Published: September 02, 2008 08:30 pm      

Folks say they’re happy to bid farewell to summer from closer to home

The economy might have kept local families closer to home this summer, but it didn’t keep them down.

Ed Small, 45, of Clarksville, brought his family to Deam Lake on Labor Day and said he doesn’t mind sticking to places in Southern Indiana.

“I haven’t missed [traveling out of state] at all,” Small said. “With the price of gas, you can’t really afford to travel as much. Besides, there’s a lot to do around here.”

Small said he and his family got to see concerts in Louisville — as well as Thunder Over Louisville — and visited area parks this summer.

“Usually, we go to Florida, but nobody can really afford to travel now,” Small said.

Eric Bitner, a 30-year-old Jeffersonville resident, and his wife, Loretta, had a picnic with some of their family from Louisville at Deam Lake and said they got to do a little traveling out of state.

The Bitners said high gas prices was one of the reasons they stayed close to home. Loretta Bitner, 31, said they didn’t get out of town as much as they would have liked, and missed out on spending time with some of their friends and family.

“We would have traveled in Southern Indiana anyway,” she said, “but we would have liked to have traveled more to see our family. I would have gone north to see friends.”

Eric Bitner said between trips to the Louisville Zoo, Clifty Falls State Park and other local parks, his family had a nice summer.

“It was sad a few times that we didn’t see everyone we wanted to, but we’re content with what we’ve been able to do,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed the trips we’ve been on.”

Jessica Bonura — a 31-year-old Louisville resident and a sister-in-law of the Bitners — said she and her in-laws have had some opportunity to see their family away from home, but suffered a little in cramped quarters.

“We all carpooled to Pennsylvania in a really small car,” Bonura said.

She said her family fit six people into a Buick LeSabre for a nine-hour drive.

Dennis Grant, 44, of Jeffersonville, went to the beach on Deam Lake with his family, and said he doesn’t mind visiting local parks instead of going out of state.

“We come up here and go camping,” Grant said. “Between here and Patoka Lake, that’s what we pretty much do for fun.”

Grant brought his wife, Delladee, and their niece, 2-year-old Georgia Wright, and said the lake is a regular summer hangout for them.

Grant said his family didn’t let the economy affect their summer.

“We just don’t pay [the economy] any attention,” Grant said. “We just keep on doing what we have to do to enjoy life.”



Back to work

by the numbers

Here are some work-related statistics from the U.S. Census:



15.45 million

Number of people 16 and older in the nation’s labor force in May, including 82.6 million men and 71.9 million women.



7.7 million

Number of workers who hold down more than one job. So-called moonlighters comprise 5 percent of the working population.



28 percent

Percentage of workers 16 and older who work more than 40 hours a week. Eight percent work 60 or more hours a week.



15.6 million

Number of labor union members nationwide. About 12 percent of wage and salary workers belong to unions, with Hawaii and New York having among the highest rates of any state.



5.4 million

The number of people who work at home.

— U.S. Census;www.census.gov