Pubdate: Sun, 14 Dec 2003
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
Copyright: 2003 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/enquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: MURIEL TAN, AND KELLI ESTERS

SUV DRIVER RECOUNTS FEAR

'We Were Tried And Convicted' Before Any Narcotics Were Found

After he was done speaking a few minutes on the radio show, the caller's 
voice quaked briefly before he thanked the show's host for allowing him to 
tell what he saw on a night that turned deadly.

A little more than a day had passed since the young high school basketball 
coach was pulled from his SUV in the southbound lanes of Interstate 185, 
and forced, with three of his friends, out of the vehicle and onto the 
ground. In a matter of minutes, the sound of rapid gunfire popped in the 
night air. His friend, Kenneth B. Walker of Columbus, would later be 
pronounced dead at The Medical Center of a gunshot wound to the head.

Mostly because of all this, the caller declined to give his name on the 
radio Friday morning.

Some of his friends and relatives had asked him whether he thought about 
moving, he told the show's host. They asked if he was afraid.

Reached Saturday, Warren Beaulah, a Carver High School coach, acknowledged 
having called the "The Breakfast Jam" on Foxie 105.3 Friday morning.

"Yes, that was me," he said. "It's still true."

During the show, Beaulah recounted how he and his friends were treated that 
night by a group of Metro Narcotics Task Force agents and by Muscogee 
County Sheriff's deputies who had stopped his GMC Yukon on suspicion that 
it was carrying a group from Miami who were armed and involved in the 
narcotics trade. The agents were acting on a tip from a paid confidential 
informant.

"I felt like an animal," he said. It seemed "we were tried and convicted" 
the moment the men were ordered to exit the vehicle.

When he tried to ask why they were pulled over, he was met with the 
response, "Shut up."

"I was so scared," he said. "We could not even say anything. We were 
treated like animals until they found out there were no drugs."

"We're not perfect," Beaulah said. "But I'm a long way from a drug dealer."

It was cold and very confusing, he remembered.

"The way they had the guns in the faces, not saying anything... you 
basically didn't know what to do and you felt like if you even tried to 
turn your face from one side to the other, they'd shoot you. It was that 
scary."

Beaulah and two other friends were not arrested and were released. 
Authorities later learned there was no information that Walker was involved 
in any kind of criminal activity.

Wanting to heal

Four days after the shooting, friends of Walker are inviting the public to 
a meeting today that will hopefully start a "consciousness movement" in 
Columbus to promote healing and change, the Rev. Daryl Stover said Saturday.

The meeting will be at Shirley B. Winston Super Center. Family, friends, 
area ministers and the public are invited.

"The purpose is to put structure behind the outcries and organization 
behind the hurt and to challenge ourselves to change our status quo," said 
Stover, a friend of the Walker family who is the pastor at Greater Faith 
Church in Atlanta.

NAACP Columbus chapter president Edward DuBose said the meeting is a great 
idea and needed in Columbus.

"It's a time for healing, but it's also a time for answers," DuBose said. 
"I hope this call to consciousness will bring honesty to the investigation 
going on. I hope this call to consciousness will call this community together."

Funeral services for Walker are set for 1 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mary's Road 
Methodist Church, where he served on the usher board and the pastor's 
parish council.

Born in Columbus, Walker graduated from Kendrick High School in 1982 and 
was an all-star basketball player. He attended Florida A&M University, 
Georgia Southwestern College and received his business degree from Columbus 
State University.

Walker worked as a health reporting analyst for Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

He is survived by his wife, Cheryl Walker; 3-year-old daughter, Kayla B. 
Walker; and mother, Emily J. Walker.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart