Limited information has been released concerning a fatality wreck on Friday. We first told you about this wreck in Friday evening’s newscasts. Highway patrol dispatchers, quoting a preliminary report of the accident hat occurred about mid-day Friday on Rock Creek Road, identify the woman who died in the crash as 18-year old Amanda Lynn Limon, who lived on Bethany Ford Road not far from the crash scene. Witnesses say Limon was southbound Rock Creek Road at a fast speed when she ran off the road to the right and over corrected. The car went sideways before overturning several times.

Consumers are protected from “price gouging” in times of disaster and should report any gas price spikes to the Attorney General, Senator Steve Goss said today. This morning, Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of “abnormal market disruption” which charges the Attorney General with enforcing the price gouging statutes that Senator Goss helped enact.

“When North Carolinians experienced gas price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I supported tougher measures to crack down on those who take unfair advantage of consumers in a crisis,” Senator Goss said. “Anyone who sees gas prices rise more than around 20 cents a gallon should report it to the Attorney General’s toll free hotline, 1-877-5 NO SCAM.”

Under the laws enacted in 2003 and 2006, if there is a presidentially-declared disaster outside North Carolina that substantially disrupts our marketplace, the Governor may make a finding of an abnormal market disruption and bring our law into effect. At that point, the Attorney General can enforce it. The law made clear that price gouging is illegal, whether it occurs at the retail level or at the wholesale level if the retailer is simply passing on unreasonably excessive prices levied by someone up the chain of distribution.