[Home]
help  contacts  suggestions  print  e-mail   save 
To use the advanced features of abf.com -> Logon | Register | Benefits
Online Tools
About ABF Services Coverage eCommerce Resource Center
  
About ABF
Company Profile
News
2010
2009
2008
2007
November 8, 2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
Industry
Employee
Press Room
Awards & Accolades
Success Stories
Contacts
Job Opportunities
More Online Tools...

'Bring It Home' Campaign to Culminate with Arrival of Marshals Artifacts

(FORT SMITH, Ark., November 8, 2007) — ABF Freight System, Inc.®, is transporting artifacts bound for the planned U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The shipment is scheduled to arrive at noon for a riverside ceremony on the future site of the museum.

The U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the host city for the agency's new museum in January after receiving recommendations from a 10-person museum committee that had been studying the issue for the past two years. The city’s campaign to secure the museum used the slogan, “Bring It Home.”

When the selection committee visited Fort Smith, ABF® pledged to donate its transportation services to relocate the artifacts to Fort Smith. “We asked the selection committee to let ABF ‘bring it home’ where it belongs,” said ABF President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Davidson, a member of the Marshals Museum Board. “ABF is proud to be actively involved in the many communities we serve through our corporate efforts as well as the individual involvement of our 13,000 employees.”

The Marshals Museum will be constructed in Fort Smith at North B Street and Clayton Expressway on property donated by the Robbie Westphal Family. Fort Smith also is home to the Fort Smith National Historic Site featuring the courtroom and gallows of Federal Judge Isaac C. Parker. Dispensing justice for western Arkansas and what is now Oklahoma from 1875 to 1896, Parker became known as the “Hanging Judge” for the stern justice he handed out to those who came before his court. Typically, the accused were brought there by the U.S. marshals and deputy marshals.

“Efforts by the Fort Smith community and the State of Arkansas to establish the U.S. Marshals Museum will move closer to fruition today when those ABF trailers cross the bridge into downtown Fort Smith,” says Dr. Sandi Sanders, Marshals Museum project director. “A marching band, cheerleaders, and a host of dignitaries, including the Fort Smith mayor, members of the United States Marshal Service, and members of the Marshals Museum Board of Directors, will greet the trucks as they complete the journey from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Fort Smith.”

Sanders says artifacts for the planned U.S. Marshals Museum will be stored by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism until the building is complete. “The museum will provide an interactive experience for visitors utilizing historical artifacts, various types of technology and special exhibits to honor America's oldest federal law enforcement agency. The museum also will serve as an educational center and memorialize the Marshals Service's past, present, and future law enforcement roles,” says Sanders.

Established in 1923, ABF is best-in-class for safety, security, technology and freight-handling. InformationWeek, CIO, InfoWorld, and BtoB magazines have cited ABF’s strategic use of information technology as exemplary. ABF is the only five-time winner of the American Trucking Associations President’s Trophy for Safety and the only four-time winner of the Excellence in Security Award. ABF also is the only carrier to earn both the Excellence in Claims/Loss Prevention Award and the Excellence in Security Award in the same year, which ABF accomplished twice.

ABF provides guaranteed service for expedited or time-definite shipments via its TimeKeeper® service. Regional shipments are handled via the carrier’s RPM® Network, providing next-day and second-day shipping. The ABF system stretches throughout North America, with local service centers serving all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Guam and Puerto Rico. Globally, the carrier serves 250 ports in more than 130 countries.

ABF is the largest subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation (Nasdaq: ABFS).

Contact: Mr. Danny Loe, director of marketing & public relations
Telephone: (479) 785-8803

All Rights Reserved | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy