SHEDD - U! G! L! Y! You ain't got no alibi - you're UGLY.

Yell this at the annual Central Linn FFA Alumni Ugly Truck Contest and here's what you might hear back: Rust! Primer! Duct tape! Gum! Ugly trucks are way more fun! We LOVE 'em!

Wayne Williams of Albany would be one of the loudest. So would his rig, a rusty, scratched-up 1960 Chevrolet Apache 10 that starts up with an earsplitting squeal.

Williams entered Saturday's contest at the Shedd Cafe, a fundraiser for the FFA alumni group, after coworkers at Concept Systems Inc. insisted.

They also traveled south with him for the contest. "Actually, we escorted him to make sure he'd make it," Steve Hills said.

"He barely made it over here," Elizabeth Hills said. "He can't go over 40 mph."

Williams bought the truck three months ago. He still has to think a minute to explain why.

"I like old rigs. They're more solid, they're easy to work on," he finally said. "These guys, you can whip out the old duct tape and chewing gum and baling wire, and away you go."

Or in Williams' case, it's a block of wood - set under the battery to keep it level - and a roll of toilet paper, which serves as the oil filter.

"To me, it's a great old beast," he said with a shrug. "They have personality."

No argument from Cody Griensewic of Tangent, who brought his 1976 Dodge.

The dirt-brown pickup leaks so much oil that it's shorted out two alternators, Griensewic said, but having been owned by three family members since it was purchased new, it's practically an heirloom now.

The driver's side is caved in from a wreck Griensewic's sister-in-law had a year and a half ago.

Nobody bothered to pound it out, however. "'Cause if you look over here on the passenger side," Griensewic said, pointing at a nearly identical dent, "that's what Uncle Eddie did."

This year's contest offered a new category for children's toys. Parker Harris, 2, of Halsey won the first-place trophy for his well-used John Deere ride-on toy.

Cole Goracke, 2, of Shedd took second with a battered blue Tonka with a bent wheel that used to belong to his father, Dave. Connor Mier, 4, of Shedd, received third for a small dune buggy, and Cole's sister, Claira, 4, took fourth with her pink tricycle.

Organizers also created a new rule this year: All the big-boy trucks had to arrive under their own power.

That left Sheri and Aart Falk of Shedd with just one entry, a two-tone brown and white Ford F50. "The other one wouldn't start this morning," Sheri said with a sigh. "You know how it is."

Bob Gallagher does. He made it down from Keizer in last year's winner - the lime-green Dodge covered with deck paint and sporting a fire-breathing skull, among other personal touches - but that was as far as the truck would go.

"I'm hoping to get a jump start so I can leave here," he said.

The results of the competition will be published in Monday's edition of the Democrat-Herald.