Cost of crude drops, but pump prices still go up
I have a fantastic job here in Salisbury and I commute here every day from Charlotte. I buy a lot of things locally in Salisbury because it is convenient and the sales taxes are lower than in Mecklenburg County.
One of the things I buy a lot of here is gasoline, that is until this week. Usually the price of a gallon of regular gas here in Salisbury is 4 cents to 5 cents cheaper then in Charlotte. Of course, every time they annouce on the news that the price of crude is up, all the stations run out and up the price of a gallon of gas at the pump. However, on Monday they annouced that the price of a barrel of crude oil had dropped by the largest percentage in 15 years, but that has not be reflected at the pumps here. In Salisbury on Monday, the price of regular rose 9 cents between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.!
Then on Tuesday, it was annouced that the price of crude had dropped by $10 a barrel in 24 hours, the largest drop ever, yet Thursday morning the price of a gallon of regular went up another 2 cents at most stations. That is an 11 cents a gallon increase in 24 hours, folks, and the price of crude was falling! Many stations in North Charlotte are at $3.97 and $3.98 and the Salisbury stations are at $4.07 and $4.08. Now I am positive we are being gouged!
Moral of the story is, if you have to go to Charlotte this week, buy your gas there!
ó Shepard S. Averitt IV
Charlotte
Camp can help save lives
The Youth In Action Against Tobacco Council is hosting a two-day camp for fifth-12th graders on Aug. 7-8 and Aug. 14-15, from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., at the Rowan County Health Department. At this day camp, teens will learn general facts about tobacco and how the tobacco industry tries to advertise and targets them to be the replacement smokers for the 430,000 people tobacco kills every year in the United States. Teens will also be creating commericals and public service announcements that will be aired in schools and on local TV and radio stations.
This day camp is free and lunch is provided. The deadline for registration is Aug. 1. To register for this training or for more information, contact Natalie Gray, Youth Tobacco Prevention manager, at 704-216-8849.
ó Shay Steele
Salisbury