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AP-AOL poll: High o h:nn:i in Americans’lives By WILL LESTER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Half the people in the country say record high gas prices are starting to cause them problems. Who’s to blame? Americans point a finger at the oil companies, foreign nations that control the oil supply, and politicians. More than half say they’re cutting back on driving, and many plan to stay closer to home on their summer vacations. An Associated Press-AOL poll | found 51 percent of those surveyed say that if gas prices remain high for the next six months it will cause a financial hardship for them. Thirty percent of those polled classified the hit as “serious,” according to the survey conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs for the AP and AOL News. “You have to decide gas, groceries, medicine,” said Marcia Cain of Indianapolis, who is semi retired. “I’m on limited income. I don’t go out as much eating out, going to listen to jazz. It uses gas you don’t want to use.” Cain paid $2.15 per gallon this week after paying $2.35 per gallon the week before. “It aggravates me, but there’s pot much I can do about it,” she said. High global oil prices have pushed the cost of regular gasoline for U.S. motorists to around $2 21 per gallon, with prices ranging from an average of $2.6 t in ( .jlih.mr, m about $2 in Oklahoma, am*tding to the auto group AAA. Prices arc expected to remain above nationally through the summer. Americans spread the blame around, with 29 pendent., blaming the oil companies, 24 percent blaming foreign government, that dominate oil reserves and ' ! percent saying politicians percent blame the high prices “environmentalists v,in. limit oil exploration," while 6 percent blame “people who drive gas-guzzling vehicles.” Anxiety about gasoline prices comes as President Bush is pressing Congress to- approve enei. \ legislation that includes tax breaks and subsidies, mostly for energy companies, and would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge u Alaska to oil development. The House passed its version of the hill Thursday. The president gets low marks from the public for his handling oi the nation’s energy problems, with 62 percent saying they disapprove. When he first took office, people were more inclined to say he would handle energy problems effectively. Many people, 41 percent, sav gas prices are making than —$!_ji—-1-4 percent in the fust tin e months o; Seth Millet. who lives u considered getting somei “1( it were I*-. : e !■ >r nit < I •another (more fuel-effio nt) prompted 58 percent to reilnci their driving,'5 percent have dr hack on other . exp.ns, , and plans to stay closer rq home Gable, Ohio. “We will stay within two or three hours from home. pump, itwas $1.96 and then ii was ,1 jft, [>,» . ') ..t IS iiiuiu .. ’ Dermot < lately, a New ifork said if ■ .in) Nr consumers to cel the full impact of gas prices. “The next time they buy a ■chicle in two or three years they i\ be more careiul to get a more ucl-cfficiciu one," he said. “It’i a relatively slow adjustment.” The poll of 1,000 adults was taken April 18-20 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. KATIE FALKENBERG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS gas tank at a Washington station Thursday. More than half of ivir g aid making other adjustments in their lives to deal with i: A. About the same nurrber say that unless something will cause them financial ha'dship. The poll found that 51 s ai . going to cause money problems in the coming months, ■ vprices will cause them “serious hardships. tg at prom, after-hours events By MARTHA IRVINE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS It was getting so few teachers at Westwood High School in suburban Boston wanted to chaperone school dances. There were drunken quarrels and dramas. At one school event, a student was rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning. “It’s a drag to deal with it,” one teacher told assistant principal Emily Parks. And that’s how she and other school administrators were feeling, too. “It’s frankly kind of frightening when you have students who’ve had enough to drink that it’s presenting a safety problem,” Parks says. So, 'in recent weeks, she find fellow administrators adopted a policy that a growing number ! schools are using to deter drinking at after-hours events: They’re now testing students who enter school dances, including the upcoming prom, with Breathalyzers. Some teens complain the testing policies are intrusive and misdirected. They include 18-year old Jason Speakman, who thinks officials’ efforts would be rnoic effective il they tested student.-, .is they left events. “Kids getting into cars stumbling drunk THAT’S a problem,” says Speakman, a high w liool senio in R urine . R.l when school Officials' are considering alcohol tests. If he were asked to take a test when enuring a school event R says he would refusoeven if he’d In an attempt to br less disruptive, officials at some schools students they suspect have been drinking ohes who might have of gum to hide ibe odor. “Without a Breathalyze; ... ou Rave to Re Ra k\ oriR.■ Rid R ' iv-. ' fdit^r Mig’c -tiiti' i'lri! giving students - student entering dances must ake a Breathalyzer test. \t North Central High Sctool in Indianapolis, an early adopttr of alcohol testing, that’s been thefule for 10 years. And Principal ^.E. ' )uandt has never had a stulent test positive. You can’t protect kids 14-7, but you can make the expetence they have here a positive one,” Quandt says. “We’re not gong to ‘wink-wink’ die issue. Thee is a right and wrong.” Now some parents are folbwing suit. Worried about a spate ofdrunk driving accidents, Steve Sherets, a lather in Independence, Iowa, purchased his own tester, a brand known as Alcohawk, to monitor his two teenage sons. “At first, they said ‘You can believe us,’” Sherrets says of his sons’ reaction. “And I said, ‘Well, I’m sure that’s what the kids told their parents before they got into accidents, too.’” Some say testing isn’t a cure-all. “Anyone who thinks Breathalyzers are going to solve the problem is kidding themselves,” says Stephen Wallace, national chairman and CEO of Students Against Destructive Decisions, also known as SADD. “It can be somewhat effective, but it’s only one tool in the toolbox.” HHlLjl WHI ■ I WA k H fiSggfcrA 3j V .•: r W** w %. g mr t ,jr.# ■»? MMfcv: fTPMmlfe lilllfp MM ■BhIhhbhhpc, I