Wow, won't this expose' of Knoville's most famous cretin, Tyler Harber, be an embarassment for Mayor Ragsdale?????? Yahoooooo!!! The chickens are finally coming home to roost! Tyler Harber is finally going to get his just deserts. Or.....what goes around, comes around, Or...lie down with dogs, get up with fleas, Or....you judge a man by the company he keeps, Or.....give him enough rope to hang himself, Or.....birds of a feather, etc.

It has never ceased to amaze me that mature adults would turn an immature "frat boy"(did he even go to college?) loose to be function as an attack dog. But, there you have it. It was wrong to assume mature adults were involved.

Damn. Good catch, Nine. Looks like Gene Patterson is all over this story with an inside track. Sounds like the makings of a fall season TV News blockbuster series. And months of fun on Lloyd's inside dope radio show. Can't wait to see what comes out of it. Sounds juicy. Hope they aren't getting set up. Where is the KNS?

Actually, it's Betty Bean's story. The first part of it should go online tomorrow night at hallsnews.com. The print verison comes out Monday morning. As Number9 said, Betty will be on Lloyd's show Monday morning. The show runs from 7-11 but I'm not sure when she will be there.

Tyler Harber was not known for "truthiness". His claim that he "never worked a single case while employed by Knox County’s Office of Probation and Pre-Trial Release" should be easy to discredit. Go to the files and look for work product. Check the emails for work product. Check his expense reports. Do you want to bet this job required a lot of power lunches?

If his claim is true then the Shakespearean tragedy begins. Of course the easy out will be to claim that Harber destroyed the files and emails. What would Karl Rove do?

Which play by Shakespeare does this mess most closely resemble? Will it end with the words, "Ragsdale, I knew him well".

My psychic prediction is that the biggest crime has yet to be committed. It will be a conspiracy to cover up what the real truth is and that will be the final note for his most harmonious the Mayor of Knox County. The conspiracy cover up is a Republican art form. Wait for it.

There is only one person who can fix all this mess, brave enough to stand up to this corruption, and has the background to put education, economic development, and smart growth back on track while ending this corruption.

Bill Johns is the guy. A former candidate for Mayor in the Republic of Farragut, former VP for Jobs Now!, evangelist for education, has a background in public administration and business, and possibly was a former SEAL or something. He's the guy who ran the dog for mayor and has a technology program on WVLZ.

The story is that once he found out about the corruption in the machine while working for Jobs Now!, he separated himself and started exposing it. Mike Ragsdale and Mike Arms fear him most. He cannot be bought.

I have known Bill for several years. You will never meet anyone else like him (or his wife) – they broke that mold after Bill. He would be a great Mayor for all sorts of reasons but most importantly, Bill Johns is the most qualified guy around and does not play politics. I wished he was our President.

Bill is intense and does not settle for anything status quo as seen in this week’s articles to the Farragut Press about our leadership being negligent with our educational needs and the Metro Pulse about why our community keeps missing opportunities in economic development, business, technology, and creativity.

Here are the links:

Farragut Press
http://www.farragutpress.com/articles/2006/08/5344.html

Metro Pulse
http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2006/16_33/incoming.shtml

Bill Johns for County Mayor!

Tommy W. / Farragut

Just saw Gene Patterson's show with Lloyd Daughtery on the Tivo, and I was a little disappointed. I was under the impression that Gene had the inside track (he had quotes from the story on his blog and everything), but he and Lloyd both acted like they didn't know anything about it. They both spoke highly of Ragsdale and the Sheriff, though. I guess we will have to wait for the Halls Shopper and Gene's follow-up report tomorrow night.

Bill Johns running for County Mayor in 2010 or a draft Johns to replace an ousted Ragsdale have to do with this thread? Create a draft Bill Johns for Mayor thread as stand alone.

At the time the show was shot Friday afternoon, I don't think Gene knew that much. My understanding is that Betty had been working on the story and contacted Ragsdale's office for comments Thursday. After that, the rumor mill at the C&C Bldg. went into overtime. I heard that someone finally called Gene Friday morning and told him. WATE's news director left and I don't know who is in charge now, so Gene may be able to do something with the story.

If the things I have heard so far are true, Ragsdale is in big trouble. I expect that the TBI will be, at least, asked to handle the investigation.

Ragsdale doesn't have the power that he had just a few weeks ago. Of the 5 people he backed in the election, all lost. If just one of the things Harber says can be proven, Ragsdale's credibility will take a serious hit.

http://www.hallsnews.com/index.html

Paging Randy Nichols:

"After I moved over to probation, the cover story was that I'm there to make sure the electronic monitoring (ankle bracelets) were working. That was my cover story. I had zero caseload and never saw a single probationer. I had no obligation or task relative to IT or Pretrial Release and Probation, although I did help Todd and Dick with some things, when they asked.

"I even learned how to put on and operate an electronic tracking device in case a journalist ever asked me to do so (they never did). When there'd be a TV story about electronic tracking, I made sure I was there. … Eventually, I was moved to an office on the 6th floor of the Andrew Johnson with Community TV, where there were not so many eyes."

The legislative (Knox County Commission) branch and judicial (Randy Nichols) branch MUST investigate these very SERIOUS and DANGEROUS allegations involving the administrative branch (Mike Ragsdale and Mike Arms) of local government. Since Harber has stated that there are many “friends” of the County Mayor and his Chief of Staff, the TBI must be involved as well to ensure a properly handled investigation. The TBI needs to also look at probation office’s misconduct too!

"Patterson writes that Tyler Harber "never worked a single case while employed by Knox County’s Office of Probation and Pre-Trial Release. "

Hmmm, is that the same office that Mike Arms' son now works in?
I think one would be amazed at now how many files Tyler was able to work on now that Arms' son has had access to those files to supplement them.

An update on the Betty Bean story. I may be mistaken but I think team Ragsdale is implying something here.

http://www.hallsnews.com/

Mike Ragsdale's response as given by Dwight Van De Vate:

RAGSDALE RESPONDS (sort of)

We offered Mayor Mike Ragsdale an opportunity to comment. His spokesperson Dwight Van de Vate said: "This is a sad situation involving a deeply troubled young man; all we can do is wish him the very best as he tries to put his life together."

I've heard the FBI is now looking into it.

Part 2 is up.