Ft Wayne Gas prices jump 20 cents overnight

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Story entered Wednesday, 06/07/2000

Gas prices jump 20 cents overnight Most customers take the increase in stride. By Linda Lipp and Angelique Soenarie of The News@Sentinel

If you didn't fill your gas tank Tuesday night or early this morning, it's going to cost you.

Prices at most gas pumps jumped about 20 cents per gallon overnight, to $1.68 per gallon or more. That means the 15-gallon fill-up that would have cost a minimum of$22.34 Tuesday will cost at least $3 more today.

Service station owners say the price increases are not their fault. "We have to do what the oil company tells us to do," said Nancy Knight, manager of the Hobson Corners Citgo Station in northeast Fort Wayne.

At 7:30 a.m. today, that Citgo's regular unleaded gasoline cost about $1.49 per gallon. When Knight got to work a few minutes later, she received orders from National Oil, which owns the gasoline her station pumps, to raise the price to nearly $1.70.

"I don't have a choice," she said.

Knight tried to hold out as long as she could. She said she doesn't know why prices went up. "They just call and say go and we go."

One of Knight's customers today was Steve Bumgardner, who filled two red gas containers for his lawnmower. He has three gas-sippers -- a truck, motorcycle and bicycle. "It's pretty aggravating," he said.

Bumgardner, who has spent about $43 every two weeks for gasoline, is philosophical, however. "If we're going to have all our cars and toys, we're going to have to pay for it."

For those on a fixed income, the increase can hurt. Only able to fill her tank with $5 worth of gasoline this morning, Beverly A. Kondas said she can't afford to go to the park to feed the ducks or go out of town on her limited monthly income of $500 in disability payments.

On his way to take his daughter to the baby sitter, Pat Main filled his Chevy Blazer with super unleaded, at nearly $1.90 a gallon at the Hobson Corners Citgo.

"It's an inconvenience more than anything," Main said. "A lot of the customers are using the cheap gas, which is causing more auto problems." The mechanic and owner of Precision Automotive spends $100 a week on gasoline for his teen-age daughter's car, a Chevy Blazer and a tow truck. "I'm afraid to get gas for my toy (a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner)," he said.

The Roadrunner, built when gasoline was cheap, gets only 6 miles per gallon.

Pump prices here often are dictated by the biggest players. Ohio-based Marathon Ashland Petroleum, which owns Speedway and SuperAmerica, is one of the biggest. Prices at Marathon Ashland's 2,400 stations nationwide are controlled by the corporate office.

As usual, Speedways here started this increase and others followed.

While many oil companies say crude oil markets dictate their prices, crude oil futures actually ended Tuesday with little change. July crude oil futures settled up just 5 cents per barrel, at $29.75.

Shirley McMillian, manager of the Clark station at Broadway and Washington Boulevard, was still selling unleaded regular at $1.46 per gallon hours after other stations raised their prices. She'd already paid a lower price for the gasoline in her pumps and wanted to pass that along to consumers.

"We try to keep it as low as possible as long as there is gas," she said.

The Clark station had long lines of drivers waiting to fill their tanks. One of them was Ken Sistrunky, pastor of Broadway Christian Church, who was helping fill four vans and a pickup.

"We heard that it was going up a lot. We're filling up for Saturday's March for Jesus."

Comparisons to last year's prices are painful. In April 1999, northern Indiana consumers paid about $1.08 per gallon -- $12 less than today for a 15-gallon fill-up. As high as local prices are, they are higher elsewhere. Chicago motorists are paying more than $2 a gallon.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/ns/admin/daily/news0.htm



-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 07, 2000


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