T. J. ROYAL
Staff Writer
May 22, 2008 11:27 am
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As crude oil reached new trading highs of more than $130 per barrel this week, gas stations in Tarboro also have raised their prices.
Western Boulevard stations raised their prices for regular unleaded fuel as much as 10 cents Wednesday.
With the record high prices, AAA Carolinas predicts that fewer people will be on the road for the upcoming holiday weekend.
But Bethel's Arthur Reed will not be one of those people.
The license plate on his white 1999 Porsche Boxster convertible reads "NOSAVNGS." But after Reed, 33, bought gas at Parade on Western Boulevard Wednesday, he said the price of fuel could be "twice" what it costs now and it would not change his plans. Parade's gas was $3.78 per gallon for regular unleaded at 3 p.m. Wednesday. By 7 p.m., the station's unleaded was $3.85.
Reed's said he and his wife will have a big trip the weekend after Memorial Day, when the couple will visit her parents in Cape Cod, Mass.
Despite gas prices, Reed said "we're going anyways," even if it meant taking a financial hit elsewhere.
Ralph Sheets of Abingdon, Va. and three of his friends stopped for gas at the Western Boulevard Exxon EP Mart Wednesday afternoon. Sheets said they were on their way back to Virginia from a "little vacation" they had this week at Ocracoke Island.
The EP Mart's gas jumped to $3.86 per gallon by 2 p.m., when it had been five cents cheaper at 1 p.m. Although the price changed, Sheets said Tarboro gas "is cheap compared to" the prices his group saw near the coast.
Sheets said a gallon of regular unleaded was $4.09 at the last gas station before hitting the Ocracoke bridge.
The difference in gas prices between communities flabbergasted Kinston's Annie Mumford.
Mumford, 53, a regional guardian specialist for a non-profit group called the Life Guardianship Program, stopped at Hadi's around 3 p.m. Wednesday to get gas for her Buick. When she bought gas, regular unleaded at that station was $3.74. At 7 p.m., the cost jumped 10 cents to $3.84.
Mumford said she has worked for LGP for 18 years, and that she often averages 500 miles a week on the road for her job. She said she did not understand how a station could raise their prices if their fuel supply was already "in the ground."
She said she felt gas companies were not "being fair" to customers, and that the only way prices would come down is if people stopped driving their cars.
"I've never seen anything like this before in my life, ever," Mumford said about the situation.
Carol Gifford, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas, said Wednesday that travel over the Memorial Day weekend is expected to decrease one percent compared to 2007.
Gifford said AAA expects the downturn "because of the gas prices and economic stability.
"People are feeling it, whether we're in a recession or in an economic slowdown, it's hurting people," Gifford added.
The one percent decrease AAA predicted is based on people traveling 50 miles or more over the holiday, Gifford said. She added that she has heard from people that, while they continue to travel, they are adjusting their plans.
"Maybe they're changing their trip locations from the West or Midwest and (are) staying in the Carolinas" over Memorial Day.
One Tarboro woman said Wednesday that gas prices were too much for her to go anywhere.
Anna Whitley, 43, pulled into Hadi's in an eight-cylinder Jeep Grand Cherokee, a vehicle that gets less than 20 mile per gallon for highway travel. Whitley said that even if she had a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle, she still would not travel very far.
"Keep my (butt) at home, that's what I'm gonna do" for Memorial Day, Whitley said.
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