The Washington Times-Herald
One of the largest employers in Pike County is under new ownership as of midnight December 31, 2008. Elmer Buchta Trucking has been sold to Wright Family Investments of Evansville.
"The beautiful part of the deal is they bought it in its entirety. They are keeping the name and all the people. It will be business as usual," said Elmer Buchta Jr., who has been president of Buchta Trucking since 1979.
"I have been approached over the last few years by several people who were interested in purchasing the business. I was waiting for the right people who wanted to keep Buchta Trucking intact," said Buchta.
He said he didn't want to sell to another trucking company, fearing they would "gut it" of its assets and get rid of many of the people, the name, and move it out of Pike County.
Elmer Sr. started the business in 1937. Buchta said then it was primarily involved in moving houses and buildings. He started working at the business in 1977 and they started getting more into hauling coal after 31 years.
In 1979 he said they did $2 to $3 million in sales. This year they had "a little more than $60 million in sales" and have expanded to more than 500 employees.
"In the last four or five years we have had unbelievable growth. We have nearly doubled the size of the business," said Buchta.
Buchta said Roger Chickedantz, who has been vice-president of the company for the last 15 or so years has become President of Buchta Trucking.
"Customers and public will not see a difference. The name will stay the same, the business will continue as usual and the business and name should outlive me by several generations," said Buchta.
Ray Wright of Wright Family Investments confirmed they had purchased the business and that Chickedantz is the new president. However, he said they did not want to comment further until a later date about the sale.