Gas prices driving motorists to the bank

Lynn Shannon of Troy, Mont., drives 74 miles daily to work at Clifty View Nursery in Bonners Ferry.

With gas prices hitting a $4-a-gallon record high, she spends over $120 on gas weekly.

“I think it is ridiculous,” said Shannon. “I don’t have a choice when work’s not available and jobs are so hard to find.”

With crude oil prices dropping in the last week, the demand for oil worldwide is also going down.

“We would like to think that prices will settle a bit because oil demand is down,” according to Dave Carlson, AAA Idaho spokesman. “It is really going to depend on what is going to happen with oil prices.”

But Carlson says that it is not unreasonable to think that gas prices will reach an average of $4 a gallon in Idaho.

With the cost of gas prices, people are starting to be more careful with how they spend their money.

“I need to go to Home Depot, but we’re just going to consolidate it all for next week,” said Susan Brumwell of Bonners Ferry. “We don’t eat out or just go grab a pizza nearly as much.”

Leno Fontana of Spokane, Wash., says gas prices are stopping him from traveling as much.

“I stop at any place where you can find gas a little cheaper,” said Fontana while passing through Bonners Ferry on his way home from Canada, where gas is a little over $5 a gallon.

“It holds me back from going to the lake as often to fish,” he continued. “That’s even getting cut down with having to put gas in the boat.”

Even with the cost of oil decreasing, gas prices aren’t expected to drop anytime soon.

“We have no expectations,” said Carlson. “It is reasonable to assume that we will not see any noticeable slide changes downward in gas prices. It will probably stabilize during the summer months.”

“We have to deal with it,” said Shannon. “It’s not fair to us. It puts us in a position that we might as well go back to horse and buggy. But even then, we probably couldn’t afford the hay to feed the horses. It’s a Catch 22.”