SHERWOOD HELPS IN FLOOD RELIEF
SEPTEMBER, 2005, BOGAL USA, LA….Although it's not exactly
in his congressional district, U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood,
R-Tunkhannock, made a house call of sorts to the Gulf
Coast area on Labor Day to give a hand to victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
Actually, he was part of a 3-tractor-trailer convoy
carrying 75,000 24-ounce bottles of water from his
district to the flood-ravaged area. Sherwood and Mark
Novitch, general manager of Sherwood Freightliner of
Dunmore, took turns driving one of the trucks headed to
Bogalusa, La., where they left the water early Monday
afternoon. The assignment all came about when Sherwood
got a call Saturday from Sandy Insalaco inquiring about
the possibility of cutting some red tape in shipping
water from Insalaco's subsidiary- Nature's Way Water
Co.- which bottles water for Starbucks under the Ethos'
label. He was told that Starbucks would provide water if
someone could find a way to get it to where it was most
needed.
Sherwood did more than cut tape. He said he personally
would help deliver it.
The congressman, who has had a commercial driver's
license for a couple of decades, said he had experience
with trucking and arranged to get tractor-trailers to
support the cause. In addition to the tractor from
Sherwood's own company, tractors were donated by Cecil
Kilmer of Glenwood Stone in Nicholson and Pat Healey of
Penn's Best in Meshoppen. Penn's Best also supplied
three trailers. Drivers making the roughly 20-hour trip
for the other two tractors were Steve Zawicki of
Factoryville, Wally Penny of Hop Bottom, Mark Harris of
Selinsgrove and Norm Salsman of Laceyville.
They all left Insalaco's Distribution Center in the
Grimes Industrial Park in Pittston Township around 2:30
p.m., Sunday. At 11 a.m., Monday, Sherwood said from the
cab of his rig that he was on Rt. 59 and had just
entered Mississippi. He said at that point, "It's not
the terrible devastation we've seen on TV," but went on
to say that trees were toppled all over the place, and
service stations were without gasoline, because of an
electricity outage. At 7 p.m., Monday, Sherwood was
already heading back north as he had to be back in
Washington by Tuesday afternoon. He said then that the
tractor-trailers would likely be back in northeastern
Pennsylvania by Wednesday, but may assist in movement of
other goods. He said that he and his fellow drivers were
lucky to locate a sheriff who could help them locate
enough diesel fuel to get the rigs out of the
flood-ravaged area
"Some houses were just smashed into pieces," Sherwood
said. "With power poles appearing to be just snapped in
half all along the roadside, it will be weeks before
this community gets power back on. It's just real bad."
Still, he said that when they got to Bogalusa, "The
people were so very appreciative just to get the water."
He said he was told that in Washington Parish (which
includes Bogalusa) the death toll was already 28 and it
was expected to rise after authorities finished going
door to door. He said Bogalusa was just a little bit
bigger than Tunkhannock Township and borough combined in
population size and had its own Wal-Mart and Rite Aid
Drug Store.
 SHERWOOD
GETS ISUZU FRANCHISE
MAY, 2004, SCRANTON PA…..General Motors Isuzu Commercial Trucks is
proud to announce that Sherwood Freightliner Sterling and Western Star, now
also doing business as Sherwood Isuzu Trucks, is the newest full franchise
dealer in North America. GMICT is headquartered in Cerritos, CA and sells
LCF (low cab forward) trucks in classes 3 through 8. Sherwood Freightliner,
Sterling, and Western Star purchased the Isuzu franchise from Sun Auto group
in Clarks Summit. Novitch is quoted as saying, "We will continue to service
and sell to the Sun customers and we want to grow the customer base by
providing strong support in sales, financing, service, and parts. All
departments are gearing up to help support customers today and in the
future." Mike Donaldson, Northeast Regional manager for GMICT, is quoted,
"We like what we see at Sherwood’s and look forward to doing a lot of
business with them and with Eastern Pennsylvania." Sherwood Isuzu Trucks
will be merged with the existing Sherwood Freightliner, Sterling and Western
Star dealership that is located on Monahan Avenue in Dunmore, Pa and will
have east access from I-380, I-84, I-476, and I-81 (exit 188). Sherwood's
hours of operation will be appealing to the Isuzu customers with the two
shifts Monday through Friday and a single shift on Saturday. A customer can
the use their truck all day and then drop it off so that Sherwood’s can
service it and have it ready for the customer the next day.
Sherwood's General Manager and Vice President, Mark Novitch is very excited
to have Isuzu trucks as a part of the business. He says it will be a
wonderful compliment to the lines they already sell. Isuzu trucks really rounds out
the product offerings at Sherwood Freightliner, Sterling, and Western Star.
With the scope of the vehicles supported at Sherwood's, a customer need only
stop once to fill his needs, no matter what size truck or job is required.
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