Patrons gouged at the gas pump

To the editor:

The State of Iowa raised the gas tax 10 cents to which I have no problem with if the money goes toward the long overdue repairing of our roads. What I do have a problem with is the local media and the gas stations.

Two days before the tax was to go into effect the media kept telling us on every newscast that people were going to fill up their cars before the Sunday that the tax went into effect. Knowing they could make some extra money at our expense, on Friday the gas stations raised the price for a gallon of gas 14 cents. After the extra tax went into effect, the gas stations lowered the price four cents a gallon.

We were living in Kansas when a gas shortage came about because of hurricane Katrina hitting the southern coast of the U.S. Several gas stations in the Kansas City area raised the price of a gallon of gas by as much as a dollar a gallon. The Johnson County Kansas District Attorney filed suit against those stations for price gouging and he won a large settlement for the people.

If I know of any station in the Cedar Rapids area that did not deliberately gouge me, they would get all my business from now on, however, as far as I know they all are guilty.

Russell Marks

Cedar Rapids