Newspaper publisher sounds off on threats and harassment by neo-Nazis after reporting facts about a mayoral candidate

In the case of a newspaper and its adversaries, sometimes "enough is enough," reports Derby Jones, publisher of the Williamson Herald, in Franklin, Tennessee. The Williamson County paper has faced an onslaught of vandalism and harassment, including threats leading up to a Franklin election. "The group or groups seems to take issue with our factual reporting of Franklin's mayoral candidate, Gabrielle Hanson."

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Jones calls out the perpetrators in his Oct. 24 column: "The Williamson Herald's offices were vandalized over the weekend. . . . Someone took the time to bring printouts of so-called 'leftist journalist' propaganda and glued them to the side of our building here in Franklin, on our painted pillars at our front door and on the front of our building. They stapled them to the utility poles at the entrance of our office, too. . . . This is textbook vandalism and intimidation tactics. It is certainly not the Franklin I love and that I have worked hard to serve the past 17 years. . . .This is also after a weekend where these same organizations threatened one of our reporters, threatened our advertisers and threatened me and my wife amongst others."

Jones has been the Herald's publisher
for 17 years.(Williamson Herald photo)

Jones points out the paper's truthful reporting as the puzzling "reason" for the crimes. He adds, "Hanson herself admitted to being arrested for a prostitution charge in the 1990s, we reported on this. We reported on a neo-Nazi/white supremacist group that attended a candidate forum on Oct. 3 in support of Hanson. . . . Since then, this group has gone after local journalists using threats of violence and neo-Nazi doxing, especially against our reporter."

A group called "nomoorewokefranklin" added to the intimidating tactics through social media posts "targeting our journalists, myself and our advertisers," Jones writes. "We won't stand for our reporter being threatened for doing his job, and we won't tolerate threats of violence. . . . Hanson's followers are harassing journalists and others in the community when they don't like what we say or write. The Williamson Herald stands by every story we report on. We are being called leftist and biased, but there is not one report that we posted that was not the truth."

Jones makes his point clear and asks his readers a question, saying, "Neo-Nazis don't have a place in our town. I say enough is enough. We have never seen this level of hate and divisiveness in Franklin. And to be so blatantly targeted and threatened is uncalled for. . . . If you have not voted yet, I strongly urge you to do so TODAY. And I would ask yourself what kind of Franklin you want to live in as this vote could change our way of life now and for future generations."