CHEERS: to a Web site that ingeniously informs visitors to that site of the least and most expensive gas prices in an area, station by station. If you go to the site and enter the zip code of interest, it claims to list the five cheapest and the five priciest in that zip code. We can't vouch for the accuracy of the prices, but it might be a good start at finding the best buys, even if it isn't absolutely precise -- though it says prices are updated every 24 hours. (It seems as if a nickel here and there was a bigger deal when a gallon cost a dollar or two. Five or six cents against $4 doesn't seem as significant. Nevertheless, this Web site is a worthy effort.) The site is http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx

JEERS: to parking configurations that allow for intersections, such as the one at Margaret and Elm in Plattsburgh, where you can't see out into traffic without having half your car exposed. If you're traveling east on Elm Street and want to turn left or cross straight across busy Margaret Street when a vehicle is parked south of the intersection on the right side of Margaret, you have an extraordinarily risky maneuver to negotiate. You have to inch your way out into the intersection to see around that vehicle to determine whether something is coming from the south. In fact, you have to inch your way out so far that you could get creamed by a vehicle coming from the north. If you're not familiar with Plattsburgh's streets, you'll have to imagine the setting and could probably identify any number of similar sites in any community. A traffic light that used to patrol that intersection was removed when street work was done. It always seemed like a useless light, for the light amount of traffic on Elm, but now it is missed. This predicament is especially dangerous if the vehicle obstructing the view is an SUV or truck.

CHEERS: to the Saranac Technical Rescue Team for volunteering to help with the Vermont-based search for missing Middlebury College freshman Nicholas Garza. Members of the local department, along with members from Wilmington, Morrisonville, Dannemora and Cadyville departments, have been to Otter Creek twice to search for the 19-year-old who disappeared from campus about four months ago. Most recently, a smaller Saranac crew returned to the area for a third search after three cadaver dogs identified "a point of interest" in an old mill that runs along the river. During the searches, volunteers used a mix of swift-water and high-line rope training to aid the Garza disappearance. Saranac Fire Chief Don Uhler said that during the second trip, some volunteers from Dannemora, Cadyville and Morrisonville were able to use training they had just learned during a swift-water rescue school provided through the Saranac Department to aid the search. The Garza search is a good example of how multi-agency collaboration and training can benefit communities in a time of need.