Vol.64/No.30 July 31, 2000
|
Indiana farmers protest high gas prices |
|
Militant/ Joel Britton
|
|
MODOC, Indiana--A convoy of about 50 people, mostly farmers on horseback, traveled 22 miles from a farm near here to Selma, Indiana, to protest high gasoline prices July 8. The "non-gasoline" ride was cut eight miles short after police refused to escort the convoy from Selma to the Muncie, Indiana, bypass, in this rural area of eastern Indiana. High gas prices have hit workers and farmers here very hard. Terry Maiden, right, the local farmer who organized the protest, said in an interview, "Before gas prices went up, I had three times as many animals as I have now. I had to sell two bulls, 20 goats, and almost all my chickens, ducks, and peacocks." Maiden farms on just under eight acres. At right is Janet Hasley, who helped organize the protest, which was directed at the oil companies and the federal government. "They work together on this," Maiden said. She told reporters she decided to organize the protest when a family emergency hit and she needed to drive her truck to Kentucky. Gas prices were at $1.80 a gallon here, costing her $40 to fill up. Her anger grew when she saw that gas cost $1.40 in Kentucky. She said, "I wondered how can there be that much of a difference?"
--LOU NEWTON |
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home