A recent letter from South Carolinian Traci Powers urged members of our community to be good Americans and avoid buying gas at CITGO stations.

As small business owners who own Curgin's Corner CITGO gas station in our local area, we want to set the record straight.

Aside from the numerous factual errors raised in the letter, the underlying message of urging a boycott against American-owned local businesses to send some sort of geo-political message could not be further off the mark. Around Augusta, the CITGO network is represented by more than 500 locally owned service stations as well as a terminal, generating more than 3,500 jobs for hard-working Americans in their communities.

These CITGO locations provide consumers with quality goods and services, and in turn pay taxes to federal, state and local governments.

In addition, local CITGO suppliers and operators are active in charitable giving in their communities, supporting programs such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In Georgia alone, the network of independent CITGOs raised $625,000 for MDA so far this year. In addition, for the past several years CITGO has been a sponsor and promoter of the American Red Cross, which covers Georgia, South Carolina and a northern section of Florida, working closely with them during the summer months to give away free gas to those who donate blood.

These are just a few of the charitable activities CITGO engages in locally. Many of our fellow Georgia and South Carolina CITGO distributors and their retailers contribute to the American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Awareness and school sports. Our CITGO location, like all CITGO stations in the United States, is dedicated to helping millions of Americans through the fuel we sell, the taxes we pay and the jobs we help create.

If you buy CITGO, you are supporting local American businesses and your local community. Driving past an independently owned CITGO station ultimately hurts our community and the employees we help put to work -- and that's not good for anybody.

Russell & Rachael Curry, Curgin's Corner Citgo, Graniteville, S.C.