American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
Trucks, Training, and Trial Attorneys: A Tower's Tale
When safety laws exist but aren't enforced, what's the real value of having them? This pressing question emerges during our enlightening conversation with Jared Varnado, fourth-generation tower and president of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana.
The harsh reality facing roadside workers becomes clear as Jared reveals disturbing statistics – only 56 Move Over citations issued in his area this year despite multiple industry workers being struck on roadsides. This enforcement gap represents a widespread problem facing first responders nationwide, where laws exist on paper but offer little real-world protection to those working vulnerable roadside positions.
Louisiana towers face additional challenges with crushing insurance costs reaching $40,000-$70,000 per truck annually, driven largely by predatory lawsuit practices and insurance companies that find settlement cheaper than defense. These astronomical premiums, combined with regulated non-consensual towing rates, create a nearly impossible business environment where companies cannot pass costs to consumers through appropriate rate adjustments.
Yet amid these challenges, signs of adaptation and progress emerge. The state association has strategically partnered with Traxero for paperwork processing, freeing resources for advocacy work. Jared's company demonstrates forward-thinking investment with a new twin-steer 50-ton rotator and refurbished 25-ton truck, positioning themselves for expanded opportunities as Baton Rouge police shift to a rotation system after 20 years of single-company service.
Throughout our conversation runs a consistent thread – the critical importance of ongoing training in an evolving industry. With vehicles and equipment changing rapidly, even experienced operators need regular education to maintain safety and effectiveness. The upcoming ATRI training sessions in Lake Charles this November represent the industry's commitment to professionalism despite difficult circumstances.
What challenges does your towing operation face with road safety enforcement? Share your experiences and join the conversation about how we can better protect those who protect our roadways.
you're on the train to success with april and wes wilburn. I'm dj harrington, the co-host, better known as the toe doctor. We're all on our way to the town of proper towing and recovery, along with our producer, chuck camp, in the studio. Don't go to the town of woulda. Coulda, shoulda. You coulda had done this. You should have done that. Listen every week to thought-provoking wisdom from great guests. So if you have Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia or the number one podcast, or maybe Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts, turn in on Wednesday and be turned on all week long. If you are a state association and want your announcements or upcoming state association news, announcements or upcoming state association news or maybe a show that's coming up, let us know. Our podcast studio phone number is 706 409 5603. I'm proud to be part of a great team at the American Dorm Recovery Institute. Let's make 2025 our best year ever. I will turn it to April Loomis.
Speaker 3:As always, dj, thank you for your kind words. Certainly appreciate them so how are you? Doing today, dj, excellent, excellent, excellent. So I guess you had a good 4th of July, great 4th of July.
Speaker 1:Great Fourth of July. The twins had their 12th birthday. So that was wonderful. So Grandpa's happy, the grandchildren are happy and everything's good.
Speaker 3:Boy. That's good to hear. Abel, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing really well too, you know, trying to get through this very hot weather, but as far as the courts in Georgia and in North Carolina this time of the year. But we're doing great. We're doing great here.
Speaker 3:So we just got back from a class in St Louis. We had a good class out there light duty and a heavy duty, got to do a little team networking with some of the team out there, so feeling really good about our visit out to St Louis.
Speaker 2:And that's our new home base.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely. We looked at some property that looks like where the permanent training facility is going to be, although nothing's in concrete yet, but they're definitely moving forward, so we're excited about that as well. Jt taught most of the heavy duty class. I assisted with some of it did a great job. He's really coming along great as an instructor. We did the testing. Each student individually tested and operated the equipment. So, yeah, we're feeling real good about the trip out to St Louis.
Speaker 2:Well, I know that you were in St Louis and I stayed back here at the office. I'm sure the weather was much, much cooler there, wasn't it Les?
Speaker 3:No, it was warm there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the whole country is kind of easing.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We're going to be out in Medford, oregon, in July, on the 18th for a one-day light duty class and the 19th and the 20th for a tone and recovery heavy duty class. That's July 19th and 20th and then September, the first weekend there. September 6th and 7th we're going to be in Indianapolis for a two-day heavy duty, october 3rd to the 5th. We're going to be in Buffalo, new York. Myself and JT will be there with a surprise instructor for an extreme heavy-duty class, going to do some heavy winching. Then we'll be at the Tennessee Toe Show the 9th and the 10th for a two-day heavy-duty toe and recovery class. Weekend.
Speaker 3:After that, woffco Towing Lake Station, indiana, october 17th and 18th and then we'll be first weekend of November. We're going to be down in Enterprise, alabama. One day light duty on November 7th, two day heavy duty on November 8th and 9th. Then we'll be in Lake Charles, louisiana, working with the Tone Recovery Professional of Louisiana. We'll be there November 15th for a one-day light duty, november 16th for a one-day heavy duty and then we'll be rounding out the year it looks like in Florida April, florida and Florida, and that'll be the first weekend of December.
Speaker 2:Yeah, December's probably on a bad time of the year to go to Florida.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the schedule's working out pretty good this year following the weather. So of course we're appreciative of all the different folks that are hosting some of these classes and putting in the hard work to make them come together. We have some more stuff we're confirming and we'll get on the schedule as well. We're certainly excited about the training schedule that's going on strong this year and it's very exciting to see you guys. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:I think it's great. More and more people are wanting to train their people and get safety put back in their thinking and their culture.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Kind of following the weather here a little bit. I'm going to just take this one moment to mention Kerr County Tech Group, because over the weekend, when a lot of us were having our 4th of July weekend because the 4th was Friday so we we carried it on, but Americans do Texas was waking up to one what they call a 100-year flood, and that part of Texas really got the car and because they weren't expecting it and the waters were so much quicker, there is, as there right now, over 80 deaths.
Speaker 3:It's a horrible story. We pray for everybody involved, especially the girls' camp.
Speaker 2:And the first responders who are going out there too, and some of them are at a loss of life with that too yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're all members of the community. The community has to deal with such, so, from our family, we're praying for everybody involved in Texas and beyond. With that being said, we're going to take a short break. We've got a great interview right after the break.
Speaker 4:TRAA, the Injured Drivers Fund and legislation that makes all of us safer are what makes this industry special. Ina Towing supports all of this and more. When there is a need, gay Rochester is always one of the first to come forward and ask how can I help? The American Towing and Recovery Institute is honored to have the support of the INA Towing Network. Together, we all make a difference. Ina Towing Network simplified solutions, superior service.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Of course, you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the towing industry Towing News Now Channel. I want to remind all our listeners that we're available on any source you have. Make sure you download and listen. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia or wherever you get your podcasts. So I want to thank all of you for listening and, april, I'm going to turn it over to you because this will be a great one.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's always a great one. Dj Harrington is on the mic with us, DJ.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:And, dj, you know something I realized today. We have Jared Barnadot with us back again. He's been a guest numerous times and one of the very few only guest hosts.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of the very few. When Wes has had something else to do, he's stepped in and done the interviews, and we're honored to have Jared. Barnadot with us.
Speaker 5:Hey Jared how are you?
Speaker 2:doing today? I'm doing great, April. How are you?
Speaker 5:I'm fantastic, jared. Why don't you introduce yourself to everybody again? Hey everybody, I'm Jared Varnadoe, owner of Varnadoe Sons Tone and Recovery. I'm also president of Tone and Recovery Professionals of Louisiana, and so I'm a busy person. How are y'all?
Speaker 3:Doing great. Jared, Tell us a little bit about your company, how y'all started, a little bit about your history and where you guys are now. Just to give our listeners a little perspective of who's talking to them.
Speaker 5:Okay, so for those of you that haven't heard our previous podcast, my grandfather started our company in 1957 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and since then I am third generation of the family business and we now have a fourth generation working for us Wow, we have a four-generation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to let you finish it out. Just one second though, but on the fourth generation, who named the uh, fourth generation addition to this?
Speaker 5:so we have a diesel and automotive repair facility as well as a towing service, and um the fourth generation would be. My cousin and two of his children are now helping run the automotive service. Unfortunately, my little ones are too small to drive tow trucks, even though they think they can.
Speaker 3:Well, time will tell. With that, go ahead and finish your tow truck. You want to go Please?
Speaker 5:So we are a towing service in Denham Springs, louisiana. We started in Baton Rouge and we expanded to Denham Springs in 1992. And since then we're just continuously growing.
Speaker 3:Well, good, good. I want to talk a little bit about the association, but you mentioned Denim Springs. We made national news the other day with the tractor trailer hitting a guy in the utility bucket truck.
Speaker 5:Yes, we did.
Speaker 3:You were nearby when that happened, huh.
Speaker 5:I actually was. I was trying to get on the interstate when it happened was, I was, uh, trying to get on the interstate when, when it happened, um, and so the situation was dot is installing some monitors. Uh, I don't know if y'all have them in y'all's area, but they're starting to introduce a blinking caution left turn light to help mitigate some of the traffic flow, and so they have to install the monitors to read the traffic, to see how long, you know all the timing and through the light cycles and everything. So they were installing the monitors. The bucket truck was on the shoulder, with the shoulder coned off. They were reached over the lane, which was an open lane of traffic, a flag man with no flags that was not flagging traffic and three other people sitting in a truck behind the bucket truck that couldn't see traffic.
Speaker 5:As y'all have seen, the 18-wheeler was taking a left-hand turn, headed to the pilot truck stop that's just south of the interstate truck stop that's just south of the interstate. And, um, you know, it didn't didn't notice that the bucket was hanging lower than he should have. Um, you know, as a truck driver, I kind of view that, as your got was at fault. You know I do put some fault on the driver, saying you know he should have been aware of his surroundings and paying attention that it was a guy running towards the intersection trying to get his attention. But ultimately the guy in the bucket took the brunt of the injury. I don't think he was injured. I did see him up walking around after they got him out of the bucket.
Speaker 3:Yeah, according to the news report, saw he wasn't injured uh or minor injury to some of that effect yeah that was a, that was a close call, wasn't?
Speaker 5:it. Oh, thank god he was wearing his harness. Uh, it was. I mean, it was a terrible accident.
Speaker 3:It could have been much worse that's right and you're right about he had proper personal protection equipment for that job and it saved his life on that day. You're absolutely right about that. Anyway, I digress.
Speaker 2:But also just to show you how safety is important in what we do definitely All locations, but all across the board. One person was very, very safe, and that's probably why he didn't get injured as badly, and another person wasn't as diligent in what he was doing.
Speaker 5:Right, he wasn't aware of his surroundings.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyway, I digress. Let's go back to the association. What's going on with Tone of Recovery? Professionals of Louisiana.
Speaker 5:Well, tone of Recovery Professionals of Louisiana has been a little quiet lately. It's partly my fault. I, unfortunately, unfortunately, am still in the truck every day due to trying to find qualified staff, but earlier in the year. So, as you well know, we were the one of the first associations maybe the first association to process paperwork through Office of Motor Vehicle and we did that for a very long time. We were the only company for many, many years. And I want to say in the early 2000s Southern I think it's Southern Information it was a division of Roadrunner Tolling in Baton Rouge Opened their own paperwork process and then Tolling, which is now Traxero, opened their paperwork process and so we continued on through many, many years and just started crunching the numbers.
Speaker 5:And we were approached by Traxero to buy us out. And we crunched the numbers and just realized like hey, this is not really as profitable as it should be and it's more of a hindrance on the association than it is profit. So we came to an agreement and merged with Trexera. So they handle our paperwork process now and they are a large supporter of the association now. So that's as far as that. That's the big news.
Speaker 5:Boy, that sounds like a powerful partnership it is it is it is going smoothly, um, and and it was just our software um was becoming out of date. Trying to find a software company that wanted to write it, we tried three separate ones. Um, you know, either they would get involved and say they're not interested, or they would want to large sum of money that we couldn't come up with. And so it was just it worked out for the best. Um, there was some members that were a little upset because, I mean, we had a personal service that we provided that no other could Um, but you know, as times change, you have to move forward and figure out what's profitable. So the association can direct its energy to fighting for the industry instead of being in the paperwork business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, change is not always easy, especially when you're a little not in my age, you're probably a little bit older. Sometimes that change is not comfortable Right With the day and age, and AI is going to be a prevalent thing in the next few years. It's better to kind of adapt as much as we can right now.
Speaker 3:Right, so that's got to be exciting, that it's a better situation for everybody involved.
Speaker 2:What's going on?
Speaker 3:with the association. I guess the legislative session for this year is it completed. What's going on with that?
Speaker 5:They're trying to call for a special session for some more bills, but I think overall GRPL didn't have any specific bills that we were able to bring to the capital this year. We had tried to we're still battling the overweight over axle issue at the scale house and so we worked with DOT again this year. Unfortunately, they didn't deliver their format until a week after the deadline to turn anything in, without any chance of us reviewing it. So we said no, let's put it off and we'll revisit it. Lnta and they were very diligent about getting some bills passed through legislation to try and reduce insurance costs.
Speaker 5:We have a huge issue in Louisiana with insurance with the amount of trial attorneys that are standing on big trucks advertising, you know, and just really being predatorial of taking advantage of the insurance companies. The insurance companies really don't want to fight back. It's easier for them just to write a check and pass the spending on to us. It's been a huge, huge fight. I've talked to some members that have had to close their doors down side of their fleet or whatever. You're talking upwards of $50,000 to $70,000 a truck for some companies.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's not to be passed on to the consumer.
Speaker 5:Well, unfortunately, in Louisiana for non-consensual toes we are regulated. So we've got adjoining states that have minimal or no regulations and they're getting a large sum of money for a recovery and where we do the same recovery and we're getting a quarter of it, and so it's a real difficult business to be in in Louisiana right now. But there's light at the end of the tunnel. We got a lot of bills passed that I think within the next three to five years we're going to see some significant changes and we're not stopping there. Every year we're going to continue to bring more. So the other issues that we're battling with at TRPL, trying to fight for the industry is slowdown. Move over is not enforced in Louisiana.
Speaker 3:You know you're right. That's such an important point. So many states do the same thing. We need to cut for a quick break, but can you come back after the break and expand on that for us, Jared? Absolutely.
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Speaker 1:So I want to remind all of you. One time when you heard Jared, we had 7,000 listeners. We are over 20,000 listeners now. So I want to thank all of you. On behalf of Wes, jared, april, myself, I want to thank you because this is really heaven Over 20,000 listeners every week is wonderful. Remember to like, review and share everywhere. If you want to hear another industry expert like Jared, by all means dial the hotline number here in the podcast center 706-409-5603. And we will do our best to get them on the podcast. And you know they may not be fourth generation, but we'll get some of these people on that you would like to hear. So, without further ado, let me send you back to April Wilburn. April, you got it.
Speaker 2:EJ, I had no idea that we reached that milestone of 20,000. That's incredible. I've only been with you guys as far as being one of the co-hosts for the last few months, so I can't take credit for a lot of it. But who can't take credit for it? Are all of our great guests that we've had, are all of our great guests that we've had. And right now with us we do have Jared Varnadoe, who's continuing a discussion that we're having about the move over slowdown laws and how, unfortunately, they're not as enforced in many states as they should be, and Jared was talking about how his state hasn't really enforced it either. Jared, welcome back.
Speaker 5:Thank you, april. So before the break we were discussing the slowdown moveover law and I actually did some research and just in my area, which the state police has the state cut up in different areas they call troop areas. I'm in the troop A area which covers Livingston, parish East, baton Rouge, parish West, baton Rouge, parish Gonzalez, so it's a pretty large area. So I did some research and reached out to state police and the sheriff's office and local police departments and sadly, out of everybody that was only in the year 2024, there was only 56 citations written in the Troop A area for slowdown moveover and we have had, I want to say, three people hit four people in the last two years because of people not slowing down, moving over. That's just tow truck operators, that's not including police officers, firemen, you know, and construction workers.
Speaker 2:It's like you know, yeah, that's the side the road, doing whatever they're doing. Let me ask you said 56 citations in in that, when you were looking that stuff up with 56 citations, how many actual people were hit on the side of the road or vehicles hit on the side of the road? Did that come up in your investigation?
Speaker 5:No, I wasn't privy to that information.
Speaker 2:Okay, your investigation. No I wasn't privy to that information, okay.
Speaker 5:Very interesting, though I know there's way more than that, obviously, absolutely Um and, and so what I've um done is reach out and ask around and beg for help and this and that. So I actually am going before a board in September or October I haven't got the date yet. They believe that they. So in Louisiana we have a seatbelt grant, so they the federal government, gives the municipalities money for advertisement. They have to advertise 30 days before they start enforcing it, but they believe that they can add, slowdown, move over under that grant to get some money for advertisement and awareness, and so I believe next year we shall see some proactive policing, I guess you could say, to help combat that, because it's truly sad.
Speaker 5:I mean my guys and everybody in the stone industry work on the side of the road all day, every day, and it's disheartening for the amount of people that just disregard people. And it's not just tow trucks, I mean all, all first responders in general or, like you said, construction workers, or we tow for a company that does sweeps to interstate and it seems like every time they do a job, somebody runs in the back of one of their crash trucks, and it's just people don't pay attention, they're too busy looking at their phone or not worried about their surroundings, or you know, wherever they've got to go is more important than the next person.
Speaker 2:I always say it's rude, but it's not even rude, because rude is like an intention. It's more that we just don't. We're not aware of other people in the world.
Speaker 2:When I was a little girl and I was in the car with my mom, we would be going down the road and not nearly the amount of traffic that we have these days when there was something on the side of the road. If she could move over she would get in a dozen lane, but she at least slowed down. And she did that not to make sure the person on the side of the road was safe. Maybe she did consider that, but she also didn't want to hit them and hurt us. So she exampled that. We've seen that and instinctively, as I became older and I started driving, I did the same thing because it was a normal thing for me. I don't know how normal it is now to actually like just see something and say, hey, let me be a little bit cognizant of what's happening here, and at least it's nothing else. Slowing down, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's like changing lanes is inconvenient for people these days.
Speaker 2:Changing lanes, and if you can't, you can't because of the, but you can at least slow down a little bit and maybe give an enter to that to the person on the side of the road. As far as your towing association and as far as this Move Over Slow Down law, are you networking with other towing associations, other state towing associations?
Speaker 5:I have not. I've tried my best to reach out. I speak to Texas and Mississippi and Arkansas pretty regularly just to kind of see what's going on there and just to stay in touch with our neighboring states. But it seems like we all have the same problem it's nobody really wants to take us seriously, Unfortunately. The associations all struggle with funding and to get anybody's attention you've got to have lobbyists, You've got to have legislation on know legislation on your side, and they just look at us like, oh, it's just tow truck drivers and nobody really seems to take us seriously.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is a fact. I think a lot of people do look at us like we're just tow truck operators and let us not do this job for one day and see how bad the roads get. You know that's never going to happen. Job for one day and see how bad the roads get, you know that's never happened. Well, we would never do that. But if it did, um, I I don't know if the opinion of us would change, but definitely would, I think, make people look at us a little bit differently.
Speaker 2:I agree all right, all right, um. So what else do you have going on in your state?
Speaker 5:So you know I said we had some legislation to lower insurance. I'm working with the association to try and get some you know awareness to slow down, move over. We've got the overweight bill and we've got some things coming down the pipe, uh, through state police who enforces towing. That uh, there's a lot of companies that are coming here due to insurance being high and registering their vehicles in other states. In Louisiana to operate a tow truck intrastate you have to be registered as a Louisiana tow truck and for years they've been getting away with it and state police is cracking down pretty substantially and the Towing Association kind of had to take a stance and support them Because those of us that are running legal we're having to know $40,000 a year for insurance per truck and you know they're getting away with you know $5,000 a truck or cheaper, and they're running for the roadside assistance.
Speaker 5:And I actually had a talk with the Lieutenant of Tilling Recovery the other day and I said I don't understand how and I'm just going to throw the name out of Jero is a big problem they hire anybody to tow. I mean, uh, there was a guy that got stopped the other day. It was a pickup truck and a trailer and he's towing for Jero and I. Just you know, if somebody showed up at my house to tow my wife's vehicle with a pickup truck and trailer, I would tell them politely to leave. They don't have the proper insurance and they're not trained. It's a slap in the face for the towing industry.
Speaker 2:It's incredible. That's something to think about too. It's incredible how they don't make them at least show proof of like some kind of more than liability insurance.
Speaker 5:Oh, I agree.
Speaker 2:The basic recovery, the basic coverage of insurance.
Speaker 5:All the contracted companies that I work for require a minimum amount of insurance, and you have to provide that or they will not call you.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right, that's right. All right, we're going to go to a quick break.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Of course you know you're listening to the Towing News Channel and Jared has been great, april's been great, wes was here and Wes is still doing good. So let's do this. Let me bring us all back and thank you for telling your friends about the Towing News Channel. So, april, let me turn it over to you.
Speaker 2:AJ, thank you so much. Yeah, towing News Channel has really picked up. Dj just made the announcement today that we have 20,000 loyal listeners to us, and one of the reasons why we do is a gentleman by the name of Jared Barnadale, and we're coming back from this break to talk about Jared's new truck. Jared, I heard you, you got a new truck.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't have it yet.
Speaker 5:Ms April, but I did pull the trigger and order it. In January I ordered a twin-steer 50-ton with a knee boom rotator, so I'm pretty excited about that. That was a lifelong goal of me and my dad to always have one, and we kind of made it work and in January we ordered it. And there is another truck that I have built. We kind of recycled an old truck but it's turned out to be looked like an amazing truck. We had a in 1994.
Speaker 5:We built a brand new vulcan 2020, which is equivalent to the v50 now and um it was on a 86 model single axle, spring suspension, max, and it's been a an amazing truck for us through the years and it was just time to either rehome it or you know whatever we had to do. And I called I'll give a little plug to Conway at Texas Record Sales. He's been building our trucks since the 90s and I called him and said hey, man, what does this truck worth? You know I'm thinking about selling it. And he said well, before you sell it, I have acquired a brand new set of boxes that were ordered on, and so that started to build and so it should take. I think it should be ready in about two weeks.
Speaker 5:So I have a brand new Freightliner extended cab with a in-the-ditch 20,000-pound side puller and a 25-ton single axle with a tag that'll be here in two weeks and I think I'm more excited about it than I am the Rectator. It was an amazing truck then and it's going to be even more amazing now. You know, for years we were comfortable with our fleet and the size of it, and there's been some changes in the Baton Rouge area. Um, baton Rouge Police Department had a one company that took care of the whole city for 20 plus years and, um, as of yesterday, they went back to a rotation list and so we are going to be a lot busier, and there's five companies on the list, so they're definitely spreading the work around, which is what we've always asked for. It shouldn't be one company per city that large. So yeah, we're pretty excited to grow.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you did a lot of preparations for the potential and the possibility that we're going to come. You don't wait for the big thing to happen and then decide that you needed the truck. You got the truck knowing that you would use it, even if it wasn't for that rotation service. You would use it for something else.
Speaker 5:use it even if it wasn't for that rotation service, you would use it for something else. Yeah, I do a lot of crane work as well, and like that it just got to be um, I could see the need for it. Um, just the price was a little sticker shot, but it's, uh, it's with the everything growing the way it is and you know the new technology it's, it's difficult to do business without one these days really, and you can use those rotators for a lot of the train stuff that you do too absolutely
Speaker 2:yeah, well, that's great. Um, hopefully we'll be able to see it when we come to your place in november for our uh training. We're doing a one-day light duty and a one-day heavy duty. That's short of the 15th and 16th, which states those will follow on, but we're lining up for that too and we're going to be at your place to do that. So if you want to talk a little bit about that and what you think our plans are for it, so the training is actually going to be in Lake Charles at Elite Towing.
Speaker 5:Mr Adrian's facility is top notch and he has no problem hosting us and does well at it, so we're going to let him host it again this year. We're not dead set, but I believe on the 15th is going to be the heavy and the 16th is going to be light duty, and so we'll have JT and Wes and maybe you'll grace us with your presence this time this April.
Speaker 2:I think I might.
Speaker 5:We'd love to have you, and so we're excited about that. We try and at least have one training a year. I would like to move to two training a year, but in Louisiana it's difficult to get participation in these classes. There's still a lot of people that don't see the importance of training.
Speaker 2:And with the trucks that change, with the cars that change, with the tow trucks that change. Nothing is like it, even was five years ago.
Speaker 5:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So the 15th, we think, is going to be for the heavy duty and the 16th is going to be for the light duty. The two one-day classes, jp and Wes, are both looking forward to that. They've been to Adrienne's place at Lee Towing at least Wes has numerous times and Adrian has rolled out basically the red carpet for us and treated us so well. His facility is top notch. He does all the legwork and all the top work. That makes it easy to come in and do those classes.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and we get our insurance companies to help sponsor lunches and stuff like that. So we try, and you know, make the hospitality as best as we can, for you know a bunch of grumpy old tow truck drivers that are just trying to learn something.
Speaker 2:Well, we're in the South. The hospitality is, you know, an everyday occurrence, but you guys go above and beyond with that.
Speaker 5:We do our best.
Speaker 2:All right, Jared, it's been great having you here. Do you have any? Any closing thoughts or any last thoughts to impart with people?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I just want to say you know, if you're listening to this and you're in Louisiana and you're not part of the association and you've got some questions, feel free to contact me anytime. I'll give you my cell phone number, it's 225-620-7452. Or you can email me at Jared J-A-R-E-D M, as in Michael Varnado V-A-R-N-A-D-O at gmailcom, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. And if you're listening and you're part of a towing association in another state, I would love to hear from you. So please call me. You know I'm always available. So just whatever you can do to let's let's all work together and try and combat the issues that we have. And so, with that, I appreciate you all calling me and asking me to be on the podcast and look forward to seeing you all in November.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, all right, DJ, take us home.
Speaker 1:Well, April and Jared, you guys did excellent, Wes did excellent. I want to tell all of us our podcast will be done right after we'll hear it all right after the 4th of July. But a lot of times people all they think about is fireworks, parades, concerts, more casual family gatherings, you know, with barbecue. We're doing a barbecue ourselves. The 4th of July is Friday, the 4th, of course, and our podcast will be right out after that. So what?
Speaker 1:I want to remind all of you that the 4th of July is really the true Independence Day of America. Back in 1776, the American Revolution and some of you are saying, yeah, I heard that in my high school classes, but the Declaration of Independence was signed actually July 2nd and then it was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and then two days later they celebrated the birth of America. So that's where July 4th came from. So I want to thank all of you for listening. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and that safety was for everybody. And, Jared, I can't thank you enough. When Jared and I hosted the class April, we had like 7,000 listeners then. Now we've grown over 20,000. And it's because of people like Jared that has given so graciously of his time to help us grow this industry. So I thank everybody and April, I thank you and we'll see you all next on the Towing News Channel.