A lot of people seem to question the motive behind John Lynch’s move to sell the former Hartman-Harrigill Funeral Home to the City of Brookhaven for a City Hall. To be frank, I’m not sure it is important why Lynch does what he does. 

His history of action is to transform skeletons of old dilapidated buildings and give them new life. In the process, it has rejuvenated downtown Brookhaven. People should think about the progress made in the area since COVID. 

When my wife interned at the paper, I would walk around downtown Brookhaven as I visited. I would stare into the empty spaces, faded signs and sad buildings whose stories had come to an end, or so it seemed. 

It takes a man like John Lynch to invest in properties, bring a vision and execute the plans to get properties back to life. I think a great example is the old Fosters Gas Station. A former convenience store, it has changed into a nice corner laundry and dog wash station and looks 10 times better. 

Imagine our community if more people got involved in transforming old abandoned properties and created something new, giving new life and business. If we invested in our quality of life. 

While I’m personally against the growth and expansion of Brookhaven to outside of city limits, the positive changes in town are great to see. Innovation, entrepreneurship and revitalization are all great. We should consider ourselves lucky that a town our size can support so many small town businesses. Not every community is fortunate and we certainly should not take things for granted. 

For each Facebook comment complaining about the town not having a specific restaurant or “something for the kids,” I want to ask where your investment is? If we really need a steakhouse (we already have one on Zetus) then why are you not opening a steakhouse? I also ask would the people here support a different kind of restaurant or would they complain it wasn’t a chicken or Mexican restaurant?

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went on an anniversary date. We ate hibachi and played a round of mini-golf in Pearl before coming back. The mini-golf course sat on a plot of land about the size of our new Starbucks location and could have fit inside the new 601 Sports location. I think it would be a home run business here. 

Private innovation makes the world go ’round and I believe it makes Brookhaven a better place. I don’t know what John Lynch’s motives are or any private business owner for that matter. All I can do is look at their track record. 

Brookhaven runs the risk of running off people with good intentions by our bellyaching and complaining. What a shame it would be if the negativity ever kept something great from coming to our town. Let’s all work for a better Brookhaven and Lincoln County.