Welcome to the forum.
The vertical white bar is due to bad column drivers (they control the vertical 'lines') on an LCD.
By your not removing power/battery, some parts of the LCD may have been shorted when you disconnected it.
Another, more likely possibility, is your putting undue pressure on the top edge of the LCD, where you now find the white bar.
Either way, unless you are an electronics engineer with a scope, that LCD is busted.
Most people either send it in for a professional repair, or buy a replacement LCD or even a complete lid.
It being a T60, it is imperative that you buy an IBM/Lenovo LCD, and not one of those "guaranteed 100% compatible", they are not.
Ask in our Marketplace forum or check on eBay.
I have done several CCFL replacements, but I only do them on a few select LCD makes/models (IDTech and TMD).
I will refuse any Samsung, Hitachi or LG. Never had a chance yet at a BoeHydis.
I wrote a How-To here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88991