Hi Bobzworld,
There are a couple of good answers to this very question posted by myself and a couple of friends on another little forum made up by a couple of dozen friends. We were answering a question about the best for about $200. If you can go nearly $300 the best bet I think is the Cannon Powershot A70 which is right now most popular as seen on this site...
http://dealcam.com/ and you can purchase it for $284 shipped.
Here's the source of that good info...written today, so it's current.
http://pub105.ezboard.com/fappleimac...cID=1065.topic
By the way, I have an Olympus C3030Z which cost about $1,000 when I bought it a couple of years ago. The Cannon is a great camera at a great price!