thecitizen.canwest.com

Farewell, Friend

Our condolences to the family and acquaintances of Keith Roberts of Lebanon, OH who died on May 27.
Here's his obituary:

ROBERTS, Keith E. age 47 of Lebanon, Ohio passed unexpectedly Wednesday, May 27, 2009. Born August 2, 1961 in Dayton, Ohio, Keith was the only son of Edward and Kathy (Murphy) Roberts and a 1979 graduate of Fenwick High School. Keith was a lifelong resident of Lebanon, Ohio, a tow truck driver most of his life and a member of the Assembly of God Church in Wilmington, Ohio. Keith leaves behind his parents, wife - Deanna Roberts of Kettering, Ohio, son - Keith Edward Roberts Jr., daughter - Jamie Butcher of Lebanon; step children - Genesis Hawker, Sean Brannon and Dylan Burgan; sister - Kim (Darren) Morsie of Oregonia, Ohio; nephews - Brandon and Kevin Morsie; one grandchild - Jacey Roberts; former wives - Carmen Williams of Kettering, Ohio and Becky Butcher of Lebanon, Ohio and many other family members and friends. Friends may call on the family Friday evening, May 29, 2009 from 6:00pm until 8:00pm at the STINE Kilburn Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at the funeral home Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 12:00pm with Brother Larry Brandenburg officiating. Burial will follow in the Turtlecreek Cemetery located just north of Lebanon on St. Rt. 48. Arrangements have been entrusted to STINE Kilburn Funeral Home, 801 Monroe Road, Lebanon, Ohio 45036.