The Arrive Alive website received an alert which was sent in social media to members of an anti-truck hijacking group:
“High Risk Area report: Kindly note that – there has been an increase in vehicle attacks on the R300 highway in Cape Town.
If you have operations in the area, consider alternative routes at night. While most attacks seem to be aimed at light motor vehicles, the risk could easily extend to commercial operations. In the latest attack, last night, a huge rock was thrown through a car’;s windshield, striking the driver and dislocating his shoulder.
He initially stopped but had to grit and bear it and drive off when 3 suspects came running towards him.”
We would also like to share the photos referred to in this alert:
Proper as we’ve lost all faith in our leaders, the people operating Somerset, Kentucky, have proved that government can actually do some thing excellent for the folks it represents. In 2 words, here’s what they have accomplished: Inexpensive gas!
Somerset, situated about 130 miles southeast of Louisville, refurbished a shuttered municipal gas station and opened it to the public last Saturday. Following complaints from some of the city’s 11,000 residents about unfairly higher gas rates in the course of the summer, Mayor Ed Girdler decided to run his own station. City officials told the Related Press that gas stations in surrounding regions have usually been charging 20 to 30 cents much less per gallon and that a city-run gas station would bring far more individuals to Somerset, which draws vacationers heading to Lake Cumberland. Nearly immediately right after the Somerset Fuel Center opened with a $ 3.36-per-gallon cost, the key private gas stations a half-mile away reduce rates by about 10 cents to try to match it.
The 10 pumps—all regular grade, plus a single for compressed natural gas—are owned and operated by Somerset and the prices set by the mayor’s workplace. To keep charges low, the fuel comes from a nearby refinery, there’s no candy for sale and no bathrooms, and the 10 attendants (to deal with money) are city personnel on rotation from other departments. The city spent $ 75,000 to upgrade the pumps and set up credit-card machines, and that is it.
“We’re not placing anybody out of enterprise, we’re just attempting to lower costs,” station manager Melody Price tag told us. “Everyone out here is content.”
But although drivers adore it to the tune of 300 fill-ups per day, nearby gas station owners and petroleum groups are grumbling over the city’s power play, even crying “socialism.” Girdler says he does not care to make a profit and is charging only adequate to cover fees. But there’s no telling how low cost it’ll stay. As opposed to practically every other state, Kentucky’s gasoline excise tax varies with the average wholesale expense of fuel. Just this month, the tax shot up from 28.7 cents per gallon to 31.1 cents and probably will change again during the fall.
Though a single tiny station in Kentucky is not exactly fodder for a Venezuelan-style government gas monopoly, it does raise questions about how—or if—municipalities can compete in private spaces. Count on the subsequent Somerset city-hall meeting to be packed.
