As state officials try to find out whether gas wholesalers and/or retailers jacked up their prices and gouged consumers, a second question persists: What triggered the public panic at the pump late last week in Gainesville and Tallahassee that forced dozens of stations to run dry?

Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson offered one theory Tuesday: "The blogs on the Internet," he said. "I'm getting concerned that people are believing what they're seeing on the blogs."

He didn't specify which ones, but the Tallahassee Democrat covered the gas panic in detail, and posted the news at 2:45 p.m. last Friday that a McKenzie Oil convenience store was charging $5.49 a gallon. The post quoted a McKenzie official as saying his wholesaler had increased his price by $1.85 a gallon.    

Bronson, meanwhile, held a news conference a short time later in which he reassured the public that there was plenty of gasoline in Tallahassee, but by then the panic had spread to the capital city. Bronson said a consumer panic is "dangerous stuff," and he shuddered to think what would happen if such behavior also spread to food. "This is exactly the same thing as yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theater," Bronson said.

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