Archive for September, 2009

September 1st, 2009

Quick Fix

Trucks brought in to the Denton TA shop get rolling again in no time

The crew at the Denton TA shop is helpful and friendly, but that doesn’t mean that drivers want to spend a whole lot of time with them. “I’ve been in this business for a lot of years, and I know what drivers want and what they expect,” says shop general manager Robert Carlos. “We try to service every customer as fast as we can so they can get back on the road.” That attention to the need for speed has jumped even higher with the addition of four service bays t…

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September 1st, 2009

Mr. Smith Takes the Wheel

The theories behind the Smith System for safer truck travel

By Jim Kneiszel

Harold Smith may not be a household name, but he made a huge contribution toward making American roadways safer. He ran a driver training school following his service in World War II, basing his behind-the-wheel tactics on collision avoidance. When students didn’t get his approach to safety, he set out to clarify his ideas on paper. Smith believed safe driving had more to do with seeing than reacting. Working with an ophthalmologist, he developed a theory that human beings were designed …

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September 1st, 2009

Recording History

The Purple Heart Museum documents soldiers' stories

By Chuck Miller

In 1782, barely six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, General George Washington gave three members of his fighting troops a special “Badge of Military Merit,” a purple-colored heart-shaped award. Two hundred years later, the medal was resurrected in 1932 by Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur and today it remains a prestigious honor awarded to the brave soldiers and sailors, airmen and corpsmen wounded or killed in the protection and service of our count…

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September 1st, 2009

Hooked On Classics

Collecting antique fishing lures has become a thriving hobby

By Larry Woody

Jim Duckworth pensively twirls the brass blade on a paint-flecked, treble-hooked Hendrix Spinner that was manufactured in 1874 and lets his mind wander. “I try to imagine the person who used this lure over 130 years ago,” says Duckworth, a professional fishing guide, outdoors video producer and avid collector of antique tackle. “Who was he? Where was he fishing? What was he fishing for? Did he catch anything? When I look at one of these old lures it speaks to me.”Duckwor…

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September 1st, 2009

Early Birds

September geese jumpstart the hunting season

By David Hart

The distant honk of a Canada goose snapped us out of our early-morning lull. Four of us were still scattering decoys in the short grass around our blind; the sun was still below the horizon. We certainly didn’t expect to see geese yet, but as we ducked into our blind in the middle of a fresh-cut hay field, I glanced back to view eight, maybe 10, sail over the distant trees. They were coming straight for us. The geese circled wide, banked behind us and then locked their wings as they prep…

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