If you haven't gotten the message yet, you probably will soon. Virgin Islands residents are being urged via a well-circulated e-mail announcement to join a Canadian-American three-day boycott against high gasoline prices.
Last year there was a one-day boycott, held at the end of April. This year's is scheduled for March 24-26. It had been set for April 7-9 but was moved up because of reports that the oil cartel would announce the results of a meeting on oil prices on March 27.
An informal weekend telephone survey of V.I. residents who have gotten the word indicated plenty of support for the boycott.
"Nobody should go to a gas station for three days straight," Jared Falek said. "If enough people do it, it'll send a message."
The message would be to loosen oil reserves or do whatever else it takes to bring prices down. Falek noted that predictions are for gas to hit $2.50 a gallon on St. Thomas this summer, and maybe $1.75 on St. Croix, where prices are always lower.
"Our gas prices have been ridiculous forever," not just in the latest crisis, Sallie Adams said. Although she believes St. Thomas has its own particular problem with high prices, beyond the current issue, she said she will probably honor the boycott.
"I'm quite happy to go along with a gas boycott," Lin Plank said, although she's not really convinced it will change anything. "What will be, will be," she said.
Marion Mathes is more confident. "I think it would send a message," she said, adding that "there's nothing to lose" in joining the boycott. What's puzzling to her, Mathes said, is that "you don't hear the consumer complaints" today that there were in the past, even though prices have never been higher.
"No one seems to be trying to find the cheaper gas, either," Mathes said. "I drive all over this island" looking for the best price, but "most people just pull in and fill up."
"I'm looking to buy a whole new car, a fuel-efficient car," Zeno Cohen said. Because gasoline "is such a basic need," he said, he'll also join the boycott.
Falek had another suggestion for "sending the message" besides the boycott: Put it in writing to V.I. Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen and to Gov. Charles Turnbull.
