By DOUGLAS WATSON

Managing Editor

As everyone knows, gasoline prices have been going up and up.

The impact of such escalation is being felt throughout the United States, negatively affecting the national economy. It also is hitting many family budgets hard.

According to the American Automobile Association, as of July 4 the national average price for a regular unleaded gallon of gasoline was:

* $4.01.1 on Friday;

* $3.98.2 one month ago;

* $2.94,9 one year ago.

Local gas prices also have risen steeply.

According to a weekly survey The Greeneville Sun conducts of prices at the same 14 local gas stations, the average price of a regular unleaded gallon of gasoline here was the following during the first week of each month thus far this year:

* $2.89.2 in January;

* $2.82.7 in February;

* $3.14.7 in March;

* $318.3 in April;

* $355.4 in May;

* $378.1 in June;

* $3.92,8 in July.

Thus, though gas prices here dipped in February from January, they have moved sharply upward since then, rising by $1.10 in six months.

The soaring gas prices, of course, reflect the steep climb in crude oil prices. The Associated Press reported this week, "Oil prices are up more than 50 percent since the start of the year.

"Prices rose by a similar amount in 2007 -- but it took almost the entire year for them to make that trip."

The AP added, "On Thursday, light sweet crude oil for August delivery reached a record price of $145.29 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from $1.72 from the previous day."

The price of gasoline in recent years has jumped locally as well as nationally. The Sun's weekly survey of prices at the 14 Greeneville service stations surveyed each week found that in 2004 the average local price of a regular unleaded gallon of gas was $1.74.9.

In September 2005, the Sun reported, local "gasoline prices had risen to $3 in the wake of Hurricne Katrina," but then fell back to to $2.79 before resuming their upward climb.