With prices dropping, drivers line up at gas stations

LIMA - A few smiles could be seen at gas stations throughout Allen County on Tuesday as lines of cars formed at pumps where gas was as little as $3.61 per gallon.

At the Circle K station on Robb Avenue, Glenn Fisher, of Elida, stopped to fill up because gas was $3.68 per gallon.

While he's happy the price has gone down the past week, he said, it's not a long-term solution.

"It could go up in two days," he said, as he pumped gas into his pickup truck. "It's disheartening. Everyone has to buy gas. I feel sorry for the people who can't afford it, people raising several kids. We should've started doing something about this problem four or five years ago."

Cheryl Starks, of Lima, agreed because she drives about 30 miles to work each day.

"No matter the cost, you got to pay for it," she said, as she pumped gas.

While Starks was happy the cost has gone down, she also felt bad for people who can't afford the higher prices.

In Beaverdam, where the cost of a gallon was $3.63 at the Pilot off Interstate 75, Pat Landry, of Lima, made a special trip to the gas station because of the low price of gas.

"I don't drive much," he said. "So it's not a big deal to me."

However, he said, it affects the income of his wife, Nancy, because she travels as a nurse.

"It's ridiculous how much it goes up and down," Landry said, while putting a little more than half a tank in his pickup truck, which cost a little more than $60. "We should have done something about this years ago."

Troy Green, a national AAA spokesman, said the decreasing cost of a barrel of oil, the slower economy, and fewer people driving as much means prices were bound to come down.

"The main reason we're seeing this is because the price of oil is coming down," Green said. "The all time high was $147 per barrel, set on July 11," he said, explaining that oil costs closed at $127.95 on Tuesday. "The national average is dropping."

He said the national average was $4.055 on Tuesday and it was $4.069 on Monday.

Down the road from the Pilot in Beaverdam, the cost of a gallon was $3.61 at Flying J Travel Plaza, which was the lowest reported in the region. With cars lining up around the pumps, clerks said it was one of their busiest days in a long while.

While filling up at that station, Amanda Baughman, of Kenton, said she was still not happy about gas prices.

"What happened to $2.75 per gallon," Baughman said. "It's costing me $70 a week to commute to Lima from Kenton. ... You have to wonder: What happened?"