[gentoo-amd64] local not started?

[Raffaele BELARDI]

I use the 'local' service to force the ignore_nice_load parameter to 0:

# cat /etc/conf.d/local.start
echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/odemand/ignore_nice_load
(not sure about the path, I am on another pc now)

Recently I noticed that ignore_nice_load is still set to default 1
value, although the 'local' service apparently was started:
# /etc/init.d/local start
* WARNING:  local has already been started.

If I source the local.start from the shell, the value is correctly set.
Any ideas why the the ignore_nice_load is not set to the value I want at
boot?

thanks,

raffaele