Gasoline

Why can't people understand that if they boycott BP, the company will have to declare bankruptcy at some future date, and that will halt payment for the cleanup, etc. Plus, they are punishing fellow Marylanders who operate gasoline businesses. It never stops. Finton Cordell

I think the point that you make in your article about taxing those who can least afford it by raising mass transit fares is a good one ("Keeping fares fair," March 30). Unfortunately, some people think everyone should have to pay their own way and subsidies shouldn't be supported. However, in this case a small increase in the tax on gasoline of a penny or even a few cents may offset the need to increase the fare for transit riders and enable them to go to jobs and be gainfully employed.

City officials say an unusually high concentration of ethanol in the city's gasoline supply contributed to the breakdown of more than 70 police cars over the weekend, most of which had been repaired and returned to service Tuesday. More than 200 police cars fueled up at a 24-hour, city-run gas pump by the Fallsway before cars started showing problems, and nearly one-third of the Police Department's patrol contingent was sidelined with engine trouble. Police doubled up in cars before activating a reserve and shifting administrative vehicles into service.

General Motors Co. said Tuesday that its long-awaited Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid is expected to achieve fuel economy of 230 miles per gallon in city driving. That would give the Volt, which is expected to arrive in showrooms late next year, by far the highest fuel efficiency rating of any car rated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The current EPA mileage leader is the Toyota Prius hybrid, which is rated at 50 mpg in combined city-highway driving. The Volt is designed to run on electric power only for about 40 miles, after which a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the battery, giving it a range of more than 300 miles.

Don't let kids pump gas The front-page photo illustrating your story on rising gasoline prices on June 16 has a happy look: the 4-year old is helping mom pump the gas. It does illustrate, however, how so many people are unaware of the significant risks for children in such activity. This child is in a dangerous position. As a family physician, I am well aware of the problem of asthma and other respiratory issues in childhood. Gasoline emissions and fumes from refueling are a major contributor to our air pollution.

When the moment came yesterday to honor the Baltimore officer who rescued a pit bull that had been set on fire 10 days ago, sparking a furor over animal cruelty and a reward that now tops $23,000, the city's police commissioner didn't credit her training, her bosses or her colleagues. He praised Officer Syreeta Teel's parents, Thurman and Deborah Evon, who he noted instilled values that transcend any training the Police Department can provide. "Officer Teel didn't need us to teach her to be a good person," said Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III at the City Hall ceremony that included the officer, her mother, father and sister and a bevy of city leaders.

A young pit bull nicknamed Phoenix that was doused with gasoline and set afire in Baltimore on Wednesday died Sunday morning at a Pennsylvania veterinary hospital. Staff at Metropolitan Veterinary Associates outside Philadelphia said the dog, which was about a year old, was put down because her kidneys were failing. Burns that covered 95 percent of her body caused so much swelling around her face and rear quarters that, according to nurse Julie Hirsch, the dog was "barely recognizable."

A man whose burned body was found in Leakin Park in late December had been beaten unconscious, wrapped in a blanket and doused in gasoline after angering members of a powerful gang at a Northwest Baltimore motel in December, according to police. With two arrests yesterday, four people - including three teenage girls - have now been arrested for their alleged roles in the crime, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman. According to a source with knowledge of the case, 20-year-old Petro Taylor had failed to drop off $200 to a gang leader named "Sincere" who was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

At the beginning of a closing statement that he predicted would last the better part of two days, a lawyer representing 300 plaintiffs who are suing ExxonMobil Corp. said yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court that their community was "forever changed" by a huge gasoline leak three years ago. The spill, at a service station in Jacksonville, dumped more than 26,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline into the groundwater that supplied the area's wells. The plaintiffs, who are seeking at least $1 billion from the oil giant, claim that their physical and emotional health had been damaged and their property values have been ruined.

The Anne Arundel County government has saved almost $700,000 in the past three months by buying fuel on the "spot market," rather than through a purchasing pool with other jurisdictions, said County Executive John R. Leopold - one of several cost-cutting measures that Leopold said he has used in recent months. While several counties in the area, including Harford, Howard, Baltimore and Carroll, buy fuel on a fixed contract, Anne Arundel made the switch to buy on the spot market, in which prices fluctuate constantly.