Counting the pennies

AUBURN - On West Genesee Street in Auburn a gas station is out of business. The building looks like a blank sheet of paper, the price on the sign stationary at $2.51 per gallon.

But Handy's Bait & Tackle is still open. No sense in quoting the gas price there - it's surely going to change. Which is why independent owner Mike Ballard is struggling to keep the place going.

It's a guessing game: to know what his next load of gasoline is going to cost him, then what price his competitor across the street will have on his sign on any given day and how long it's going to take to catch up on the gasoline load two deliveries back he lost money on.