Emily Quinn Johns

Passion for economic growth drives Emily Johns

Posted by

Walter Geiger

in Features

Friday, August 24. 2012

Comments (9)

By Kay S. Pedrotti

If dedication to growing this area, plus a winning personality that draws people to her, are factors in whether Emily Quinn Johns is successful with her new post as chamber of commerce president and CEO -- she’s in the right place.

The 34-year-old is still learning the area, she says, but every day brings something that piques her interest. Johns believes the key to growth is community cooperation, “and Barnesville seems to have a lot of that.” She will be meeting regularly with small downtown businesses and larger companies here to find out what the chamber can do to help them.

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#1 Cats on 08/24/12 at 07:57 AM

A key concern, I think, is getting our citizens to shop local and support the businesses in this town, and getting the business owners keyed in to the needs of their shoppers.
We have to turn our focus into our community if we're to thrive!

#2 Tinky Winky on 08/24/12 at 09:00 AM

Cats, you are absolutely right! With that being said, businesses need to also note that consistency is key. A business must stay open the hours they say and the service/product needs to be consistent.
There is nothing more annoying that driving to town to find a business closed even though their sign states the hours. Also, it makes for a bad taste in a person's mouth when you wait for an extended period of time for your food and it isn't even cooked properly.
Responsibility lies in both sets of hands, the owner and consumer.

#3 John Burke on 08/25/12 at 09:25 AM

Keep Barnesville small, we don't want this to be like Griffin. There are plenty of stores here, and if you need to go to Walmart, it's no more than 20 minutes in any direction. And you can buy anything nationwide on the internet.
Why destroy what we have, less is more. Use the money you pay the chamber of commerce, and a "CEO" to beautify Barnesville, and to make more parks, bike trails, for children, as well as adults. If people need jobs, drive under an hour to your job. Keep Barnesville Small.

#4 AMERICA - IN GOD WE TRUST on 08/27/12 at 11:35 PM

John - Without growth, there is no business. Also, without growth there is only a handful of people to pay your CEO so you will have a beautiful town. I pay enough taxes already. I guess you have not tried to survive here with a business - its very hard. As far as going to WalMart, My family shops for almost everything locally and have not gone to WalMart in over 4 years and do not plan on it either. Sure I know that it is simple shopping but I would rather support the locals than the WalMart franchise who buys most of their products from China. The WalMart mentality is exactly the reason our community is drying up. HELP BARNESVILLE GROW - SUPPORT OUR/YOUR LOCAL MERCHANTS.

#5 Mary Rogers on 08/28/12 at 07:50 AM

Reply to America in GOD we trust,
I pay the high end of the tax scale to.
We don't need a Chamber of Commerce CEO to have a beautiful town. Barnesville is a beautiful town, if people would put litter in a trash can, instead of tossing it out their vehicle window. We do our part picking up trash every other week the length of our road, and if you don't the County will mow over top of it and make 4 times the amout of trash, instead of having Convicts pick it up first, or enforcing litter laws.
I respect your your right to have a business, as i hope you respect my right to keep Barnesville small. I would shop locally more if the merchants didn't charge 3x as much.
I guarantee you have Chinese products in your store, your house, etc......I guarantee I save $20,000 a year between buying over the internet, and Walmart. No taxes on the internet, and Lord knows we are over taxed as it is. We are retired and love small Barnesville, who wants to be Griffin, or McDonough, and deal with there crime and traffic, the can have it. As far as I'm concerned, Miss Johns can go back to Griffin.

#5.1 Cats on 09/12/12 at 06:43 AM

Ms. Rogers, with all due respect, we do need to have businesses here, in order to provide jobs and services to us.
Can you imagine not having a local plumber, or grocery, or hardware store. Can you imagine having to drive to Griffin or Forsyth for everything you need?
Your tire goes bad, and you have to try to locate a tire 20 miles from here?
I may pay a bit more for some things, but these are neighbors and friends who are providing for their own families and we all depend on each other.
That being said, I will be giving my local plumber a call today.....and he will buy the supplies for my repair job from the local hardware store.
And my money stays right here in the community.

#6 Mary Rogers on 08/28/12 at 07:55 AM

.....one last thing, guess what will happen to small business when when big business arrives ?
Main street will roll up and disappear. Seen it happen many times in many cities. Like the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

#7 AMERICA - IN GOD WE TRUST on 09/11/12 at 12:19 AM

Mary, Mary, Mary - Growth does not necessaryly mean BIG BUSINESS which I am against. We need more small businesses that will attract from further away. We have great I-75 access north & South with exits 201 and 185. The presence of a billboard would be nice. Must be nice to be able to spend enough to save $20,000 most here in Lamar don't have that luxury. And no, I don't sell products from China. All USA made. Quality control is too lax to sell a defective product made from questionable materials. Safer to buy USA products with certs.

#8 Mary Rogers on 09/13/12 at 07:00 AM

I never said that I didn't want small businesses. I came from a large City. I simply don't feel that a small town is the place to have wood burning plants, malls, walmarts. I am for small business selling items for a fair price. How much I make or spend is my business, but I assure you that we have worked hard for the money we have. There are other things that can be done to make Barnesville a better place to live. How about a beautiful soccer complex, or bike lane's for people that feel exercise is important. How about a movie theaters or skating rinks for all the teenagers and college people to enjoy. Maybe they wouldn't just hang out and get in trouble. These things would create jobs too. All I was really trying to get across was to make Barnesville better with changes that we make.

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