Opinion
People deserve to get reasonable answers about gasoline prices
When Hurricane Ike was playing havoc with the Gulf Coast refineries recently, and a number of them were shut down in preparation for the storm, gasoline prices in Marion County quickly spiked to above $4 a gallon.
Marion County prices had been around the $3.69 figure and were apparently headed downward on a spiral that had seen them headed south after going upward in the weeks prior to that. But the strange thing was that gas prices didn’t climb in Morgantown for about five days — remaining in the $3.69 range while the figure $4.05, and higher, was showing at stations here. When they did climb in Morgantown, they jumped to only $3.79.
Our prices dropped back to $3.89 (and later to $3.79), which prompted Don Summers to write the following letter:
“Can anyone explain why gas prices in Fairmont are consistently significantly higher than they are in Morgantown or Bridgeport/Clarksburg? Today (Saturday) for example, the lowest price for regular in Fairmont is $3.87, and in Morgantown and Bridgeport it is $3.69. I live in Fairmont, but work in Clarksburg, and this has been a trend for quite a while. An 18-cent per gallon difference doesn’t make it worth a special trip just to buy gas, but it certainly does mean I buy gas before heading back to Marion County. Is there a reason for this?”
We wish we knew.
It was comforting in a way to learn that Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s office is investigating complaints that some retailers may be violating West Virginia’s gas-gouging law. The office said Monday that it has received more than 200 telephone calls from residents across the state complaining that gas-price increases were unreasonable. The office says McGraw issued investigative subpoenas to retailers seeking invoices and information to determine whether such price hikes were illegal.
The same investigations occurred in several other states. The South Carolina attorney general said gas stations that price gouge would face criminal prosecution. He said each case would be investigated separately to see whether prices were raised to an “unconscionable” level. Governors in North Carolina, Kentucky and Arkansas signed orders or made declarations allowing their attorneys general to enforce anti-gouging laws. Officials in Mississippi said they would require merchants to justify questionable increases.
But is that all it’s going to be? McGraw is investigating the possibility of gas gouging. Do we ever see anything else about it? Or is this just one of those announcements that goes out from the attorney general’s office informing the public that the problem is being checked out? And nothing is ever heard about this again.
The people of West Virginia deserve answers. Certainly, the people of Marion County do. Paying 20 cents or more a gallon than people in surrounding counties gets old — and expensive.
- Opinion
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Mine officials’ swift action may have saved lives
While it was hard to watch Patriot Coal Corp.’s Federal No. 2 Mine halt production a few times over the past month, we have to believe that swift action on the part of mine, union and federal officials may have saved lives.
Stopping mining at the operation means placing a financial burden on the miners who work there, we understand, but conditions were such that an explosion like the one that took the lives of 12 miners just four years ago in Sago was possible.
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Voters: Scrap it and rewrite it
A few weeks.
A lot can happen in a few weeks. Just think, a few weeks ago, we were all lamenting the snow and poor road conditions. Now we’ve had enough spring-like weather over the past couple of days that the only snow left is the clumps in parking lots from the plows. And even those are melting faster than a Dairy Creme Corner ice cream cone on a hot July day.
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Area women’s basketball programs have come long way
For many years, women’s basketball just seemed to many observers to be just something for young girls and women to do prior to the “real games” being played by boys and men. It took a long time before women’s games were even covered by the media — and that includes radio and television as well as newspapers.
Fortunately, opinions have changed over the years.
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City must practice responsible fiscal policy
The employees of the City of Fairmont have a reason to celebrate.
For the first time in three years, since a water crisis crippled the city and its finances in the early months of 2007, employees will get one-time pay increases worth about $750.
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Laws needed to regulate development of resources
The Marcellus shale formations, which extend throughout the Eastern United States, remain a largely untapped reserve of natural gas. And that makes it a prime target for energy development.
But local legislators want a little regulation when it comes to the extraction of the natural resource. Drillers tap millions of gallons of water from streams and rivers so as to bore into the rock formations that trap the state’s abundant reserves of natural gas.
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Broadband access vital to state’s future
The Mountain State is receiving $126.3 million in federal stimulus funding for a proposed statewide broadband infrastructure project.
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Here’s to dodging those potholes
There’s always this span of time when the snow melts and the beauty of the landscape suffers for it. Bare trees once frosted with snow are just bare again. The streets and sidewalks are covered with cinders and dust.
The brighter the sun shines, the uglier it looks.
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Erin’s Law would enable families to get sense of justice after future tragedies
There came a point several months after the violent death of her daughter that Debbie Keener came to a very grave conclusion. The person responsible for the hit-and-run death of her daughter would face but one charge — leaving the scene of an accident causing death.
And that charge, if successfully prosecuted, would mean that the person responsible for the death of Erin Keener, a 21-year-old honors nursing student at West Virginia University, would serve up to three years in prison.
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Hall of Fame would be fitting tribute to FSU legend Joe Retton
Has it really been almost 50 years since Joe Retton took over the reins of the Fairmont State basketball program that became such an important part of the West Virginia Conference Tournament for many years thereafter?
That it has. Forty-seven years, to be exact. And the West Virginia Conference Tournament is celebrating its 50th anniversary being held in Charleston this week.
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Community generosity shines during ‘Gift of Love’
Did you ever see something that just made you feel good all over and that all is right with the world?
You probably have, at one time or another. But down at the Times West Virginian, we enjoyed that rare feeling Monday afternoon. That’s when a good portion of the food collected out in the county for the Gift of Love food drive arrived at our building for distribution today.
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Mine officials’ swift action may have saved lives
