Thanks for coming aboard. If you've got something to talk about, post it here.

And if you have photos to illustrate your point, e-mail them in jpeg to bmcewen@fresnobee.com.

If you wondering where Mayor Alan Autry will surface next, a good guess might be the host of a show on KYNO 1300 AM, which switches to a talk/news format on Tuesday.

Station owner John Ostlund declined comment Friday on whether Autry would host a show, but he previously promised to bring a big-name "surprise" to the KYNO lineup.

If Autry does land on KYNO, I guess we can bid goodbye to those lovey-dovey Autry/Ray Appleton schmooze-fests on KMJ. Or should I say, snooze-fests?

BTW: Jim Boren and I begin our weekday KYNO commentaries on Tuesday. We'll provide lots of fodder for the mayor's show.

In Thursday's column, I shot down the idea of lowering the drinking age to 18 in the United States, and made fun of a college president's statement that alcohol education and enforcement of the age 21 requirement was driving up the cost of obtaining a college degree.

Here is a response from William Durden, president of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.:

"I enjoyed reading your column about the issues of underage and abusive drinking on college campuses today. I'm delighted that you are keeping the issue out there as it has been a most challenging one in America -- especially on residential campuses since the 18th century -- and never handled well or conclusively.

"You quote my reference to the cost of education and enforcement for underage drinking on American campuses. Unfortunately, the statement is a bit distorted in the absence of the larger framework of the argument. Many critics claim that we do nothing in higher ed to control underage drinking and that this call for discussion by the Amethyst Initiative is but a way for us further to shirk responsibility (even you imply that we are doing nothing as you state we are descending from the Ivory Tower to talk about the issue). The fact is that we do quite a bit--day after day -- night after night -- and we put a good amount of money into it -- as we must protect to the highest degree possible our students and those with whom they come in contact. At the same time we are in higher ed are loudly accused of doing nothing to enforce underage drinking and shirking responsibility (even avoiding liability), we are attacked for not controlling the price of a higher education (tuition) by overspending on inefficiencies, etc.

"Current education and enforcement measures, from our point of view, are not really effective to control underage drinking (they are not protecting our students sufficiently-- although many colleges -- including Dickinson -- have done quite well in on-campus enforcement in recent years only to have the students go off campus and out of our jurisdictions) and that leads us to believe there must be better, more cost-effective and consequential ways to protect students from themselves and others who abuse alcohol.

"You might also note that our call is for a substantive discussion of the issue and an independent assessment of the research all sides use to justify their positions. Much of that research has not been reviewed recently for the changing context of on-campus and off-campus developments (to include the fact that most of the challenges with abusive drinking we deal with today are non-vehicular and much of the research has focused on drinking and driving). Such a discussion might well result in lowering (20?, 19? 18?) the age limit, raising it (look at the devastation wrought by folks 22-35) or keeping it the same but having as a result of the conversation better and more cost-efficient measures (given the clear public call for reducing the cost of higher ed) to accomplish our goals and those of society."

On the Net: I watched House Speaker Nancy Pelosi squirm last weekend on "Meet the Press" when the abortion issue was raised. Pelosi, a practicing Catholic, did a political two-step and claimed the Catholic church has never determined when life begins. She might want to take a refresher course in church theology. Read what the church really says here.

Some people living up north aren't convinced that California is in the midst of a drought, or that people living in the West should regard every drop of water as previous. So, Folsom is imposing mandatory conservation rules on its residents. The rules, by the way, are basically what we practice here -- regardless of rainfall. Read more here.

Laugh of the Day: "When they told me I was coming here to Vegas, I got excited, 'cause I like to gamble. So, on the way out, on the plane, I got warmed up a bit. I started throwing my money in the toilet and pulling the handle." -- Comedian Rocky LaPorte

Quote of the Day: "No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means." -- George Bernard Shaw