Carnival operator says vehicles targeted
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Bill Lowery said it’s no coincidence that two state troopers were stationed on Highway 22 Sunday when his carnival’s trucks pulled into town for the Freeborn County Fair.
He bets most of the 14 trucks inspected by the state patrol from noon to midnight in Freeborn County were associated with his carnival.
&uot;It’s kind of unfair to be sitting there and waiting for my trucks while letting other trucks pass by,&uot; he said.
He’d been warned by the previous carnival provider that state troopers target trucks carrying carnival equipment, but he didn’t believe it until Sunday, he said. And in 43 years working in carnivals, he’s never had a state agency focus on carnival trucks. He said that such treatment might discourage carnivals from coming to Freeborn County in the future.
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Sue Hackett, supervisor of the Southeast Region of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division, said although trucks hauling carnival equipment do get pulled over for inspections, they aren’t specifically targeted.
She said although commercial trucks are subject to random inspections, typically the State Patrol relies on probable cause &045; lights that don’t work, missing DOT numbers, bald tires or other visible problems. She said of the 14 trucks inspected on Sunday in Freeborn County from about noon to midnight, 12 were put out of service, and nine drivers not allowed to continue driving, two of whom were put in Freeborn County Jail.
Hackett didn’t have the specifics on what the violations were, or how many were carnival vehicles. She said drivers are supposed to check their vehicles every day.
Lowery said its not unusual for his trucks or an independent contractor’s truck to be pulled over for inspections, but he took issue with the volume and concentration on Sunday. Most of his violations were small, like brake problems, which he said required only a minor adjustment.
&uot;You can find something wrong in any vehicle you pull over if you look hard enough,&uot; he said.
He said all but one truck was back on the road after a few repairs, but he wished that the highway patrol had let his trucks pull into the fairgrounds. &uot;If they let us on the grounds, we could have set up while they inspected the trucks,&uot; he said.
He said he didn’t know of any illegal drivers in his company, although he said they could have been with the independent contractors who travel with the fair. He said that was the case with one of the men put in jail.
Larry Irvine, treasurer of the Freeborn County Fair, said based on what he saw Sunday night and on what witnesses have told him, it appears that the state patrol was targeting the carnival trucks. &uot;How are we supposed to know?&uot; he said.
He said that carnival trucks coming in and out of the fairgrounds started being inspected frequently a few years ago. It started after a truck belonging to the previous carnival company had an accident when its brakes failed.
&uot;I don’t have as much problem with our old carnival (being targeted) because there were safety issues there.&uot; But Irvine said that he thinks targeting with a new company is unfair.
But he added, &uot;I don’t want trucks coming into the community unsafe. If there’s something unsafe, they need to fix it,&uot; Irvine said.
Gary Sykes, the director for the Institute for Law Enforcement Administration in Dallas, said it is ethical for law-enforcement agencies to target certain businesses, as long as its because of a public safety concern, not a personal vendetta. He explained that law enforcement has descretion in enforcing certain regulations. He said that many carnival operations have &uot;shoestring budgets&uot; and sometimes cut corners, and in that respect can be a danger to public safety.
Lowery said he runs a safe operation and doesn’t think state troopers specifically target Lowery Carnivals. &uot;I think don’t think it was me, I think it just happened to be the carnival coming through to the Freeborn County Fair,&uot; he said.
He said state troopers were doing their jobs by inspecting vehicles and that he doesn’t want any animosity between him and the state patrol. After all, he has to pull his trucks back on to the interstate next week.
(Contact Tim Sturrock at tim.sturrock@albertleatribune.com or 379-3438.)