Bee County’s Commissioners Court recently voted to boycott a local Exxon gas station – until Exxon decides to lower gas prices to $1.30 per gallon. The judge and all but one of the county commissioners voted in favor of this.

Really, they did.

I’m not making this up.

When I first heard about this, one thought occurred to me:

"I hope our elected officials don’t decide to do something similar."

This story has drawn widespread media attention to Beeville – and not the good kind of attention.

The story and a photo of Bee County Judge Jimmy Martinez, who introduced the resolution, is currently running at the web site for The Washington Post. It has appeared in hundreds, if not thousands of publications worldwide.

Bee County’s county judge said Exxon was the target of the boycott partly due to the $400 million retirement package given to the company’s chief executive.

While I can sympathize with the frustration people feel with rapidly rising gas prices, I don’t think it’s fair to blame the oil companies — especially not one oil company in particular.

I think some people really believe that the oil companies can just set prices as high as they want, but what really controls the price of gas is supply and demand.

When demand is high, and supply is short, the prices will rise.

Will the oil companies make bigger profits if the demand goes up? You bet – that’s the way business works. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Oil companies decided to get in the business of refining and selling gasoline and now that refining capacity is limited and demand is skyrocketing, they are in a position to reap the rewards of the risk they took in building the refineries and distribution networks.

If you think gas prices are too high, then do something about it. Go build your own refinery and sell gas cheaper. The world will beat a path to your door.

But to boycott one little store in Beeville Texas?

All that might do is hurt one little gas station, and it probably won’t even do that.

Exxon won’t feel the pinch, but they might get a good chuckle out of it.

I know Jimmy Martinez and I think he’s a good man, and a good leader. But I think he’s way off track on this one.

I don’t think it should be the place of a governing body to tell its constituents who or who not to do business with. I think it is more than a little ironic to note that the oil industry has greatly fattened the coffers of Bee County and helped finance a large number of their paved county roads.

Indeed, where would Bee County be without the oil industry?

To me the whole boycott just seems silly.

Why not organize a letter-writing campaign to petition the federal government to reduce the taxes on gasoline in order to give the consumers some much-needed relief?

Why not organize carpools or find ways for Bee County residents to do what they need to do without having to buy a lot of gas?

Seems like these would be more productive solutions to the current problem.

Prices will not fall until the supply increases or the demand decreases.

If you want prices to drop – stop buying so much gas.

Get a moped; get a horse, or just walk.