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In April 21-year-old Rodney Williams appeared in the courtroom of Judge Robert Altenhof in Kelso, Washington, to explain why he had missed his court date on an assault charge. Fearing that the judge might not believe his excuse–his mother’s recent fatal illness–Williams brought his mother’s ashes with him in a plastic box and offered them to the judge to examine. Said Altenhof, “You think you’ve heard it all, but somebody always comes up with something new.”
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In July, Ontario judge Lee Ferrier upheld the 1991 firing of Sharon Bagnall, 52, by Calvin Klein Canada, where she worked as a cologne demonstrator. The judge said he was persuaded by witnesses for the company, who testified that Bagnall had a “personal hygiene problem” and smelled like an “armpit.”
Health officials in Calgary, Alberta, who inspected a pizzeria there in December refused to close it down even though they discovered a dungeonlike “trick pad,” a catacomb of rooms littered with sex magazines, liquor bottles, and used condoms where teenage girls were forced to work as prostitutes. “There is no reason to be concerned about the food being served,” said Dr. Paul Hasselback. According to Hasselback, police business and health business are separate matters.
