With the gas prices rising again, residents of Manchester are paying an average of $ 2.87 a gallon (at press time). But it could get worse. With the Alaska pipeline closing and the war in Iraq still raging, prices could reach an all time high.

But there are some things residents can do to make the gas go farther.

Pete O’Connell, a mechanic at Smitty’s in Manchester, said that proper maintenance is important to decrease the usage of gasoline. Tire pressure, oil changes, tuning and octane levels can contribute to how much fuel your vehicle is using. And for town residents, maintenance is all you can do.

“There is no real good way to save fuel in town,” said O’Connell. “Town driving is probably the worst.”

And what about that air conditioner that has cooled so many drivers during the recent heat wave?

“You use less fuel or the same amount of fuel if you use your air conditioner,” said O’Connell.
“When you have your windows down it causes a turbulence and it causes more drag within the vehicle. Instead of the air coming into the vehicle, when the air conditioning is running, the air goes over it.”

With many residents shelling out $30, $75 or even $100 for a full tank of gas, police departments, pizza delivery, flower delivery and schools are dealing with the prices also.

Police Departments
Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere and Manchester Police Chief Bruce Trapp both said they won’t decrease their patrols if gas prices continue to rise.

“It’s business as usual,” said LeClere. “We aren’t going to stop responding to emergencies because we’ve used up our eight gallons of gas that day. We’re buying more fuel efficient cars and that has helped a lot.”

Trapp said the department has used their motorcycle quite a bit this summer and they have also started using foot patrol.

“We’ll have to cut other operations because the fuel (funds) will have to come from somewhere,” Trapp said.

Both have said that budgeting a year in advance is difficult for fuel.

“This time last year we tried to predict what was going to happen,” said Trapp. “At least this year we had a little bit of warning unlike last year.”

Pizza and flower delivery
“We used to go in and out all day,” said Sarah Waterhouse, the owner and operator of Sarah’s Flowers and Gifts in Manchester. “Now we clump our deliveries together. Now we have a morning and afternoon delivery.”

Waterhouse said that their delivery charge has increased a little, especially for the out of town deliveries, but she thinks her customers understand why.

Darlene Cornwell, a manager at Breadeaux Pizza in Manchester, has noticed an increase in deliveries lately.

“We don’t have a delivery price but I have noticed more deliveries, especially during the day,” she said.

Cornwell doesn’t think the owners of the restaurant will charge a delivery fee since they only deliver within the city limits.

Schools
According to West Delaware’s Director of Buildings, Grounds and Transportation Ron Swartz, the school will not reduce the amount of school bus routes because of the rising gas prices either.

“The routes are determined by enrollment and that seems to be the same as last year,” said Swartz. “We’re still mandated by enrollment and state laws.”

According to state laws, children up to sixth grade can only be on a bus for 60 minutes and seventh through 12th grade only have an hour and 15 minutes.

As for activities or field trips, the school will have to look at them on a case-by-case basis.

“You know, can we take two buses instead of three?” said Swartz. “We’re going to be looking at each thing closer.”

And the kids still have to get back and forth to school and school activities.

“It (the gas) is an issue but there really isn’t anything we can do about it I don’t think,” said Swartz. “We just have to switch funds around to accommodate for it.”

But Iowans should consider themselves lucky. Wisconsin residents are paying an average of $3.12 and Illinois residents are paying an average of $3.07 as of Monday, Aug. 14. Iowans are paying an average of $2.88.