THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Judge Vernon D. Hitchings Jr. died Saturday - but the stories roll on.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. today in the Cox Funeral Home Chapel for the judge who dealt with more than a million cases in 26 years as Judge of Norfolk Traffic Court.
Three times the American Bar Association gave him its highest award for streamlining court procedures. He heard an average of 250 to 300 cases a day. When he passed the million mark he entered the Guiness Book of Records.
In The Congressional Record of Nov. 7, 1979, Rep. G. William Whitehurst described Hitchings' courtroom as ``unfailingly lively and unique because of his character and personality. In a day when our judicial system is characterized by inordinate delays, swift justice is the rule in the Norfolk Traffic Court.''
In 1978, when the NBA recommended a case load of 18,000 per year per judge, more than 65,000 were brought before Hitchings. Fewer than 5 percent, just 1,924, were appealed to a higher court.
Witty, humorous, sometimes acerbic with drunken drivers or chronic offenders, he often delivered one-sentence sentences.
A dozen reporters sought to summarize Hitchings. Fred Kirsch interviewed him after his retirement in 1987.
To a driver who registered a .44 on an alcoholic breath test, he said, ``You weren't drunk; You were embalmed.''
To another who said he'd only had two beers, the Judge countered, ``That's like telling me you only ate two peanuts.''
He told Kirsch: ``I was accused of running a circus or dispensing a railroad type of justice. I looked on it as efficient justice. Every one in my court got justice. I believe every one should get their day in court. Just not all day.
``There's no reason justice has to move slowly. It's not that complicated. It's in black and white. I'm impatient with delays, inefficiency, and incompetence and I ran my court the same way.''
He was succinct with lawyers, advising one to cut short his remarks and not give the speech he had rehearsed facing a mirror that morning.
Some complained of the abrupt manner in which he dismissed charges against them, which moved Hitchings to remark to reporter Ethel Stedman: ``Apparently they think an acquittal should be accompanied by violin music and a benediction.''
Hitchings was not a hanging judge. Most offenders drew the minimum.
``I have found that most of the people are honest. Most cases are unintentional slipups and that's why I used the low fines and the school for offenders. I feel the harsh punishment and jail should be used for reckless driving, high speed, and drunk driving,'' he told reporter James Harper.
When motorists received a ticket to go before Hitchings, their thought was not how much will it cost, Harper noted, but: ``What will he say?''
Perhaps some wondered, too: Will the newspaper be there to take it down?
The newspaper was impartial. Shortly after arriving in Norfolk, an editorial page editor wound up before Judge Hitchings and found a reporter and a photographer assigned to cover his shriving.
``He is really an old softie,'' Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Wahab, told reporter Donna Weatherly in 1960. ``Every time someone is killed in a traffic accident, I know Vernon thinks to himself, `What could I have done to prevent that?' ''
``Suspending a fine or jail sentence, he sounded like the roughest guy you ever met,'' Peter G. Decker, his law partner for 10 years, said Monday. ``His heart was as big as he was and at his maximum he weighed close to 300 pounds.''
``We respected him,'' said lawyer Sam Goldblatt. ``Of course, he made mistakes, but nobody could say he had a personal interest. I think he was a great judge.''
When 151 people were paraded before him for violating a new ordinance by making a left turn at Colley Avenue and 42nd street, the judge dismissed charges against 100, informing the city he was not bound ``one iota by any traffic law that turns a neighborhood into a walled garden. The streets belong to everyone.''
Somebody said he was ``born impatient.'' When the state ordered the courts to collect an additional $5 on each traffic summons to be used for general revenue, he replied: ``Judges aren't tax collectors. Collect your own money.''
Judge Hitchings will be buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery.
``I wouldn't do anything different at all in my life,'' he told Kirsch. ``You live and you take what comes your way the best you can. People are entitled to their opinions. I certainly have mine. But I've never been one for second-guessing life.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
``I believe every one should get their day in court. Just not all
day,'' Judge Vernon D. Hitchings Jr.
by CNB