FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Just thought you should know price-gouging in Monterey is alive and well again in 2006! I made and paid for reservations on 7/13/2005 right after the 2006 MotoGP dates were announced. I checked this month to make sure everything was in order. I currently have NO rooms — and am supposed to race in the AMA Superbike event! I have been told everything from “you changed your reservation to four rooms for one night” (I made it for four rooms for four nights) to “we never received your reservation.” I made my reservation through Lodging.com (now Orbitz) with the Good Nite Inn, Salinas. I have been getting the run-around for two weeks now from both these companies, each blaming the other and numerous computer glitches. Not only do I have my original confirmation printout, but my American Express charge as well to prove my reservation billed in 2005. (They just “refunded” the supposed “changed” amount July 5, 2006, so why didn’t they do that when I supposedly changed my reservation as they claim in March 2006?) By the way, I booked the rooms for $52/night — and now they’ve sold them for more than $200! Price-gouging? What else would you call that? I tried to sort this out today. I plan to take this up with Monterey’s District Attorney. Hopefully I will see you at the track! Mark Ledesma Phoenix, Arizona