It has been my custom for many years to use the first column of the fall to discuss changes, changes in my life, changes in Truck News, and changes in life in general.

Last issue I was prepared for that column, but I ended up writing a new one due to the loss of a close friend.

At that point I was thinking that for the first time in history I actually had a column written ahead of time, one in the bank so to speak.

Alas, that has proven not to be the case.

Maybe I should have checked out my topic “changes” before I developed that sense of false security.

The changes in the last 30 days have rendered my last column obsolete.

Thirty days ago we did not have a lunatic running amoc in the Washington D.C. area, a sniper who kills from a long distance, what appears to be totally random victims, without at this moment any definable motive.

This strikes me as one of the most horrible acts of terrorism I can imagine.

What must it be like to live under these conditions?

Terrified to go to work, terrified to send your children to school, to pick up groceries, to fill up your car, to step outside – it must be hell on earth.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of the U.S. war on terrorism as it prepares for a possible invasion of Iraq.

I wonder if the civilians there will feel fears similar to those in the D.C. area.

Obviously there is no comparison of motives for the acts which create terror for the innocents in these two areas – justified or not the results will still be horrible.

Is there no other way to get Saddam?

In light of such horror and such potential horror the lines in my original column appear to be almost trite.

I was writing of the coming changes of the leaves, the changes in my home life.

Not that I might not consider these changes of personal importance, its just that in the great scheme they pall.

Another change that in the great scheme might not register, yet personally I am happy to note is that with the departure of editor John Curran, I can introduce James Menzies, editor of Truck West as our guest columnist in the editor’s slot.

I like his style.

Since the only guarantee I can count on is change, I pray that in the short time gap between my writing and your reading the lunatic in the States is caught and in the near future the Saddam issue is resolved.