Want to buy a gas tanker?

Until I read the letter from Mr. Jarrold in the March 10 “Bee,” I thought I was the only person in Bonner County who had noticed gasoline prices in the Sandpoint area were ridiculously high in comparison to those in Coeur d’ Alene. I stopped buying fuel in Bonner County and drive to Coeur d’ Alene to fill my vehicles’ tanks.

I, too, heard the same excuses that the prices were so much higher here, because the cost to truck the fuel here was the cause of us all seeing 15 to 25 cents higher price per gallon at Sandpoint gas pumps. Simple math told me that a tanker carrying 10,000 gallons to Sandpoint must be charging an additional $1,500 to $2,500 more to drive that extra 45 miles. That’s pretty good pay!

Unfortunately, for local restaurants and other local retailers, I see no reason to drive to Coeur d’ Alene just for fuel. What will happen when enough local residents find that they can no longer afford to shop in this area? Perhaps the outrageous prices at the local gas pumps will result in a true “trickle down economy.”

DENNIS McNEELY

Sandpoint