Gas prices soar to $3.35 a gallon
Published 8:59 am Friday, March 4, 2011
BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
stephen.cowles@tidewaternews.com
Joey Holland of Capron fills his four-wheel-drive truck with gas at a Franklin service station. Holland usually drives a Ford Escort that he fills once a week. -- STEPHEN H. COWLES | TIDEWATER NEWS
FRANKLIN—Taral Tarkelsen of Suffolk felt a little sick while filling up his midsize car at New Dixie Mart the other day.
That’s because the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Virginia jumped 17 cents last week, putting the average across the state at $3.35 a gallon, according to VirginiaGasPrices.com, a gasoline price Web site.
Employed at Mike Duman Chevrolet Buick, Tarkelson said he isn’t about to change his driving habits.
“I still got to go where I’ve got to go,” he said.
The news gets worse.
As of Thursday, the average price for a gallon of gas was $3.43, compared to $3.28 last week. A month ago, gas was selling for $3 a gallon.
In Franklin, the lowest price reported to the website on Thursday was $3.25 a gallon for regular fuel at Hunterdale Service and 7-Eleven near Walters Highway. The highest of $3.35 a gallon at BP, Exxon and Kangaroo, all on Armory Drive.
Tony Britt of Franklin uses super plus fuel for his pickup and usually just puts in $10 each time.
“I just realized last week” that the cost had gone up, he said. “How can oil go down and gas go up?”
Joey Holland of Capron, who was filling his Ford four-wheel drive at the Kangaroo station, said he puts diesel fuel in the vehicle twice a month. He noted the sign read $3.59 a gallon, but at the pump, it read $3.62.
Holland usually drives a Ford Escort that gets 35 miles to the gallon and fills that up once a week.
At BP, Dwight Gibson of Chesapeake said his son, Marc, who is a truck driver, is about to go out of business due to the fuel prices. Gibson also said there’s talk of truckers driving to Washington, D.C., and parking their rigs as a protest.
