Arrow Driver Goes Missing; Web Site Rumors Put to Rest

Further events in Arrow Trucking's demise have unfolded, including news that a driver has gone missing since ditching his truck on Christmas and the confirmation that the company is not hiring drivers

, as its web site would lead us to believe.

Tulsa World reports that driver John Eischens has been missing since abandoning his truck at a Montana truckstop Christmas day. An effort to find Eischens is being organized by "Support for Stranded Arrow Trucking Drivers." The group told the World that Eischens' last two paychecks bounced and advances were cut off a week before Arrow suspended operations.

The carrier suddenly ceased operations on Dec. 21, laying off all 1,400 employees without notice, after its main creditor froze the company's fuel credit cards and operating capital. Headquarters, phones and the company's web site were all shut down. Many drivers were left stranded, and a class action lawsuit has been filed on their behalf.

Eischens, one of these stranded drivers, called his mother 19 days before he went missing, asking for a bus ticket home, the World reported. His mother encouraged him to tough it out and convinced him that the trucking company would pay him what they owed.

"John only worked for them for about a month," Marie AuBuchon told the publication. AuBuchon is a driver and a member of the effort to find him. "He would have had no money for food or shelter."

According to the publication, Eischens was not driving a Freightliner or Kenworth truck, Daimler said, and Navistar would not comment on whether he drove an International. When the company initially suspended operations, the two offered drivers a bus ticket home or $200 in cash.

Separately, Arrow's web page was resurrected this week, after being unavailable when operations were shut down. The resurrected site has had many in the industry questioning whether the company was going to survive and was still hiring drivers at a new pay rate. The Tulsa World put the rumors to rest after talking with the lawyer of Arrow Chairwoman Carol Pielsticker. James M. Sturdivant told the publication that the carrier was not hiring drivers and that the company has no rolling stock.

Meanwhile, a Cleveland County District Court recalled bench warrants against Arrow executives Doug Pielsticker, former CEO, and Carol Pielsticker, who failed to appear at a court hearing related to its failure to make payments on a lawsuit settlement, the World reports.

According to the paper, the bench warrants were issued Dec. 29 and received by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office about 2 p.m. Monday.

The hearing the two failed to appear at was related to Arrow's failure to make payments on a settlement in a civil lawsuit. The case involved an intoxicated Arrow driver causing a fatal accident in 2006. According to the World, Arrow was late on the first payment (due in August) and defaulted on the second.