A critical problem during the shutdowns was that no one knew who started them or who was running them. There was no union involved, no one committee presenting a set of demands. Caught in a bind by rising fuel prices, owner/operators got restless last year; in December a brief but massive shutdown followed, with highway blockades and assorted acts of violence. The truckers said they were asking not just for fuel price rollbacks, but higher and more profitable weight, length and speed limits.

When the December shutdown produced nothing but spectacular headlines, the truckers again took matters into their own hands in February. Avoiding inflammatory blockading tactics for the most part now, the independents effectively shut down national trucking for over a week. Violence again attracted the media, but little discussion was present over specific issues of federal regulation. When the government responded with a 6-per-cent freight surcharge for regulated carriers, the strike began to collapse.

At this point, a great deal of confusion developed. It was painfully apparent that no one knew who spoke for the truckers, least of all the truckers themselves. While newspapers reported the shutdowns as over, many drivers were still holding out in truckstops, looking for greater concessions. Yet some returned to work immediately, snatching up loads untouched by the strikers.

Overdrive never did endorse the settlement of the strike. The 63-per-cent surcharge was insufficient to cover rising costs, and applied only to ICC-regulated carriers. Most independent drivers haul commodities exempt from ICC regulation and so received no benefit from the increase.

Parkhurst hedges somewhat on the exact role he and Overdrive played in the shutdowns. He does not see himself in any leadership position among truckers. In an interview last month, he said, "Truckers don't want somebody up there saying, 'Hey you're gonna do this or you're gonna do that,' so we've been very careful, in stating the facts, that we act as a funnel for all their problems and focus them as best we can. I suppose that there are some truckers that look upon us as being a leader or their leader. I don't. I just look on it as knowing more what's happening, or what should happen, than anybody else."

Overdrive got considerable criticism during the shutdowns and since from truckers who accused them of using the strike to boost their own sales. Parkhurst emphatically denies this, and claims in fact that over a hundred truck stops returned their newstand copies of the magazine in protest against its policies.

More problems came Parkhurst's way last spring, when, he says, the Justice Department attempted to seize all the records of the magazine. The reason given was to prevent another shutdown scheduled for the middle of May; but Parkhurst feels the attempt's real purpose was to discover sources used in an article detailing certain questionable connections between Attorney General William Saxbe and the Teamsters. Overdrive filed a countersuit against Saxbe alleging possible violations of Constitutional rights, and the case was dropped.

* * *

Dissatisfied by the settlement finally reached in the February shutdown, Overdrive magazine called for another one, to begin May 13. It was publicized in March, April and May editions of the magazine, and was to include demonstrations in Washington. Overdrive sent leaflets and newsletters to truck stops, and personally contacted truckers all across the country in an effort to gather support.

It was a bust. According to the newspapers, truck traffic remained virtually the same throughout the nation. No violence was reported, though Parkhurst claims there was some. And the demonstrations in Washington washed out.

Parkhurst holds the media largely to blame for the failure of the May shutdown, though he attributes it to other factors as well. Press coverage was limited, he says, because "there was no violence, or very little violence. There were no blockades, there was nothing for the press to look at. If you don't have something dramatic to focus a camera lens on, then nothing's going to happen."

Yet he claims that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of truckers quietly shut down their rigs for the two days. Besides the lack of press coverage, Parkhurst blames the strike's failure on lack of understanding and determination among truckers, and the fact that emotional and financial resources had been severely drained last winter.

Parkhurst refuses to discuss specifically plans for the near future. "We learned one lesson," he says. "Don't advertise what you're going to do in advance." Industry and produce warehouses were given ample time to stockpile supplies and thus offset the effects of any shortages, he says.

Overdrive has proposed some federal legislation that Parkhurst claims "would eliminate the need for any more shutdowns as far as the independent truckers go." The legislation is described in the July issue of Overdrive, which is dedicated to a "Truckers' Declaration of Independence." Briefly put, this legislation would allow independent owner/operators to compete for business with large trucking companies.

Under the present arrangement, they cannot. Interstate trucking is regulated by the ICC, which grants "operating rights" to carriers to haul certain commodities over certain routes. Independent operators have three options: they can haul "exempt" commodities, such as produce and cattle; they can lease their trucks to and drive for licensed carriers, thus virtually eliminating their independent status; or they can apply for operating rights.