1 JUN 05: MUTTER OF ALL BATTLES

The Kenneth Walker case has touched nerves throughout Columbus. But Tuesday may have brought the strangest twist of all, when it came up at a Muscogee County School Board meeting. Will attorney Willie Gary ever run out of local officials to sue?

But seriously: the school board heard a complaint from a Wynnton Elementary School teacher, who says she's been mistreated for making a comment relating to the Kenneth Walker case. If this is true, it would be news -- since not even David Glisson's been punished for his comments about the case, and he shot Walker.

This fuss really began back in January, when David Glisson's supporters held a march downtown. Wynnton Elementary School Principal Nancy Johnson was absent that day, and teacher Billie-Jean Kendrick speculated Johnson might be at the march. Kendrick was wrong -- thus revealing to the world she was NOT "Deep Throat."

The Wynnton principal happened to be with ailing relatives that January day, but Billie-Jean Kendrick's comment about the David Glisson rally apparently spread throughout the school. Since this is an elementary school, I'm a bit surprised the rumor didn't end up with Nancy Johnson pulling over Walker's car on Interstate 185.

Billie-Jean Kendrick claims since that January incident, Wynnton School's principal has been out to get her -- and even forced her to apologize in front of the entire faculty. Nancy Johnson claims Kendrick apologized on her own, under NO pressure. Well, except maybe the pressure of being transferred to Cusseta Road Elementary....

A representative for Billie-Jean Kendrick told the Muscogee County School Board the Wynnton Principal has caused all sorts of terrible things to happen to her:

+ Higher blood pressure -- the better for teaching advanced math problems, perhaps.

+ A breakout in her skin -- which seems like quite a rash accusation to make.

+ A need for mental counseling. Some of us wonder how grade school teachers stay on the job for decades without needing this.

(We should note Billie-Jean Kendrick had a "representative" before the school board - but NOT an attorney. Did that many lawyers figure out they weren't going to win damages in this case?)

In response, an attorney for Muscogee County Schools told the board Billie-Jean Kendrick has NOT been punished for her comment about the Wynnton principal. In fact, she hasn't even been reprimanded. At some private schools, the teacher would be fired - by a conservative board so focused on freedom of religion that it forgets freedom of speech.

So what did the school board do with this complaint? After a grievance hearing lasting five-and-a-half hours, members decided Billie-Jean Kendrick was NOT justified. So if there are winners in this matter, they're the Wynnton School Principal - and some undisclosed psychiatrist.

Billie-Jean Kendrick wanted a written apology from Wynnton Principal Nancy Johnson. But the Muscogee County School Board decided it was NOT necessary -- perhaps because Kendrick should have written down her thoughts last January, instead of blurting them out to others.

The lesson of the Wynnton School dispute seems to be clear. If you're going to make a smart-aleck remark about the Kenneth Walker case, don't do it inside a school. Send it to a blogger like me, who posts such things on a regular basis....

OVERHEARD OVER HERE: Two guys are talking inside a Columbus office, when one says: "It seems to me people these days are more skeptical than ever...."

"I'm not so sure about that."

While you ponder that conversation, here are other items of note from Tuesday:

+ Columbus city officials announced the official budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year is $7.6 million. If you live in Columbus, your share of this is around $42 - so you either can donate to the Fraternal Order of Police, or give to the city which pays officers' salaries.

+ The rainiest day in months dropped around four inches on the Columbus area. During a midmorning downpour, a neighbor of mine sat on his front porch and whooped it up toward no one in particular. Some people really should drink juice instead of beer on their mornings off.

(What made this sight even stranger was that the letter carrier didn't bring the mail for several more hours. Hollering simply doesn't bring the postal service, the way it might a possum.)

+ The rain postponed Shaw High School's semifinal baseball playoff games for a second day. This might work out well for Shaw - if the team can convince Atlanta's Raul Mondesi to play with the team in Carrollton today, for a "rehab assignment."

+ The Eufaula School Superintendent told the Eufaula Tribune his district is NOT recruiting students from the Barbour County district to pass exams, then sending them back. It WOULD be a refreshing change, though - from bringing them across the district line to play football.

+ A second person climbed to the top of a construction crane in Atlanta's Buckhead district. OK, that does it! Let's pick a Sunday for "open climbing," and let everyone in Georgia get it out of their system without fear of arrest.

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