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‘Frustrated and mad;’ String of vandalism forces small businesses to close their doors

SPRINGFIELD — Small businesses in Clark County are fed up with a string of vandalism.

“Frustrated and mad. You know, us small businesses, it’s hard, especially with trying to work other jobs and keep makings meets end,” Tracy Dornan said.

Dornan bought her building four years ago.

She was forced to close the doors of “Sugar Shack”, a seasonal ice cream stand, Tuesday after criminals ripped out her electrical box.

“With a loss of sales, and then I have to replace product. I mean, we’re probably down $1,000 for the for the day,” Dornan said.

Dornan said she is still trying to figure out how people are getting away with these crimes.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6, criminals hit two small businesses Tuesday night.

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“With so many businesses getting hit, you would think there would be something coming about of it. So I don’t know. I hope they get them,” she said.

Just down the street, another business was also broken into.

“I was shaking, like I thought it was a targeted at us. And I was like, ‘what did we do?’ But then later on, throughout the day, we were learning that it was a lot of small businesses,” Brittany Waters, general manager of Speakeasy Ramen, said.

She detailed similar signs of vandalism to what happened at Sugar Shack — scratched-up glass from rocks being thrown, cameras turned and they also took out their electric meter.

News Center 7 reached out to Springfield police about these crimes.

Police said they are aware of the vandalism but no charges have been filed as they do not have enough suspect information.

“I have people that I know on the police force, and they are stretched thin and doing the best they can.” Dornan said.

News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.



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