If you break down on the highway, you’d better hope someone like Donnie Lane happens by.

The Jemison City Council member has sold car batteries wholesale for more than 30 years. He started the work in Virginia, where he bought an Interstate Battery franchise and kept it for about 11 years.

“A friend I went to school with in Virginia was doing the same thing, and I bought the franchise from him,” Lane said.

Lane attended Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap, Va., where he graduated in 1967. Pro football players Thomas and Julius Jones attended the same school.

But Lane is no stranger to Jemison. He has lived there 38 years and is married to Jemison native, the former Brenda Simmons.

Lane is a new face on the council, and was recently appointed to represent District 2.

“When the mayor called me and asked me if I would accept it, I figured I would,” he said.

Lane says the number one issue facing the council is money.

“The number one issue is having the money to do what we need — to run the city and keep employees,” he said.