Oregon Public Broadcasting

The rising price of gas has done more than just force more commuters onto public transportation. It's also hit a lot of Oregonians in the pocket book. And for a handful of gas stations -- and small communities -- in rural Oregon, it could shut down their service. Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports from Mitchell.

Mitchell is a small town of 170 people between Prineville and John Day. If you have heard of it, it's probably because of one, furry, resident.

Hugh Reed: “Well, Henry, my bear, is known all over the world now. And people come here to see him - I've had people drive 3 or 400 miles just to see him.”

Hugh Reed owns the gas station and the Little Pine Hotel and Cafe in town.  He began to care for the abandoned, tamed, and declawed bear about ten years ago.

The bear would have been killed otherwise.

Henry does draw a few tourists to the area. But Mitchell isn't just important because of that - it's also a hub for thousands of farmers and rural homeowners in the area.

Hugh Reed's gas pumps are the only ones for at least 30 miles, in any direction.

Wolfgang Groat lives just less than 10 miles outside of town. He says the driving distances make you aware of your fuel gauge.

Wolfgang Groat: “I'm eight miles out, and its about 39 miles to Prineville. Or come down here. If I have a quarter tank on my gauge, I got enough to get to Prineville.”

Groat says that's why it was so difficult when the gas station shut down temporarily.

Wolfgang Groat: “It made a mess of a lot of people's lives around here. I'm a general contractor, and I do remodel work, and I have a job about 10 miles east of town here. Well, I got two cans sitting at home now, to cover for that problem.”

Two cans of regular unleaded gasoline, Groat says.

Hugh Reed says more than a month ago, the state “tagged” him - meaning surprise inspectors bought gas and determined that his pumps were operating unlawfully.

Reed says he knew it could happen. His pumps were built so long ago, their internal cash register can only charge $2  a gallon -- max.

It's sorta like the Y-2-K computer problem - 1950s computer programmers didn't think about the year 2000 when they were designing computer processors.

Gas pumps were built with an arbitrary cap that seemed far-off when gas was less than 30 or 40 cents.

So for the past several years, Reed's been using a handheld calculator to make up the difference.

Russ Wyckoff is the administrator of the state's Measurement Standards Division. He says that's a real problem.

Russ Wyckoff: “So, as a consumer, and you go out there and you got 23.2 gallons of gas and someone turns to me and says, you owe me $118. Do you really know that's what you owe? You don't carry a calculator, you don't know. You have the right, on that computing dispenser, for it to compute the total sale.”

In 2006, when the problem first started to crop up, the state sent letters to every older gas station, notifying them that they had to upgrade their systems. Calculators would not be allowed.

After this reporter visited Mitchell, and then talked to the state, Hugh Reed found out he had never been officially shut down.

The letter from the state was just a warning.

Russ Wyckoff with the state says a number of Oregon's gas stations are facing this problem, and he hasn't shut down any yet.

And since Reed has proof that he ordered pump upgrades, the state gave him a waiver to operate.

But it could be a while before he is up-to-snuff again, because gas stations across the country are all ordering the same parts at the same time.

And it'll cost him about $3,000, he thinks.

Even after all that, Reed doesn't know how long before he may be faced with the same problem, all over again.

The new upgrades just put a new ceiling on things.

Hugh Reed: “They go up to $10. What happens when gas costs more then ten dollars? They gotta replace 'em I guess I don't know!”

Reed says he'll worry about crossing that bridge when he gets there. He hopes that the government, or someone, steps in before then and stops the gas companies from charging so much.