Gas prices squeeze household budgets

With gasoline prices up nearly 50 cents a gallon during the past month, household budgets are being squeezed.

“It’s not like we have a lot of choices,” said Dave Miller, a local insurance company agent. “We are so dependent on the automobile.”

Prices for unleaded gasoline are hovering around $3 a gallon, and frustrated consumers are searching for ways to ease the effect.

“I try not to run my daughter around more than I have to. I try to do everything in one trip and get it all done before I get home,” said Rick Terrill of Oil City.

“The gas goes up higher than our wages have gone up, so it’s a bad financial burden. I have to take my wife to Pittsburgh to see a specialist and the gas is going to kill us,” said Howard Faunce of Oil City. “We don’t have a choice about it.”

The Derrick