Rumblings Increase About Trucking Protest To High Gas Prices

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http://komotv.com/stories/38525.htm

SEATTLE - Trucks drivers are telling KOMO 4 News they are hearing increasing discussion about parking rigs to protest high diesel prices.

Several drivers say the talk is "all over the CB" across the country.

This week, log truck drivers in southwestern Washington parked their rigs to try to force additional fuel allowance from timber companies. In the Miami area, truck drivers formed a 20-mile long protest caravan.

At the North Bend truck stop, diesel hit about $2.91 a gallon and even at a Costco membership gas station, the price of regular gasoline was priced at just under $2.58 a gallon.

At that gas station, Paul Sockwell filled, up saying he expects to pay much more soon: "This is cheaper gas right now." Asked if he thinks it's going to go higher, Sockwell said: "Of course, it's supply and demand."

Right now demand remains high.

And many pay the piper. Neda Nessirian drives a Suburban. Her reaction to $2.58 a gallon: "It's almost like a car payment, like a brand new Mercedes $400-$500 gas."

Neda's upset her gas bill now averages close to $500 a month. P> Pity the truckers, the cost of diesel: $2.90 a gallon. Mike Fox spent $1,700 between Indiana and North Bend. His wife, Caroline, told KOMO 4 news: "Right now we are running in the red. We are putting out more on the trucks that what we are making."

Asked why he continued to drive, Fox said: "Because there's nothing else to it. It's all we do. It's all I've ever done."

The truckers have heard of logging trucks parking in protest in Grays Harbor. Quietly, not openly yet, they are talking of parking their rigs.

Mike said: "I don't know (if) we can bring the price of fuel down by doing that; but, hopefully, it would get the government's attention. Something has to be done about it."

The wife of another long-haul driver, Judy Looney said: "That'd get a message to just about everyone -- when your grocery store start running out of food."

And driver Owen Adams said: "You would be hungry if you didn't get your food, if you didn't eat; and that's what I do, I haul produce."

Adams isn't ready to park just yet, although he got a shock when he checked the pump. His total bill after buying fuel for the truck and the refrigerator was $352.