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31 AUG 04: DEPUTY DOGGED

Former Muscogee County Sheriff's Deputy David Glisson finally spoke out Monday about -- uh, about -- well, we hoped he'd talk about the shooting of Kenneth Walker. But after reading the Ledger-Enquirer interview, I was left with the feeling
Glisson wants to run for sheriff somewhere.

Attorney Richard Hagler would NOT allow the Ledger-Enquirer's Richard Hyatt to ask David Glisson any questions about the shooting of Kenneth Walker last December. Isn't this a bit like telling a reporter you can't ask President Bush any questions about Iraq?

(Come to think of it, I guess that explains the newspaper's headline for the interview: "Living with Restraint.")

The article on David Glisson reminded me of too many interviews on morning TV news shows. A newsmaker can't appear without his or her spouse. The newsmaker only has a couple of meaningful things to say. And if you try to pry something else out of them, they repeat those couple of things like they're programmed.

(Oh, by the way -- if Kenneth Walker is "Kenny" in the newspaper, shouldn't David Glisson be "Dave?")

The interview revealed David Glisson followed his uncle and three cousins into law enforcement. To quote the newspaper article: "we were all born and raised here and we all love Columbus." The reporter apparently failed to ask why Glisson now lives in Salem....

David Glisson was one of the founding members of the Metro Narcotics Task Force in 1989. He admits having long hair back then, but only wearing a fake earring. Now hold on - was this group looking for drugs, or cheap dates on Victory
Drive?

Ralph Johnson was one of David Glisson's supervisors when the Metro Squad began. That same Sheriff Johnson fired Glisson in February, in the wake of Kenneth Walker's shooting. Maybe this now explains why the Sheriff didn't name Glisson for weeks.-- Glisson was undercover so long, Johnson wasn't sure who he was.

As much as he's been portrayed as a cold-blooded gun handler, David Glisson says he never kept a weapon in his home. For one thing, Glisson brought up four children there. For another thing, some guys simply know how to leave their work at
the office.

If David Glisson has found a new job since his February firing, the Ledger-Enquirer article didn't reveal it. Instead, Richard Hyatt writes Glisson is accepting the fact he'll never be a law officer again. So that missing "person of interest" in Smiths Station is asked to drive to Glisson's house and surrender on his own.

Attorney Richard Hagler had the last word in the newspaper article, saying David Glisson is waiting on the sidelines for the Kenneth Walker investigation to play itself out. Hagler adds Glisson is "talked about as if he is an object rather than a human being." Is Hagler really surprised by that? If we can't see his face, he might not have one.

As it happened, one of the lead attorneys for Kenneth Walker's family was indicted Monday. Bill Campbell is accused of corruption and bribe-taking during his years as Atlanta Mayor. Oh no - do you think Campbell learned how to do this by
watching Olympic judges in 1996?

Bill Campbell told reporters the federal grand jury indictment against him was full of "lies from beginning to end." That's probably true of at least one national political convention, too - but we're trying to figure out which one....

Bill Campbell says a top F.B.I. polygraph expert recently gave him a lie detector test, and he passed it. How many losing candidates in Atlanta wish they'd demanded this of him years ago?

Now to make a quick end of things....

+ The Republican National Convention began in New York, with Muscogee County Chair Rob Doll serving as an alternate delegate. Do you count as half a minority group member if you sell Nissans for a living?

+ The Muscogee County School Board began public forums on a new "five-year plan." I can hear home-schoolers grumbling now - about how this board is just like the Communists under Josef Stalin.

+ A Columbus fire truck was called to Benning Park, after children apparently started a grass fire near the tennis courts. I happened to watch this scene -- and as usual, no one was ON the tennis courts. So it couldn't have been sparked by a wild serve.

+ Instant Message to Evangel Temple First Born Church: You emphasize clean living, right? So why does your big church bus have such dirty black fumes coming from the back?

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