Ends and odds, 2/12/07

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices plunged by more than $2 Monday, dropping below $58 a barrel on rising U.S. temperatures and news that OPEC is expecting a crude surplus in the spring but has no plans to cut more production.

So how come Marathon-supplied stations jumped their gasoline prices up to $2.449 today? I didn't see if anyone else followed suit. My guess is that the price will settle somewhere below that before Thursday morning.

(-O-)

I had to write out a check a little while ago. When I put the date -- Feb. 12 -- on it, something seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. When I got back to the office, I read something that reminded me what today is. Happy birthday, Abe Lincoln.

(-O-)

Here's a report on the number of children used as soldiers and warriors in some parts of the world. I don't know what to say.

(-O-)

Here's a paragraph from Bryan Chambers' story from this past Saturday on how some cities in West Virginia are facing big problems with their pension funds. Huntington -- naturally -- leads the way and is in the worst shape.

Huntington, for example, spent about $1.3 million, or 6 percent of its budget, on police and fire pensions in 1993. This year, the city will spend $7.2 million, or 19 percent of its budget, on those pensions. The city's annual contribution is scheduled to increase every year until 2018 when it reaches $16.1 million.

Assuming the city's revenue stream remains relatively flat -- it would take a big surge in B&O taxes, municipal fees or user fes to assume otherwise -- that additional $8.9 million will have to come from someplace. It would have to be services that don't have their own dedicated revenue streams, or that share the general fund revenue stream with other departments. I'm talking police, fire and streets here.

If I had the answer to this question, I'd state it right now, but I don't.

(-O-)

According to the National Weather Web site for Huntington, the temperature is 34 degrees outside as of 1:51 p.m. today. Today is the first day since Feb.1 that the temperature has been above freezing.

I have a small wooded spot between my house and the road. This is the time of year I like to clear back some brush and vines, along with a few trees that try to take over my front yard. I've not done anything like that this year.

Speaking of which, my daughter is going to be pretty mad at me when the weather warms up. I need to prune the apple tree in my back yard so the white tail deer have plenty to eat this summer. John Marra says we should use the tomcat principle. That is, you should prune the branches back enough so you can throw a tom cat through the tree and it won't be able to grab anything. My daughter happens to have a tom cat, so . . .

The end (for now)