Johnny's Locksmith & Alarms is marking its 40th year in business here, having been started by Johnny D. Jones in 1968.

The company, a family business, has its office at 615 E. Andrew Johnson Hwy. It primarily serves Greene Countians, but operates in much of the rest of East Tennessee, he said in an interview.

As the company name indicates, Johnny's provides both locksmithing and security alarm systems for residences and businesses.

Johnny Jones, 69, recalled in an interview this week that, while operating the former Eastgate Esso service station along Tusuclum Boulevard in the late 1960s, he got into locksmithing to supplement his income.

After selling the gas station and focusing on his work as a locksmith, Jones said he soon realized that people wanting new locks also were interested in buying security systems. He began selling and installing alarm systems in 1974.

Karen Jones, Johnny's daughter, who has been working in the business since she was a teen-ager and full-time since the late 1980s, said in a joint interview with her father that Johnny's Locksmith & Alarms is licensed by the state to sell security alarms, unlike some other companies in the business.

Also, as of this July, she said, Johnny's Locksmith will be licensed as a locksmith, a new state requirement.

Karen Jones noted that she is an appointed member of the state's Board of Alarm Contractors, which meets monthly in Nashville.

Other key company personnel are Brenda Jones, Johnny's wife and Karen's mother, who does much of the office work, and Russell Beall, who installs most of of the company's security systems.

Johnny Jones said the business has succeeded largely because of increased concerns on the part of owners of homes and businesses about crime as well as about fires.

He also pointed out that, because there is much employee turnover in business life today, many companies frequently have their locks changed.

Jones said that, when he is advising someone about the new locks he or she may need to protect a home or business, the person is usually receptive to investing in a system that will set off fire alarms anytime smoke or heat is detected, and will also protect from break-ins.

When set off, he said, one of the alarm systems he sells will within eight seconds alert Affiliated Central: a company that will be sure the Greeneville Police Department, Greeneville Fire Department, or Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad is notified, depending on a coding system that indicates the type of threat.

Johnny's Locksmith and Alarms monitors 600 to 700 local homes and businesses in this way, Johnny and Karen Jones said.

The company also sells and services safes for businesses or homes, and is a federally authorized firearms dealer.

In addition, the company has a couple of subsidiaries.

One is Advanced Security Monitoring, which provides "direct line alarms," usually for businesses. Johnny Jones said that is like having "a 24-hour night watchman."

Another subsidiary is Intouch Communications, which sells pagers.

For about 14 years, Johnny's Locksmith and Alarms was involved in marketing cell phones, but no longer is in that business.

In the past, Karen Jones said, many homeowners felt they couldn't afford to install a sophisticated alarm system. However, she said, potential customers now are offered financing arrangements.

When weighing the cost of such a system, she said, versus the cost of losing a house, most homeowners realize the decision is an obvious one.

One value of having a security system, they noted, is the sign that the company places outside one's home noting it is protected in this way.

The Joneses said that just having such a sign outside one's home or business adds to its security by discouraging would-be burglars from attempting a break-in.

However, she recalled that on more than one occasion, she has seen a Johnny's Locksmith & Alarms sign in a yard but then checked to determine that the residence actually had contracted for no such protection.

The obviously stolen and misleading signs were removed, she said.