Small business owners, independent contractors, and families in East Texas are keeping a close eye on their spending in the wake of sudden gas price spikes, widely blamed on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But East Texans were already cinching their belts before 2022, said Shelbie Glover, president and CEO of the Lindale Chamber of Commerce, when the shift in gas prices hit. “Anyone who shops weekly has seen an increase in prices in foods and goods the past six months,” she said to The Epoch Times on March 9. “The gas price spike is a sudden increase of a great percentage in just a week, certainly, not a gradual increase. That’s going to hurt people traveling, or restaurants delivering meals, or other small businesses that depend on fuel, such as lawn care services.” Just before local schools’ spring break, starting March 14, East Texas stations tried to hold the …