Verizon Wireless could launch its third-generation wireless network capable of streaming video and high-speed Internet as early as next week, Reuters reported on Thursday.

This new technology will likely allow customers such as tow operators to more easily check e-mail and communicate with family or business contacts much faster.

Sources close to the company told Reuters that it is upgrading networks and will be able to offer as much as 10 times the network voice capacity and wireless data connections, as well as ability to give customers speeds up to 144 kilobits per second on their mobile phones.

Verizon Wireless will first offer the service in areas from Boston to Virginia on the East Coast, and Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area in the West, Reuters said.

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Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC has debuted XVision, which it calls the first visual-based collision avoidance system specifically for commercial vehicles.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Bendix described Xvision as an infrared night-vision device that allows drivers to see five times farther in the dark, helping to improve reaction time.

The company says that a driver using XVision has between 18 and 20 more seconds to react to something on the road at 60 miles per hour than a driver using their unaided eyes.

The company said that research has shown most nighttime accidents stem from the driver’s inability to see in the dark.

For more information, and an online demo, go to http://www.bendix.com/products/XVision.shtml.

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ALABAMA -- Athens Police investigators continue to piece together the sequence of events leading to the ambush slaying of a young wrecker company owner early Sunday.

Thus far, there are no clear answers in the shooting of Shane Jarrett, owner of Jarrett's Wrecker Service, according to Athens Police Capt. Marty Bruce. He said today that investigators spent Sunday and Monday trying to verify "rumors."

Police say four bullets hit Jarrett, 27, in the head, face and neck when he returned from what appears to be a bogus wrecker call. He died in the hallway outside his sons' bedroom. The boys, ages 8 and 4, were spending the night at his brother's house and were not there when their father was killed, police said.

Bruce said Jarrett's wife, Melissa Freeman Jarrett, 26, called 911 at 4:49 a.m. Sunday and hysterically reported that she was awakened by gunfire and found her husband dead in a pool of blood in a hallway leading to the bedrooms of the couple's Wheeler Street mobile home.

On arriving, police found Jarrett wounded in the face and neck and Coroner Mike West pronounced him dead on the scene. The coroner ordered his body sent to a state lab for an autopsy.

Police Chief Wayne Harper said that Mrs. Jarrett told officers she answered a call to the Jarrett home about an hour before the shooting. Investigators discovered the call had been made from a pay phone outside Piney Chapel Foods, north of Athens.

According to Brenda Jarrett, the victim's stepmother, Melissa Jarrett relayed to Shane that a red Pontiac Grand Am was stalled on Interstate 65 at the 356 mile marker.

She said Shane called his father, Waylan Jarrett, who lives in the New Garden community near Elkmont, to accompany him on the call.

"He said he had an uneasy feeling about the call so he called his daddy to go with him," said Brenda Jarrett. "My husband, Waylan, always has coffee early in the morning at Charlie's Truck Stop (I-65 at the Elkmont exit), so he stopped there and picked him up to go on the call with him."

She said that when the father and son arrived at the 356 mile marker, they couldn't find the stalled car, so Shane dropped his father back off at the truck stop.

"When my husband got out of the wrecker, he said Shane said, 'I'm going home and going to bed. I've been up all night on calls.' He also radioed Melissa and asked her why she hadn't gotten a name from the person when they called." (Karen Middleton - The Decatur Daily)

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NORTH CAROLINA -- A Robeson County tow operator was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday for selling drugs, according to an official with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.

Tommy Lynn Cox, 48, was convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, said Lt. C.T. Strickland. He appeared in Wilmington District Federal Court.

Cox, who owns C & C Towing and Auto Sales of Lumberton, was sentenced to four years, nine months in prison and five years supervised probation after his release.

Sonny Jones, 24, was also convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, said Lt. C.T. Strickland. Both men received the same sentence.

Cox and Jones are two of the 69 people who were arrested during a four-month investigation by federal, state, and local authorities that began in October 2000.

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GEORGIA -- The state Senate passed Senate bill 334 Tuesday that would require owners of abandoned cars to pay up within 30 days after the tow truck hauls their vehicle away.

Under current law, owners only have to notify towing and storage companies that they own a towed car to keep it from being junked or sold after a month. The result, lawmakers said, has been huge numbers of cars and trucks piling up in tow yards.

The bill also changes the time line that a towing company have to notify vehicle owners from 72 hours, to 3 business days.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Rene Kemp, D-Hinesville, passed 49-0 and now goes to the House.

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United Road Services Inc.'s acquisition of a Missouri automobile transport firm may be a sign that the Colonie company has finally turned a corner. This will be the company's first acquisition in three years.

Investors, at least, seem hopeful. Stock in United Road (OTC: URSI), which had been hovering between 25 cents and 30 cents a share for the past few months, closed Jan. 17 at 48 cents. The next day--when the market as a whole was down--it reached 51 cents a share.

Late on Jan. 16, United Road had announced its purchase of Auction Transport Inc. of Lee's Summit, Mo., for an undisclosed price. The purchase was the first for United Road--which was formed to consolidate the automobile towing and transport industry--in nearly three years.

ATI formerly was a subsidiary of Manheim Services Corp., one of the world's largest auto auction companies. Its primary function has been to transport vehicles to Manheim auction locations, although it works for other firms on a for-hire basis. ATI, which operates a fleet of about 185 transport vehicles, had revenue of $45.2 million in 2001.

In the first nine months of 2001, United Road's 29 divisions in 20 states had revenue of $56 million.

"We are very excited about the acquisition of Auto Transport, Inc. and are pleased to broaden our relationship with Manheim Auction," Gerald Riordan, CEO of United Road, said in a statement. "With this acquisition, we have enhanced the service capacity of our national transport network, expanded our relationship with a well-established customer and obtained an exciting growth opportunity."

He said United Road will continue to seek ways to improve its overall operations, and called the ATI acquisition an "important step in achieving United Road's successful turnaround."

United Road was formed in mid-1997 by seven automobile towing and transport companies located throughout the country. It had no real operations until May 1998, when it completed its $98 million initial public offering and simultaneously bought its seven founders. It then went on a shopping spree, and by its first annual meeting had completed 51 acquisitions and had a network of 66 service locations throughout the country..

But earnings and stock performance were disappointing, and just a month after that first annual meeting, founding CEO Edward Sheehan stepped down. A few months later, Riordan was named to replace Sheehan and United Road said it was putting its acquisition plans on hold to give it time to digest its existing holdings.

United Road ended 1999 with a loss of $29.7 million. During the first week of 2000, it announced a restructuring plan that had as its centerpiece the establishment of two separate operating units--transport and towing/recovery--each with its own president. It also closed some unprofitable operations, sold a few others and consolidated the various service locations into the 29 current divisions.

Then a private equity firm, KPS Special Situations Fund, entered the picture. It agreed to invest $25 million in United Road in exchange for control of the company's board of directors and most of its stock. This transaction allowed United Road to obtain a $100 million line of credit from a group of banks.

But the red ink continued to flow. United Road lost $159 million in 2000, including a non-cash impairment charge of $129.5 million.

In an letter to stockholders contained in an annual report filed in November 2001 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Riordan said the company had been gaining momentum throughout the first half of 2000. But then the economy turned and the automobile market started to weaken.

"This weakness would accelerate at an increasing pace each month through the end of the year and stall the turnaround that was in progress," Riordan wrote.

But, he added, "despite the setbacks the company suffered in 2000, I expect United Road to be a key player in this industry in the future."

The company has not yet reported year-end 2001 results, but it lost $10.4 million in the first nine months of the year.

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IDAHO -- Tragedy on Interstate 84 - two lives were lost in a terrible accident shortly after 7pm Saturday night.

The tragic chain of events began when a person was getting into a tow truck as their car was being loaded. Despite flares and cones warning of the hazard, witnesses say a car traveling at a high rate of speed slammed into the back of the tow truck.

Both its driver and the person getting in the truck were killed instantly. The tow truck driver was unharmed because he was standing in the median operating the truck's lift.

The accident closed the eastbound Interstate Saturday about 10 miles outside of Boise.

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The combination of ample supply and low demand pushed gasoline prices down almost 1 cent a gallon over the past two weeks, analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday.

Gasoline prices are important to the towing industry because although most tow truck use diesel fuel, a large segment of tow trucks and towing support vehicles operate on gasoline. Gas prices also effect consumer driving habits which can effect a tow operators bottom line.

Lundberg, whose findings were reported by the Associated Press, surveyed 8,000 gasoline stations nationwide, where the average price for self-serve regular gasoline was $1.11 per gallon on Friday, compared with $1.12 a gallon two weeks ago.

The national weighted average price of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps Friday was about $1.11 a gallon for regular unleaded, $1.21 for mid-grade and $1.30 for premium

The drop followed a 3-cent increase two weeks ago, Lundberg told the AP.

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping more oil than it said it would, but the cheating is not as great as expected, Reuters said Monday.

Petrologistics said that OPEC members exceeded production targets in January by 550,000 barrels a day, but analysts had expected the cartel to make an even smaller cut in actual production based on its bad track record for sticking to agreements, Reuters reported.

Nigeria, OPEC's largest quota-breaker, had been pumping 149,000 more barrels per day than allowed by OPEC restrictions in December, Bloomberg said. However, the African nation has now ordered its oil companies to further cut production.

This announcement, coupled with U.S. government plans to buy an average of 175,000 barrels crude per day during 2002 to top off the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, forced oil prices higher in international trading, Bloomberg reported.

The price of crude oil, which is important to the prices of diesel and gasoline, jumped 31 cents, or 1.6%, to $19.68 on the International Petroleum Exchange in London, the news service said.

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KENTUCKY -- The Kentucky legislature is considering a bill that would require all diesel sold in the state to contain 2 percent biodiesel, a fuel derived from food-based waste oils or soybeans.

If passed, the bill would require diesel sold in the state after July 1, 2003, to contain at least 2 percent of the fuel.

The Kentucky Motor Transport Association is fighting the measure. “We are vehemently opposed to it,” said KMTA President Ned Sheehy. “It’s a cost driver. It’s no less than an additional 3 cents a gallon.”

Intrastate diesel users, like towing companies, will be stuck with higher diesel prices while interstate diesel users, like truckers, will avoid buying fuel in the state, hurting the local economy and the state’s truck stops. “We would become a bypass state,” Sheehy said. “Truckers would make sure they fill up before they come through Kentucky.”

KMTA supports a national standard but says a statewide mandate would create an unstable fuel situation similar to California, where the state mandates a lower-sulfur fuel, Sheehy said. California diesel prices tend to be the highest in the country.

The bill, which exempts railroads, went to Kentucky’s House floor for a vote Jan. 28.

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International Truck and Engine Corp. and American Transportation Corp. have rolled out "Catch It While You Can," a financing program that offers a 0% first year interest rate financing on 60- and 72-month loans. The program is a limited time offer that applies to the purchase of new International vehicles.

Qualified customers purchasing up to 10 trucks will receive an effective APR of 4.71% for 60 months and 5.10% for 72 months. This represents an approximate customer savings of $5,000 to $10,000 over the life of the loan, according to International.

For those customers who don't take advantage of the 0% first year interest rate financing, International is offering alternative competitive purchasing options such as $1000 to $2000 in parts and service credit, or a $3,000 trade-in allowance on the purchase of International 9000 or 9000i series vehicles.

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The average price for a gallon of diesel fuel rose for the first time in three weeks, reaching $1.144 per gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday.

The price of diesel is important to the towing industry because a large segment of towing is performed with diesel-powered vehicles.

The 0.4 cent increase was only the third in the last 19 weeks. Despite the slight increase, the price of diesel has decreased 42.6 cents since peaking at $1.527 per gallon the week of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

As seen in the national average, much of the United States saw very little flucuation in the diesel price from last week. However, the one exception was the West Coast, where the price rose 1.7 cents to $121.4. In California, diesel rose to $125.9 from $124.2.

Go to www.itow.org/fuel.htm to check the prices in your area.

The DOE’s Energy Information Agency surveys 350 fueling stations in five regions at the start of each week, and usually reports the results on the same day that it polls the stations.

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ALABAMA -- Two teen-agers died Sunday on Interstate 10 near Mobile after colliding with a tow truck.

Jackie Jackson, 19, and Cedrick Williams, 16, were killed at about 2:30 p.m., said Mobile Police spokesman Pat Mitchell in a news release. The Kia Rio that Jackson was driving collided with a wrecker parked on the side of the highway.

Jackson died instantly and Williams was transported to University of South Alabama Knollwood Hospital where he died shortly thereafter.

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VIRGINIA -- A Virginia Beach city advisory board thinks wrecker companies should make more money towing cars and be held more accountable to the public for how they conduct business.

The Towing Advisory Board plans to recommend that the City Council increase a range of towing fees, saying the rates have not kept pace with rising industry costs.

As proposed, the fee charged for towing an illegally parked car -- the most common tow occurring in Virginia Beach on private business and residential lots -- would jump to $85 from $70.

Along with the fee increase, the board wants the city to establish a formal process to field and investigate public complaints of so-called abusive towing practices.

Currently, the city investigates only complaints filed against companies making police-authorized tows, not those occurring on private lots.

Last year, tow companies towed 13,791 "non-consensual" tows on private lots, a recent analysis by The Virginian-Pilot of city tow records shows. Residents of condominium complexes, that have parked illegally, or violated the condo parking rules, have complained when they've gotten towed.

"It would show that we're going to hold this industry accountable," said advisory board chairwoman Carolyn Lincoln. "It's a tool to benchmark the industry and to say we're going to do best practices."

Police Capt. Kenneth M. Lowe Jr., head of the department's special operations, said filing suit in civil court currently is the only recourse for people who allege an unjust tow from a private lot. However, this is the standard course of action with any business, so why should towing be any different?

The city believes that allowing citizens to file written complaints with the police would help ensure that towing companies and private property owners are following city towing regulations, Lowe said, such as posting proper signage.

"It would give them a chance to vent and also show that we're receptive to the possibility an error might have been made," Lowe said.

Lincoln, a civic activist and past president of the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations, said an increase in towing fees is justified.

Board member Art Walker, who runs an auto service and towing business, said towing fees capped by the city have not kept pace with the industry's cost of doing business. Walker cited insurance premium increases of 20 percent the past two years and said other expenses, including employee pay and equipment, also have been rising. A wrecker truck that cost $38,000 a few years ago now runs $58,000, he said.

"All of the costs have gone up so high, you need this to survive if you're doing the wrecker business," Walker said of the proposed fee increases.

Besides towing fees, the board also proposes to increase fees for storage of towed vehicles and a "drop" fee, which can be charged when a car has been hooked to a wrecker but not towed away. The daily storage fee would increase to $20 from $12, and the drop fee to $25 from $20.

Lincoln said she hopes the debate will focus on the industry as a "viable business" and not be driven by the emotion that towing can evoke.

"The towing industry works hard and provides a very valuable service," she said.

That's especially true at the Oceanfront, Lincoln said, where business owners rely on wrecker companies to patrol their lots to ensure that only customers park in their precious few spaces.

Last year, three out of 10 tows for illegal parking on private lots occurred at the resort strip along Atlantic and Pacific avenues, according to city records.

The proposed $85 tow fee is in line with fees charged in other Virginia cities, Lincoln said, and is based on the amount that state law allows towing companies to charge for non-consensual tows when there are no governing local ordinances.

City Council member Linwood O. Branch III, who represents the Oceanfront, said the council will need to be persuaded to increase fees.

The council voted to raise towing fees last July, but stopped short of the increases the advisory board had proposed. The council, for example, increased the towing fee for illegally parked cars to $70 from $60, rejecting the proposed $85. Council members agreed to revisit the issue, but made no guarantees, Branch said. The proposal is expected to go before the council in February or March.

"It's a balancing act between not putting the tow companies out of business but, at the same time, having the public treated fairly and equitably," Branch said. "I suspect there's going to be a lot of questions." (Thanks Rick)

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Using wireless RF (radio frequency) tags attached to fuel tanks, SmartFuel from SCI International matches vehicle, driver and fuel before it allows pumps to operate. The automated system then uses RF technology to wirelessly transfer fuel and vehicle information from the pump to a fleet manager's office computer, where it can be used to generate usage reports.

The system, which is claimed to be maintenance-free after installation, can be installed on both electronic and mechanical fuel pumps. SCI says that unlike wired fuel management systems, its RF system is unaffected by voltage fluctuations or lightning storms. Go to www.sciww.com for more information.

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DaimlerChrysler said that it has recalled about 65,000 1998-99 Mercedes C-Class cars in the United States after five complaints of exploding batteries, resulting in one injury from flying acid and debris.

Tow truck drivers are warned to use extreme caution when jumpstarting these vehicles as this could cause the under filled battery to explode.

The explosions occurred when the electrolyte fluid levels in the battery fell to low levels and the battery were boosted. Mercedes dealers will inspect the batteries on the recalled vehicles free of charge and replace them if necessary.

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COLORADO -- Law enforcement officers would have to impound the vehicles of motorists they catch driving with suspended or revoked driver's licenses, under a measure from Rep. Bill Swenson, R-Longmont.

If the final draft is similar to other suspended driver impound laws adopted around the country, it would likely mean an increase the number of impounds performed by towing companies on police rotation lists, as well as an increase in storage fees due to the long time these vehicles stay in impound.

The vehicle would stay impounded as long as the offending motorist's driving privileges remain what the law calls "under restraint," if the Legislature adopts Swenson's House Bill 1204.

Moreover, Swenson's bill would give authorities additional power to go after multiple offenders who switch to other vehicles.

The proposed law would allow officials to seize and sell all the motor vehicles owned by anyone who persists in driving when his or her license has been revoked.

The bill would make it possible for law-enforcement agencies to pursue that impoundment-and-sale option in any case where a scofflaw is caught and convicted three or more times within a five-year period for operating a motor vehicle without a valid license.

Swenson said he introduced the proposed law at the suggestion of the Boulder County Sheriff's Office because that agency, along with other law enforcement agencies, contend that current penalties don't seem to be deterring people from driving after their licenses have been suspended or revoked.

In many instances, Swenson said, there does not appear to be any way to keep some of those people from continuing to drive on Colorado's roads, "other than impounding their vehicles." He said that's particularly the case in situations in which people have lost their driving privileges because of drunken-driving convictions.

Swenson's HB1204, which he introduced Monday, has been assigned to the House Transportation Committee for a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing. Swenson is chairman of that panel.

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NORTH CAROLINA -- The Durham City Council may form a committee to study alleged "predatory towing" around Durham.

The issue brewed on Chapel Hill Boulevard recently when customers of the Kurama Japanese Seafood and Steak House Sushi Bar were towed after parking illegally in empty spaces at the Pizza Inn next door.

The people that parked illegally complained because they claim the towing company was charging $190 per car and taking only cash. The Pizza Inn owner responded that he had a business to run.

While the city currently has no city ordinance that regulates towing charges, because of the complaints of some law breakers, that may change.

A representative from local towing companies asked council members at a work session Thursday to form a committee to study the issue.

In a Jan. 10 memo to City Manager Marcia Conner, Assistant City Manager John Pedersen also recommends forming a committee. In addition to predatory towing, it would look at the existing rate schedule and guidelines for "rotation" wreckers (those dispatched by the city), and the city’s requirements related to the towing of abandoned vehicles.

"I also recommend that the first order of business … be to invite all the towing companies doing business in the community to a meeting to define the committee’s priorities," he said in the memo.

If the council does not form a committee, Pedersen said, the city’s Taxicab Subcommittee should be expanded to take on the towing issues. (Thanks Mike)

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Equipment lessor GE Capital Fleet Services has signed an agreement to market and sell @Track Communications' Vehicle Management Information (VMI) system.

Designed for service fleets, VMI provides vehicle tracking and monitoring, as well as dynamic dispatching and two-way messaging over the GSM land-based wireless communications network. VMI is a product of @Track's subsidiary, Minorplanet Systems USA Ltd.

GE Capital Fleet Services, headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, leases and/or manages over 500,000 vehicles in the U.S.

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The Work Truck Show 2002, to be held March 6-8 in conjunction with the 38th annual National Truck Equipment Association Convention in Orlando, Fla., will provide attendees with needed information on how to keep fleets running at maximum productivity and efficiency.

The show and convention will be held at the Orange County Convention Center, with the convention and educational conference running March 5-8. On March 6 and 7, the show will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On March 8, the show will be open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The Work Truck Show will bring together distributors, upfitters, manufacturers, buyers and users of work trucks in all industries. Full-sized equipment in classes 1 through 8 will be displayed. Individuals building and spec’ing work trucks can gain valuable information from representatives of 12 leading chassis manufacturers.

In addition, several chassis manufacturers are conducting educational sessions at the convention. They will present updates on chassis specs, body installation and new equipment design. The chassis updates are organized by NTEA Truck Equipment College and 30 concurrent sessions will be held March 5 and before show hours March 6-7. For a schedule and session descriptions, or to register to attend, visit www.ntea.com. You can also call (800) 441-NTEA to request a registration kit, or call the NTEA fax-on-demand service at (800) 700-2099 and request document No. 1110.

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Freightliner Trucks has introduced a truck locator feature on its website to allow visitors to search for new trucks in Freightliner Trucks dealer inventory.

The visitor can choose from highway tractors, business class/vocational, severe-duty or low-cab forward trucks and specifies search criteria like model, engine make, cab configuration and front-axle rating.

"This is another example of the extensive functionality of the www.freightlinertrucks.com site," said Bob Cariglia, vp of sales for Freightliner Trucks. "It lets customers see what’s available in dealer inventory and helps them start shopping for a new Freightliner truck."

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NEW YORK -- Herkimer Village officials agreed Monday evening to take another look at what constitutes a satellite office and then establish a fair policy for calling towing services from accident scenes in the village.

The board, after discussing the issues of towing lists and operators setting up satellite offices, opted to take the additional time to review new issues presented by resident Howard Paul, a former local tow truck operator.

Paul asked board members how one company's satellite towing station could be located in Herkimer, yet charge what he felt was a staggering towing fee to remove a vehicle to Schuyler, rather than to its Herkimer location.

The issue resulted from a December accident on Route 5 near the former Bikes 500 store. Paul felt it was unfair for the satellite towing service to charge $185 while the other local service charged $60 and a $15 cleanup fee.

"I'd hate to have to go to the hospital and come out and find out my car was towed to Schuyler. Maybe I should put up a sign on my front lawn, be put on the village's tow rotation, borrow a tow truck from Salisbury and go into business charging a $225 rate," Paul said. "I hope I don't have to go that far to make my point, but costs, especially to older residents, have to be kept down and I'm just trying to get my point across."

Paul worked many years for a private Herkimer towing company.

"I know what the prices are and he's way out of sight with his charges." he said. Paul also questioned whether installing a telephone in a vacant building qualified it as an office and why the satellite company is responding with two vehicles.

Chris Springer, towing manager at Skinner Sales in the village, provided village attorney Nick Macri with copies of the town of Kirkland's laws which were set up to deal with similar problems. He also suggested a cap be put on the maximum tow rates.

Springer said his normal tow fees are $45 for a day tow and $15 extra for night service, unless a car goes over an embankment or something like that. The New York State Tow Truck Association might be looking into over pricing, he said, adding some villages set caps on the tow costs. "If the tow operator doesn't like the prices, they can leave the village or be taken off the rotation," he said.

Trustee Gary Hartman said Police Chief Carl Lane would be asked to look into the matter. "Anyone doing any price gouging would be taken off the village's preferred towing list. We're making the policy and we should look into it," Hartman said.

"It's our intent to have our attorney and police chief investigate this matter and bring their findings back to the board so a proper course of action can be taken to resolve the issue," Mayor Mark Ainsworth stressed.

Contacted by phone after the meeting, Ben Juliano, owner of Juliano's Towing Service located on State Route 5 in East Schuyler, defended his Herkimer office site and towing charges.

"There was nothing paid out of anybody's pocket. If the person had to pay out of his pocket, like a private deal, the prices would be different," Juliano said. It's common price when dealing with insurance companies, that rates were often higher. The vehicle was also towed by a flatbed truck and not a wrecker, he said.

"We had no complaints from the customers who were more than happy when they saw what we did in helping them clean out their vehicle and load up their Christmas presents," Juliano said. He felt his services were right in the ballpark and he can work with prices for anybody. "We all know what one another charges on private deals, but not with dealing with insurance companies. Many times we're stuck with the vehicle and have to eat the bill," he said.

Juliano also stressed his "satellite office" was anything but just that. "It's a nice auto decaling facility" operated by his cousin Chris Juliano, who also operates the towing service there on a 24-7 basis. The wrecker is kept at the First Avenue facility and at Williams street during the night hours.

Juliano said two vehicles and operators responded to the accident in question because one of the drivers arrived with a flatbed truck needed to remove one of the vehicles involved in the accident. To keep the Herkimer facility neat, Juliano said, vehicles are towed to Schuyler. Charges to tow are normally the same for private deals from Herkimer, but not for those handled through insurance companies, he said.

"We will be reviewing other municipalities laws and also looking at how they have regulated their lists of towing services. We also plan to take a look at what might constitute operating a satellite business within the confines of the village of Herkimer," Macri said. The board will then consider the approach it wants to take in setting up a policy to govern them. (Chick Perry - The Evening Telegram)

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Caterpillar Inc., one of the world's largest manufacturers of diesel engines for trucks, said Wednesday that fourth-quarter sales were nearly unchanged from the year-earlier period at $5.1 billion, but earnings declined due to charges associated with plant closings and job reductions.

Net income fell to $167 million or 48 cents a share, from $264 million or 76 cents in the fourth quarter of 2000. However, the company took pre-tax charges that had a 28-cent per share adverse effect on earnings.

For the full year, sales and revenues were $20.45 billion, or $275 million higher than 2000. Profit was $805 million or $2.32 per share. The Peoria, Ill.-based company said that it expects profit to rise slightly in 2002, but sales will likely be flat.

Cummins Inc. faired a little better announcing Wednesday that it had an after tax profit of $3 million, or 8 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2001. The quarter's results are an improvement over a loss of 45 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The Columbus, Ind.-based diesel engine manufacturer said its fourth-quarter revenue was $1.46 billion.

For the full year, Cummins reported a loss of $18 million, or 47 cents per share, excluding a pre-tax charge of $125 million for second-quarter restructuring. Including that charge, Cummins lost $102 million, or $2.66 per share.

"2001 was a challenging year for us, yet we were able to make significant progress in improving our operations and meeting our financial commitments in the face of the most severe market conditions that I can remember," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tim Solso.

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The price of crude oil jumped for the fourth straight day as Iran’s oil minister said that the world’s oil cartel may cut production rates for the fifth time in 14 months to boost prices, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

The price of crude oil directly impacts the price of fuels, such as diesel and gasoline, making it vitally important to the towing industry.

Bijan Zanganeh, Iran’s oil minister, said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should consider cutting production when it meets in mid-March.

The price of Brent crude oil rose 39 cents a barrel, or 2.1%, to $19.14 on the International Petroleum Exchange in London.

So far in 2002, the price of crude oil has slipped 6.1% to $17.70 a barrel. Zanganeh had previously said that he favors a price of more than $22 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

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NEW YORK -- Niagara Falls City Administrator Albert T. Joseph withdrew new towing fees from the City Council agenda Tuesday after complaints from tow truck operators.

The operators said they had not been consulted about a $300 license fee they would have to pay to be on the city's preferred list. They also opposed a $10 surcharge they would have to collect from customers and pass on to the city.

In 2000' The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of Tocher vs. Santa Ana, found that additional licensing fees like the $300 that Niagara Falls is attempting to charge are prohibited by federal law. 

The ordinance would raise the existing $35 and $40 towing charges to a standard $65 for vehicles up to 10,000 pounds and $85 if a flatbed truck is used. Additional fees for other services also are in the ordinance. The operators said this would be the first increase in 12 years.

The fees were agreed to after Joseph formed a task force two years ago that met with the operators. However, Peter Granto of Granto's Collision said the operators had heard nothing since then until reading about it in the newspaper during the weekend. He said they had never discussed a licensing fee for the operators.

James Page of Page's Automotive said the operators would like the license fee to be reduced to about $200. They also want a new medallion system similar to one used to limit the number of taxicabs that can operate in the city. Currently there are 13 tow truck operations in the city. They currently pay no fee to be on the rotating list the Police Department uses for vehicle towing.

Page said the tow truck operators do not want to be the city's collection agency. He suggested that owners of towed vehicles be required to pay the surcharge at the police station to obtain a release form.

Joseph agreed to meet with the operators.

The new fees apply only to towing incidents in which the police are involved, which amount to about 1,200 a year. A new $50 administrative impound fee and the $10 surcharge are intended to cover the police's time and paperwork.

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MINNESOTA -- Most of United Stated has been enjoying our unusually balmy winter. But not all businesses are pleased with the continued above zero readings. Businesses involving snowmobiles and snowblowers, fishing, bulk oil and gas energy, some restaurants, and of course, towing companies have seen their business plummet. 

Allan Coenen of Allan's Garage and towing service of Sauk Centre, figures his towing service for stranded vehicles has plummeted 40 percent from last year.

"The towing business is an erratic one at best, but last year had lots of snow, making it a good year," said Coenen. "Not true this year."

Coenen noted that towing comes in two packages; inability of cars to start in cold weather and that of having numerous snowstorms.

"People in general forget to get their cars into shops for a winter tune-up before that first frigid blast hits them, then it's too late." It may also be noted that mild weather brings down a need for more spare parts when cars are used more often.

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Team Sports Entertainment Inc. has named Bill Miller chief executive of that company and its subsidiary, the Charlotte-based Team Racing Auto Circuit.

Miller is the chairman of Miller Industries Inc., a provider of vehicle towing and recovery equipment and services.

TRAC is a stock car racing series set to debut in 2003. Team Sports Entertainment, a sports and entertainment marketing and management company, is based in Grapevine, Texas.

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Japanese truck-maker Hino Motors Ltd cut its forecast for domestic truck and bus sales in 2002 on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

For the year, the company now expects sales to climb 9.8% to 37,600 vehicles, trimming an estimate issued by parent Toyota Motor Corp. that domestic sales would reach 40,000.

Hino also confirmed that it is considering building trucks in the United States and in other overseas markets.

A report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said on Tuesday that Hino would start producing trucks at a Toyota plant in California as early as 2004, Reuters said.

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The average price for a gallon of diesel fell nearly two cents for the week ending Jan. 21, to $1.14 from $1.159, according to U.S. Department of Energy figures.

The price is the lowest average since July 1999, when diesel closed at $1.13. The price has hovered around $1.15 since the middle of December, and fuel analysts say that trend is likely to continue.

We’ve had very few severe storms. But overall it's been mild across the Northeast and Midwest which is good news for fleets. When winter is bad, more oil is diverted to heating fuel production, limiting the supplies of diesel, experts say. But this winter’s mild weather has kept diesel supplies more than sufficient to meet demand. The low price is likely to stay even though oil producers are considering more production cuts.

Experts say if the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries does in fact cut oil production, the move won’t impact diesel prices for six months.

For the week ending Jan. 21, prices were highest in the Northeast, averaging $1.29, and lowest along the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest, averaging $1.11.

To check the average diesel prices for your apart of the country go here http://www.itow.org/fuel.htm.

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WASHINGTON -- Burglars broke into a vehicle at a towing company and helped themselves to some parts. A 1985 Pontiac Trans Am was partially stripped Sunday or Monday while it was parked at Ibsen Towing at 13226 S.E. 30th St. in Redmond. Someone pried their way into the locked car and took the radiator, alternator, speaker covers, shifter knob and miscellaneous tools.

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NEW YORK -- The Niagara Falls Council will consider a new towing ordinance that would increase fees for those whose cars are towed and those who do the towing.

Police Capt. Andrew Viglucci said the fees apply only to towing incidents in which the police are involved, which amount to about 1,200 a year. He said a new $50 administrative impound fee and $10 surcharge would cover police time and paperwork involved. Those who call a tow truck privately would not be affected.

He and Council Chairwoman Frances M. Iusi said fees have not been raised for years. The $35 and $40 towing fees would be raised to a standard $65 for vehicles up to 10,000 pounds and $85 if a flat-bed truck is used. Fees for other services also are in the ordinance.

Although recently proven to be against federal law, tow truck operators who want to be on the city's preferred list would have to pay a license fee of $300.

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The International Energy Agency cut its estimate Friday for oil production outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for 2002 by 110,000 barrels a day to 810,000, Bloomberg reported.

The price of crude oil impacts the price of diesel fuel and gasoline, and is therefore of crucial importance to the towing industry.

Crude oil prices rose more than 2% following IEA's announcement, Bloomberg said.

The 26 non-OPEC nations, which are advised by the IEA, are expected to cut 330,000 barrels a day through June. That is only two-thirds of what they had promised OPEC in return for a 1.5 million-barrel cut from the cartel.

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By BILL TRULL

Lets say you drove downtown to attend a sporting event, parking was tight, you had to drive around to find a spot. Would you park in the lot that had 'no parking' signs all over it? Of course not, but some people think the signs don't apply to them.

Now lets say that your a city official and all of the people that parked illegally in that lot and got towed come to you to complain. Would you think 'how dare those tow trucks tow illegally parked cars, lets regulate the towing industry'? Of course not, but every day I read of another city that thinks this is a solution.

When someone has their car impounded, they are going to complain. It doesn't matter if they were parked illegally while robbing the 7-11 store, they are going to complain that they shouldn't have been towed and the towing company has some sort of scam going.

The fact that these people complain doesn't surprise me, what does is the fact that the city feels they must defend the inconsiderate scofflaws by regulating towing, or making it harder for property owners to have illegally parked cars removed.

Many cities think a good solution is to let illegally parked cars have a two hour grace period before they can be removed. What this amounts to is two hours of free parking anytime, anywhere. Oh, except on the cities property, where you will be towed immediately.

Some cities cap the rates that a towing company can charge in order to keep towing companies from "ripping off" the people that parked illegally. I say the only people getting ripped off are the property owners, the people that had a right to park there, and the towing company that must charge what some panel of non business owners says is fair.

Still other cities feel that grace periods, rate caps, and signs are not enough. They want private lot owners to fence their property so it's physically impossible for idiots to park there. Unfortunately, for the city officials that are obviously sniffing glue at the counsel meeting, it's also physically impossible for the paying customers to park there too.

Now, after all of this ranting and raving you would think I must have a solution for this dilemma. Well....Short of popping a wing window and throwing in a lit road flare, I don't.

What I do know is if these illegally parked cars were in the mayors driveway, things would be much different.

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FLORIDA -- A towing company that patrols I-95 in Fort Lauderdale found a vehicle in a ditch, about a mile south of Griffin Road.

The tow truck operator noticed a woman in the back seat of the vehicle, but thought she was asleep. When he returned a second time, he became worried because the woman had not moved, so he called police.

There was no sign of trauma and the cause of death has yet to be determined.

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OREGON -- Eugene police officers have just begun enforcing a 1998 state law aimed at keeping repeat traffic offenders off the streets.

Under the law, police can impound cars of people caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving without insurance or a valid driver's license, or driving in violation of license restrictions.

And it could cost car owners - even if they weren't driving - hundreds of dollars to get their cars back.

"The intent of this whole procedure is to reach out or have an impact on those that have had a DUI, an uninsured or revoked (driver) crash into them," Capt. Steve Swenson said. "We've all paid the price and picked up the tab on all those."

Lane County sheriff's deputies have used the law to tow cars for two years, and Springfield police have been towing cars for drunken driving violations for a year and other offenses for six months. In Springfield, the one exception is driving without insurance - that will garner a citation, but not towing.

Before now, Eugene police didn't have the resources to take on the added paperwork and necessary notifications to use the law effectively, but a recent ruling by the city attorney allows the department to assess a $110 administrative fee for each towed car.

The fee is in addition to any towing costs, which include a $10 dispatch fee, a $72 tow fee and $20 per day in storage for any one of the four tow companies contracted by the city.

The change in Eugene's policy will enable police to take away the tool that allows repeat offenders to continue driving, Swenson said.

"It's a group that has consistently not gotten the message through citations, court appearances and fines," he said. "This is another way - to take their vehicles."

In the past, an officer would write a ticket and tell the person they couldn't legally drive. But many times, drivers would get back behind the wheel once the officer was out of sight, he said.

In 2001, police issued about 25,000 traffic tickets - 7,947 of those for violations that now are towable offenses. The bulk of those offenses were for driving without insurance (about 4,000) and driving with a suspended driver's license (about 1,600). (Tricia Schwennesen - The Register Guard)

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CALIFORNIA -- Three people suffered minor injuries in a 15-car crash Thursday evening that closed the connector road between the northbound Eastern tollway and eastbound Riverside Freeway for about three hours, California Highway Patrol and fire officials said.

The accident occurred about 5:50 p.m. when a tow truck towing a pickup came around the curve on the connector route, where traffic had slowed, CHP Officer Mark Reeves said.

The tow truck driver was unable to stop and tried to drive between two lanes, striking about 14 cars before coming to rest on top of a Lincoln Continental. The woman driving the Lincoln was trapped under the tow truck for about an hour before being extricated. Paramedics transported two other people to hospitals, fire officials said. Details about their injuries were not available late Thursday. 

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TEXAS -- A West tow-truck driver remained in jail Thursday after police arrested him on charges of aggravated sexual assault.

John Edward Copeland, 33, was being held on a $15,000 bond, a jail official said.

Copeland, an employee of Polansky's Wrecker Service, was returning from fixing a flat in Waco about 9:30 p.m. Dec. 6 when he picked up a woman walking by the side of the road, said Waco police Sgt. Dennis Kidwell.

The woman told police the man drove her to an area in Bellmead and forced her to take off her clothes. The man then sexually assaulted her before she got free, ran to the highway and flagged down a passing motorist, Kidwell said.

Police arrested Copeland on Wednesday, he added.

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The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday set a February hearing for Caterpillar Inc's attempt to avoid fines for failing to meet 2002 pollution standards, Bloomberg reported.

Late last year Caterpillar announced that they would not be able to meet the EPA's deadline for stricter emission standards on diesel engines.

Caterpillar is facing fines that could be as much as $9,000 for every diesel engine it makes after October 2002 that fails to meet the standards agreed to in a 1998 settlement involving Caterpillar and six other engine makers. This could translate into higher costs for tow trucks equipped with Caterpillar engines.

Caterpillar spokesmen said the company will review the rules and submit comments to EPA, Bloomberg said.

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WISCONSIN -- Recent questions about how towing services are assigned by the Lake Geneva Police Department may be answered by a new towing policy presented to the Police and Fire Commission.

Police Chief Richard Meinel brought the towing policy change before the commission at its regular meeting Jan. 10.

"The reason we're having policy problems is that we're trying to regulate the private sector," Meinel said.

Meinel said he dicussed the policy with City Attorney Michael Rielly and came to the conclusion that the city has the right to use its discretion to look out for its own best interest only.

"We the city are a customer," Meinel said. "We don't have to have a rotation. We can call everybody or anybody."

Police officers who called for towing services for abandoned vehicles or crash sites previously alternated calls to local towing companies.

The new policy states that requests from citizens for a particular towing service will be honored with some exceptions -- if the situation is serious or if there is road blockage, the towing service that can respond fastest will be called. Exceptions can also be made for special equipment needs, or requests for towing companies that are an "unreasonable" time or distance away.

The policy states that the police department has the sole discretion to make the exceptions to requests from the public.

The second part of the policy states that requests for towing or storage of vehicles made by police is solely at the discretion of the police department.

It also states that the police department will not be involved in the setting of any fee schedule for towing services or vehicle storage unless contracted through the city.

Meinel said the city could contract for towing services, but that might be more complicated.

The commission voted unanimously to adopt the towing policy. (Jon Bemis - The Resorter)

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OHIO -- A Cleveland man is now being accused of posing as a police officer after an alert tow truck driver tipped-off police.

The Cuyhoga County Sheriff's Department says that James Gilbride was dressed up like a Cleveland cop and was walking around a police impound lot.

A tow truck employee who saw Gilbride in the lot noticed he was carrying a gun that didn't appear to be a police firearm, so he got suspicious.

A search of Gilbride's home turned up at least four radios, including one from the Cleveland Police Department worth about $3,000, plus dozens of amplifiers and other radio equipment, according to police.

Gilbride has been charged with impersonating a police officer and faces charges of receiving stolen property or grand theft.

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The nationwide average price of self-serve regular gasoline is up from $1.096 per gallon a month ago to $1.128 per gallon today, but still lower than $1.477, one year ago.

AAA said prospects for continued low gasoline prices remain strong as long as world-wide energy use keeps the price of crude oil at its current level of near $20 per barrel.

While most tow trucks run on diesel fuel, a significant portion use gasoline. Gasoline prices also have an effect on towing companies revenue by causing motorists to drive more, or less.

Gas prices in the Southeast and Southwest are the best bargains this month, at $1.092 per gallon and $1.113 per gallon, respectively. Prices in the Southeast are up 4.5 cents and prices in the Southwest are up 2 cents from last month.

Prices in the West, New England and the Great Lakes have all fallen since last month. In the West, prices are down 4.5 cents to $1.264 per gallon. New England prices are down 3.9 cents to $1.117 per gallon. In the Great Lakes, prices fell 2.4 cents for the month to $1.122 per gallon.

The average gasoline price is up 4.2 cents in the Midwest to $1.13 per gallon and is 0.8 cents higher in the Mid-Atlantic region to $1.128 per gallon.

AAA's Fuel Gauge Report is based on data from Oil Price Information Service -- the nation's most comprehensive source of petroleum pricing information.

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TEXAS -- The Department of Public Safety announced it will equip a few of its state troopers with radar detector detectors, according to a published report.

Federal law prohibits radar detectors in commercial vehicles, and the new device will detect radar detectors in tow trucks. Troopers will ticket tow truck drivers found traveling with radar detectors.

The department purchased 101 radar detector detectors -- approximately $1,500 each -- with grant money from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the report said. Col. Thomas Davis Jr., department director, said 43 more detector detectors may be bought by June.

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United Road Services Inc., a leading provider of national transport and regional towing and recovery services, today announced it has acquired the stock of Auction Transport, Inc. ("ATI"), formerly a subsidiary of Manheim Services Corporation.  ATI provides automobile transport services to various Manheim Auction, Inc. ("Manheim") auction locations and on a for hire basis.
Manheim, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is the largest wholesale auto auction company in the world, operating more than 115 auction facilities worldwide.

ATI, headquartered in Lee's Summit, Missouri, had revenue of approximately $42.5 million in 2001.  ATI currently operates a fleet of approximately 185 units as well as providing integrated vehicle logistics management.

Gerald Riordan, Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented, "We are very excited about the acquisition of Auto Transport, Inc. and are pleased to broaden our relationship with Manheim Auction, Inc.  With this acquisition, we have enhanced the service capacity of our national transport network, expanded our relationship with a well-established customer and obtained an exciting growth opportunity.  We continue to seek ways to improve our overall operations and this strategic acquisition is another important step in achieving United Road's successful turnaround."

Formed in July 1997, United Road Services has a network of 29 divisions in 20 states.  The Company's broad range of services includes towing, impounding and storing motor vehicles, conducting lien sales and auctions of abandoned vehicles and transporting new and used vehicles and heavy construction equipment.  More information on United Road Services may be obtained from the Company's web site at http://www.unitedroad.com.

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FLORIDA -- Investigators are looking into what's being called a gruesome discovery in Hialeah this morning.

A man's body was found inside the trunk of a car at a towing company's lot on West 22nd Avenue.

Police say that the car had been there since early January. The medical examiner has not yet identified the man or determined how he died.

ITOW will bring you more on this as soon as police release the results of their investigation. 

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CALIFORNIA -- Forty years after the rest of the nation, California will begin to number highway exits, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

California is the only state that currently does not number exits, but some new signs will be installed in the next few weeks, with the rest to be phased in over several years. Off-ramps are now marked by the names of local streets, a problem for motorists new to the area, or when streets have more than one name, the article said.

The exit numbers will be based on the length of the highway and the style will copy the white-on-green signs used in other states. Police say numbering exits will make it easier to pinpoint accidents or disabled cars.

In 1999, the state estimated it would cost $40 million to add numbered signs throughout the state.

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FLORIDA -- A tow truck driver who lost his vehicle caused a minor traffic accident and major traffic congestion Monday in Lee County.

About 7 a.m. just north of the Edison Bridge on I-75, a Jeep being towed by a southbound Andy’s Towing & Recovery truck came loose and rolled into the northbound lanes, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

A northbound car with three passengers crashed into the Jeep, troopers said. No one was seriously injured, but traffic was snarled in both directions for several hours.

The tow truck’s driver, Jimmy Kreager, 32, of North Fort Myers, was not injured, troopers said. Lt. Malcolm Rhodes said the crash is under investigation.

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MAINE -- A Portland police sergeant and tow truck operator filed a claim against the city and its police chief on Monday, saying that he intends to sue for $3 million because his complaints against a superior were not taken seriously.

Sgt. Sullivan Rizzo accuses Chief Michael Chitwood and Deputy Chief William Ridge of defamation and inflicting emotional distress through statements to the press and in internal memos about his relationship with his family's towing business. He says that Chitwood did not take seriously his allegations that Ridge had violated department policy by releasing confidential information about him.

Rizzo has been on leave from the department since last summer. He said in his claim that he has suffered severe emotional distress because of the commanders' actions, and that he was hospitalized in June and has been under doctor's care since then.

Rizzo could not be reached by telephone to comment on the claim, which is a notice of his intent to sue.

"Sgt. Rizzo is involved in an ongoing dispute with the department and the city over potential conflicts of interest with Nappi's Towing and him being a supervisor within the Portland Police Department," Chitwood said. "There was a thorough and intense investigation of all the allegations he made against Deputy Chief Ridge."

The city took no action on the results of the investigation, which are not publicly available because there was no discipline.

Rizzo's feud with the department stems from his relationship with Nappi Towing. His wife owns the business, and Rizzo has worked for it. The Casco Bay Weekly newspaper wrote a series of articles suggesting that Rizzo's role of running the police department's traffic division put him in a position to help the towing company.

The company's license was suspended last summer after Sandra Rizzo failed to disclose in her application for renewal that a city employee - her husband - could benefit from the license. Rizzo transferred to patrol after the city's lawyer said that working in the traffic division and for a towing company would present a conflict of interest.

Rizzo's claim bears no lawyer's name, and was apparently prepared by Rizzo. (Thanks Kate)

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FLORIDA -- After spending three hours listening to towing companies complain about the bidding process for Hollywood's lucrative contract, a protest committee swiftly decided none of them had any merit.

"I haven't heard anything today that would violate rules or regulations," said Hollywood Police Chief James Scarberry, who headed the committee that also included the assistant city manager and the finance director.

The decision cleared the way for Tobin's Towing & Recovery, which already won the contract in 1991 and 1996, to have the best shot at the $2 million deal. The City Commission will make the final decision at an upcoming meeting.

The hearing was the latest in a lengthy and unwieldy battle in which accusations of overcharging, racial bias and lawsuits have been thrown around as each company competes for the five-year contract to provide towing services for the police department. Last month, three of the four ranked companies filed letters of protest just before Scarberry's recommendation went before the commission for final approval.

The bid protests came from Tobin's, ranked first; A & B Towing Services, ranked second; and HTS Towing and Recovery, ranked last. Complaints ranged from Tobin's claim that HTS should be disqualified for not meeting minimum requirements to A & B asking the city to completely reevaluate the companies. HTS presented a long list of what it called factual mistakes the city made it in its review.

Controversy has swirled around the contract since HTS accused Tobin's last year of overcharging customers $20 to $300 per tow. These included such items as $33 fees for locating owners of towed cars and $20 fees for the use of a flatbed truck -- items not allowed in the city's prior contracts.

The Hollywood Police Department looked into the allegations but cleared the company of any intentional wrongdoing. Since Tobin's had operated for more than a decade without a valid contract, they were allowed to charge customers whatever they saw fit. Scarberry stood by the company as his top choice.

The decision riled rivals who claimed Tobin's was getting preference. As the competition intensified, both Tobin's and HTS hired high-profile lobbyists who represented them in the protest hearing.

HTS attorney and state Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale, along with his brother Joseph, cited cases going back to the 1930s to show how his client's bid should've carried more weight. HTS offered the city a more lucrative deal than the other companies, he said.

"This city is on the verge of making decisions not based on fact or accurate information but based on mistakes," said Joseph Geller, who asked the committee to draw up more-concise guidelines for the ranking process.

"They weren't ranked first, so they don't like the process," Tobin's attorney and former city attorney Alan Koslow shot back. "Too bad, so sad."

Koslow quickly rebutted each complaint. He said HTS should be disqualified because it did not meet the minimum required years of experience and because a de-facto member of the management staff has a cocaine conviction within the past five years. HTS representatives called these issues "bogus."

In the end, however, the protests were not enough "to substantially change the ranking," said Ken Fields, assistant city manager for budget and administration. HTS representatives walked out of the meeting "disappointed" and unsure how they would proceed, while Tobin's owner, Art Tobin Sr., beamed.

"I think it was just a lot of hot air," observed William Chess, representing the city's Department of Public Works. (Sun-Sentinel)

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J.D. Power Names International Dealers Tops
Jan 15, 2002

ILLINOIS -- For the fourth time in the last five years, International dealers earned industry recognition for providing the “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Medium-Duty Truck Dealer Service.”  The award was based on the results of the 2001 Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study^SM conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, in which more than 2,000 primary maintainers of medium-duty trucks were surveyed.

“We’re extremely proud that our dealers were honored again by J.D. Power and Associates,” said Steve Keate, president, truck group, International Truck and Engine Corporation. “This top ranking is another testament to how our dealer network lives up to its commitment to help customers stay on the road and making money.”

According to the J.D. Power study, International dealers earned top marks from its customers in service quality, business practices and integrity, service capabilities and for its service advisors.  The International dealer network is the industry’s largest, with nearly 1,000 locations across North America to provide customers with nationwide parts and service support. 

“When it comes to medium-duty trucks, International provides unmatched lifecycle value in terms of the highest uptime, lowest operating and maintenance costs and superior resale value,” Keate said.  “But, time and again, we hear that the greatest point of differentiation between International and the competition is our dealer network and the quality of the service and support they provide to our customers.”

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Cummins Inc., one of the leading producers of commercial diesel engines, reaffirmed that it is ready to meet the terms of its consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency and will not be affected by the agency’s nonconformance penalties.

The Columbus, Ind.-based company said that is now in position to meet the EPA’s standards for heavy-duty diesel engines from 1998.

"Cummins did not enter into this consent decree lightly," said Joe Loughrey, executive vice president and president, engine business. "Cummins made a significant investment in technology and product development to meet, on time, the requirements of the consent decree."

Loughrey said that Cummins believes it has found a balance between the needs of its customers and its commitment to the EPA standards and clean air.

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The national average diesel price is at $1.159 per gallon this week, dropping nearly one cent from last week and remaining near the two-year low of $1.143 established in mid-December, according to a Department of Energy report.

The largest decrease from last week was in the West Coast region where it dropped from $1.256 to $1.226, followed by California dropping from $1.300 to $1.275, and the Midwest dropping from $1.147 to $1.134. Prices increased slightly in the New England and Central Atlantic regions, and decreased slightly in the Gulf Coast and Lower Atlantic regions. Prices remained unchanged in the East Coast and Rocky Mountain regions.

OPEC members and non-members such as Mexico, Russia and the Netherlands have slashed crude oil production by nearly 2 million barrels per day. OPEC says it expects crude prices to reach $22 a barrel, $3 to $5 less than desired and nearly $5 more a barrel than before the cuts.

For the fifth time in the last six days, crude oil prices fell due to a low demand for energy in the United States, according to published reports. Some analysts think continued economic uncertainty coupled with a warmer winter are leading to the decrease in demand.

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The price of gasoline rose 3.27 cents over the past three weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 gas stations nationwide.

While most tow trucks run on diesel fuel, a significant portion of the towing business is carried out in trucks that use gasoline.

The weighted price per gallon for all grades and taxes was $1.15 last week, the survey found. This ended a 15-week slide in the price of gasoline that began with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Associated Press reported.

Although the price may continue to rise moderately in the weeks ahead, analyst Trilby Lundberg said she doesn't expect sharp increases in gas prices any time soon, unless there are unexpected developments that could threaten the world's oil supply, AP said.

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Federal-Mogul Corp. has been selected to supply gaskets and dynamic seals for the Cummins High Performance diesel engine that will be available on 2003 Dodge 2500/3500 series pickup trucks. The sourcing decision by Cummins is expected to generate approximately $20 million over three years for Federal-Mogul, starting in 2002.

"We are honored that Cummins has chosen us for this high-profile, high-performance engine," said Tom Conaghan, senior vp, sealing systems and systems protection for Federal-Mogul. "We are bringing the latest sealing advancements to this engine, from our highly regarded plants in both the United States and Europe."

Federal-Mogul will manufacture a large number of the sealing products at its Skokie, IL, facility starting in mid-2002. The company will produce additional sealing products for the Cummins engine at various manufacturing facilities.

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WISCONSIN -- Last year in Milwaukee, a total of 31,646 cars were impounded, up 14% over the 27,790 impounded in 2000.

Of those, 19,201 - about 60% - were abandoned vehicles. Those are cars and trucks where owners cannot be identified. As such, the tow company generally cannot recover the towing costs on those vehicles. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Jan. 11, 2002)

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A California Department of Motor Vehicles study found that up to 75 percent of people with suspended or revoked licenses continue to drive, causing some to wonder whether it's a crime that can be stopped.

However, municipalities nationwide have reported success with a variety of initiatives.

Seattle city officials say a vehicle impoundment ordinance they enacted in 1999 has been an effective deterrent.

"The net result has been incredible," said Mike McKay, a former U.S. district attorney in Seattle who lobbied for the law that authorized the ordinance.

The city's number of repeat offenders dropped 53 percent from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. And prosecutions are down as well, which is saving legal costs.

"In short, our experience with the vast majority of violators who get impounded is that after an impound, they do not commit the offense again and they take steps to regain and keep their licenses," said Robert Hood, criminal division chief in the Seattle city attorney's office. "In effect, impound has had a much greater effect on behavior than the threat or reality of a criminal conviction for the offense."

Seattle was the first city in Washington to implement the program, made possible by a 1998 state law, and has been followed by at least 23 other cities and counties.

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CALIFORNIA -- A tow-truck driver suffered fatal injuries yesterday when his truck rolled backward, knocked him down and ran over his head, authorities said.

The accident occurred in the parking lot of Master Automotive on Poway Road about 3:20 p.m.

The Poway Towing driver was identified as James Joseph Sullivan, 63, of Terilee Drive in Poway, a Medical Examiner's Office investigator said. Sullivan is survived by his wife, Sharon.

Sullivan was standing behind his truck after unhooking a customer's car. He had left his truck idling, and it rolled backward over him, the investigator said.

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Struggling Japanese truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd said Friday that partner General Motors Corp. will help it out by paying more for its engines, Reuters reported.

Isuzu President Yoshinori Ida, told Reuters that GM, which owns 49% of the firm, will pay 5% more for diesel engines it buys from Isuzu's Polish unit, which would boost its overall finances. The company also said that Friday that it expects to hit its forecasts for this business year.

This may effect the price of the Diesel chassis commonly used in the towing industry.

Still, Isuzu does expect its global vehicle production to drop 11% in 2002 to 404,500 vehicles, as sluggish sales in the United States and other markets continue to hurt the truck maker.

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WASHINGTON D.C. -- The city of Washington D.C. is still reeling from the aftermath of a police impounding scandal that occurred late last year.

The scandal involved corrupt police officers that used towing operators to unlawfully obtain cars.

In D.C., the police are responsible for notifying vehicle owners when a car is impounded. The towing company is not even allowed to have that private information.

In the scam, police officers would fail to notify vehicle owners in an attempt to drive up storage fees, and force the vehicles to auction. The police would then purchase the vehicle at auction.

But instead of dealing with it's own police corruption, the District has chosen to pass towing regulations to, as they put it, 'clean up the the city's towing industry'.

The ironic thing is the District's legal department has realized that it is against federal law to regulate the towing industry except for some narrow exceptions.

Now the city counsel is upset because the mayor, which jumped the gun with his towing regulation promise, cannot legally do anything.

The District wants new regulations that would require tow-truck drivers in the District to obtain special licenses. That way the city could effectively put a towing company out of business on a whim.

The District also wants to cap the amount towing operations can charge motorists, and set up a complaint board motorists can call if their car was parked illegally, and they want to complain that it was towed.

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WEST VIRGINIA -- Putnam County residents for the most part may choose the towing company they want after an accident, but the county dispatch center must operate by a three-company rotation list, at least for the next 90 days.

The County Commission voted 2-1 Thursday to limit dispatch calls to the three companies currently operating in the county.

In case of a highway hazard, the dispatcher or law enforcement officer has the authority to call the closest towing firm regardless of the vehicle owner preference or rotation list.

Commissioner Jim Caruthers sought to include Allstate Wrecker outside St. Albans in the county plan.

"I'm for Allstate coming in to be a full partner, part of the rotation," Caruthers said.

After the meeting he said the company, just a mile from the county line and two miles from the Interstate 64 interchange at St. Albans, has worked in Putnam County for years.

"They have the equipment for virtually anything we need. And their holding yard is not a problem in my county," Caruthers said. Commissioners have dealt in the past with neighbors' complaints about salvage yard noise and appearance.

But Putnam County wrecker services, which are not included in dispatches from emergency offices in neighboring counties, objected to including any out-of-county company on the list.

Cabell County won't include Hurricane Wrecker on its rotation even though it's just a mile from the county line, owner Wayne Lively told commissioners.

"The wrecker business is different from other businesses," Lively said. A wrecker service, which deals mainly with misfortunes, can't increase its business with special sales, he pointed out.

"Keep in mind we are the ones who live in the county, pay taxes, hire employees. . . . Why would we consider another out-of-county company?"

Chief Deputy John Dailey said storage of vehicles in out-of-county salvage yards becomes a problem if deputies later have to seek search warrants.

Getting a warrant from another county requires hours rather than the minutes to go to the judicial building behind the sheriff's office in Winfield.

The towing issue surfaced in part as a result of 2001 legislation directing local officials to set up dispatch plans and maintain records.

Dispatch records showed that Hurricane Wrecker has handled 65 percent to 85 percent of calls because I-64 was in its territory, Emergency Services Director Tom Barton said. Under the new system started Wednesday, dispatchers will rotate calls on I-64 from the Teays Valley/Winfield interchange to the St. Albans interchange.

Barton is to report back to the commission in 90 days on the operation of the system, developed after meetings with the companies.

In other business Thursday, commissioners discussed at length a proposal to change scheduling for paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The plan requires a change in hourly wages opposed by employees. Commissioners postponed a decision. (Evadna Bartlett - Charlotte Daily Mail)

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Two International heavy-duty trucks are on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall list of motor vehicle and equipment for October 2001.

The 2001-model International 4300 and International 4400 on the list were manufactured between October 2000 and September 2001.

NHTSA says a computer glitch can cause circuits that control the low and high beam headlights to fuse or open. Towers could be left without functioning low or high beam headlights. A headlight fusing condition could occur without warning to the driver and potentially leave the driver in a blackout situation while operating the vehicle at night, according to NHTSA.

The recall affects nearly 14,000 trucks. Under federal law, safety problems have to be remedied without cost to consumers. Manufacturers are required to mail a recall notice to all purchasers when problems occur, and they suggest owner wait until they receive notification from the manufacturer before contacting dealer to schedule repair work.

Owner notification began Oct. 12, 2001 and owners who do not receive the free repairs within a reasonable time should contact International at (800) 448-7825. The NHTSA recall number is 01V315 and the International recall number is 01514.

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A class-action lawsuit filed this week by two men who say they are victims of a D.C. towing scam has angered some of the owners and operators of some of the towing operations named in the suit.

The plaintiffs, Robert Snowder and Jeffrey Schroeder, accuse several licensed towing companies of working secretly with D.C. police to illegally confiscate cars and charge grossly excessive storage fees to unsuspecting motorists.

Terrence Ross, the owner of R&R Towing and Recovering, one of seven companies named in the suit, said he runs a clean business and the lawsuit filed Tuesday "doesn't stand a chance" against his operation.

Mr. Ross told The Washington Times he's tired of being accused of conspiring with police to deceive people by not notifying them when their vehicle has been impounded.

"It's a lie," he said. "These people are getting out their side of the story and you haven't heard our side of the story."

The men's lawyer, Philip Friedman, says tow companies and D.C. police have repeatedly violated regulations concerning how a vehicle may be towed and when an owner must be notified that his vehicle has been impounded.

The District's statute for impounding vehicles (Title 18 of the D.C. Municipal Code, Regulation 2421.2) is not specific about how much time the city has to notify the owner. The statute reads: "It is the duty of the Police or the Department of Public Works to notify the owner of the vehicle as soon as practical."

Mr. Snowder says he got the runaround from city agencies last year after his car was stolen. The car was recovered within days, but he claims he was not notified for more than two months.

By that time, he says, he received a call from R&R Towing and Recovery notifying him that his vehicle could be found in R&R's impound lot, but the company wanted $1,700 to release the car. Mr. Snowder says he complained, nothing happened and eventually, he gave up and paid up.

But Mr. Ross, who owns R&R, says that's a lie. "The towing and storage was $1,700, but I cut that in half because it took me a month to find them and they were so upset about it."

Mr. Ross says he feels like he is the one who's been slighted because it is not even his responsibility to contact the owners of a car brought to his impound lot at the request of D.C. police.

"It does not make sense that D.C. police can recover a $100,000 Mercedes and put it in my possession and because of the privacy act, I can't obtain a name and address and telephone number of the owner," he said. "I don't know why D.C. police never notified [Mr. Snowder]."

Mr. Ross says that from the information police "finally" gave him after he demanded a license plate check on Mr. Snowder's car, he "personally went to the address and he didn't even live there."

The other towing companies named in the lawsuit are: Farco Towing Company, Abe's Towing Inc., Towing By Trip Inc., Perry's Towing and Storage, Wisconsin Avenue Sunoco Inc. and Precision Towing Inc.

A spokesman at Perry's Towing declined to comment on the lawsuit when a reporter contacted him by telephone yesterday. The other towing operations all said people in charge were unavailable for comment. (Washington Times)

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Two victims of the D.C. towing scam filed a class-action lawsuit yesterday against D.C. police and seven of the city's licensed towing operators, seeking to recover, what they call, exorbitant impound and towing fees paid by unsuspecting motorists.

ITOW first reported on the towing scandal in August after the D.C. Inspector General's Office uncovered a scheme in which corrupt police officers used towing companies to illegally confiscate cars and charge victims grossly excessive storage fees.

The plaintiffs, Robert Snowder and Jeffrey Schroeder, contend that police and towing companies have repeatedly engaged in deceptive and unfair practices by not following existing regulations concerning how a vehicle may be towed and when an owner must be notified that his vehicle has been impounded.

"We're trying to reclaim the thousands and thousands of dollars taken from D.C. residents in towing scams," said the men's lawyer, Phillip Friedman. "The bottom line is either the towing operator is removing a vehicle without police authorization or the police have failed to fulfill their statutory obligations to notify the vehicle owner."

D.C. police spokesman Anthony O'Leary said the District's statute for impounding vehicles (Title 18 of the D.C. Municipal Code, Regulation 2421.2) is not specific about how much time the city has to notify the owner.

The statute reads: "It is the duty of the Police or the Department of Public Works to notify the owner of the vehicle as soon as practical."

Mr. Snowder got the runaround from city agencies last year after his car was stolen. The car was recovered within days, but he wasn't notified for more than two months. By that time, the impound lot wanted $1,700 to release his car.

He complained, nothing happened and eventually, he gave up and paid up. "I tried every remedy that a D.C. citizen would and talked to every person I could," Mr. Snowder said.

He said he compiled a logbook of names and numbers of people he called in the Metropolitan Police Department and the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. "They would not even return phone calls when they said they would," Mr. Snowder said.

Mr. Friedman believes this story is common among D.C. residents. "Bob's situation is what we think is typical of what's happened to a lot of people," he said.

This is not the first time problems with the District's towing operations have come under fire. A confidential report filed last summer by the office of D.C. Inspector General Charles C. Maddox detailed some of the clandestine operations engaged in by the police and towing companies.

The report, obtained by The Times, made it clear that Mr. Snowder's experience was not an isolated incident, citing several cases of police officers using tow companies to confiscate legally parked autos without any record or notification.

The following D.C. towing companies are named in the civil action lawsuit: R&R Towing and Recovery, Farco Towing Company, Abe's Towing Inc., Towing By Trip Inc., Perry's Towing and Storage, Wisconsin Avenue Sunoco Inc. and Precision Towing Inc.

Gary Perry, owner of Perry's Towing and Storage, said his towing company operates under an informal agreement with the D.C. police.

"We are on the D.C. police rotation. It goes by alphabetical order, and whoever is available for a traffic accident or stolen car or whatever, gets the call," Mr. Perry said. He added that he is not sure how his company could be involved in the lawsuit.

"I would need to know specifically what they are suing for and why but I don't know what it could be about," he said. (Washington Times)

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Ford Motor Co. has unveiled a larger-than-life-sized take on Hasbro Inc.'s Tonka truck at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Reuters reported.

The canary-yellow Mighty F-350 prototype pickup is based on Hasbro's toy truck, first sold in 1947, which was a very popular toy during the 1950s and 1960s. It is still sold worldwide.

Ford said the truck's prototype, 6-litre, 350 horsepower diesel engine, coupled with a five-speed automatic transmission, offers better fuel economy than any other V-8 diesel truck engines.

The Tonka features Hydraulic Launch Assist, the HLA system, currently under research, is designed to improve fuel economy in large trucks by an estimated 25 to 35 percent in city driving.

A reversible pump/motor attached to the driveshaft through a clutch system and an energy storage module work in tandem with the traditional powertrain. The HLA system recovers energy normally lost during vehicle deceleration, stores it in the form of hydraulic pressure and then reuses it during acceleration.

The Mighty F-350 TONKA concept truck features several technologies designed to deliver value and convenience.

The truck’s vehicle’s air suspension – with sophisticated air springs replacing the conventional rear leaf and front coil springs – enables a "kneeling" function to ease entry and exit and assists in loading the truck bed. As the doors are opened, the Mighty F-350 lowers five inches and the running boards deploy. The truck reverts to its raised position once the doors are closed.

A camera-operated lane departure warning system helps keep the driver alert by emitting a soft audible sound signal if the vehicle unintentionally drifts outside of the lane. Additional cameras mounted within the bed help the driver monitor truck-to-trailer coupling, as well as reversing.

The Mighty F-350 TONKA concept also marks the debut of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) in headlamp application, introducing new opportunities for advanced lighting technology. High intensity LED lights are featured prominently throughout the vehicle’s interior and exterior: in low beam and fog lamps and in all of the signal lights, including rear combination lamps, the center high-mounted stop light, front turn signals, and marker lights.

This advanced lighting technology can deliver better distributedbetter-distributed illumination on the road than conventional halogen lights, as well as providing a means to reduce electrical power and emissions. While halogen bulbs take a fraction of a second to respond to an electrical input, LEDs respond instantly, giving valuable extra warning time for following traffic.

LEDs also are very efficient, using up to 50 percent less electricity than halogen lights. With thinner packaging than conventional lights, LEDs offer weight savings, create new possibilities for signature lighting, and allow for more flexibility in design.

Picture 1 - Picture 2 - Picture3 - Picture4

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UTAH -- Orem police officers responded to a burglary about 4:00 a.m., Saturday at the Crestview Service Station on State street. 

Officers found the window to the business smashed out and an ATM machine stolen from inside the business.

Video evidence shows a wrecker/tow-type truck with two occupants pulled up to the business at about the time of the burglary. The video also shows the truck leaving.

Police are yet to make any arrests in the case.

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MICHIGAN -- A Crawford County man who has been implicated in the Shane Piehl murder, was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison Monday for taking $150,000 from the owner of a Grayling towing company.

According to police, Michael Patrick Bergan, 40, took the money in July from two fire-safe boxes in the home of the towing company owner, who he was related to by marriage.

The larceny over $20,000 conviction was unrelated to the murder case.

All but some $20,000 of the cash has been accounted for, state police Detective Sgt. Tim Lenhard said. A restitution hearing will be held once the final amount has been determined.

Bergan purchased a motorcycle shortly after the theft. State police tracked him down in July at a hospital in Toledo, Ohio, after he was injured in a motorcycle crash. Bergan sat in a wheelchair in court Monday, telling Davis he suffers from nerve damage in his right leg and arm.

In October, Prosecutor John Huss said Bergan was a "chief suspect" in the death of Shane Piehl, 21, of Grayling. He has not been charged in the murder.

Piehl's fiancée, Amanda Moggo testified at a preliminary hearing for Randee Craig Johnson that her boyfriend was going to meet Bergan on May 29 to sell him some OxyContin, a highly addictive and powerful pain-relief medication. Piehl was found shot to death the next day near a two-track off Four Mile Road and I-75. Johnson has been charged with his murder and awaits trial.

Bergan did not address the court Monday, but did give a handwritten letter to Davis. After reading the letter, Davis said there were no other offenses being considered by the court Monday other than the larceny charge.

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FLORIDA -- In Plantation, a 17-year-old boy was hit by a Ford F-350 tow truck about 7 p.m. Monday night after he crossed Pine Island Road north of Gatehouse Road with a group of five friends.

Witnesses said the group was "horsing around" on the sidewalk, and he stepped back into the road.

"He just stepped back once, and that was it," said Ivelisse Herrera, whose 16-year-old son was with the teen. "He did like a cartwheel into the air, and then he rolled."

She and her husband, Moses Herrera, were standing outside the Newport at Jacaranda Apartments in the 600 block of South Pine Island Road watching the group cross the street.

"Everyone was laughing, and then this happened," Moses Herrera said. "It's like a bad nightmare."

Herrera ran to the teen after the accident. He said the boy was breathing hard, bleeding from the nose and mouth and had a hole in his throat. He was transported to Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale with severe injuries.

The tow-truck driver, Kelly P. Grimes, 25, of Lauderhill, seemed to have been going the speed limit of 45 mph, said Plantation police Sgt. Al Butler.

The investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed. The teen was not identified Monday night, and his condition was not known.

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WASHINGTON -- A 23 year old man got into a fight with 20 year old friend while attempting to pick-up a car Thursday at Eastgate Towing in Bellevue.

The fight started after the second man made a remark while both were trying to fix a flat tire on the impounded car in the tow yard.

Police were called to the scene, but no arrests were made.

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SOUTH CAROLINA -- The Rock Hill City Council will begin the process of requiring wrecker companies to have a "roll back," or flat bed, tow truck to remain on the city's rotation list.

City staff made the recommendation because they said there are increasing instances when a normal tow truck is not adequate for clearing traffic accidents.

The move, which will have to be voted on again before it is enacted, would also eliminate the exemption for wrecker services that are not located within city limits to be on the rotation list.

Rock Hill officials also took the first step Monday in clamping down on repeat offenders of the city's parking ordinance.

Soon, people who have a habit of racking up excessive parking tickets will be forced to either pay or walk because the city will begin "booting" their cars.

The city claims it has nearly $25,000 in outstanding parking tickets, with the majority of the offenses coming from about a dozen people.

Before the new ordinance is put in place, City Council members asked that staff members look into establishing a standard for when the device would be used, something Rock Hill Mayor Doug Echols felt was necessary.

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Volvo is creating separate divisions for each of its commercial truck brands: Volvo Trucks, Renault V.I. and Mack Trucks.

The company announced the restructuring will give the brands more distinct identities and operations, and will save money.

Jorma Halonen, president of Volvo Trucks and chairman of Volvo Trucks North America, and Philippe Mellier, president of Renault V.I., will report to Leif Johansson and will be members of the Volvo Group executive committee.

Michel Gigou, president of Volvo Trucks North America, will become chairman of Mack Trucks and a member of the Volvo Group executive committee, and will also report to Leif Johansson.

Paul Vikner, president of Mack Trucks, will report to Michel Gigou; and Tryggve Sthen, president of Global Trucks, will continue to serve on the Volvo Group executive committee.

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Diesel prices hovered around a two-year low Jan. 7 despite pledges by oil producers to reduce production.

For a second straight week diesel prices stayed around $1.17 per gallon nationally, according to the Department of Energy. Economists expect the price, up 3 cents from its two-year-low price of $1.14, to stay low until the second half of 2002, even though the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers have reduced production.

OPEC member countries and non-members like Mexico, Russia and the Netherlands have slashed production by nearly 2 million barrels of crude per day to help shore up prices. OPEC says it expects crude prices to reach $22 a barrel, $3 to $5 less than its target but nearly $5 more than what a barrel fetched before the move.

Prices for diesel are still at more than 35 cents below 2001 prices. “The current market is being driven by low demand,” said George Clemens, president of oil-gasoline.com. “Production would have to drop by more than 2.5 million barrels per day to bring supply in line with demand. The market should firm up in the third quarter, but I do not expect any significant increases in the price of oil this year.”

Crude oil traded lower Jan. 7, pulled down by falling heating oil prices. Predictions of a mild winter in the Northeast are pulling prices down, analysts said.

Diesel prices remained the cheapest in the South and the Midwest, with higher prices on the West Coast and in the Northeast. Diesel prices in California averaged around $1.30, for example.

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FLORIDA -- The city of Miami is improperly using its parking surcharge law to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who have had their cars towed to storage facilities within city limits, a lawsuit claims.

The suit, filed against the city last month by Fort Lauderdale resident Robert Jasinski, aims to eliminate the collection of the 20 percent surcharge on towed cars and get reimbursement for everyone who has paid it so far.

From the inception of the parking surcharge in September 1999 through this past November, the city has collected $513,168 from 10 tow companies, according to city records. The surcharge was approved by the Miami City Commission as part of an economic recovery plan to raise millions of dollars in parking revenue from people who commute to Miami for work.

Jasinski and lawyer Usher Bryn believe the surcharge on towed cars has affected more than 10,000 people, and they hope to get the suit certified as a class-action lawsuit.

"We want to put a stop to it," Jasinski said. "The city knew what they were doing was wrong and yet continued to do it."

Unlike a previous lawsuit that challenges the legality of the city's parking surcharge ordinance, Jasinski's lawsuit claims that the city is simply misinterpreting the law and applying it improperly.

City officials said they would respond in time to the suit. One official acknowledged that the issue depends on the interpretation of the ordinance.

The ordinance states that the city can collect a 20 percent tax for the sale, lease or rental of space at parking facilities within Miami that are "open for use to the general public."

Bryn argues that tow yards, often surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guarded by dogs, are not open for use to the "general public."

"Certainly a tow yard is not the equivalent of a parking lot," Bryn said Wednesday. "The question is why, then, would the city have turned to tow yards and suggest they're going to collect a surcharge on something clearly not open to the public?"

In a letter the city sent to Bryn in October 1999, the month after the surcharge was imposed, Assistant City Attorney Maria Chiaro wrote that tow companies were subject to the surcharge because they operate "a parking facility where vehicles belonging to the general public are parked and where the charges for the storage or parking are borne by the owners of the vehicles."

City Attorney Alejandro Vilarello could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Tow companies, which impound cars for a variety of reasons, pass the surcharge on to consumers.

Jasinski said he decided over the summer to file the lawsuit, after his stolen car was found by police and impounded by Downtown Towing Co. in the city. When Jasinski went to pick up his car, he had to pay $4 in addition to the $20 charged for one day of storage in the lot.

While it wasn't a lot of money, Jasinski said, he felt that he had not parked in the tow lot of his own will and should not have to pay the tax. Tow company owners agree.

Stanley Mykytka, owner of Ted and Stan's towing service, said that police -- not the public -- usually ask for cars to be towed.

"These are vehicles impounded because they've been stolen, someone has been arrested or they're improperly parked," Mykytka said. "I don't think the city should be charging the surcharge on impounded vehicles." (Oscar Corral - Miami Herald)

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FLORIDA -- The Interstate 95 "road rangers," the tow truck drivers who help stranded motorists change flat tires and jump-start dead batteries, now also will help keep traffic flowing around crashes on the crowded highway.

Friday, truck drivers from Palm Beach and Broward counties completed a course on working with police and fire-rescue paramedics at crashes.

The drivers were instructed on better ways to remove damaged cars from the roadway and close lanes near accidents to set up a safe area for emergency workers.

Often, the service patrol workers are at a wreck before police, so it just makes sense to expand their duties, said Ted Smith, a state traffic management consultant.

"It may seem like a simple thing, but there are lots of things that can go wrong," Smith said. "You can't take anything for granted working in traffic."

The training is part of a statewide effort to reduce the time that roads are closed after major crashes.

Highway congestion is a growing problem around the country and state transportation officials want to reduce the time drivers spend sitting in traffic.

A recurring theme during the two-day course was safety.

Little things count, such as walking sideways while setting up orange cones for a lane closure to keep one eye on oncoming cars, Smith said.

"We're trying to make the (crash) scene safer for everyone involved," he said. "Who can argue with safety?"

The state spends about $1 million a year to provide 24-hour motorist assistance on I-95 in Palm Beach County.

One of the goals is to prevent secondary crashes caused by rubber-neckers and motorists who refuse to slow down while passing an accident, said Warren Kelly, a supervisor with Lyons Towing, which contracts with the state to provide the service.

"People get hit just sitting on the side of the road," Kelly said. "The program has come a long way in the past few years and I think there's even more things we can do to help the flow of traffic."

Road ranger work can be deadly. Last month, a worker in Tampa was killed setting up traffic cones at a crash.

The rangers have no enforcement power, so occasionally they have to use friendly persuasion to get reluctant drivers to cooperate.

Ken Steiner, who's been patrolling I-95 in Palm Beach County for nine months, said he can attest to the dangers.

One time, Steiner said he had to dive over a waist-high wall to avoid getting hit by a driver who barreled through a barricade of orange cones.

"It's crazy out there," Steiner said. "Even with our (flashing) lights on, some people don't see us." (Chuck McGinness - Palm Beach Post)

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ILLINOIS -- A tow truck driver and towing business owner who had been abducted from a Humboldt Park auto repair shop were found dead with gunshot wounds under a West Side viaduct Friday, Chicago police said.

A truck driver discovered the naked bodies of Jaime Flores Sr., 47, and Rene Tapia, in his 30s, in a vacant lot under a railroad viaduct near Kenton Avenue and Kinzie Street, police said.

On Saturday, the Cook County medical examiner's office ruled the deaths were homicides. Flores died of multiple gunshot wounds and Tapia from multiple stab and gunshot wounds, a spokesman said.

Flores was the owner of Economy Auto, in the 1500 block of North Lawndale Avenue, and Tapia was the shop's tow-truck driver. Both lived in Northlake.

Police said four to five men armed with handguns bound, gagged and blindfolded Flores and Tapia about noon Thursday at the shop.

The men also pistol-whipped two other employees and locked one in a closet.

After taking an unknown amount of money from the shop, the men loaded Flores and Tapia into what police described as a green Chevrolet van with a white pinstripe, tinted windows, new Illinois plates and some front-end body damage.

Although the shop was robbed, police said they believe other motives may have inspired the abduction and shooting.

"It seems like the two were targeted," said Sgt. Mark Hawkins of the Harrison Area Violent Crimes Unit.

"It seems to be something beyond a simple robbery or random stickup. They took them out and shot them--that is not what you normally do in a regular robbery," Hawkins said.

Flores' son, Jaime Jr., said his father opened the repair shop in 1983 after working for several years as a forklift driver for Vienna Beef in Chicago. A Mexican immigrant, Flores grew up in Texas and moved to Chicago in the mid-1970s.

His son said that other than an attempted break-in a few years ago, the shop had no history of crime.

The two injured employees were treated at Norwegian American Hospital and released. (Thanks Ken)

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ILLINOIS -- If the past year was big for ethanol, 2002 may be the year biodiesel moves into the fast lane.

Biodiesel is a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel fuel that reduces engine emissions. It will help in finding use for the glut of soybean oil presently on the market.

As a renewable fuel, it’s been in the shadow of ethanol, the corn-based fuel, but biodiesel showed signs of stepping out on its own in 2001.

"The growth over the last few years has been tremendous. In 1999, we produced 500,000 gallons of biodiesel. In 2001, we produced 25 million gallons," said Judd Hulting, domestic marketing manager for the Illinois Soybean Association in Bloomington.

Biodiesel is sold to three basic markets, Hulting said. "Our three audiences are farmers, municipal fleets and over-the-road trucks," he said.

The over-the-road trucking market is a huge one, using 35 billion gallons of diesel fuel a year, he said.

But to crack that market, biodiesel has to drop in price. Currently the B2 blend (diesel fuel with 2 percent vegetable oil) adds 3 to 5 cents a gallon to the cost of diesel while B20 is 15 to 20 cents more a gallon.

But help may be coming from Washington. Legislation could reduce the federal tax on biodiesel as well as establish a timetable for increases in renewable fuel use, he said.

Congress may require that all motor vehicle fuel sold in the United States contain a minimum amount of renewable fuel. "That would be huge," said Hulting of how the legislation would impact biodiesel.

But other things are happening on the renewable fuel front.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s emission standards for new trucks and buses will take effect in 2007.

An agency-mandated reduction in sulfur in diesel fuel (in 2006) should spur a boom in the biodiesel market, said Joe Jobe, executive director of the National Biodiesel Board in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Some fleets aren’t waiting for regulations to take effect.

"After Sept. 11, we had a trucking firm call who asked, ‘What can I do?'" said Mark Dehner, market manager for Growmark Inc., a farm supply cooperative in Bloomington.

"Sept. 11 spurred people to be more cognizant of what’s going on. People around the country decided that if we can grow it (fuel) here, let’s do it. Let’s have more control over our own destiny," he said.

Growmark rolled out its own homegrown fuel campaign in November, providing ethanol and biodiesel to farmer members throughout the Midwest, Dehner said.

The terrorist attacks triggered "an emotional reaction" by customers who wanted to use homegrown fuels, said Chris Miller, spokesman for World Energy in Chelsea, Mass., the nation’s largest supplier of biodiesel.

The movement towards biodiesel is good news for soybean farmers, said Brad Glenn of Stanford, president of the Illinois Soybean Association.

"In 2001 we saw a lot of great things happen. About 15 states - even Hawaii - passed some sort of tax enhancement for biodiesel last year. Unfortunately, Illinois wasn’t one of them. Hopefully, we’ll see success in 2002," he said.

Glenn said education and distribution are the two biggest needs for a surge in the use of the renewable fuel. "We don’t have the terminal distribution that ethanol presently enjoys," he said.

Two Illinois bus fleets recently conducted tests with biodiesel, said Hulting of trials at Illinois Swallow Co., Champaign, and the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District.

"The fleet managers said it worked great but it comes back to cost. When your’re buying thousands of gallons of fuel, every penny counts," Hulting said.

But fleets that have to meet stringent federal guidelines remain a target market for biodiesel, he said. Transit systems in Cincinnati and Kansas City recently announced plans to use biodiesel in some buses. (Steve Tarter - The Journal Star)

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CALIFORNIA -- A ghostly thick fog caused so many wrecks that a staging area was set up for tow trucks, which waited like taxi cabs at a hotel for their chance to be sent off to remove a vehicle.

The fog on Highway 58 at Highway 223, 18 miles south of Bakersfield, set a slick stage for chain-reaction wrecks Thursday morning that killed one man, injured 15 and left nearly 60 vehicles with crunched metal.

In the dozen or so clustered collisions over a milelong stretch of the four-lane highway miraculous luck let one man in a severely squished car walk away with only a dislocated left elbow.

The day was marked with strenuous rescue work, heroic actions, humor and the innocence of a child asking when Jesus was going to come to take away the dead man.

Tempers also flared over the inconvenience of the closure of a highway in the eastbound lanes for about eight hours, detours that added hours to trips and other trips cut short with wrecked vehicles.

The cause for the crashes: "driving too fast for conditions," California Highway Patrol Officer Mack Wimbish said simply.

It took more than four hours for a team of highway patrol officers to determine the extent of the wreckage.

Tow trucks finally removed 55 vehicles from the eastbound lanes and four from the westbound lanes. A sports car in the westbound lane ran into a fire truck, but the driver was not injured, Wimbish said.

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A Virginia company claims it has developed a new anti-snow de-icing substance that clears road surfaces in 20 minutes and keeps them clear for 10 to 14 days.

Bare Ground, based in Colonial Heights, VA, said its product is an all-natural grain liquid that dissolves away snow and ice by simply spraying or pouring it on a road or sidewalk with almost any garden-type sprayer. Once applied, the substance quickly spreads out beneath snow and ice, breaking and melting its bond to the surface.

The company said the product is environmentally safe, biodegradable and non-toxic. It can be used on any surface including rubber, roof shingles, slates, wood, brick or new concrete. It can be mixed with water and applied to trees and shrubs to prevent excessive ice build-up, the company said. The product is being marketed through TechnoScout, a division of Virginia-based TechnoBrands Inc.

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The price of gasoline fell below a dollar-a-gallon in Southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona this week, according to the Weekend Gas Watch.

Compiled by the Automobile Club of Southern California, the Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline at popular destinations for driving trips.

While most tow trucks operate on diesel fuel, a large segment of commercial towing uses gasoline.

In the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, the average price in the week ended Jan. 4, is 99.2 cents per gallon, which is 2.2 cents below the price in the week ended Dec. 28. In San Diego, the price is $1.202, which is four-tenths of a cent lower than the previous week. The central coast saw the price fall 2.1 cents to $1.120.

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The high courts are growing weary of hearing the similar cases pleaded by tow operators nationwide. Their plea is that cities, municipalities, and state governments are in violation of federal law by regulating many aspects of the towing industry.

And since the Federal Government passed the ICC Termination Act of 1995 deregulating the towing industry, the high courts agree with the tow operators.

Many municipalities have ordinances and regulations that require a tow operator to have a special license, or restrict a tow operators fees or towing area. The Federal Court has found this to be illegal.   

The Supreme Court said Friday it would mediate the dispute between the tow-truck industry and cities that restrict towing charges and practices in an effort to alleviate the illegal regulation on the towing industry.

The case could have implications for tow operators nationwide, and a far-reaching ruling could restrict many other kinds of local regulations.

For more information go to www.itow.org/lawsuit/lawsuit.htm

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FLORIDA -- Since August, the state of Florida has used a random, computerized driver’s license exam system to make it more difficult for people to fraudulently obtain commercial drivers’ licenses.

The new system has a databank of 500 questions from which the computer randomly selects 50 questions, according to Sandra Lambert, Florida’s director of the division of drivers’ licenses. Tests for noncommercial licenses are also computerized, and Lambert said that although the results aren’t broken down by category, the outcome tells her a great deal.

“The failure rate is up 40 percent,” she said. “That indicates to me that a lot of cheating has gone on in the past. It’s a lot harder to pass now. The questions are selected randomly and there are never the same 50 questions on a test.”

Previously, the computerized tests were given in some cities in Florida but weren’t random tests. A year ago, the state contracted Florida State University to analyze its laws and tests, and determine what was needed. The test was revised and the Florida legislature appropriated money for the new testing procedure.

The computerized test is available in English and Spanish, and in three weeks it’ll be available in Russian. Presently, Russian and Polish CDL tests are given in printed form. (Donna Pierce - eTrucker)

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MAINE -- Driving in Portland will be a lot riskier for traffic scofflaws if the City Council embraces a proposal to let police impound or confiscate vehicles operated by people with suspended or revoked licenses.

The council's Public Safety Committee agreed Monday to consider Police Chief Michael Chitwood's call for a local crackdown on people who drive without valid licenses. Chitwood plans to submit a draft ordinance for committee review by next month and hopes to have it on the books as soon as possible.

Chitwood said the local ordinance will be modeled after a California law that allows police to impound vehicles for 30 days if the driver has a suspended license.

The California law also allows police to confiscate and auction off vehicles driven by repeat offenders. Maine has no law that lets police impound vehicles for an extended period of time or confiscate vehicles without a court hearing.

Chitwood said the ordinance is needed because repeat traffic offenders pose a significant public safety threat, especially drivers convicted of operating under the influence of alcohol, which carries an automatic license suspension.

If Chitwood is successful in winning support for his local ordinance, he hopes the state follows Portland's lead. Under Maine law, police may impound vehicles of OUI offenders for at least an eight-hour period, until towing and storage fees are paid. Maine police also may confiscate vehicles of repeat OUI offenders through a lengthy court process, during which an offender may continue driving without a license. As a result, the law is rarely applied, Chitwood said.

Under the California law, a vehicle may be impounded or confiscated regardless of who owns it, which poses a threat to family and friends of repeat offenders. The law holds vehicle owners responsible for ensuring that the person driving their vehicle has an active, valid license. Chitwood said he expects the Portland ordinance to carry the same consequences.

San Francisco impounds about 7,000 vehicles per year and collects $1.5 million in violator-paid administrative fees under the California law. Chitwood predicted that Portland would collect about $500,000 annually from an impoundment program.

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MICHIGAN -- The grace period is over and cars clogging Grand Rapid streets were towed away Wednesday.

Grand Rapids police say they towed 80 cars to impound lots for violating the city's odd/even parking ordinance.

Under the new rules, cars must be moved by 7 a.m. to the side of the street with even-numbered houses on even days. On odd-numbered days, cars must be moved to the odd-numbered side of the street by 7 a.m.

The new ordinance imposes the rules over a 24-hour period, while the old ordinance imposed the parking rule between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The law took effect Nov. 1, but police officers did not issue tickets until snow began accumulating, Capt. Reyes Carrasco said.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 violations were issued last week, he estimated. Before that, most violators found a warning tucked underneath their windshield wipers.

The rules were designed to allow snow plowing crews to clear both sides of a street during the winter months. The rules also are aimed at keeping narrow streets clear for emergency vehicles.

City commissioners adopted the new rules this fall in hopes of clearing up confusion about which day and what time of day the rules take effect.

Police targeted the south side of the city, but plan to move north within the next few days. Violators will face a $135 impound fee, as well as a $20-per day storage fee.

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Mexico reaffirmed Tuesday that it would join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' efforts to bolster lackluster oil prices by reducing its own exports by 100,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2002, news services reported.

The country's energy ministry said he was confident the cuts would achieve a balance between supply and demand, which will halt falling prices.

The price of crude oil impacts the price of diesel fuel and gasoline, and is therefore of crucial importance to the trucking industry.

Mexico's government relies on oil for more than a third of its income, and lower oil prices can force painful budget cuts, Reuters said.

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Tow Truck buyers may one day see the products of Tatra A.S., a truck manufacturer based in the Czech Republic, on North America roads after its acquisition by a Florida company that has ties to global conglomerate Terex Corp.

SDC International of Palm Beach, FL, completed the purchase of Tatra last week. The total cost of the acquisition was $32 million. Tatra, based in the town of Koprivnice, generated some $150 million in revenues in 2000, with after-tax profits of approximately $4 million in calendar year 2000. SDC expects Tatra to generate pre-tax earnings of $13 million in 2001.

SDC, which acquired 91.61% of Tatra from the Czech government, retains a controlling majority of 51% and has agreed to sell the remaining 40.61% of the outstanding Tatra shares to Terex, a strategic shareholder of SDC. The remaining shares of Tatra, approximating 8%, are publicly held. SDC said that Terex is also assisting in the financing of SDC's acquisition and the establishment of working capital credit facilities for Tatra.

SDC and Tatra plan to utilize Terex's extensive global network for Tatra's distribution. Terex has a worldwide network of dealers in over 1,000 locations in more than 60 countries. Terex also has a large presence in several specialty truck market niches in the United States, especially for utility vehicles, as it owns Telect, a U.S. company that makes truck-mounted aerial lift buckets, cranes and other products.

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MISSOURI -- Towing services throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area were swamped Wednesday with calls of icy accidents, KMBC 9 News' Peggy Breit reported.

By evening, the problem was long over, but earlier in the day when many people were going to work, the streets were slick with a dusting of snow.

Driving conditions were dangerous because of how the cold and road conditions merged, Breit reported.

"Just this little amount of snow, and then the cars driving over pack that down. … Combine that with the oil and things that are on the surface of the street right now, and it becomes just like ice," said Sgt. Randy Sims of the Kansas City, Mo., Police Traffic Department.

No where was this as evident as a multiple-car pileup on the Broadway Extension. Most involved in the accident said they didn't realize there was any danger until they crossed a bridge and it was too late.

"I had slowed down to a snail's pace because the car about 100 yards in front of me was sliding back and forth across the highway," wreck victim Mike Mehrhoff said. "I just put my brakes on lightly, and I just started hitting. I hit the side of the concrete … and it just popped my tire."

No one in that wreck was seriously hurt. None of the injuries from the many accidents Wednesday were serious or life-threatening, Breit reported.

Sims said the city's first bout with bad weather is a good time for drivers to think about safety.

"Wear your seat belt, drive at a slower speed that (is) conducive to the conditions of the roadway, and be attentive to your driving," Sims said. "Always expect someone else to maybe lose control of their car, and you might be able to take evasive action to avoid an accident."

There were dozens of collisions in the area Wednesday morning. Police in Overland Park, Kan., reported 41 weather-related traffic accidents Wednesday.

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FLORIDA -- Police are investigating the murder of a towing business employee in Hialeah tonight.

Detectives found the body of 63-year old Jose Santamaria inside his apartment at 1655 W. 56th St. where he was last seen Saturday afternoon entering his apartment complex.

He had been living at the complex for more than 10 years, and was friendly and well-liked.

Santamaria's co-workers at American Towing calling police after he did not report to work.

Investigators are not releasing any details about the case, but they do say the victim suffered a violent death.

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MICHIGAN -- OnStar Corp., the nation's leading telematics provider, today announced three service packages tailored to better meet the needs of OnStar's diverse subscriber base.

The packages - Safe & Sound, Directions & Connections, and Luxury & Leisure - go into effect in January 2002. They replace OnStar's current two-plan offering - Safety and Security and Premium -which had been in place since 1999.

OnStar currently has almost two million subscribers and is available on 36 General Motors vehicle models across all divisions, including Saturn. OnStar services also are available on the Acura RL sedan, and on the Lexus LS430 under the LexusLink name. In 2002, Audi, Subaru and Isuzu will add OnStar to several vehicle models.

OnStar's three packages offer additional benefits and flexibility, while the names better describe services available in each package.

Safe & Sound provides subscribers with the peace of mind that comes from OnStar core services, like automatic notification of air bag deployment, emergency services, remote door unlock, remote diagnostics, roadside assistance and much more. The package is available for $16.95 a month.

Subscribers who trust OnStar to guide them and direct them to over seven million points of interest will benefit from the Directions & Connections plan. This package offers subscribers the peace of mind services available in Safe & Sound, with the added benefit of route support, point of interest services and convenience services, such as hotel and restaurant reservations. The price is $34.95 a month.

In addition, OnStar becomes the first telematics provider to offer a new online concierge service for subscribers of these two new packages. This service provides information ranging from fine dining and nightclubs to fitness facilities and sporting event ticket sources. Both Safe & Sound and Directions & Connections subscribers will be able to access this new feature online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- at no additional charge.

"These new packages give our subscribers the ability to choose a package that better meets their lifestyle needs - with the additional unique benefit of an online concierge they can use from the office or the home -- whenever they need it," said Scott Kubicki, OnStar vice president of Core Services.

OnStar's third package, Luxury & Leisure, is designed for subscribers who want more personalized services. Luxury & Leisure, which Cadillac will be the first to offer as standard equipment, includes all of the services of Directions & Connections, with the addition of premier personal concierge services. Now, Luxury & Leisure subscribers can call on a concierge specialist who can provide services above and beyond simply making reservations, such as planning a birthday party or golf outing, finding a landscaping professional, or planning an exotic vacation getaway. In addition, Luxury & Leisure customers can also make requests to a concierge agent via e-mail and live chat rooms. Another new feature offered exclusively to Luxury & Leisure customers is e-mail reminder messaging, so you never have to forget that anniversary again. The Luxury & Leisure package will be offered standard to new buyers of most 2002 model year Cadillac models sold after January 1, 2002.

In addition, subscribers with 2001 and newer model year OnStar-equipped vehicles that subscribe to one of these new packages also have the capability for OnStar Personal Calling and Virtual Advisor. Personal Calling allows subscribers to make and receive hands-free calls from their OnStar system and Virtual Advisor is a location-enabled voice portal that allows subscribers to access personalized web-based information simply by pressing a button and using voice commands. Subscribers simply purchase Personal Calling minutes to use either service. There are no additional access fees or other charges.

All three packages go into effect January 1, 2002. OnStar will offer these packages to new subscribers and current subscribers at the time of renewal.

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After a 13-week decrease, U.S. diesel prices have rose for two weeks straight. The average cost of a gallon of diesel rose to $1.169 from $1.154 a week ago. But diesel prices continued to drop in the New England region, where it dropped from $1.294 to $1.289.

The largest increase was in California, where prices increased from $1.275 to $1.305. The other regions increased marginally. Diesel prices are down 35.3 cents per gallon compared to the same time last year, according to the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy.

At an emergency meeting Friday in Cairo, Egypt, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries confirmed an oil output reduction of 1.5 million barrels per day, which will last six months beginning Jan. 1, 2002, the Associated Press reported.

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