Judge Holly Hollenbeck is upset that he's being vilified.
Poor Hollenbeck.
He wants everyone to know that he's been affected personally by the uproar.
Poor, poor Hollenbeck.
From the Tri-City Herald:
A Benton County judge has apologized for telling a woman with cancer to take a knitted cap off her bald head or leave his courtroom.
"Words can't express how sorry I am," Judge Holly Hollenbeck told the Herald on Monday, a few hours after he spoke with Bev Williams by phone and offered an unconditional apology.
Williams, 43, said the District Court judge told her the no-hat rule would no longer apply in his courtroom, but that his apology had nothing to do with the criticism he had drawn for his comments to her on Friday.
Williams, who lost her hair after enduring six months of chemotherapy, was in court to give moral support to her teenage daughter, who was facing a misdemeanor charge. Hollenbeck insisted the Kennewick woman remove her hat or leave. Williams chose to leave, crying as she left the courtroom, which had 60 people in it.
Even after Hollenbeck was told later the reason for Williams' headgear, he refused to change his order.
This judge has terrible judgment.
"Even after Hollenbeck was told later the reason for Williams' headgear, he refused to change his order."
This wasn't a misunderstanding. Hollenbeck knew what he was doing.
...Hollenbeck said Friday that he felt the no-hat rule was appropriate and necessary to ensure respect for court proceedings and the judge.
But on Monday, he said even as he made those statements that he knew he would apologize to Williams.
"I didn't want to do it in the newspaper, so I didn't apologize until I could find her," he said.
That had to wait until Monday when he could track down her cell phone number.
"This has affected me personally," Hollenbeck said, admitting it could hurt him politically as well in the next election.
Hollenbeck, who is presiding judge for the District Court, said each judge retains discretion on how to enforce rules about hats and appropriate attire in court.
"The rule has been changed (in my court)," he said.
What a load! Excuses, excuses!
Too little, too late.
Hollenbeck should pay a price for this incident. He's shown that he lacks the discretion a judge should have.
Hollenbeck is about Hollenbeck.
7 comments:
I'm incensed by Hollenbeck's arbitrary and insensitive behavior. The man is fit to serve only as the all-powerful Wizard of Oz.
A browbeating judge like him who refuses to show common decency regarding an arbitrary rule of his own making deserves nothing but contempt, ill-will, and removal from the bench.
Some judges are just too, too full of themselves. . . .
When Hollenbeck apologized Monday for his outrage, he also changed his no-hats policy -- which confirms that it was arbitrary and of his own making. A here come da' judge sort of thing, I suppose.
According to reports, the fool lied and said his apology had nothing to do with the criticism he had received. Of course it did.
Too little, too late as far as I'm concerned. He's just trying to save his job. An insincere apology changes nothing: Hollenbeck is still an asshole. . . .
Is posting comments stupid? A waste of time? Hardly. My wife has terminal cancer and I have nothing to do but take care of her -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I can't pray all the time. Sometimes I prefer to bitch and rant and rave. Venting helps.
Loss of hair didn't bother my wife in the slightest -- that was like defecating a beebee vs. a bowling ball compared to other side effects of chemotherapy. (That's what a female physician once said to me -- but she was too plainspoken to use the word "defecating.")
The pain that goes with bones disintegrating and breaking because of cancer is beyond description.
I think so many responded to the Hollenbeck story with outrage because they have personal experience with the disease.
Understanding that ordeal is what makes his treatment of Bev Williams so maddening.
Hollenbeck should know that gentlemen are required to take their hats off indoors, and ladies are allowed to wear hats. This is not only a matter of ettiquette, it is a matter of decency. I have alopecia (hair loss) and I definitely take the side of the woman. Unless Ms Williams was wearing gang colors or some other innapropriate accessory, Judge Hollenbeck was just being a jerk.
You're right.
For example, prior to Vatican II, women were required to cover their heads in church.
In terms of general social etiquette, men remove their hats inside. Women do not.
I agree with you completely about Hollenbeck.
Hollenbeck allowed a DUI driver with a blood-alcohol level 0.227 percent(by law 0.08 percent is considered too drunk to drive)to skip an eight-hour sobriety hold in jail so she could get home to pack for a two-week vacation to Europe that started the next morning. See full story at
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/238058.html
That's disgusting.
This guy is the ultimate enabler.
My name is Jonathan Verstrate I am the son of bev williams hollenbeck is an outraguse asshole there was no reason for this my mother still is going thru troubles with this whole trhing she has her hair back and is doing good just thought id let everyone know her status of the battle thankyou all who posted for caring
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