Montgomery County residents are used to the sound of truck drivers blowing their horns on the Capital Beltway, and -- some have said -- of State's Attorney Doug Gansler blowing his own.

Now the truckers and Gansler are together at last.

The big-rig drivers will have a chance to hear Gansler blow his horn at the American Trucking Associations' Security Forum 2003 on Nov. 11 and 12 at the Adams Mark Hotel in San Antonio, Texas.

Gansler will speak about minimum sentencing in cargo theft cases, a big problem for the trucking industry, said Don L. Rondeau, an Aspen Hill resident and director for claims and security with the ATA's Safety and Loss Prevention Management Council.

"We know for a fact that organized crime has entered into wholesale theft of cargo," said Rondeau, who praised Gansler for getting involved in the controversial issue after the ATA approached him.

"I know Doug Gansler for his dogged support of certain issues and I know the public's perception of public officials who speak to the media a lot," Rondeau said. "Whatever people may think of him, he should be praised for stepping into the ring at a personal risk to him and his career."

We are abashed.

-- Sean R. Sedam