BLUEFIELD —
Prices at the nation’s gasoline pumps have been slipping downward recently, but local motorists said Monday that those prices need to go down even more to get the pressure off their wallets.
After a march toward the $4-a-gallon mark, average prices Monday for regular gas were $3.89 in West Virginia and $3.82 in Virginia, according to the daily AAA Fuel Gauge report. However, people visiting the Mercer Mall said they wanted to see the prices go down even more.
Justin Thornton, 24, of Pembroke, Va., knew how far he wanted to see prices go down.
“For free!” he said with a smile.
“At least down to $2.50,” his mother, Janet Thornton, 60, of Narrows, Va., said. “I’d be happy if I saw $3 a gallon.”
People trying to find jobs are particularly impacted by high gasoline prices, said Tim Scaggs, 52, of Bluefield. When local jobs are not available, job seekers could find themselves on long, and expensive, commutes if they have to take a position outside the Mercer County area.
If they have to go somewhere that still has job growth, like Christiansburg, Va., or Roanoke, Va., they may spend more on gasoline than what they earn at a new job, Scaggs said. The vehicles people with low incomes can buy are not always the most fuel-efficient. Scaggs said he drives an older model Ford Crown Victoria that gets 16 miles per gallon.
“I work five hours a day for $8 an hour,” Scaggs said. “And it cost me $20 to go to work and back again. That means I’m earning $20. People with low incomes who are trying to go back to work can’t afford to drive to Princeton and back.”
John Walker, 52, of Bluefield thought for a moment before naming a gasoline price he wanted to see.
“Gosh, I don’t know,” he said. “Two dollars would be a big help. I don’t see how young people are going to make it with what they (companies) are wanting for gas.”
Another Mercer County resident hoped to see gas prices land somewhere between $3 and $2.50 a gallon. For some, fueling two family vehicles costs a total of $110 every two weeks.
“To do any good, at least $3 a gallon,” said Mary Dotson, 26, of Bluefield.
Dotson remembered when filling her husband’s vehicle cost $60, and filling hers on the same day cost $50. That was when she realized how much of the family’s budget was going to gas.
“That’s when it really sunk in,” she said.
Local News
April 24, 2012
Gas prices have way to go before citizens see relief
- Local News
-
- UPDATE: High water begins to recede in Buchanan County
- Boil water advisory lifted for parts of Princeton
- Flash flood warning issued for Buchanan County, southeastern McDowell County
- Evacuations underway in Buchanan County due to high water, flooding
- Three escape injury before train strikes vehicle in McDowell County
-
One dead, one in custody, following fatal shooting in McDowell County
- McDowell opens 16th juvenile drug court in W.Va.
-
More pictures of the Bluefield Va. bear
-
Teen dies in dirt bike crash
The Virginia State Police released the identity on Sunday of a Tazewell County teenager who was pronounced dead at the scene of a dirt bike versus pickup truck wreck near Boissevain Saturday afternoon.
-
Concord athletics uses less university funds than most NCAA Division II schools
- More Local News Headlines
