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13 JAN 04: MARCH MADNESS

Monday was a day of liberation for me - as my month-long moral dilemma involving Piggly Wiggly was solved! Free at last, free at last! Thank Rainbow/PUSH, I'm free at last!!

More on that later, BUT FIRST: The noon hour Monday found newscasts showing protesters with signs outside the Government Center - while Barney the dinosaur was on Channel 28 singing, "I love you, you love me, we're a great big family." That touring Barney show can't get to the Civic Center soon enough.

The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition began three days of marching outside the Government Center, demanding the removal of Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson. We only hope the protesters don't march AROUND the building - because history could repeat itself, and we'll have ten stories of damage to clean up.

I stopped by the Government Center around 3:00 p.m. Monday to see how the march was going - and found Dr. William Howell talking with CNN reporter Eric Philips. Rainbow/PUSH wanted the Kenneth Walker shooting to get national attention, and now Dr. Howell says he has it. Apparently coverage on BET in recent days doesn't count....

(Trouble is, Dr. William Howell has trouble pronouncing the Cable News Network's name. People who didn't know better might think it's a railroad.)

Dr. William Howell told CNN's Eric Philips something I hadn't heard before. He says the wife of the still-unnamed deputy who shot Kenneth Walker works for Mayor Bob Poydasheff. This couple may join Assistant Chief Rick and Nancy Boren and Chief Willie and Brenda Dozier, in the battle for Columbus's most powerful family.

In my own interview with Dr. William Howell, he declared the protest march was going "tremendously well." But by his own admission the number of picketers never topped 40. This is truly the optimism of a minister -- or maybe a ticket agent with the Riverdragons.

I asked Dr. William Howell about the thousands of African-American residents who were NOT our protesting the Kenneth Walker killing. "Our permit only called for a certain number of people," he answered. "We put in our permit that we would have in attendance between 24 and 50 people." Why think big and look bad, when you can think small and declare victory?

Dr. William Howell keeps increasing his demands, concerning the Kenneth Walker case. Now he also wants Mayor Poydasheff to resign - as well as Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. I'm going to assume the Governor didn't change his Columbus schedule last week, when Rainbow/PUSH people showed up outside.

Earlier in the day, Dr. William Howell of Rainbow/PUSH told a TV reporter his group finds the best way to apply pressure on public officials is through "high visibility" and "drama." It almost makes you wonder why his coalition doesn't join the crowd outside Fort Benning every November.

One protest sign carried outside the Government Center declared the Kenneth Walker case is "not a black thing/white thing, it's a human thing." So let's see -- does that mean the deputy who shot Walker was not a human being?

(The sign about a "human thing" may have lost some supporters. Now PETA members might not join in any marches.)

One TV station claimed Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson was unavailable for comment Monday - yet he showed up on the other station's 6:00 p.m. newscast, apparently in his office. The Sheriff must have his stations confused, because he talked to the one that's suing him.

Sheriff Ralph Johnson told WRBL in 23 years of law enforcement, he's never experienced anything like the protest march outside the Government Center. He's more used to people criticizing law officers one at a time - when they're pulled over along the road.

Sheriff Ralph Johnson says despite the protests, he has no plans to step down. He also says he won't do anything that might jeopardize a "thorough investigation" of the Kenneth Walker case. Apparently if the Sheriff quits, the F.B.I. might conclude HE opened fire.

WRBL scored another scoop late Monday night, by showing the first on-camera interview with Kenneth Walker's widow and mother. But for some reason, "News 3" declared the family was "breaking its silence." That office must have missed the letters the widow wrote the Ledger-Enquirer.

Jerry Laquire raised a good question on his TV-16 talk show Monday night: why is it taking so long for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to finish its review of the Kenneth Walker shooting? You don't think Sheriff Ralph Johnson is keeping the deputy's name secret from them, too.... ?!

BLOG UPDATE: Now back to my "moral dilemma" from a month ago [14 Dec 03]. I remembered to ask Dr. William Howell Monday about the Rainbow/PUSH boycott of Piggly Wiggly stores -- and was amazed to be told it ended YEARS ago! This must explain why "Mr. Pig" on the logo is still smiling.

Dr. William Howell recalled his Rainbow/PUSH coalition called a news conference several years ago, to announce an end to the 1998 Piggly Wiggly boycott. But I checked one TV station's archives Monday night, and found no record of that announcement. At least he could have gone to other supermarkets, and handed out fliers declaring it was over.

(Which TV journalist said about that boycott: "It ended for lack of interest" ?!)

The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition called a boycott of Piggly Wiggly in 1998 after employees of a South Lumpkin Road chased a suspected shoplifter out the door and down a street. They sat on Luke Dixon until police showed up -- and Dixon died. I gained local infamy when the story broke, with the headline: "DEATH BY SITTING."

Dr. William Howell obviously didn't expect my Piggly Wiggly question Monday - but as best he could remember, the attorneys for Luke Dixon's family worked out a financial settlement with the supermarket. A grand jury refused to indict any of the employees. So that means sitting on someone won't get you the chair....

(Perhaps the only place that reported this settlement might have been the "Columbus Times" - and if so, it reflects how little-read that newspaper is.)

Dr. William Howell told me the Piggly Wiggly boycott was "very fruitful," costing the supermarket chain "a lot of money." He says every store in Columbus in town was picketed - but he only named the ones on Brown Avenue, South Lumpkin Road and St. Mary's Road. If Rainbow/PUSH members had shown up at the store on River Road near Green Island Hills, they might have been arrested.

I tried to call Piggly Wiggly's headquarters Monday for a response. But the phone number listed in an online phone directory connected me to an office of the Texas Department of Transportation. So much for them being SMART-Pages....

Amidst all this, the Georgia General Assembly opened a new session Monday. In case you missed some of the highlights....

+ Rep. Tom Buck of Columbus told GPB's "Lawmakers" this will be the toughest budget session he's seen in 38 years of office. He said he can't find any "hidden money" for funding education. That's OK, Mr. Buck - as long as you find the hidden money to finish paying for the Trade Center expansion.

+ Rep. Bobby Franklin left something on the desks of every state lawmaker - framed copies of the Ten Commandments. Roy Moore heard this, and asked him to sneak into the offices of every state judge.

(How many lawmakers were offended at the sight of those Ten Commandments? Many of them are guilty of coveting more money for their districts....)

+ The Southern Heritage Political Action Committee announced it will boycott the March 2 referendum on changing the Georgia flag. This way, it leaves open the option of declaring the breakaway "Confederate Republic of New Dixieland."

COMING WEDNESDAY: Oh no, not another beggar....

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