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Show WASATCH COUNTY COURIER A6 Catheter oes lly extinct are in Heber, and the. rest of. the. nation, at. an alarming | tate. multinationals Either buy out the seven county council persons versus three commissioners, but that’s anoth- taining any sense of local personality in the valley we need to support our local businesses. It is way too easy to in -the car and drive to hop er story. If we are really serious about main- large the little guys or just put a megastore next we don’t support our local businesses. ‘Heber is going to be a clone of Orem. and Midway will be a clone of Park City. Neither scenario sounds Pee larly attractive, = So please try. and keep your money Led drive the ‘locals out of business. S SS S Lf, tt, Ss ty Yy 7 ‘Think about it, do you really want to live in a world were there are only Costcos, Wal-Marts and Shopkos? The world is going to be a pretty bland Utah 6 7 place once, the multinational megastores have killed off the little local businesses..And once we are down to a 7 Gg ‘NO PARKING than when you have two. thousand mom and pop stores to compete with. ZONE. based companies such as Walkers Oil and Ogden Carpets, while not headquartered here they support our community and also deserve our support. We live in a ‘community of people and businesses. Support our community. If you. try, you'll “be amazed at the depth of selection of goods, at reasonable prices, you. can find in the valley. ‘Think Locally, Shop QO few huge players in each market do you really think prices will stay down? Look at telephone and cable television prices for examples. It’s easier to set prices when you have two competitors ERY LITTLE PARKING ZONE Locally. similar to the logic of having = 344 ropane Prices Give | JOHN M. WILLIAMS takes > WY tsno secret! Prices for all ‘@ um priced products have = over the past year and we ‘mace just a little when we fill petrolesoared all griup our ‘gas tank or pay our home heating bill. There are many causes for these increases, ranging from the interna- tional policies of our national government to our own conspicuous consumption of petroleum based fuels. Other than strive to conserve the amount of fuel we each use, there’s not much a Wasatch County resident can do about the dramatic rise in the per gallon price we pay for gasoline, natural gas or propane fuels. Across the board these energy prices have risen approximately 50 percent in the past year. Everybody feels the pain in their | budget, but the elderly and others on fixed incomes and those in the lower income brackets are the hardest hit when the price for these “necessities” | in town. It creates jobs and maintains the character of the town. ‘Spend a ‘little more here and it could even revitalize our sad looking shopping district. Buy your food, hardware, gifts, clothing (there is some to De. found here) and even (gasp). gas” here. Locally: owned — companies need our support and money. And don’ t exclude : to them, ‘undercut their prices and Kinda Foust Orem to do our shopping. But would you want to live there? Well if EineA becoming businesses atte mall local such a big bite out of their already tight monthly budgets. Many of these members of our community are being forced to make very difficult choices between warmth, food, cloth- ing and basic transportation. These facts make it all the more egregious when a business preys upon our community by significantly overcharging these very customers for the propane gas required to stay warm ny with its Heber valley facilities at charged $1.969 per gallon for propane and recently quoted the even higher and setup fees. These same people four other companies that deliver propane to Wasatch County residents’ shows that the highest price charged _by any of these suppliers during this who are being overcharged on every delivery simply may not be able. to switch to a supplier with fairer prices because they must first save up several hundred dollars to do so - an insurmountable barrier when you are ne gling to make ends meet. A review of Suburban Propane’: S Web site reveals that it doesn’t talk much about fair pricing. It does, how- period was $1.75 per gallon. One of large number of Wasatch County resi- dents live in areas that are not served gone above $1.49 during the same by natural gas. Their source of fuel to run their furnaces and other gas appliances is, therefore, limited to propane suppliers. The Courier already documents for its readers the excessive prices paid by Heber Valley residents for their gasoline. Now we must point out an apparent huge disparity in the price being charged by suppliers of propane. In December the local outlet of Suburban Propane, a national compa- their supplier due to the cost: of changing propane services, which is usually several hundred dollars. because. of tank rental contracts and tank delivery price of $2.05 per galfon. A check of these other suppliers, Big T Propane in Duchesne, had the lowest price we could find, claiming they have not during the coldest winter months. A _ — 3650 South on U.S. Highway 40, period. The average high price among _these other suppliers was $1.59 during December and January. The high priced Suburban Propane is 20 percent more than the average and almost 25 percent higher than Big T for the same product delivered to the same place! We can’t see any rational reason for such a huge price difference other than profiteering at the expense of those who can ill afford it. Sadly, these customers are often “locked in” to. Be our Guest ever, provide documentation that Suburban Propane had only a 19 percent increase in sales during the quarter ended December 30, but a 91.5 per- cent increase in profits from the sale of its products during the same period. Their company information also states that they require their suppliers to give them fair pricing..We wish they would be a good neighbor and do the same. as The Courier is looking for guest commentators. If there’s something that fires you up, send it to us and we might print it. Speak out. Let Wasatch County know how your feel. Wasatch County Courier PO Box 1030, Midway, UT 84049, (435) 654-2531 fax or email: editor@wasatchcountycourier.com | |