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GOWANDA: Village takes on new battle

There is an energy in downtown Gowanda that is not often found in small town Western New York. Most comes from loyal shop owners and business people, the Chamber of Commerce in particular.

It is one of the reasons the community continues to come back despite horrible flooding that has occurred in the last decade. But, make no mistake, there are people trying to create another batch of chaos.

As reported last week, Gowanda is facing a serious issue in regard to arsons. The most recent occurred at 28 Jamestown St. on July 18. Make no mistake, it has brought concern.

“We do not want other businesses to leave this town,” president of the Chamber of Commerce in Gowanda and Gowanda Fire Chief Nick Crassi said. “It’s extremely important that the businesses we have here remain strong and stay here and grow further. I know the chamber pushes that and the fire department does everything it can to protect our residents and will continue to, but this is not good and we definitely want to find out who did this and make an example of them because we can’t have this continue.”

Plenty of villagers care about the downtown future. It is why small business has managed to maintain when many others in neighboring communities continue to go through some tough times.

Gowanda is resilient. It has proven it can overcome, especially after some major disasters.

An arson, however, is an effort to destroy and harm. The community must be on alert.

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