Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rumors fuel rush for gasoline; motorists flock to local stations

Panic. Sheer, blind panic hit Prescott Tuesday as rumors about rising gasoline prices drove people to the pumps.

Area residents flocked to the local convenience stores to fill their tanks as rumors were spreading about the costs rising astronomically across the state and nation because of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Some said gasoline was selling for $7 per gallon in Little Rock by 3 p.m. Tuesday, while it was rumored to be $4 a gallon in Fort Smith and $3 a gallon in Texarkana.

Locally, the rumors were being spread gasoline was going to rise 50 cents a gallon and stations were going to close by 4 p.m.

Fortunately, for the most part, the rumors were unfounded.

However, gasoline prices did go up in Prescott and Nevada County, As they did across the state.

But, most stations in Prescott didn't change the price of gasoline at the pump until Wednesday morning.

This wasn't the case at all stations, though. Love's Country Store raised the price of its gasoline a number of times throughout the afternoon, reaching more than $1.81.9, before steadying the price at $1.79.9 for regular by the end of the day.

Wednesday morning saw the price at Love's down to $1.59.9.

Gary Rowe, manager of A&E Road Mart across Highway 19 from Love's, said the store has a policy of remaining two cents higher than Love's.

But, he said, the highest gasoline prices reached at A&E was $1.81.9.

"We recorded the times we changed the price," Rowe said.

"The bombing started things. People have been talking about Iran, Iraq and retaliation," he continued, "and people panicked."

A&E, he said, is on an allotment system and can only get so much from its refinery, Lester Oil.

Rowe, like others, flagged traffic around the pumps to make sure there were no accidents and keep things flowing as smoothly as possible.

Randy Grimes, manager of Exit 44 Truck Stop, said gasoline prices stayed at $1.49.9 until Wednesday morning, when they were raised to $1.69.9.

The increase in prices, he said, were done because the refineries raised their prices to the distributors.

"The refinery," Grimes said, "went up 10 cents a gallon before Van Oil closed Tuesday, then another 10 or 12 cents by Wednesday morning."

Grimes said his brother, Tim, who drives for Van Oil, told him trucks were lined up at the refinery in El Dorado waiting to be filled with gasoline for delivery.

Larry Baker, owner of Baker's Best Stop, hadn't heard any of the rumors early on and had gone home by 2 p.m. Tuesday.

However, he returned to work around 5:30 or 6 p.m. when the lines kept growing, reaching, at times, past the end of the Railroad Depot Museum.

He was told the prices had to be raised, but made no change until Wednesday morning, when the price went from $1.49.9 to $1.69.9.

"We didn't have any problems," he said, "the people acted all right."

The situation also got hectic at Shell Superstop, where manager Matt Burnside directed traffic to avoid confusion.

The price at Shell remained unchanged until Wednesday as well, Burnside said. The price Wednesday morning was $1.65.9 per gallon of regular gas.

He said the owner, Bill Taylor, had called him about 2:30 p.m., saying there was a possibility gasoline prices could be raised.

There were a few problems at Shell, as tempers flared because of people breaking in line at the pumps. This was also a dangerous situation, as an accident could have triggered an explosion.

What made people panic, Burnside said, is they were wondering where future oil would be coming from.

"I did what I could to get people in and out."

Jenny Love, director of public relation for Love's Country Stores, said withing three hours of the New York incident Love's got a call from its supplier saying the prices would be increased because the terminal it was getting fuel from would be closing.

Love said this was the core reason for the cost increases, but the hikes were fairly severe in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

A call was made to John Vansickle, owner of Van Oil Co., the local bulk distributer. However, he declined to be interviewed and had a subordinate say the company had no comment.

Walt DeYoung, an officer with the Prescott Police Department, said he had filled up his Bronco earlier in the day after the rumors started to make sure he would be able to get to work.

DeYoung was parked across from the Shell station Tuesday afternoon to make sure no serious problems occurred. While there, a motorist drove up asking if it were true all the gas stations in Prescott would be closing at 4 p.m.

They didn't.

The panic didn't only hit at the gas pumps. Allen Nix, manager of Blann Hardware, had a run on gasoline cans.

He said two women came in and bought every five-gallon gas can in the store, leaving a few one and two gallon cans on the shelves.

With the panic and rise in gasoline prices came the possibility of price gouging.

This prompted Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor to issue a release reminding people price gouging is illegal.

"As Attorney General I have received disturbing reports of potential gasoline price gouging in our state," Pryor said.

"Given the tragic events of the day it is unthinkable gas retailers would take advantage of Arkansans during this time of national crisis.

"My office has received numerous complaints about the price of gasoline dramatically rising throughout the day all over Arkansas."

Pryor instructed the Consumer Protection Division of his office to investigate all allegations of price gouging.

Under Act 376 or 1997 state law prohibits businesses from price gouging in the wake of a disaster or state of emergency.

This law was amended from the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which is mainly enforced by the Attorney General.

Under the law, businesses are prohibited from charging more than 10 percent above the pre-disaster price of the goods or services.

The example of items covered under the law includes: food, water, flashlights, batteries, blankets, nails, hammers, medicine, bandages, lumber and fuel.

The anti-price gouging law is triggered when the Governor or President declares a state of emergency. It remains in effect at least 30 days and can be extended another 30 by the local governing body if deemed necessary to protect the lives, property or welfare of the citizens.

A violation of Act 376 is also a violation of the Deceptive Trad Practices Act, which carries a fine up to $10,000 per violation. It's also a class A misdemeanor, which carries a possible sentence of a year in jail and/or fine up to $1,000.

In addition, anyone found guilty of violating either of these laws can be hit with injunctive relief, restitution to consumers and attorney fees.

Aside from the price gouging law, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits all unconscionable trade practices, whether or not an emergency has been declared.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee issued a statement Tuesday, asking the owners and operators of all service stations to consider the impact of increasing gasoline prices, and asked them to voluntarily freeze the price of gasoline.

"Sharp increases in gas prices aren't in the best interest of the people of Arkansas," Huckabee said, "who must still get to work and school. I also call upon the people of Arkansas to conserve fuel."

He said if there were more reports of price gouging, he would contact the Attorney General to take legal matters to prevent this from occurring.