Up Front- Echo
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- Created: 01.25.2024
Shannon Newton
President, ATA
The first few weeks of a new year, we’re all speaking our resolutions into the universe. We name what we care about, what we’re working on, the word that summarizes our aspirations, the problems we want to solve and the kind of people we want to be.
A lot of those visions and nice ideas will be abandoned by February. But sometimes, we keep repeating them. Bravely shouting into the void, “This still matters,” until our voices are hoarse.
In trucking, we’ve been resolving to address the workforce shortage and lack of safe, accessible truck parking for years. We talk about it regularly at meetings and over coffee. We pull up to roundtables and panels to share our experiences in hopes of compelling action. We tell researchers who literally publish a list of our top concerns that local and national media report to our audiences. We call on legislators in Arkansas or we get on an airplane and visit those in D.C. to tell them what we need to do our jobs better and safer.
We keep vocalizing what we are striving for. We make noise, because in some spaces—the angles, the distance, the textures--that noise is reflected.
And we hear echoes.
When the sound waves reflect off surfaces, it bounces back, repeating our message. And each bounce adds to the echo, finding new surfaces.
This year, we have had the opportunity to hear our resolutions echoed back in spaces where real change happens.
The Last Word
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- Created: 01.25.2024
Freight, Fights and Federal Halls
By Michelle Hanby
On Nov. 14, 2023 I had the pleasure of joining Arkansas Trucking Association’s president, Shannon Newton, and ten others from the industry, for ATA’s Call on Washington. It was my first time attending, and it did not disappoint.
The Hill was alive with activity: the House had been without a speaker for weeks, voting was going on and the hallways were a flurry with staffers coming and going, tension between Israel and Hamas was escalating, and protests were popping up across the city. On the afternoon we landed, one senator even challenged the Teamsters’ president to a fist fight.
We walked what seemed like miles through the tunnels and hallways—between meetings with Arkansas’ delegation. I have never considered myself star-struck, but it’s hard not to be in awe seeing the faces and offices of those who make the laws for our country.
To be honest, though, I never considered myself political. I have voted in nearly every election I was eligible for, but if the candidate I voted for didn’t win then I certainly didn’t lose sleep over it. I’m terribly embarrassed to admit this, but, until the last several years, I believed it really didn’t matter that much.
Arkansas Trucking Association Adds New Role, Hires Jordan Welch
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- Created: 01.23.2024
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. – The Arkansas Trucking Association is pleased to announce that Jordan Welch has joined the organization as finance coordinator. Jordan will support the ATA Self Insurers' Fund for workers’ compensation insurance as well as support other financial aspects of organizational management.
ATA president Shannon Newton said, "We're excited to add Jordan to our team. She brings a skill set that will serve our Fund members well, while allowing our organization to improve our efforts to promote and protect the entire trucking industry in Arkansas.”
Trucks deliver a Candyland Christmas for Arkansas children in foster care
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- Created: 12.01.2023
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. – Project Zero and Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will be partnering with trucking to deliver Christmas for children and teens in foster care across Arkansas.
Over the past few weeks, individuals and businesses adopted wish lists of children in foster care. Today, Friday, Dec. 1, at Project Zero’s “North Pole” at EngageMed in North Little Rock, community volunteers will organize, sort and load the donated gifts onto trucks to be delivered to Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, in preparation for tomorrow’s Candyland Christmas.