By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

While current gas prices are forcing many consumers to cringe while waiting for their tanks to fill, the real hurt may be coming from less conspicuous sources than gas pumps.

"The cost is really affecting all the poor people who have to go and buy their groceries at the store," said Frank Burl.

"Everything goes up," said Jeannie Moon. "I'm sure this is bad for the big businesses down to the small dry cleaners and the customers."

"I feel bad for people on a fixed income," said Bob Ives. "How can they go anywhere?"

Perhaps the compassion Burl, Moon and Ives each feel for their fellow consumer is rooted in the fact that they are all small business owners, just three of many in the area who have been affected by rising fuel costs.

Burl, who runs Manchester Central Trucking in Weare, oversees five 48-foot trailers that deliver refrigerated food throughout New England. He said the trailers use up some 300 gallons of fuel per day, and the recent spike in costs has led him to consider applying added charges.

"I don't like to do it, and I try not to do it unless there's a drastic change," he said. "But when our bill goes from whatever a week to twice as much, what can you do?"

Burl said any increased costs eventually funnel down to the consumer, as warehouses will have to meet increased shipping costs.

Ray Newcomb owns JBI Helicopter in Pembroke, offering helicopter rental, photographic trips and aerial fertilizing, among other services.

"If things stay like they are now," he said, "the impact would be about $160,000 a year for aircraft fuel alone."

Newcomb oversees a fleet of seven helicopters and several service trucks. Like Burl, Newcomb said he's had to consider increasing prices to match costs.

"I watch fuel prices on the Bloomfield report every week because we use so much of it," he said. "I was hoping this was going to be a hiccup, but it looks like it's going to be around for a while. It's getting hard."

Scott Rossiter, owner of Bedford Sand and Gravel, a trucking and excavating company, said fuel costs have caused him to consider prematurely ending work for the season.

"It's coming to the point where I might just do a couple more jobs and then say forget it," said Rossiter, who needs fuel to run bulldozers, loaders and trucks.

Rossiter said he's had to raise prices slightly, but said competition in the marketplace has left most businesses short on covering increased fuel costs.

"You're making nothing," he said. "You may as well sit at home and watch the soaps."

Many of the business owners interviewed expressed a sense of vulnerability about the recent spikes in fuel prices.

What can you do at this point?" asked Rossiter. "You can't ask Santa Claus for a fuel bonus."

Ives, who owns Bow Plumbing and Heating, said fuel prices caused him to give his employees a 50-cent-per-hour raise.

"That's just so they can get here," he said.

Once at work, Ives. employees operate 14 one-ton utility vans that get 14 mpg at best. Ives said a simple service trip to Concord or Manchester can cost $4.50 to $6 in fuel alone.

The costs, he said, have forced him to deny some new clients.

"We had someone call from Candia recently," he said, "and we had to tell them to call and find someone closer."

While fuel prices now weigh heavily on Ives's mind - he said he's begun thinking about service trips in terms of gas money rather than mileage - he said many customers are also anxious about the coming months.

"We're getting a lot more people calling to get their boilers checked and serviced and cleaned to make sure they're running efficiently," he said. "When fuel prices were low, I can tell you, not many people were as worried about efficiency."

Even for business owners who don't rely as heavily on fuel for operations, current prices are taking a toll.

Moon, who runs Paramount Cleaners in Goffstown, a drycleaning company, said some of her machines use gas and oil. Yet equally taxing, she said, is putting gas into her minivan to get to work and to the grocery store.

"When I see the bills coming, I just don't know what's going to happen," she said.