TRUCKERS NOT DEGENERATES

Editor:

I am a local logging truck driver from Telkwa. I have the most
dangerous job in British Columbia.

I sacrifice my family time, friends, social time and most everyday
things that people enjoy in a so-called normal day of work.And in the
last couple of years there has been a chance I will ultimately have to
sacrifice my life.And to have the WCB and the Ministry of Forests tell
me the reason why I may get killed is because I am a degenerate drug
addict, really sickens me.

This is the new reality for the men and women who have the same
profession as me.This is the reality in the new world environment of
big corporate mills and big corporate government.The reality is that
people are getting killed not because of drugs, but because of the
huge corporate giants that are the main employers in the north now.

These people do not care one wit about our communities or the people
that live in them, and they definetly do not care about the fact that
we are being killed on the backroads of this province. Now that they
found one I repeat one driver that has been killed with marijuana in
his system the blame can be foisted back onto the backs of the people
who live in your communities.People who coach your hockey teams,
donate their time to the community. Your friends and neighbours...the
vast majority of which have never even tried drugs let alone do them
on a regular basis.

Most of us are very proud of the way we do our jobs.and try to do them
as safely as we can.

But lately it's been harder and harder to do. There has been a push by
the big licencees in the last few years, aided by government policy,
to log as much as you can in a little time frame as possible.

Rates have been cut, trip times slashed, road maintenance lapsed...all
in the name of making profit for the shareholders.

In the meantime this has meant that we have had to work longer days,
pushing for extra loads, trying to make as much as we can in the short
season we have.Trying to make money in 15 hours that we used to make
in 12.

That is the reality of our existence, that is the root of the safety
issues here. And to have branches of our government blame it on drug
use infuriates me. Read between the lines people...talk to a trucker,
get their side of the story, come to your own conclusions...don't buy
into the mud being slung by our corporately-controlled government and
the CBC.

There is only one thing you have to remember, the mills are making
record profits, and we are dying in record numbers. And no amount of
drugs will warp that reality!

Rick Fuerst

Telkwa