I don't know about your part of the country, but the media here has caused a panic with the gasoline situation. I filled up Wednesday afternoon and paid $3.59/gallon which was about the going price. Friday morning on the way to work, I topped it off at $3.59/gallon. After lunch, my co-worker's husband called in a panic because she only had 1/2 tank of gas and gasoline was $4.69/gallon in most places. If you could find it for $3.99/gallon you were lucky, and most of those stations were either out or almost out. If a station had gasoline, the people were lined up down the street. I would have stayed in Birmingham, but I have a dentist appointment in Huntsville on Monday. When I got almost to my mother's house, I saw a Shell station with gasoline for $3.77/gallon. I whipped in and finished filling my tank. Some places had jacked their prices to $5.99/gallon. The media announced that Hurricane Ike would shut down the refineries and the terminals would not be able to get gasoline for 2 weeks. Someone said that they thought the stations could charge what they wanted, but as best as I can remember, I think this is price gouging. A gas station cannot raise the price on gasoline that is in the tank unless he has a drop of gasoline that he pays more for. (They also cannot sell it below cost) The governor has called a state of emergency. I don't want to be a part of the panic, but I do want to conserve gasoline if there is going to be a slight shortage.

I pray for all those people in Texas and the surrounding states that are effected by Hurricane Ike. Hopefully, everyone will be able to recover in time.