It's not a censure. It's enforcement for a legitimate purpose.

We went through uncharted territory this past year, with twin hurricanes taking out a huge part of our petroleum industry along the Gulf Coast. That has never happened before, and it's never hit with a Labor Day holiday.

Things appear -- at least for the short term -- that the stage is set for gas prices to increase even more.

We recommend keeping your cars well maintained, checking air pressure in your tires and combining errands into one trip to save gas. If everyone did that, the conservation efforts would make a huge difference on the price factor.

I think we bounced back rather remarkably. I think we're going to be even luckier this time around.

While it's normal to see gas prices rise for the holidays, we just don't know how much prices will fluctuate until spring arrives.

This requirement, coupled with on-going strong demand and unrest in the Middle East, will keep the cost of gasoline over the $2 mark in the foreseeable future.

For the immediate future, I think we will see prices pretty close to what we are seeing now.

We'll probably continue to see rising gas prices just beyond the Labor Day holiday.