Economic optimism and F-15 fighters both soar

There are more reasons for optimism about the economic outlook, supporting our call of a 3.5 percent pace of growth in the second half and a 3.5 percent to 4 percent gain in calendar year 2004.

Consumers are perking up amid tax cuts and a postwar loosening of the purse strings. June's strong retail sales gain wasn't a blip. Rather, it's a signal of better times to come.

Even manufacturing is showing strength earlier than expected ... two straight months of gains for the first time since last summer. -- Private newsletter

---

Rex Rust flew backseat in an F-15 fighter jet doing mock aerial combat with three other F-15 jets flying out of Lambert last week.

I was scheduled for the opportunity until they found out I was over 60. With G forces up to 8.5 it was probably a good thing I didn't fly.

I just finished Patty Wagstaff's biography featuring her three-time international acrobatic championship trophies over generally 130 other entries worldwide, male and female.

I've seen her air-show routines at the Fourth of July celebration in St. Louis. It's truly amazing.

I met her good friend and seven-time international acrobatic champion, Leo Laudenslager, in St. Louis and at one of the Cape Girardeau air shows.

Unfortunately, he was killed two years ago close to Nashville when someone crossed the center line and hit Leo and his motorcycle head on.

---

Elderly drivers, public safer in Missouri: By all accounts, Russell Weller didn't mean to plow through the farmers market in Santa Monica, Calif., killing 10 people and injuring dozens of others.

Police say the 86-year-old explained he didn't realize the street was closed for the popular biweekly outdoor market. Once he realized his mistake, Weller thinks he may have pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes to avoid hitting people. It was a deadly error in judgment.

The fundamental error in judgment was that Weller was behind the wheel at all.

His questionable ability to safely operate a vehicle goes back at least 10 years. That's when Weller accidentally crashed the very same Buick he was driving last week into a wall as he pulled up to a party.

People at the time played it off as a joke. Instead of laughing, someone should have tried to convince him it was time to quit driving.

Such conversations are never easy. Giving up driving means giving up independence, and many elderly people resist or refuse to acknowledge when it is time. Family members are reticent to press the issue. You can bet Weller's family and friends wish they had.

In Missouri, we are lucky to have a law that helps avoid such tragedies by making it easier to take the keys from people who shouldn't have them without painful or ineffective personal confrontations. Anyone can confidentially report a Missourian who they think shouldn't be driving by filling out a driver condition report. The reports go to the Department of Revenue, where they are vetted. If found legitimate, letters are sent to targeted drivers telling them they must take a written and road test. Drivers get three chances, and if they fail, their license is revoked.

The law is good because it doesn't include age limits. Dangerous drivers of any age can be reported and made to prove their competence.

Driver condition report forms can be obtained at driver's license offices or on-line at the Department of Revenue Web site under the driver's licensing section.

For the year ending June 30, 2003, the Department of Revenue sent 2,280 re-testing request letters, a healthy number that shows the law is working.

But there is room for better promotion of the law, especially among average citizens. About half of the letters sent by the department were in response to reports filed by driver's license bureaus; 649 came from law enforcement officers, and 322 from doctors and medical facilities.

Family members accounted for just 145 of the acted-on reports. Because of the general lack of publicity of the option and the restricted locations where driver condition reports can be picked up, people might not know about the option.

It is impossible to say how many incidents such as the one in Santa Monica have been averted thanks to Missouri's law. But with greater use, we can be sure there will be fewer still. -- Springfield News-Leader

---

About growing older: First, eventually you reach a point where you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.

Second, the older we get the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

Third, some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know why I look this way. I've traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren't paved.

Fourth, when you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of algebra.

Fifth, you know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

Sixth, I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

Seventh, one of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Eighth, one must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.

Ninth, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.

Tenth, long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And finally, if you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old. -- Will Rogers

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.