Gas Pumps

The owner of an Elkridge delicatessen is fighting a plan to build a convenience store at a gas station across the street, saying it will drive him out of business."

AMOCO was the first major oil company to introduce environmentally friendly vapor recovery nozzles on its gasoline pumps. According to a recent news report, these "capture vapors through perforations near the tip and provide easier fueling than do regular nozzles." (It all has to do with reducing gasoline fumes, a major contributor to smog.)This "first" takes its place alongside many other firsts that Amoco originally introduced right here in Baltimore, where the company was founded by Louis Blaustein and his son, Jacob, in 1910.

Hey, NFL fans, are you ready for some … labor negotiations? Ready for a lockout and weeks and weeks of eye-glazing "news" about unions de-certifying and anti-trust violations and court rulings, and who wants what and what it all means? No, me either. But it sure looks as if it's coming. The big question to me is this: How can Joe Sixpack pick a side in this ridiculous fight between the league owners and players. Are you kidding? It's like rooting for Bank of America vs. Wells Fargo.

Getting To School SafelyAfter reading the editorial dated Jan. 27 ("Where School Responsibility Ends"), I feel that the writer has no real idea of what really goes on around the Old Mill High complex.As a parent of students who attend Old Mill High, I resent being labeled as "petrified." A better word would be "concerned" for all students. Why aren't the schools responsible for student safety? Especially since there are students being assaulted on school grounds and on designated sidewalks that lead to and from the school complex.

Rocking horses have been made for children for hundreds of years. A rocking horse made before 1900 is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars today. Collectors can find less expensive toy horses, however.Children of the 1950s remember the most popular horse from their childhood: the Wonder Horse. The all-wood painted horse was supported on a wooden frame by metal springs. The child rider could bounce up and down.The Wonder Horse was made by Wonder Products, now located in Bossier City, La. The company made its first horses in 1949.

Hurricane Ike created a wave of price spikes at gas stations across the country yesterday, including those in the Baltimore area. Fears that the huge storm would cut off supply led to wide disparities in prices state by state, and even block by block. The contrast in prices yesterday evening was stark at Cold Spring Lane and Falls Road. At the Texaco, the price of regular was $3.89 a gallon - an increase of 20 cents yesterday. But at the Exxon across Cold Spring, regular was selling for $3.49.

Q: I have a Linco gas pump globe. The glass globe is approximately 15 inches in diameter, and the frame is metal. The letters are red and blue, and there is rust on the metal frame.A friend told me that Marathon bought the Lincoln Co. in the late 1920s.A: Gas pump globes date as far back as 1910.During the Great Depression many small oil companies were forced out of business or were swallowed up by giant oil companies. Gas pump globes of this type were made as early as 1915. Yours would probably be worth about $500.

Ben Woolsey of CreditCards.com warns against the pitfalls of using your credit or debit card at the gas pump. The first problem:   Woolsey says station owners sometimes put limit on transactions of $75 to $125. Given fast-rising gas prices, it's possible some gas guzzlers won't be able to fill up. The other problem: Your card company can put a block or hold on your card - reducing the credit limit - when you're making a purchase at the pump. The block is temporary, lasting up to $72 hours, but limits your line of credit by $75 to $100, Woolsey says.

Gasoline prices have been rising over the past month as revolutionary sentiment roiled the oil-rich Middle East. Now, drivers are bracing for more volatility at the pump, fueled by the latest turmoil in Libya. The average price of regular gasoline in Maryland on Wednesday was $3.14 a gallon — 14 cents higher than in December, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Analysts say the price could reach $3.50 to $3.75 a gallon in the coming months. Libya accounts for only about 2 percent of the world's oil production, but unrest in the country — where dictator Moammar Gadhafi has been accused of ordering troops and mercenaries to kill unarmed protesters — has stoked fears of increased instability across the region.

Gerald Jones, a North Carolina trucker with a liking for feathered Stetsons and Texas boots, has dreamed of owning his own rig since he began driving semitrailers at 16.He works hard, chasing his dream down highways across the Lower 48, through 16-hour days and 100,000-mile years.Yesterday, though, as he hurried toward Philadelphia loaded with 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes, he fell just a little bit farther behind his goal of quitting his trucking-company job and going out on his own.That is because the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel increased by a nickel per gallon yesterday, socking motorists already reeling from the 30 percent rise in fuel prices since Iraq invaded Kuwait Aug. 2."