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Gas prices dropping in time for holiday For the first time in years, gas prices are dropping heading into the Memorial Day weekend. The average price for regular unleaded statewide was $1.41 a gallon in the latest Oregon/Idaho AAA survey, done May 20. That was down 10 cents from April's average price. Friday's prices were slightly lower than that at numerous stations around the Rogue Valley. Regular unleaded was going for $1.35 at the cheapest stations and ranged from $1.39 to $1.43 at most others. "The wholesale price and the street price have all gone down," said Mike Sherlock, executive director of the Oregon Gasoline Dealers Association. Prices have historically risen around Memorial Day as the travel season kicks off. But Sherlock says the traditional hike was nullified by the rapid rise in prices earlier this spring. That spike in prices -- which the industry attributed to fires and maintenance problems at refineries in California and Washington -- was especially dramatic because it came on the heels of record low prices. "The prices this winter were artificially low because of a variety of factors and then they went artificially high because of those refinery fires," says Sherlock, "and now they are finding an equilibrium." Sherlock says it's hard to tell just where prices will settle, but he's seen those in the Eugene area, where he lives, drop about 6 cents a gallon in the week since AAA's survey was done. And, although the AAA survey found Memorial Day prices 24 cents a gallon higher this year than last, the average price was only 3 cents a gallon lower in 1997. The survey found national prices were significantly lower than Oregon's, with an average price of $1.15 a gallon. In the West, the average price was $1.34. Eastern Oregon enjoys the lowest average prices in the state at $1.37 a gallon for regular unleaded, the survey found. Portland had the highest average price at $1.44 a gallon. The average price in the southern portion of the Interstate 5 corridor, which includes the Rogue Valley, was $1.42 a gallon. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA