$3.75 - Whistle Stop, 8501 N. Navarro St.

$3.83 - All other stations on North Navarro.

Have you seen cheaper gas prices? If so, please let us know.

I have made a career of writing and reporting the news. Telling people’s stories is important even though it is not always good news.

I have written many stories about people who were killed in wrecks or accidents of some type. There are many places along area roads and highways where I can still recall the many lives - young and old - taken by wrecks.

While I never have enjoyed reporting on fatalities, I long accepted it was a part of my chosen  career and I would do the best I could with each story.

Even though we work to tell the victims’ stories so they are remembered by more than the three-inch wreck story, for the most part, the victims have remained strangers to me. I didn’t know them in their living years.

But that didn’t make it easier to write the stories when I was a reporter, or now as an editor, edit them.

Today, the face of the story was all too familiar. One of our long-time employees Annie Hernandez was killed in a wreck and her daughter and two others were injured. She was one of the Advocate Family for 23 years - she came to work at the Advocate two weeks before I did in 1985.

Having to direct the coverage of the story as well as the other stories that were in the works, plus work with staff members who were suffering because of the loss, did not make for an easy day.

We had to have time to process our personal feelings, while still doing our jobs. We still had a paper to produce, because that's what we do as journalists.

As I edited the story, I had to stop a couple of times because my eyes filled with tears. I knew I had to stay composed for the staff - no one ever said being a supervisor was an easy task.

It’s hard to set aside personal feelings when you are working on a story about someone you know. Even though we have to do it as professionals, its doesn’t mean we are not feeling the sadness inside.

Writing about death, injury and destruction is not a pleasant task or an easy one. I have long vowed that if I ever get to the point where I enjoy it, I will turn in my notebook and pen and find a new profession.

$3.74 - Whistle Stop, 8501 N. Navarro St.

If you have seen cheaper gas prices anywhere please let us know.

Becky

$3.74  Whistle Stop, 8501 N. Navarro St.

$3.75  the "Other" Store #2, at  the corner of 1409 N.E. Water and Juan Linn streets.

If you have seen lower gas prices, please let us know.

Becky

$3.77 at Whistle Stop on North Navarro Street.

$3.79 at all other stations along North Navarro Street.

Have you seen cheaper gas anywhere? If so, let us know where.

Becky

$3.65 - H-E-B Plus,  6106 N. Navarro St. as of 9 a.m.

If you know of a place with cheaper gas, please let us know.

Who is Scotty N. and where has he been?

On my way home tonight I went up the Cuero Highway and through Cuero instead of my usual route up US 77.

Right at the Sun Valley entrance was a huge billboard that read said "Welcome Home Scotty N."  It's so large, you can't miss the sign.

Simple message, but makes me wonder who is Scotty N. and where has he been?

From looking at the patriotic colors on the board, I'm guessing he has been in the military - possibly serving overseas.

If anyone knows the answers to my questions and want to share them with me and other readers, please do. It may make for an engaging Memorial Day story.

Glad you are home too, Scotty N. where ever you are.

Becky

$3.65 at all stations along North Navarro, except Whistle Stop which was at $2.72.

If you have seen cheaper gas anywhere else, please let us know.

Becky

Roadkill is a nasty topic but a real issue.

Last night on my way home I hit and killed some low-to-the-ground dark critter that ran from the grass into my line of travel. Just hearing the thud and then the crunch of the bones under my tires gave me a sick feeling.

I don’t know what the animal was- it came out of the grass too quick to identify. I know it wasn’t a skunk because there was no after-aroma.

Just as I recovered from that I had to swerve to keep from hitting a deer that was walking across the road. Fortunately I swerved to the right and he ran to the left.

My biggest fear of driving dark highways is that I’m going to have a really close encounter with a deer and it will hurt – me, the deer and my car.

Fortunately we have not made contact yet. Deer and I have had close calls over the years and fortunately we have not made contact.

My first almost experience with a deer happened many years back on U.S. 77 on the open prairie land of northern Victoria County. A deer leaped onto the road to my left. I saw it about the same time it saw me. He put on his brakes and began to slide on the pavement as I swerved to miss him. His nostrils came really close to hitting my rearview mirror.

I slow down and move over as far as I safely can when I see deer grazing on the side of the highway because I do not know what they are going to do. And for some reason I catch myself holding my breath until I clear the deer.

Just so you are clear: I think deer are beautiful animals and would not purposely run them down. Same is true for smaller animals - I would not purposely try to run them over.

Unfortunately I have killed my share of animals - it didn’t make me feel good at all to hit them, but it happens.

While killing animals on the highway is not a pleasant experience I have to believe it serves a purpose. Daily, I see other animals feeding on the roadkill from the night before. While it is gross to see bloody innards along the highway, worse yet is the smell of rotting animals.

But with their deaths bring food and sustenance for other animals. Birds of all sizes swarm to eat the dead animals. I have dodged many birds.

And as long as these drought-like conditions continue, animals will be coming out of their safety zones in search of water and food and more are likely to fall victim to roadkill.

In the meantime, I will keep a watch out for animals of all types and sizes and hope we all make it to our destinations safely.

 $3.69 - Speedy Stop, 2604, N. Main St.

        & nbsp;      Nursery Trading Post, US 87 north at Nursery

        & nbsp;     

Have you seen cheaper gas prices? If so let us know.

$3.65 at the Other Store 2 at the corner of Juan Linn and Water streets.

Have you seen cheaper gas anywhere? If so, please send us a blog.

Becky

$3.55 H-E-B Plus, 6106 N. Navarro St. and at Speedy Stop, 5906 N. Navarro St.

Have you found cheaper gas? If so please let us know where.

In case you see a lot of smoke in the north of Victoria, it is just a rancher burning brush.

Piles of brush are being burned on ranchland on North US 77, north of Tate Road and Raines Bricks.

Becky

 $3.49  Speedy Stop, 8701 N. Navarro St

        & nbsp;   Speedy Stop, 2604 N. Main St.    

If you see gas at a lower price, please let us know.

$3.52 - Whistle Stop,  North Navarro Street.

Have you seen cheaper gas? If so please tell us where it is.

$3.46 - Stripes at Loop 463 and US 87.

        & nbsp;  Cracker Barrel, 6007 N. Main St.

        & nbsp;   Speedy Stop - 2604 N. Main St.

        & nbsp;  The Other Store, 101 E. Rio Grande St.

Have you seen cheaper gas anywhere? If so, please let us know.

Sorry for the bad postings on gas prices...no they have not gone above $4 YET.

It feels like it when you are pumping gas and the numbers on the cost line are changing quicker than the amount pumped.

(For you observant ones - today's post is corrected. Saturday's post was wrong and I didn't correct it read my posts until late Sunday.)

$3.45 – Speedy Stop, North Navarro Street,Victoria

$3.40 – at Buc-ees at the intersection of state Highway 35 and U.S. 87 in Port Lavaca.

$3.40 – at H-E-B on North state Highway 35 in Port Lavaca.

Whistle Stop, North Navarro Street, Victoria - $3.43.

Buc-ee's in Gonzales - $3.24.

Have you seen lower prices, if so please let us know.

The scenery is changing along US 77 North as the new expanded highway continues to take form.

Thursday and Friday workers installed the beams for the overpass bridge at the intersection of state Highway 111.

Those beams of concrete and steel sure do change the appearance at the intersection. More so than the mounds of dirt that form the approach and support for the bridge.

About a week and a half ago the state diverted traffic near the Victoria County line to the new lanes so work could begin work on bridges in the old (existing) southbound lanes. That section of the highway is nice - a few bumps, but those will be worked out over time.

Estimates are the construction work will be wrapped up by next summer - weather permitting.

 Whistle Stop, North Navarro Street in Victoria - $4.43

H-E-B in PORT LAVACA - $3.40

Super Stop on Ben Wilson Street: $3.42.

Whistle Stop on North Navarro Stree : $3.46.