Oil Companies

Corn is not the answer to nations fuel woes To the editor: Recent letters to The Herald-Mail concerning the foolishness of corn-based ethanol were spot on. Corn-based ethanol is raising our food prices. Here are a few other problems it presents. It's a poor substitute for gasoline in many ways. It has a lower BTU content compared to gasoline, which means lower fuel mileage and it must be trucked for transport and not pipelined like gasoline. It's estimated it takes a gallon of fuel to produce 1.25 gallon of ethanol.

HAGERSTOWN Llew Browne drove from Hagerstown to Rockville, Md., on Sunday, but he said that if gas prices continue to climb, he might cut back on personal trips. "Not work, though," he said. "Nothing I can do about that. " He spent $31 Sunday to fill up the gas tank of his car at AC&T on Dual Highway in Hagerstown. He paid $2.49 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. The average price nationally Sunday for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.50, according to AAA data.

HAGERSTOWN karenh@herald-mail.com On one of the country's busiest travel days, Sharpsburg Pike Sunoco was nearly deserted. Business was light at the gas station across the street, too, and traffic on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown was steady. Inside Sharpsburg Pike Sunoco, the only person fuming about gas prices was owner Cliff Lapkoff. With gas prices soaring, people are not only filling their tanks less often, they also are putting off repairs and relying on plastic to pay the bills.

Gas prices rising By LAURA ERNDE laurae@herald-mail.com Brendan Rice filled up the gas tank of his shiny black pickup Thursday morning at 9. Five hours later, the 26-year-old Frederick, Md., man was back at the pumps to the tune of $9.25. continued "I don't have a choice. I gotta drive," said Rice, who had just topped off his tank at Sheetz in Hagerstown and was headed to Cincinnati, Ohio, to watch the New York Mets play baseball. Motorists in the Tri-State area are feeling the effects of leaping gas prices.

“I live in the county, but I do have my rights to express my opinion regarding the stadium in Hagerstown. The best way to revitalize downtown is to remove the present mayor and council and get a new council, a new mayor.” - Maugansville “Article about our current President Obama juggling between being presidential and campaigning. Wow, he's gonna try to be presidential, rather than being the campaign in chief, campaigner in chief that he's been for the last 3 1/2 years.

INWOOD, W.Va. - U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito and Anne Barth, her Democratic opponent in Tuesday's general election, responded to each other's negative campaign ads to kick off a forum Wednesday evening in Berkeley County that attracted more than 200 people to Musselman High School's auditorium. Capito, who is seeking her fifth term representing West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, is being challenged by Barth, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd. "I have served I think with great integrity in this office and I am very insulted really when I see an insinuation ... that my vote is for sale," Capito said when asked to respond to an ad that notes campaign contributions she received from "big oil" and her vote on subsidies benefiting the industry.

"To the person who wanted to know where the Kohl's store is going to be. It is going to be on Kohl Road, imagine that, next to Target behind Valley Mall. " - Hagerstown "There are people who keep putting in Mail Call that the county shouldn't have to pay for the city stuff. Why are the County Commissioners giving the city money for this and that? You see, to those who don't know, city residents pay county taxes also. That's right, we have to pay city and county taxes.