for 13 JUL 07: BULLIES IN BLUE?

Thursday was not the best of days for Columbus Police. A veteran officer talked with reporters about a discrimination lawsuit he's filed against the city and the department. Imagine if I had shown up, with copies with what I posted here hours before....

After 26 years with Columbus Police, Detective Byron Hickey is suing several current former officials. The suit names both Mayor Jim Wetherington and former Mayor Bob Poydasheff. How 2006 write-in candidate Bert Coker escaped is a mystery to me.

Byron Hickey's lawsuit claims higher-ups in the Columbus Police went after him last year, when he spoke out in support of former officer Alicia Davenport. Perhaps he should have taken a more discreet approach - and organized a fund-raising dinner like the Urban League had Thursday night.

Byron Hickey claims he suddenly received a bad job performance report, after he sided with Alicia Davenport's separate lawsuit claiming police harassment. This may all come down to what you mean by "job performance" - and whether that means you nod your head every time the chief speaks.

Detective Byron Hickey specifically accuses police captain J.D. Hawk of threatening him. With a name like J-Hawk, it's hard for a Kansas graduate such as me to be unbiased in this case....

Byron Hickey's lawsuit also says he lost money in January 2006, when he was moved from the Vice/Narcotics Unit to a police desk job. The Ledger-Enquirer reported the switch kept Hickey him from "a potential part-time job." So he wants lost wages for a job he never really had? Then can lottery players sue, if the Mega Millions ticket comes up one number short?

(Hickey says he felt humiliated by the change to an administrative police job. This sounds like true "pride of the badge" - when someone actually would rather spend time around drug pushers and meth users.)

Alicia Davenport's lawsuit was filed in January, and claimed sexual harassment by Columbus Police. Now Byron Hickey's suit contends there's race and gender discrimination. And amazingly, there's no word of David Glisson ever applying to work with the police department.

City Attorney Clifton Fay says he'll contend in federal court that Detective Byron Hickey was treated fairly. So in that view, Hickey's job performance took a sudden plunge at the start of last year - as if narcotics detectives have to meet a monthly "crack quota"?!

We hope we don't get sued, with some comments on other Thursday headlines:

+ A fire during morning rush hour left Shogun Japanese Steak House on Manchester Expressway in ruins. Let's all learn a lesson from this - and put out any fires in our hats, before we turn out the lights for the evening.

+ WRBL reported the level of West Point Lake has dropped seven feet in the last two years. Just wait till the Kia plant starts hosing down new cars....

+ WXTX "News at Ten" gave some local fifth-grade teachers questions from the game show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?" One teacher guessed incorrectly that Ohio shares a border with Illinois. But then, it was a female teacher - and she'd be more likely to check a map first.

+ The Auburn University endowment campaign announced it's reached its $500 million goal with nine months to spare. The drive is called "It Begins at Auburn" - and countless donors would say it should end at the Bowl Championship Series.

+ The Recording Industry Association of America sued Laura Beer [CORRECTED NAME] of Fort Benning, claiming she illegally downloaded music from the Kazaa web site. But Beard says she never had a Kazaa account. For all she knows, Kazaa might be a city her soldier husband has patrolled in Iraq.

+ Felony charges were dismissed against former Alabama Secretary of State Nancy Worley. She still faces misdemeanor charges of attempting to use her office to influence co-workers in the Secretary of State's office. A few well-worded "pay incentives" would get her around that issue.

+ Instant Message to WRBL's Bob Jeswald: Enough is enough! You keep talking about "all of us here in Alabama" - yet it still looks to me like you're in the same Columbus studio as Phil Scoggins and Teresa Whitaker.

SCHEDULED THIS WEEKEND: Where I got all dressed up with brown mustard (among other things)....

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