By Karen Martin

Staff reporter

kamartin@elkintribune.com

Elkin residents who have found themselves unemployed in the past few weeks are dealing with looking for another job, finding ways to cut expenses and keeping a roof over their heads. Some residents are facing choices when it comes to buying groceries, purchasing medications and buying gasoline to get them to possible employment opportunities.

While purchasing gasoline, a couple visiting Elkin from Mocksville commented on the state of the economy in their lives.

“My wife and I have enjoyed day trips since our retirement, but with the gas prices going back up again, it looks like we’ll have to stop again,” Jim Sanders said. “When gas was at $4 a gallon, we stayed home, played cards and watched old movies on television.”

“We’ve often drove to Elkin over the years and up to Stone Mountain,” Mrs. Sanders said. “We loved to come eat at the Cimmaron restaurant, but it’s closed down now. Tonight we went to Theo’s over in Jonesville. The food’s good and the owners are real nice.”

When asked if the economy was affecting the couple in other areas beyond gasoline, the couple had a story to tell.

“We live in a neighborhood where most of us own our homes and have cars that are paid for,” Jim Sanders said. “There’s at least five of our neighbors that I know of that have had to take in their children and their families.

“I just don’t know what the families that are taking care of their parents are doing,” he said. “We worked all our lives to have a home and provide a better life for our children and now our children are losing what they’ve just begun to build.”

“I just don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mrs. Sanders said. “We went into the grocery earlier here in town, cause it’ll be late when we get home, and what I watched just broke my heart. There was a young couple in front of us in line with three little kids. The children couldn’t have been any more than five or six. They didn’t have many items in their cart, just a pack of diapers, a gallon of milk, eggs, bread and a couple bags of beans. The mom was holding children’s Tylenol and some type of cold medicine.”

“When it was their turn with the cashier, the woman handed over the medicine first,” she said. “Then she gave the cashier the milk. When she asked for the total, she looked at her husband and he stood up straighter and took a deep breath. He shook his head yes at the mom and she handed the pack of diapers to the cashier and asked for the total.”

According to Mrs. Sanders, the couple repeated this with each item. When they added a bag of beans and got the subtotal, the beans were removed.

There were additional items the family had in their shopping cart they would not be able to purchase. The woman offered to return the items to the shelves, but the cashier told the customers that she would add those items to others that needed to be reshelved.

“The dad counted out several bills and finished paying with a couple dollars worth of change. He picked up two of the kids and kissed them both and said, let’s go home,” said Mrs. Sanders. “I felt so bad, I wanted to pay for the eggs and the other bag of beans, but I was afraid my offer would humiliate him. I asked the cashier if she knew the family and she said no.”

“When we got to the car, my wife said a prayer for the young family,” Jim Sanders said. “I know if she could have found out who they were, she would have found a way to send them a little help.”

“I just don’t know what the young people are going to do,” Mrs. Sanders said. “The cashier said that the furniture plant was closing next Friday here in town, what will those people do? I didn’t think we would ever see things this bad in our lifetime again.”

The Sanders used to drive up the mountains or go into Virginia until this past year. High gas prices put a halt to that.

“I’m filling up the tank here in Elkin, ‘cause the gas is still cheaper per gallon here than home, but we just can’t take the chance of spending the extra money for gasoline anymore,” he said. “We lost some of our savings with the stock market crash and our monthly retirement amount won’t allow for funds to replenish it.”

The couple talked a little more about their concerns for people all across the nation facing hard times, filled their car with gas and waved good-bye.

Later that evening, a young mother with a toddler was observed explaining to the child that she couldn’t have the Apple Jacks, but she could get corn flakes and a banana. The young mother looked up and almost apologetically said, “I just can’t afford those kid’s cereals anymore.”

Another shopper leaving the grocery store took the time to make a few comments of his own.

“I watched an elderly man at the pharmacy today tell the cashier that he couldn’t afford both of his medicines and asked if the pharmacist could tell him which one was more important for him to take,” William H. said. “I don’t want to give you my full name, ‘cause I’ve lived here all my life and so has my wife and I think the recession is just starting to really hit home here.

”With Vaughn-Bassett closing and rumors of others, the people around here aren’t going to have anywhere to work,” he said. “I know the town board wants to attract new businesses to the area, but why would they come here? We don’t have many restaurants, at least none of the chain type that people drive way out of town to get to, and there’s nothing other than a movie house in Jonesville and a few fast food stores for anybody to go to.”

He said he supports the downtown businesses when possible, but added that every town needs retail choices. In his case, he travels to Winston-Salem or down to Statesville once a month to get things he can buy cheaper. Plus he and his wife go out to eat in one of those chain restaurants or over to K & W Ccafeteria.

“I’m not an old fool, you can’t keep people in a place where there is nothing for them to do, but go to a movie or to McDonald’s in Elkin, it just ain’t enough,” he said. “Elkin needs to work on something for the younger people if they want businesses to come here and keep this town alive. I’ve said my peace, maybe somebody smart enough with some say so will recognize it for the truth.”

Ella Bee, a resident of the area, commented on her thoughts of what Elkin’s town board should do.

“I think they should hold one of those town meetings where everybody who lives around here can come and tell the officials what they think,” Ella Bee said. “At my age, I’m over 80, it don’t really bother me that all those new businesses and restaurants aren’t here ‘cause I can get the things I need, but when I go visit my kids over in Winston-Salem and Kernersville, it is nice to have the choices of restaurants.”

Nowadays, she goes out to eat less.

“My income is fixed and with the price of fuel oil to heat the house, and gasoline for the car, I don’t have much left at the end of the month,” she said. “My medicine cost went up two months ago and that took away more of my spending money. You have to keep some money in the bank these days just in case something happens too.”

She compared what it was like in her youth to that of her great-grandchildren.

“When I was a teenager, decades ago, kids weren’t as sophisticated as they are now,” she said. “A barn dance or a Saturday church supper is nothing that the kids of today are interested in.

“I see my great-grandkids going to dance classes and gym classes and ‘surfing the net’ they call it,” she said. “When they’re home, they’re talking to their friends on their own cell phones and playing those interactive video games. They even got me to play that WII thing with them.

They also go to a skateboard park on Sunday afternoons, and her oldest great granddaughter takes riding lessons and competes in jumping.

“There is nothing like that around here,” she said. “Last time one of my great grandsons came to stay with me, he said it would be nice if there were at least batting cages in Elkin. After he told me what they were, it sounded like a good idea.”

She didn’t know if any town politicians anywhere can bring businesses to an area.

The most common element in the comments was that the financial stresses of the nation were affecting everyone across the board in some way or another. Choices between groceries and medication, rent, travel and entertainment were all things that people were cutting back on. Residents noticing the choices being made in the grocery aisle by families struggling, businesses not seeing as many patrons, and medical risks factors increasing due to not taking the needed medications due to costs. Nationwide, more people are losing their jobs daily with no guarantee of work availability down the street.