ATLANTA — State Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, announced his retirement from the Georgia State Senate Wednesday. Williams will not qualify to run for re-election for Senate District 19, which includes Long County and a portion of Liberty County, but will serve out the rest of his term.In 1998, as a 42-year-old business owner, Williams felt a strong calling to run for the state Senate. Though the odds seemed stacked against him at the time, he soon became one of the first Republican senators from southeast Georgia.