Sen. Jim Isgar on Wednesday stirred up an angry flock of bargain lovers who don't want to lose their $5 turkeys, cheap gas and day-old doughnuts.

Isgar got an amended bill passed in the Senate that would make it illegal for merchants to sell anything below cost in counties with fewer than 200,000 people, according to an interpretation by the attorney general.

Isgar, a Western Slope Democrat, says he was only trying to exempt rural counties from a bill allowing retailers to give price breaks on gas and generic drugs so it wouldn't drive small gas stations and fuel distributors out of business.

But his hasty amendment accidentally cuts 55 of Colorado's 64 counties out of more than just sweet deals on gas or drugs - it ends discounts in smaller counties entirely, and some lawmakers are hearing from unhappy constituents.

"Your five-dollar Safeway turkeys are gone," fumed Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, who sponsored House Bill 1208 to modernize the state's Unfair Practices Act to allow retailers to offer promotional deals as long as they didn't drive competitors out of business.

"Ladies night - gone! Buy- one-drink-get-one-free Happy Hours - that's all gone," said Jahn, warning that the altered bill will hurt small business in not-so-small counties as folks drive to the big city for the best deals.

Attorney General John Suthers issued a statement saying the Senate's fiddling turned the bill's intent upside-down.

The legislation was designed to update a 70-year-old statute, but now could drive up prices across the state, Suthers said in a statement. "Now, it could drive potential competitors from rural areas and dramatically increase prices across the state."

Isgar said he was only trying to maintain current law in rural counties to prevent big-box stores and grocery chains from hurting the little guy.

"If the amendment goes beyond maintaining what's done currently in rural counties, we still have an opportunity to work on it," said Isgar, who vowed to work with Jahn and co-sponsors Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, and Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, to undo any damage in conference committee.

gathrighta@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5486