Owners of long-standing business blame closing on boycott

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March 4, 2010

By Melanie Patterson The North Jefferson News The North Jefferson News Thu Mar 04, 2010, 11:46 AM CST

WARRIOR — Ben Brown was stunned Tuesday when he heard the news.

Jones Cleaners of Warrior is going out of business after 63 years.

“It affects me like Warrior High School closing,” Brown said. “It’s a big loss.”

Rhonda Davis, who owns the business with her husband Jerry, said business has been declining since the economic recession hit the nation.

But she said the final straw was the City of Warrior’s passage of a police jurisdiction tax in December 2009.

The tax enraged Blount County residents, just north across the county line, because Warrior will collect a 1.5-percent sales tax from certain businesses within a mile and a half of the Warrior city limit.

Blount County residents responded to the tax by calling for a boycott of Warrior businesses, which they have upheld. Also, the Blount County district attorney has filed a lawsuit against the City of Warrior. A hearing is scheduled in Blount County Circuit Court on March 16.

Warrior Mayor Rena Hudson said she was disappointed to hear about the cleaners closing because she and her family have used the business for many years.

She said when the recession started, it was predicted that hair salons and dry cleaners would be hit the hardest.

“I’m afraid part of their (troubles) is being a victim of the recession itself,” Hudson said. “It’s unfortunate, but folks have to scale back in difficult times.”

Davis said Jones Cleaners recently laid off two employees.

“We’ve made cuts and arrangements where we could, to at least keep the doors open for the citizens here,” Rhonda Davis said. “We could have (stayed open) without the boycott. It’s hit us hard.”

Davis’ parents, George and Alma Jones, opened the cleaners in 1946 when he returned home from World War II.

The business stopped taking new orders Friday. This week, the business is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. so people can pick up their items.

Suzanne Miller, who owns Burn’s Bar-B-Q in Warrior along with her husband Michael, said she cried when she saw the closing sign at Jones Cleaners.

“They were friends with my parents,” Miller said. Her parents, Robert (Pick) and Sue Burns opened Burn’s Bar-B-Q 46 years ago. The Millers took over three years ago.

Miller, who remembers her parents working seven days a week to keep the restaurant open, said the boycott has also hurt her business.

“I’m always slow after the holidays,” she said. “But I’m doing less than half of what I was doing this time last year.”

Miller has laid off three employees. She now cooks during the day with one waitress working out front, and her husband cooks at night, also with one waitress working.

“I know the economy has a lot to do with it, but I also know for a fact that the loss of some of my breakfast business is due to the boycott,” she said.

Miller said Burn’s Bar-B-Q is fighting the boycott and the loss of business “tooth and nail.”

“I really don’t want to lose the business this way,” she said. “I feel like I would be letting my parents down.”

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