NEAT NUMERALS
Those numbers are in the news.

58.6

The Internal Revenue Service is increasing its mileage rates to 58.5 cents. The IRS sets the mileage rate every year for determining how much of an individual's travel costs can be deductible. Public agencies and private companies often follow suit, although they are not legally required to do so.

For the first six months of 2008, the rate was 50.5 cents per mile.

Taxpayers still must use the 50.5-cent figure for miles driven from Jan. 1 through June 30.

Average price of gasoline in the U.S. as of Monday was just over $4.07.

74

We're still a nation of believers. Some 74 percent of Americans polled this year said they believe there is a heaven where people who have lived good lives are eternally rewarded. Seventeen percent said they do not. The other nine percent gave an assortment of responses, including, "I don't know." As for what the pollsters described as hell - "where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished," 59 percent said they believe it exists; 30 percent said no.

50

That same poll showed a growing acceptance of homosexuality. Fifty percent agreed that it is "a way of life that should be accepted by society." Forty percent said it's "a way of life that should be discouraged by society." Those figures were nearly reversed in similar polling five years earlier.

2

 

Austin Dam Memorial Association has received two grants for the Dam Show (July 18-19) from the Pa. Council on the Arts and the Dominion Foundation.

The Council award of $1,074 is being matched by the Potter County Commissioners. Dominion Foundation has donated $1,500 for festival programming and site maintenance. Last fall, Dominion Educational Partnership supported the Austin seventhgraders' trip to Maryland and Virginia in a study program hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

13

Emerson Klees is at it again. The prolific former Emporium resident has just published his 13th book.

It's entitled, "Wineries of the Finger Lakes Region," highlighting 100 wineries and detailing the types of grapes in production.

A graduate of Emporium High School, Klees holds an electrical engineering degree from Penn State University, a M.B.A. degree from New York University, and a masters degree in English literature (Creative Writing Track) from the State University of New York.

His first five books focused on human values, business models and motivation. He has also written books about history and cultural attractions.

Klees and his wife, Patricia, live in Rochester, N.Y.