There was a story in the Atlanta newspaper on Wednesday that said Pilot Oil Corporation had been fined $20,000 by the state of Georgia for price gouging after Gulf Coast hurricanes last fall. Then there was a story out of Nashville yesterday that identified the owners - “Big Jim” Haslam and his two boys - as three of the top 20 most powerful people in the state of Tennessee.

So while it has been a roller-coaster sort of week for the Knoxville family who sells more over-the-road diesel fuel than anybody else in the country, both stories are quite interesting because one of the sons, Bill, is gearing up for a run as Tennessee’s next governor.

Let me say up front I don’t know the Haslams, which doesn’t mean much, but before I go any further you also need to know I buy gas at Pilot stations whenever I can because I do know what they have meant to the city of Knoxville for years, for many more than before Bill became the mayor of the city.

“Big Jim,” the kind of family patriarch I adore, gave the University of Tennessee the largest gift it has ever received from an individual not long ago – $38.5 million – and a huge building, the Haslam Business Center, has just opened on the campus.

Jimmy, who now runs the business that had over $10 billion in revenue last year, recently bought out Marathon Oil’s 50 percent stake in the travel center business for $700 million, but got more notice when he became part of the ownership group of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers. Pilot Oil is the second-largest privately-owned company in Tennessee.

Then there is Bill, who as mayor of Knoxville has kept the city on such an even keel he had virtually no opposition when he was re-elected. He’s the one some say has the insider’s path in the 2010 governor’s race because of his Republican stripe, his family’s political power, and his obvious deep pockets. It appears he and Congressman Zach Wamp will tangle in next year’s primary.

In an arguable list of “The 100 Most Powerful People in Tennessee” that just came out from a publication called “Business TN,” Bill was No. 9, ”Big Jim” was No. 11, and Jimmy was No. 20. That in itself is what makes the news that Pilot Oil was fined for “gas gouging” a little unnerving.

According to the Atlanta newspaper article, Pilot officials refuted the fine, claiming that it was all a misunderstanding due to a technical glitch. The state law says that businesses have to prove they weren’t making greater profits after the governor activated the anti-gouging statute.

Pilot Oil, in a carefully-worded reply that went out the same time as a check to pay the fine, stated that revenue “was not recovered at its full cost on the date when the state of emergencey was declared. Had Pilot increased its prices at the time of the declaration in order to recover all of its costs, Pilot Oil would not have been found in violation.”

Now, if you don’t think that was written by some lawyers, let’s just say that Jimmy later explained that even with raising the prices, the profit was only about 7.5 cents per gallon. So now, as you wonder whether you dislike lawyers or big gas companies the worst, ask yourself another question.

Is it not odd or ironic the news of Pilot Oil’s $20,000 fine hasn’t been reported in a lot of Tennessee newspapers. “Gas gouging” doesn’t bode well in a gubernatorial bid, especially during times as hard as these. I’m not smart enough to figure all of that out.

But I do know that “Big Jim” was a power on the UT Board of Trustees for 27 years, that he still wields huge influence within the university, particularly athletics, and that he and his wife Natalie raised two pretty spectacular sons.

What happens in life is a fun thing to watch.

royexum@aol.com