Williams tells story on KURM
Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/55997/
ROGERS — “ This may be one of the more interesting programs we’ve had on this station in eons, ” said Kermit Womack of KURM-AM 790 at the opening of a one-hour, live broadcast with former Centerton mayor Ken Williams on Friday.
Williams, who resigned from his post as mayor earlier this week after acknowledging he’d been living under an assumed name for more than 20 years, certainly delivered.
Williams, who worked as an on-air personality at KURM for 17 years, recounted his story over the KURM airwaves in northwest Arkansas at 10 a. m. Friday. It’s very clear the former Centerton mayor now has no reservations about telling the story to local or national media.
On KURM, Williams recounted his story, bringing to light additional details, from waking up in a boxcar in Minneapolis and wandering down the street only to discover he had a key in his pocket that happened to fit into the door of a building in a city he had never visited before. There were details about spending time in a mental health facility, chemical hypnosis, phone lines being tapped, riding a bicycle from Indiana to Des Moines, Iowa, and more. During all of this, Williams’ previous life as Don LaRose — which included a wife and two children — was left behind.
And when the one-hour broadcast came to an end, Womack said, “ I will be the biggest surprised guy in the world if this doesn’t turn into a movie. That is one of the most amazing, incredible stories I’ve heard in my life. ”
Prior to the broadcast, Womack inferred he’d welcome the former Centerton mayor back on the air without hesitation. Womack said a listener called the station and suggested Williams run for mayor again.
“ Ken worked at KURM for 17 years and he’s one of the most professional people we’ve ever had here, ” Womack said. “ I look at a guy for who he is today, not something he did many, many years ago. ”
At presstime, no complaint regarding Williams’ fraudulent identity had been issued at the office of Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Van Stone.