Date:         Tue, 19 Sep 2000 19:18:53 -0700
Reply-To:     Chuck & Lillian <lfjohnson@LOOP.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chuck & Lillian <lfjohnson@LOOP.COM>
Subject:      Re: SUV Roll Overs = Death Patch = lack of free air?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>Joe L." said:
>    If air and water have been free for NINE MONTHS and there are still
people who do not know about it I submit that a 20 >foot neon sign with
blasting 6 foot speakers placed 2 feet from their front doors will not make
them aware of the fact.

Joe,
Well, that would be unnecessary overkill, and your submission is returned.
However, thanks to Ari Ollikainen for the copy of the Calif. law, a copy of
which I shall carry in the car, and to "Joe L." for the warmth of his
message.  Many Californians may know of the passage of this law, but it
slipped in under my radar.

I have yet to see one of these mandatory signs at any of the stations I
have used in the past 8 1/2 months.  The last time I got air, I asked the
attendant for a token to get "free" air, as I had just purchased fuel.
[This by the way, is a custom that has been maintained by many stations for
many years, so it's existence at any particular station would not indicate
any change in any laws.]  I received a token, but the air pump had a rather
short timer and when it shut down too quickly for me to fill all my tires,
the attendant refused to give me a second token.  So some "free" air is
freer than other "free" air.  Perhaps this was their way of supplying some
"free" air, but not enough to do a complete job.

Years ago we could get air without tokens and without purchasing any fuel,
whenever we needed it.  What are the bicyclists - who use no gas - to do?
As I understand it, the compressor that provides pressure for the gasoline
to come out was the same source for the air hose air, so the additional
costs of supplying it were negligible.  It's just another example of how we
get nickeled and dimed to death.