One thing everyone who drives on the East End really hates is standing at the gas pump as the dial goes past $60 then $70 and for those 20 gallon tanks plus $80.
Now when I wrote political columns State Assemblyman and East End legend Fred Thiele was the go-to guy about gas prices. He has been on the forefront of fair pricing of gas on the East End. His office puts out a monthly evaluation of the price gougers so I asked him: What did he see for the coming year on the East End concerning gas prices. I asked will the gas price be closer to $3 or $5. Here is his answer:
"Nothing is more subject to error than pundits that attempt to predict the long term direction of gasoline prices. Perhaps the Old Farmers Almanac has a better record in predicting the weather. No one really knows for sure because of the volatility of the market. Absent a natural disaster or a geopolitical crisis, I would expect gasoline prices to continue within the range they have over the last two years that I have tracked prices. During that period, prices have oscillated between $3.70 and $4.25 per gallon on the South Fork. During that period South Fork prices have been as much as 31 cents above the Long Island average, pointing out the continued need for a strong anti-zone pricing law, which I passed in the Assembly last year. In short, I think prices will continue to be closer to $4 than $3 or $5 ... but without enactment of my bill, local prices will be higher than they should be because of the unfair practices of big oil companies."
So there it is. Perhaps you should comment here. I sure he will be reading them!
The man went back inside, so I backed up to see if I had made an error. I had not. At the bottom of the $3.75+ register, it read $5.00 a gallon.