Facebook post fuels criticism of Williams
The criticism from six residents centered on the mayor's dispute with the Knox County Sheriff's Office and his Wednesday, June 24, Facebook post about a recent newspaper report involving Alderman Alex Cain.
Additionally, Cain announced he had received a death threat.
"You may not be aware..." Cain said. "I want to thank Mr. David Smoak, Town administrator, and Mr. Tom Hale, Town attorney, and the staff here at the Town of Farragut. I received a threat against my life in an email yesterday (Wednesday, June 24), and they addressed it immediately.
"They responded and got everything to the sheriff's office immediately, and that is being addressed," he said.
"Threats on our lives as elected officials happen, unfortunately," Williams said. "I hate that it happened to you. We have people who think that's funny. It's not funny. It's a serious deal."
While Andover subdivision resident Adam Atherton praised Williams and the Board for accomplishing much and said Williams has been "generally responsive despite being very busy," he criticized the mayor's recent public actions.
"Your argument with the Knox County sheriff was an embarrassment and ended in being called a liar," Atherton said.
The criticism followed a public dispute between Williams and Knox County Sheriff's Office after Williams said during a TV interview, "We pay our property tax, and out of that property tax, we're supposed to have police protection, and we have none.”
The Sheriff's Office responded in a public statement, saying sheriff's deputies continued to patrol Farragut at the same staffing levels despite the closure of the Farragut precinct last year. "When you made that statement, you knew that Knox County Sheriff's deputies were still patrolling your town in the same way they have for the last 25 years," Spangler reportedly wrote. "You knew there had been no decrease in patrol officer numbers or patrol officer hours in your town. You knew these facts, but you chose to lie about police protection in the Town of Farragut.”
Atherton called the situation "short-sighted" and accused Williams of "twisting the facts."
Atherton also addressed Williams' Facebook post concerning Cain.
"On top of the hour, you encouraged people to contact candidates, which is a reasonable response," Atherton said. "But that's not what you did on Facebook. Your call-to-arms Facebook post, disguised as collaborative leadership, was disingenuous."
Williams wrote on his Mayor Ron Williams Facebook page, "… If you have concerns, opinions or expectations regarding the future leadership and integrity of our town government, it is vital that you make your feelings known directly to Mr. Cain …”
As of Sunday morning, June 28, the post had been removed from Williams' Facebook page and replaced with: "If resident’s have concerns, they should be respectful and call the candidate directly for more information."
Regarding the disagreement with the sheriff's office, Williams responded.
"Quite frankly, I was not communicating with the sheriff. I was communicating with his PR person," he said, referring to Knox County Sheriff's Office director of Communications Kimberly Glenn.
"She called me a liar because what I said was, 'They closed the precinct in September (2025).' Mr. Smoak and I spoke with the late chief deputy Bernie Lyons and procurement director Hugh Holt in October 2025 about the precinct closing, and we asked very politely to add two police officers in our town 24/7.
"With the budget that they have, which is $117.4 million, I don't think two police officers is really too much to ask," Williams said. "We were supposed to see the sheriff, but the sheriff's sick. He's not talking to people.
"But what they did do, once they closed the precinct, was take our lone police officer, Brad Hall, and move him to the jail, where he's still assigned today," he said. "Neither one of those are lies. That's what she called me a liar on. I'm not apologizing for anything I said."
"The police officers we have here are great," Williams added. "We pay them separately for four hours to work these meetings, even though they may only be here about an hour.”
Williams' explanation differed from language in an April 5 post on his Ron Williams Nextdoor account, in which he wrote: "All; I have commented on this site concerning the factual issue with the current lack of the Knox County Sheriff's Department presence in the Town of Farragut. I will try to make this as brief as possible by saying what we have for the four minimum on the 2nd. 3rd, & 4th Thursday night of each month is one officer for a extra $200 regardless of how long the meeting last. Other than that, we have no police presence unless there is a accident that is not on Kingston Pike. Folks this not a opinion but a sad fact."
At the June 25 meeting, Greg Wiberley, a candidate for the South Ward alderman seat, said the Mayor’s Facebook post "fits the classic description of cyberbullying" because it encouraged citizens to "make their feelings known directly to Mr. Cain" about his continued service.
"I find it reprehensible that one Town official would single out another elected official to challenge the legitimacy of that elected official," Wiberley said.
"When placed in the context of this election, however, the reason becomes clear. This was simply not a disagreement between members of the BOMA; it appears to be a partisan action during an election season intended to damage a mayoral candidate who is running against someone supported by the mayor."
Wiberley said Williams used his Facebook account and
official title "to call for public pressure against the oppo-
nent of the candidate he supports."
He also said the Board's meeting rule prohibiting personal attacks was not enforced.
Wiberley further accused mayoral candidate Louise Povlin of placing campaign signs in violation of the town's sign ordinance.
"I've not said anything against Alderman Cain," Williams replied. "I've had many calls — as a matter of fact, I've had 52 calls and meetings with people — asking me to do something about what was written. OK, I can't do that.
"There's no recall. Alderman Cain is a duly elected alderman, and I've told everybody we can't do anything about what was printed. There's nothing I can do or want to do.
"Nothing happened under Alderman Cain's watch while he was an alderman. That needs to be left separate from his official duties, so I told everybody, if you want to talk to a candidate, whoever it is, call them."
Addressing the allegation about campaign signs, Williams said he personally measured signs.
"If you read the ordinance, it says 12 feet from the curb," he said. "I measured Mrs. Povlin's signs, and I measured some of the others, too, and everybody followed the rules."
Resident Kimberlie Parks said she did not expect perfection from elected officials.
"But I do expect humility," Parks said. "I expect integrity. I expect courage when your friends are wrong. And I expect those entrusted with public office to understand the weight of their words."
Parks said Cain had become a target.
"He was elected by the people of Farragut," she said. "He continues to show up, serve this town and stand by his convictions despite relentless personal attacks. His votes and his record are fair subjects for debate. His personal humiliation should never become a political strategy."
She questioned why Williams had written that it was "vital" for residents to direct their concerns to Cain.
"You're here, you're standing up strong and you have every right to," resident Pat Lee told Cain.
Turning to Williams, Lee said, "I use the words 'character assassination by innuendo.' You took the weight of the mayor's office and you put this out. ... We know you can't remove him, but you put your thumb on the election, sir, and that's a problem.
"I'm asking the Board to censure you for this behavior."
"The 52 calls I had, I told them the exact same thing, that they needed to contact Mr. Cain and any other candidate they had questions about," Williams said. "That was something that had gone on for a few days. I had 52 of them, and then all of a sudden they stopped.
"Most of them were women. They had questions. It really wasn't my place to talk for Mr. Cain. It was his place, and that's what I recommended."
Lawrence Segrest also criticized the Facebook post.
"You can weave and dodge, but there were a lot of things you were implying, a lot of innuendo," Segrest said. "Take it easy and let the voters decide."
Kingsgate resident Matthew Parsons said he had once considered running for South Ward alderman and for Knox County Commission but decided against it because of the negativity associated with local politics.
"I feel like that is what has happened," Parsons said. "We have gone from having a conversation about the issues to, for lack of a better term, gossip.
"How long has Alex Cain been an alderman here in Farragut? Two years. And what are we talking about? We're talking about accusations. We're talking about something that happened a long time before that, and it comes out now.
"Doesn't it seem odd that this has come out now? Was there new evidence that came to light? In a country where someone is innocent until proven guilty, what was he guilty of?
"From what I can tell, the only mistake Alex Cain made was running against the heir apparent of the current mayor.
"Part of the reason I didn't want to run for alderman is because I didn't want to deal with the drama," Parsons added. "... juvenile little games."
