It’s that time of year again, gas companies

Some things are assured at Christmas time. Holiday lights sparkle, Bing Crosby and Elvis sing White and Blue Christmas on the radio and the local gas companies rip us off.

Please explain to me how oil went from $74 a barrel to $79 a barrel about a month ago and prices jumped from $ 2.40 a gallon to $2.59 a gallon.

Now with oil at $70, we in Cedar Rapids (at the time of writing this letter) are still at $2.59 a gallon for gas and others around us are much lower. Waterloo $2.39, West Liberty $2.43, Des Moines $2.39, Davenport $2.43.

I don't buy the “we have to pay more to get it here theory.” We are in the middle of the state on a major interstate and still pay the highest per gallon. I am for making a buck and free enterprise, but come on.

A criminal person is a person with predatory instincts who has not sufficient capital to form a corporation. Some apparently have formed corporations.

The real crime is that the local media seems to let it happen. I cannot believe with all the resources' available it seems OK to ignore it. Take a stand and show your have some integrity at the very least.

So I challenge you, the newspaper of the people, to investigate this for real.

Douglas J. Kelly

Cedar Rapids