You can read the letter below or visit the Jacksonville Daily News’ version, but be sure to read McHugh’s column first. Disagree with my letter? Support it? Let me know in the comments here or at the Jacksonville Daily News.

Dear Editor,

I was quite entertained by Mike McHugh’s latest column in which he lamented the "high gasoline prices" in our area. In the column, McHugh complained that the $2.729 he paid for a gallon of gasoline in Swansboro holds him "over the proverbial barrel". In reality, it doesn’t.

McHugh has chosen to play a victim to the gasoline industry instead of taking responsibility for his actions and expenses. McHugh can choose to consume gasoline or not. He can choose to drive only when absolutely necessary. He can choose to walk to destinations within 2 miles and choose to bicycle for longer trips. He can choose to invest in a vehicle that is more fuel efficient. He can choose to utilize the available public transportation options (Onslow United Transit System and Jacksonville Transit). But McHugh chooses not to do these things. He chooses to make no changes to his lifestyle; instead, he chooses to be a victim.

But where McHugh really goes off the rails is in his attack on the gasoline industry for its pricing practices. He even comes close to making accusations of price gouging. McHugh is a big fan of the "free-market" movement, which dictates that industries don’t set prices, the buyers set them. If that’s the case, then why doesn’t he accept that the fair market value for a gallon of gasoline in Swansboro is $2.729? Or, better still, why isn’t he advocating that his friends and neighbors, and everyone else, consume less gas, which would drive prices down?

McHugh also follows the "least government is best" ideology, but then calls for increased government regulation of gasoline commodity trading and crude futures, as well as increased monitoring for gouging. Both would require additional government authority and manpower.

I agree that the gasoline and oil industries require additional regulation. The ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is proof that these companies haven’t been properly overseen in decades. But McHugh is a supporter of deregulation in nearly every other sector of American life. His recommendation for more regulation doesn’t follow his previous writings.

McHugh has a platform for his opinions that the average Onslow County citizen doesn’t. That he wastes that on a topic as tired and played out as gasoline prices is disappointing, especially when he contradicts his own ideological beliefs in the piece and recommends more government oversight instead of changing his own behavior.

During last week’s DownEast Cyclist Club meeting, I heard that one of the bicyclists that routinely ride the Jacksonville Rails-to-Trails multi-use path had been involved in a nasty crash along the fenced area of Highway 24/Lejeune Blvd near the Camp Lejeune Main Gate. The culprit in the bicyclist’s fall? A tattered “welcome” sign fashioned from a bed-sheet. The sheet had been ripped free of three corners and was flapping into the path. It snagged the cyclist’s bicycle and pulled her to the ground. The group was nearly certain she’d broken a collar bone, but apparently it was just a bad bruise. If only Camp Lejeune had been warned about the dangers of these sheets and signs to bicyclists and pedestrians. Oh, that’s RIGHT! They were. And Camp Lejeune’s Deputy Safety Manager for Marine Corps Base dismissed the concern as “not their responsibility.”

Late last week, Mr. Richard Sparks was killed when he was hit by a car while attempting to cross Highway 17/Marine Blvd near the intersection with Western Blvd. Mr. Sparks was visiting Jacksonville to watch his son graduate from a Marine Corps training. It was late (about 10 o’clock P.M.) and there is no marked crosswalk at the intersection. The Jacksonville Police Department and Onslow County’s District Attorney Dewey Hudson will not press charges against the driver, Mr. Charles Adams. This is the second pedestrian death in 2009 in Jacksonville (Ms. Talissa Hatchell was killed in February) and Mr. Hudson had some pretty tough words for the City of Jacksonville.

How many people have to die before the city protects pedestrians?

Jacksonville Daily News writer Lindell Kay blogged about the accident. He noted that Mr. Sparks had previously spoke to family about being concerned about the safety of crossing Highway 17/Marine Blvd, but attempted to do so, anyway. Mr. Mike McHugh, an employee of the Jacksonville Daily News, made an interesting recommendation to the City in a comment:

The city should consider constructing pedestrian “bridges” enclosed with chain linked fencing above the roadway, high enough to allow trucks and other tall vehicles to pass below.

These walk ways are common in larger cities such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.

The reason this recommendation is interesting is that a project of such magnitude would be pretty darned expensive, especially considering that sidewalks would have to be constructed leading to these pedestrian overpasses. Mr. McHugh is known for his “fiscal conservatism”, is even a member of the Daily News’ editorial staff and has spoken out against the Rails-to-Trails and the pedestrian bridge which crosses Highway 24/Lejeune Blvd.

The City of Jacksonville and the State of North Carolina are stuck in a fight over who has jurisdiction over the streets in this City. Unfortunately for pedestrians, this fight is prohibiting anyone from doing anything. So, like Mr. Hudson, I have to ask, how many people have to die before someone (anyone!) does something? 

It was 2,100 miles and 8 months in the making, but I had my first bicycle crash this week.

It was raining pretty hard and had been for a while. The roads were wet and puddles lined the edges of Stone Street aboard Camp Lejeune. Camp Lejeune isn’t known for its road maintenance (Really, where in NC is?) and the edges of most roads are crumbling and have large cracks. I must have been paying too much attention to traffic and not enough to the road’s edge and caught a crack in the pavement. I was brought down, pretty hard, but didn’t have any real damage. A scraped up left knee and some bruises.  Fortunately, I was on my way home and didn’t have to work a whole day feeling beaten up. The bicycle is fine, too, just some scratched paint and I had to realign the chain.

I guess the point to all this is: I’m glad the week is over.