LAWSUIT CHALLENGES LOW GASOLINE PRICES

A number of area petroleum distributors have filed a lawsuit in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court against a Jackson gas station alleging it is selling gasoline below cost.

The lawsuit, initiated by Jim Maurer and Paul Dirnberger of Rhodes 101 Stops, alleges that Jim Lemmon, owner of Basic Fuel at 2927 E. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson, is unfairly undercutting his competitors and violating a state law. The law, passed by the Missouri General Assembly in 1993, makes it illegal to sell gasoline below cost.

This could be the first time the law is examined in court, said Ric Telthorst, executive director of the Missouri Oil Council, a trade association. "There have been a couple of suits prior to this one, but they were both settled out of court," Telthorst said.

The state statute on gasoline prices includes a formula for determining actual cost, which is made up of taxes, freight, cost of the product and other business costs, Telthorst said.

Basic Fuel, which was opened by Lemmon in 1996, only sells regular unleaded gasoline. It sells no other products from a small booth with bars where a cashier sits or from any vending machines. All purchases must be paid with cash. "We don't have restrooms, we don't have paper towels, we don't even have vending machines," Lemmon said.

That is a formula for keeping costs down to sell a large volumes of gas at a small profit, he said.

Customers on Monday afternoon said that is the reason they buy at Basic Fuel.

Elmer Brown of Scott City has come to Basic Fuel once a week since it opened."He's selling it cheaper here than Rhodes wants him to," Brown said. "But Rhodes doesn't run the country."Paying cash doesn't bother Deb Morris of Millersville. She said she always pays cash for gasoline. She doesn't miss the absence of foods and drinks, either, she said."If I want those things, I'll go to a supermarket," she said. Along with Maurer and Dirnberger, plaintiffs include Chip Baker of J.D. Street and Co., Neal Gibbins of Dalton Petroleum Inc. and Wayne Schweigert of Schweigert Bros. Inc. The plaintiffs are represented by Cape Girardeau attorney John Oliver.

Oliver has been asked to seek involvement by the state attorney general's office in the lawsuit, a press release from the plaintiffs says.