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2 JAN 04: FREE AT LAST?

"I was wondering where y'all were." So said Columbus Pastor Wayne Baker, during Thursday's Emancipation Proclamation Day service - but who would you guess he was speaking to?

+ Muscogee County Sheriff's officers, who walked in to make an arrest?

+ Mayor Bob Poydasheff, because he showed up two hours late?

+ Or ME, because I was about the only white person in the audience?

But seriously: the correct answer is none of the above. Wayne Baker chastised African-American elected officials Thursday, for not speaking out about the shooting of Kenneth Walker. He went on to add, "Politicians are compromisers, and compromisers aren't leaders." I assume from this Pastor Baker refuses to buy anything at a sale price.

Wayne Baker's comments followed an announcement that "black elected officials" will hold a news conference outside the Government Center today, about the Kenneth Walker case. The Pastor apparently didn't look around much at the rally about a week ago, because Calvin Smyre and Nathan Suber definitely WERE there.

Wayne Baker put down African-American elected officials because apparently none of them showed up at his church last Friday, when Al Sharpton paid a visit. So what's the problem with that? If they all want to vote for Carol Moseley-Braun, that's their privilege.

The Government Center news conference was one of four different events related to the Kenneth Walker shooting announced during the service -- all planned between now and M.L.K. Day. If some civil rights leaders aren't careful, they're going to forget totally about the homeless bums downtown.

Wayne Baker also noted the filing of lawsuits against the Muscogee County Sheriff's Department. In his words: "Channel Nine and the Ledger-Enquirer are aboard with us...." After more than 50 years on the air, some people STILL can't get the local TV stations straight.

It was actually WRBL "News THREE" which joined the paper Wednesday in suing the Sheriff's Department. The strange thing is, Pastor Wayne Baker has a weekly telecast on that station. Does he need to fix his remote control or something?

WRBL News read a statement during its newscasts, announcing it's suing for the Sheriff's "dash-cam" video of the shooting of Kenneth Walker, the name of the deputy who shot Walker and the deputy's personnel file. This station's chances of getting the exclusive interview with the deputy now have dropped about 95 percent.

The WRBL announcement admitted a lawsuit like this is in effect a suit against Columbus taxpayers. If more of them don't start watching their newscasts, the lawsuits may become more direct....

WRBL news anchors explained a lawsuit against the Sheriff reflects "our 'On Your Side' brand of journalism, of holding public officials accountable." I'm glad this finally settles a leftover issue from September 11, 2001 - elected officials and law officers are NOT on my side.

The Sheriff's office only provided WRBL a one-page "cover sheet" on the shooting of Kenneth Walker. It claims Georgia state law allows the withholding of a deputy's name to protect personal information or confidential sources. Well, the shooting DID follow a drug sting - but isn't a 20-year veteran of the force a bit old for drug-dealing?

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance handed out pamphlets after Thursday's church service. It pulls no punches, accusing Sheriff Ralph Johnson of overseeing "Hitlerian acts.... Taliban vigilante approach to law enforcement." Now hold on a minute! I haven't heard of deputies raiding or blowing up a single synagogue.

The IMA pamphlet calls for Georgia's "governor, the Attorney general.... to intervene in this investigation." They probably won't as long as they're referred to mostly in lowercase ...

The IMA pamphlet also seeks "adequate compensation for those who were victimized, the dead as well as the living." So why did Wayne Baker say during Thursday's service he won't settle for any government payoffs?

The IMA pamphlet claims several Columbus businesses are "on center stage" at this moment. The list included RC Cola, Total Systems, Tom's, the Bradley Company "and other great companies." Yet somehow AFLAC was left off the list - and you'd think that African-American man who keeps meeting the duck in commercials would have a gripe.

The IMA "Challenge to the Community" also challenges "the White church" with these words: "You dropped the ball during slavery.... You failed to show during the civil rights era." Of course, some of us would ask why the "Black church" doesn't do more to recruit white members for balance.

But back to the church: I never had attended an Emancipation Proclamation Day service before - and personal commitments Thursday made it appealing for me to attend. As long as they didn't hand out black-eyed peas at the door, I was fine.

I walked into Saint Mary's Road United Methodist Church wearing a dress shirt, tie and topcoat. As I went over to a table for a program, a woman asked me: "Are you a minister or....?" See, I told you - racial profiling DOES cut both ways.

The sanctuary was full for Emancipation Proclamation Day - and I confess, I couldn't help looking around and analyzing the crowd. The only other white people there besides me were a photographer with the Ledger-Enquirer and Rabbi Friedmann from Temple Israel. So apparently no one made a New Year's resolution to build racial bridges.

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance sponsored the Emancipation Proclamation Day service. If you can say all that in one breath without stumbling over a word, you too can be a preacher....

As I.M.A. President, Pastor Wayne Baker offered the opening remarks, and urged people to move forward in 2004 because "'03 is over." Well, at least until the wrongful death suit is filed.

Pastor Wayne Baker said E.P. Day (if I may) is a time for "African-Americans to stand and sing 'Lift Every Voice and Sing.'" I turned to the man sitting next to me, and asked if it was OK for me to stand and join them....

Cathy Anderson of NBC-38's "Coffee Break" read the text of the Emancipation Proclamation, as President Lincoln issued it 141 years ago. Even that long ago, government orders were filled with too much language.

A telling moment in the service was "The Recognition," as Rose Stanback asked various groups to stand for applause. Only one Columbus Councilor was present, Evelyn Turner Pugh. The others really had nothing to fear, as no TV station was on hand to videotape it.

Two law enforcement employees were recognized at the service - one from the Marshal's office, the other apparently from Columbus Police. Sheriff's Department employees WERE asked to stand, but no one did. So were they absent - or afraid the ministers would point at them for the rest of the service?

Rose Stanback asked all sorts of people to stand -- members of fraternities, the medical community, teachers, and finally all African-Americans. Talk about being put in my place! Journalists, computer geeks and white guys don't count for a thing.

(Stanback admitted as she closed any overlooked groups were "a matter of the head, not the heart." Ohhhhhh - so you made a conscious decision to leave the white people out?!?!)

Bishop Alfred Owens Junior of Washington was the guest speaker on E.P. Day. He spoke on "Sound Doctrine" by declaring, "Not everything you hear preached in churches is sound doctrine." How true - in fact, I counted at least two points he made that aren't supported from the Bible.

Bishop Owens said believing in all sorts of "-isms" does NOT mean salvation. Even Louis Farrakhan can misspeak the truth, he declared. Apparently Wayne Baker missed that, because he later said the Nation of Islam was backing his efforts.

It was around 12:00 noon when the sermon ended - and two hours into the service, it was time to collect an offering. But some people in my pew left right at the end of the sermon. They apparently take the "free at last" part of the Emancipation Proclamation seriously.

The E.P. Day service ended around 12:30 p.m. - but with all of the messages and announcements, something was forgotten. As the audience left, Edward DuBose hurried to the pulpit to remind people of tonight's NAACP dinner downtown. It's amazing how one news story can turn a big annual community event into an afterthought.

Now other bits and pieces from the start of 2004:

+ Georgia Public Television disappeared, at least in name. The "GPTV" logo was replaced by "GPB" - which I think stands for "Get Pledge Bucks."

+ AFLAC unveiled a new TV commercial where its duck tries to join a conversation with Looney Tunes characters. If Daffy Duck won't pay attention to him, why should Bugs Bunny -- or even me?

+ Instant Message to Piggly Wiggly stores: Do you read your radio commercial scripts before they go on the air? Right now, you're urging me to "beat the winter HEAT" with cocoa.

+ Georgia edged Purdue 34-27 in overtime, in A Major Credit Card Company's Bowl at Orlando. Those of you who started a "Bonehead of the Year" list with Coach Mark Richt's name for that fourth-quarter fumbled running play should cross it off.

(This had to be a difficult game for the Governor to watch - since Georgia's run by Sonny Perdue, after all.)

During the third quarter of the Purdue-Georgia game, Bulldog radio analyst Scott Howard asked Larry Munson why they don't put measuring chains on both sides of the field. The answer should be obvious -- it's like asking for two different clocks to run, to avoid mistakes.

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