Inflation on the rise affects small townships including Deerfield and Atwater

Atwater 

Atwater Township is filled with a plethora of fields along with a few churches and a couple small businesses. With a population of 2,711 and spanning 25.5 square miles, Atwater, Ohio is a smaller township compared to others in Portage County, according to Census Reporter. 

Trump signs could be spotted along the primary road into the township, Waterloo Road. Along this road is White’s Farm Supply. 

White’s Farm Supply, a garden and farm supply store, was founded in 1975 and is an anchor business of Atwater. Bucky White owned and started the business until his son David took over four years ago.

Being a small business, the rate of inflation rising 8.3% over the last year has caused them to increase their prices.

“Everythings gone up, yeah definitely a lot,” David said. “But that hasn’t slowed anything down.” 

The store did not have to close during the pandemic, causing it to be favorable to them. 

“The demand for stuff went up,” David said. “You can’t buy a camper, you can’t buy a side by side, you can’t buy a lot of things, you know, [the equipment] sold more than they ever have.”

The demand is starting to level off now but was the highest at the start of the pandemic, David said. 

The Whites were Democrats until recent events changed their perspective on the party.   

“I don’t like anything the Democrats have done for quite a while,” David said. “We were always Democrats, but not anymore.”  

The Whites said the perspective of Democrats changed and now they vote Republican. 

“At one time, Democrats was for the average working person,” Bucky said. “They’ve got some ideas now that are just off the board. Totally out of sight in my mind.”  

Some of the ideas Bucky brought up included a misogynistic comment about Hillary Clinton and a derogatory comment regarding the LGBTQ+ community. 

People are more open about their political stances these days than when Bucky was growing up, he said. 

“When we grew up, my dad would tell us, but he never mentioned anybody who we vote [for]. You just didn’t do that,” Bucky said. “Today it’s outspoken, people flying flags and they cuss.” 

Regarding the upcoming election on Nov. 8, nothing on the current ballot caught either Bucky’s or David’s interest, but they do plan to vote. 

“Anything for Atwater we normally vote through,” Bucky said. 

Usually anything on the ballot that involves Atwater, they vote yes on. But there is one exception. 

On the ballot, though, there is a proposed income tax for Waterloo Local School District. It would be an annual income tax of 1.5% on the earned income of individuals residing in the district for five years of current operating expenses, the ballot stated. 

“The school? Nah. The school lost all its respect,” Bucky said. “People’s against Waterloo High School right now it seems like.” 

Al Kinsey, owner of Kinsey’s Korner, said the president needs to be taken out of office before he ruins the country. 

He said any answer to questions about his politics would be “Republican” and “conservative.” 

Deerfield

Deerfield is a very rural area, with many corn and wheat fields surrounding the small township. The township square is a roundabout supported by a restaurant, the local fire station, an antique shop, a farmer’s market, and a Family Dollar store. 

Home to approximately 2,838 people, Deerfield is the pinnacle of a rural community.

Michelle Hardman, a 15-year resident of Deerfield, said she doesn’t see any problems with the local government in her town as well as the state government, but does have issues with the way things are being run federally. 

Hardman bases her opinions on how well the COVID-19 pandemic was managed by each governing body and their COVID policy enforcements. She says her local government isn’t actively enforcing any policies, and thought Governor Mike Dewine handled the pandemic well over the past year and a half.

“But federal,” she says, “I think the federal really should back down a little bit at this point.” 

With the upcoming November elections, Hardman says she doesn’t know who the right candidate is for any of the state office positions at the moment, but she does want to see things turn around, especially the economy.

“Some things are hard,” she said. “My husband works in Canton and he is tired of the gas prices because gas for him is pretty expensive. His company is pretty laid back but they do expect him to be there; there’s not much of an exception for it.”

Hardman’s biggest concern is about the growing inflation in the country, and said her neighbors and other residents are struggling to consistently pay their monthly utility bills with the prices going up. 

“The electricity used to heat the houses has gone up,” Hardman said. “Most people out here either have electricity, propane, or burning oil.”   

She currently uses propane to heat her house during the winter, saying that it’s more affordable than using electricity, but she is considering moving over to electricity depending on the inflation.

“It’s just hitting hard,” she said. “All electric would be nice, but it’s just way too expensive, especially when the conversion cost would go in there.” 

On the southwest side of the roundabout in Deerfield’s main square, there is an antique shop called Circle Antique and Flea Market. Heather Bowser, the owner of the shop, has always been interested in antiques, prompting her to become a vendor and then owner.

While only operating three days out of the week, Bowser still gets plenty of business. Even with her business flourishing, Bowser is concerned about the growing inflation but has little worry that it will heavily impact her business. 

“Our business is kind of inflation proof,” she said. “In this business a lot of things are used or secondhand and a lot of time when people are feeling down or feeling like money’s tight they’re able to come poke around and find something that’s at a reasonable price and something that they want to add to their collection.” 

The booths they have are completely rented, Bowser said, and they have 135 vendors working in the store because the business has grown so much. 

“So what we do as a practice in our business is with a lot of stores, the higher the rent, the more costly the items in the store are, because the vendors want to try to make their money back and be able to pay their rent, and then make money on their merchandise as well; but what happens is that if we increase our rent then they would have to increase their prices,” Bowser explains.

Bowser isn’t currently looking at increasing the rent for each booth renter, but if utility prices keep increasing she’ll have to consider it.

One concern Bowser is worried about is the increasing credit card fees and a possible charge they would have to implement if a credit card is used, but a big concern is the cost of the four heating oil furnaces they have.

“It’s a major expense,” she said. “Each tank is 275 gallons, so that’s when it’s around five dollars a gallon; that’s pretty darn expensive.”

Bowser hopes gas prices will stay reasonably priced so she can afford the costly heating bill in order to get through the winter.

Inflation is also a topic for discussion across the street at Circle Restaurant, where the prices of their menu items have gone up in recent years.

Hope Bloom,19, has lived in Deerfield since she was 5 and currently works as a server in Circle Restaurant. As a server for nearly 4 years at Circle, she has seen the menu prices gradually increase. 

She hears complaints from customers about how they now charge for extra toppings like tomatoes on burgers and other items.

“I mean on our menu it says the prices may vary and change.”

Bloom also says the increase of prices has led to customers leaving very small tips after they have completed their meal.

“I once had an $80 check out here and only got a 43 cent tip,” she said. 

Regarding the upcoming November elections and ballots, Bloom decides that she will not be voting as she doesn’t pay attention to politics and isn’t interested in them at all.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Bloom said. “I don’t understand all of it, so I just stay out of it and let everyone else have their opinions.”