Responsibility, Opportunities and Accountability for Drivers

Since 2018, 93 people have graduated from Missoula County ROAD Court, a program that facilitates the rehabilitation of adults accused and convicted of alcohol and drug-related traffic offenses.

This week, Justice of the Peace Landee Holloway joined the commissioners to discuss how the court works with the County Attorney’s Office and how law enforcement and substance abuse treatment providers help individuals stay sober. 

 
Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!

Transcript

Juanita Vero: [00:00:10] Welcome back to the agenda with your Missoula County Commissioners. I'm Juanita Vero and I'm here with my fellow commissioners and friends, Josh Slotnick and Dave Strohmaier. And today we're joined by judge Landee Holloway, who's Missoula County Justice of the peace. Welcome back Landee.

Landee Holloway: [00:00:26] Hi. Happy to be here. Thank you.

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:28] Yeah, we're super psyched to have you.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:00:31] So a question that I'm sure you never get asked. What the heck is a justice of the peace?

Landee Holloway: [00:00:38] Oh.

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:39] That's a great question. I think it sounds vaguely western.

Landee Holloway: [00:00:43] Yeah, there's a there's a lot of history to it, but I think that the easy way to say it is the People's Court or it's also called a county court. Every state titles their courts differently. But for Missoula County, we are a court of limited jurisdiction. And so justice.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:00] Does that mean?

Landee Holloway: [00:01:00] It means that there's limits on the types of cases we can see. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:05] So what are the limits? What cases come before you?

Landee Holloway: [00:01:08] Primarily misdemeanors. We do criminal misdemeanors. We do. Uh, so.

Juanita Vero: [00:01:13] What's the definition of a misdemeanor for?

Landee Holloway: [00:01:14] It's a lower type of crime that has a maximum penalty of up to one year in jail. Anything. If you get over a year in jail, you're moving on into a felony, which is then seen upstairs in district court.

Juanita Vero: [00:01:27] Wasn't there a monetary. Um.

Landee Holloway: [00:01:29] There is a monetary amount. It's like up to $1,500 in damages. Yes. So go ahead.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:35] So if you wouldn't mind, could you do a little rundown? We've got three courts in Missoula. We do? It'd be great to know for people to know and all of us to know better. Why would a person go to muni court? Municipal court? Why would somebody go to see a justice of the Peace or justice court? And why would they go to district court?

Dave Strohmaier: [00:01:51] And we also have a federal court right down the street here, too.

Josh Slotnick: [00:01:53] For. Thanks, Dave. We got four courts.

Landee Holloway: [00:01:55] So I'll stick in the 200 block of West Broadway. The federal.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:02:00] Courthouse.

Landee Holloway: [00:02:00] Is 200 East Broadway.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:01] Okay.

Landee Holloway: [00:02:02] So municipal court primarily sees citations that come within the city limits. So the police department. Those citations, they tend not to do too many civil matters. And so they'll do some orders of protection over there now because they are also municipal court is also a court of limited jurisdiction. So for Justice Court, we go throughout the county of Missoula. We see citations from the sheriff's department, highway patrol, fishing game, animal control, motor carrier services. Although cdl's out there and the law enforcement, they have associated with those. So those are primarily the misdemeanor criminal charges that come into justice court. And sometimes I think when people think about Justice Court, they only think about the criminal aspect. We also have a full civil side of justice court. In our civil department. We see the majority of landlord tenant eviction cases in Missoula County up to our jurisdiction is $15,000. We also have small claims, and then standard collection cases as well that are up to $15,000.

Juanita Vero: [00:03:03] What are small claims?

Landee Holloway: [00:03:04] Small claims. It's it's a process where people it's a swift resolution for a dispute. There needs to be.

Juanita Vero: [00:03:09] What's the amount or the the.

Landee Holloway: [00:03:11] The the amount is actually in small claims seven, $7,000. There's a limit on. And it needs to be a some certain amount. So it's a very swift process. A plaintiff files a complaint. It's served upon the defendant. And then we get them real quick into in the courtroom. So we're still talking about the different types of courts.

Josh Slotnick: [00:03:30] We got district court stuff.

Landee Holloway: [00:03:31] And then you have to district courts and district courts deal with more family matters. They deal with the criminal matters, civil cases that are within the state that exceed our jurisdiction.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:03:40] So if Justice Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, is district court a court of unlimited?

Landee Holloway: [00:03:47] Well, they're called a court of general jurisdiction.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:03:49] General jurisdiction. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:03:51] Yeah. And are there issues where a person would go to see you all in justice court and then go to district court. Yes.

Landee Holloway: [00:03:58] What happens a lot of times. Every day we hold jail appearances. We hold jail court in the afternoon at 230. And so the people that get on that docket are those who are being arrested on out-of-county warrants, or maybe probation holds, or their new felony matters or misdemeanor matters that have been recently incarcerated. And they're making their what's called initial appearance. And we review that for probable cause. And then we also set bail and release conditions for those folks.

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:25] What is what does that mean? Review for probable cause.

Landee Holloway: [00:04:28] We have the balance, right? The branches of government. When law enforcement files a complaint or the county attorney files a complaint, the court needs to review it to make sure that there is probable cause for the stop. That means is what a reasonable person believe that this could have been done by this individual. So we're not talking about beyond a reasonable doubt of what you need to determine to find somebody guilty or prove them guilty in a court. So probable cause is there probable cause that they committed this offense and so is their justification to detain them or hold them in custody. So you may not know this, but judge Beal and I are on call every weekend to review complaints that come in over the weekend that are filed by the county attorney's office.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:08] Wow. So what happens if you determine there is no probable cause?

Landee Holloway: [00:05:12] Yeah. So, you know, occasionally there's an error made or maybe there's something was missed and it depends, right. We have to find probable cause on a felony to hold somebody in custody. And that needs to be determined, usually within 48 hours if we don't find probable cause. Let the county attorney know. I didn't find probable cause for for this charge. And if it's the only holding charge, like if it's the only felony, then they're obligated to let the detention center know and release them. That very seldom happens. There's usually probable cause to hold folks.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:42] So what happens if you determine there's probable cause?

Landee Holloway: [00:05:45] I let the county attorney know and they take care of it from there. They just tell the jail that there's probable cause and they'll.

Juanita Vero: [00:05:52] Continue.

Landee Holloway: [00:05:52] Holding. Continue to hold them until they make their appearance in court.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:55] Okay. At that point, there isn't a court date scheduled.

Landee Holloway: [00:05:59] So it usually happens the next day in court. Yeah.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:03] So it's quick.

Landee Holloway: [00:06:04] It's fast. And so when we do those bail settings, right. So somebody in custody, we've seen a very small amount of information. It's a charging complaint which has the charges there. And then the affidavit of probable cause has the more of the story or the details, hopefully including the elements of the offense so that we can find probable cause. We get that information. We see them in the jail docket or from jail. They make their appearance. The county attorney's office can make a bail argument. And then the public defender who is representing the folks at the jail, or maybe they have retained an attorney by then, gets to make their argument, and then it's up to the justice of the peace to determine whether or not we are going to hold them in custody, or if we should release them, or if they can be released back into the community to be supervised. If we believe that there's not an immediate public safety threat, and that they're also going to appear for their future court hearings. We're fortunate that we have pretrial supervision, and so we have the ability to order an individual to report to pretrial supervision and be supervised in the community, somebody who keep tabs on them to a certain degree.

Juanita Vero: [00:07:07] It's literally a human being keeping tabs. Checking in on them daily. Or how does that work?

Landee Holloway: [00:07:12] It's a pretrial officer. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:14] And I imagine there's the potential with the pretrial officer, not just that the person shows up for their court date, but actually some of the things that have put them in this position might begin to be addressed through that pretrial process.

Landee Holloway: [00:07:28] Monitoring substance use is one of those things. In some cases, an individual might be required to wear a GPS monitoring device to know where their whereabouts are. I mean, that's all part of the concept of public safety and keeping our victims safe, as well as a defendant goes through the court process.

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:43] Are there other parts of pretrial that might help this person begin to address some of the things that got them to the spot where they found themselves in this place?

Landee Holloway: [00:07:52] While our pretrial officers do some case management.

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:54] That's what I.

Landee Holloway: [00:07:55] Was looking for. And so, I mean, hopefully they're getting them to the individual to address some of their needs and maybe pointing them out to resources of what is available in the community and connecting them to services. I think the one thing we have to be careful of though. Remember, this person is innocent until proven guilty and the concept of pretrial is usually the least restrictive. But to connect them, I think we're all in this together working on how do we change behavior, hold people accountable, that kind of thing.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:08:22] Well, Andy, a little different line of question. I suspect for some folks listening, they might not even be aware that such a thing as a justice of the peace exists. At what point did you ever did you think to yourself, this is something I want to do? Mm.

Landee Holloway: [00:08:39] I was a felony probation officer for a little over 20 years, and I'd done some other work in criminal justice world, and I felt like I. It was time for me to look for a career change. Being a felony probation and parole officer is it's pretty intense. You're doing home searches. You're, um, you know, you're dealing with kind of the same clientele. And I wanted to take a look at where else I could grow and use my skills. And in talking with a few people, somebody called me up and told me that there was a justice of the peace. My predecessor, Karen Orzeck, was retiring, and maybe I should consider that. And when I was first approached with that idea, I was like, are you kidding me? Um, because I do. I hold judges up. I don't want to say pedestal. I mean, I think that there's a lot of respect and honor that goes into the work of keeping our community safe and making some of those decisions. And so I kind of did a little research, and I talked to a lot of people. And by virtue of me having worked with defendants and law enforcement and the courts and understanding incarceration on both sides, I'd also done some reentry work in the prison system. I got to I feel like I had a really great concept of what it means to keep the community safe, but also how detrimental overincarceration or how restrictive some things can be. And it can it can do potentially do more harm. And to families and our workforce and our community. And so there's a balance, right? There's a balance about how do you help somebody and do that with compassion, but yet you still hold people accountable. And yeah, so here I am. Here you are ten years later.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:10:14] Ten years. Okay.

Juanita Vero: [00:10:16] It's ten years. Wow.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:17] So I remember one of the first times I really interacted with you was when you came to see us and you were talking about road court, which I found super inspiring. But I imagine a lot of people don't know what it is unless they have been involved. Would you mind talking a bit a bit about what Road court is?

Landee Holloway: [00:10:33] I love to talk about road court because I think it is an amazing program. I saw a need after I became a judge to to do an evidence based DUI court and through.

Juanita Vero: [00:10:45] Have you seen this elsewhere in the country or did you create this out of whole cloth.

Landee Holloway: [00:10:50] Well, you know, my predecessor was doing a DUI court. It was quite different than what we see nowadays. And I had heard about it and ten years ago, treatment courts, you know, they're becoming more and more cutting edge. They're, they're evidence based. They're they're functioning. They're they're effective. And so I also believed it was kind of my past career, my personality of wanting to inspire people to grow and to change by holding them accountable. If you think about a probation officer talking to somebody, getting them to change, but also having some pretty direct conversations, and so was successful in obtaining some grant funding, we brought in well over in the past nine years, over $1 million to support road court in the services that we provide.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:32] And road folks is an acronym.

Landee Holloway: [00:11:33]  [00:11:33]So road court, you're right, road court stands for responsibilities, opportunities and accountability for drivers. And so it is a treatment court focus for DUIs. It's also accountability. Some people I think think treatment believe treatment courts are soft on crime, and I believe treatment courts are effective because we really get to the root issue of it. And so folks who might want to consider road court are those who have been convicted of a misdemeanor DUI, usually a subsequent DUI, a second or a third, or any other traffic related substance use incident. This is only for misdemeanors. And so our jurisdiction is usually about 12 months, maybe 18 if there's a couple of charges. That's best practices of how long you really need to work with somebody with a substance use issue. [00:12:21] We screen folks to make sure that they're appropriate for the program on a risk and needs assessment tool that is is set for DUI folks. And then if they meet the threshold of high risk, high needs for the program, then they go over and get a chemical dependency evaluation. And we currently are contracting with stepping stones behavioral health to do that because continuity of care is important. We need to keep people in treatment and follow them through. If they come back and they are deemed appropriate for treatment and they have a substance abuse disorder, then they're going to be eligible for the program. They have to volunteer and want to do the program.

Josh Slotnick: [00:12:58] They have to volunteer, and it has to be determined that they have a.

Landee Holloway: [00:13:01] Substance.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:01] Use disorder.

Landee Holloway: [00:13:02] Yes, yes. And the incentive, why would somebody want to do it? Right. So all of their jail time could be waived and up to 70% of their fines. And they could have a probationary driver's license.

Juanita Vero: [00:13:14] Probationary driver's license while they're going through the program.

Landee Holloway: [00:13:16] They could. Yes.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:18] How long is the program?

Landee Holloway: [00:13:19] So the program is set out on five phases for 12 months. One of the things I think we got to talk about is what do they do in the program, right? Because once we hear like, are they eligible and what the benefits are? There's a commitment that comes with that. An individual must report to a misdemeanor probation officer. They have to do chemical dependency treatment for the first 90 days. They must wear a continuous alcohol monitor on their ankle to make sure that they're not drinking, because that is important for our public safety. If we're letting people drive.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:48] It must be pretty difficult for someone who has a substance use disorder in regular language they're addicted to all of a sudden, okay, bam, tomorrow I'm not using my substance and I better not because I got this monitor on my ankle. How?

Juanita Vero: [00:14:01] The monitor is only for alcohol though, right?

Josh Slotnick: [00:14:03] I'm just saying, let's say they're addicted to alcohol and and they got a monitor on and it just went from like Monday to Tuesday. Now I can't drink what happens within road court to deal with that addiction.

Landee Holloway: [00:14:14] You bet. So I'm going to I'm going to back you up just for a moment before I respond to that. Because Commissioner, you talked about it's just for alcohol. We also require everyone to do random UAs throughout the program because we're testing for other substances, because DUIs are not just from alcohol, they're marijuana DUIs. They're anything that can impair your system. We have poly substance use that's happening out there in the community, meaning different various different drugs that are in a person's body with along with alcohol or marijuana. So your question, Commissioner Slotnick is okay. Somebody maybe uses where monitoring. How do we deal with that? We have a sanctioned grid. We have a team. And I have to come back and talk to you about the team who does this with me, because it's not just me. And so we do an appropriate sanction and that could vary. It depends upon how honest was the person that they use. Were they able to process it with their chemical dependency counselor? Where are they in the program? Because just as I think you were leading to Commissioner Slotnick, is that, you know, somebody struggling, they need help, right? But that sometimes doesn't come without stumbles along the way. And so we have to be compassionate. There's a treatment plan for them. There is a sanction within the program. And then there is a therapeutic sanction. Sometimes somebody just owning up that they messed up and they want to do better and they're willing to, you know, work with their counselor. More is enough, right? I mean, I don't think that our job is to try and incarcerate everyone. That's not what our taxpayers want. That's not what the courts want. That's not what our community wants. But if we're able to get people to change their behavior, and sometimes that takes a little bit of work along the way.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:15:53] Well, maybe talk a little bit about success and and or recidivism.

Landee Holloway: [00:15:58] You bet. We have 93 graduates over the last nine years in the program. There's some people who have voluntarily quit or have been terminated. There's very few of those, but those are for various reasons. Some of those folks just couldn't stop using, and they ended up back in the court system with some additional consequences or penalties or incarceration.

Juanita Vero: [00:16:16] I had watching graduation was one road court was one of the most powerful things I've experienced. It was really.

Landee Holloway: [00:16:23] I got two coming up on Thursday if you want to.

Juanita Vero: [00:16:25] Come.

Josh Slotnick: [00:16:25] Oh yeah.

Landee Holloway: [00:16:26] I had a graduate last week. When there's an individual, of course, you have to make sure anonymity and things. An individual who, [00:16:34] when he first started the program, was a very difficult person. And I think I got to bring my probation skills to the table because he wanted to be very angry. And I'm like, well, we're not doing this here. You know, it's like you're going to have to conform or you're going to be gone, but we want you to be here and we want to work with you and we want to help you. And he was difficult. And I got to tell you, anytime I see him on the streets nowadays, I ask him how many days, and that's a thing I ask everybody in the program, what's your sobriety date so we can celebrate those accomplishments and those goals along the way and those successes. So I saw him on the street a couple of weeks ago, and I hollered at him, and I was at a stoplight and my window was down, and he came over and he showed me his phone. I think it was like 1534 days. [00:17:17]

Juanita Vero: [00:17:17]  [00:17:17]Oh.

Landee Holloway: [00:17:18]  [00:17:18]And I got it. It's just I see people in the community all the time, and it just gives you this warm feeling because you've been able to impact not just that individual, right? You've been able to impact their families when they bring their families to graduation. It's awesome because they talk about they never thought their, their family member could be sober. They didn't think that they could change. They had given up hope. I also think that it's pretty amazing to watch the participants when they graduate. When they graduate and know that they can do hard things, and after a year or so of being sober or working a recovery program, you start to reap the rewards. [00:17:57] They reap the rewards in their health, their financial aspect, their employment, their personal confidence. It's just pretty fantastic to watch that growth.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:07] So is there a cohort like a group of people start at the same time, or do they all start when they start?

Landee Holloway: [00:18:14] They just start when they start.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:16] So is there an opportunity for that kind of peer to peer leaning on each other?

Landee Holloway: [00:18:22] Absolutely. And part of that peer to peer happens in their group therapy because they're working together. And in therapy, you have to learn to be vulnerable and you have to trust each other. And if you think about the participants, they're from all walks of life. I mean, we're not we're talking professionals. We're talking people who've been in and out of prison. Maybe people who have made their young people have never had been incarcerated at all. It's a variety of people in the camaraderie that is developed in the program is fantastic.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:49] That community, I imagine, is really helpful too, because.

Landee Holloway: [00:18:52] I think that's what we all want, right? We all want to be a part of a community.

Josh Slotnick: [00:18:55] Yeah.

Landee Holloway: [00:18:56] And when you come to watch Road Court and we see all this, you hear all the applauding, right? We applaud, we applaud. Best practices is there's ten incentives to every sanction that's imposed. And so whether that's a compliment from me, it's an acknowledgment. It's the team applauding. And I think about some folks who maybe have been down in their life a lot.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:16] Have they had that experience?

Landee Holloway: [00:19:18] Never had anybody ever clap for them. Or to say, you know what? I see that you're struggling and I see you, I hear you. We want to help you. You got to ask us. I tell people all the time, we want you to. We want to help you learn to set boundaries and advocate. But can I talk about my team, please?

Juanita Vero: [00:19:33] Yes.

Landee Holloway: [00:19:34] Please do. Okay, I. So on our road core team, we have a group of dedicated professionals that come from their busy careers, and they come in and hang out with us on Thursdays, every Thursday when we do ROAD Court. First of all, my court coordinator, Samantha Arcand, she works for the county and she's been with me since 2000 since we began the program in 2018. She's fantastic. I have a contracted defense attorney, Abigail Coburn, and she's been with us since the beginning of the program as well. And so she's not there to represent their defendant's individual rights, but to make sure the rights, their rights are represented in the program. And as we go through and make decisions, we have representatives from law enforcement. Sergeant Shawn Finley from Highway Patrol has been there since at the beginning of the program. And then I've had a couple different rotating sheriff deputies currently, Scott Rasmussen, our treatment providers out of stepping stones are there as part of our team. Sherri Riggs runs that program. And then Carmen Corona is our primary counselor. Misdemeanor probation. As you all know, we've kind of done a switch from Missoula Correctional Services over to Missoula County, and our misdemeanor probation officer has been Kim Lahiff, and she's been doing a great job. She came from the felony system. So she understands that role really well. And then we have a prosecutor from the county attorney's office and that is Chance Carter. Currently, we've been supported from the county attorney's office since the inception of the program as well.

Josh Slotnick: [00:20:57] It's a big and broad based team.

Landee Holloway: [00:20:59] It is. And I think it's our team shows up and we're very engaged in those decisions.

Juanita Vero: [00:21:04] The program again. Did you say.

Landee Holloway: [00:21:06] We started in 2018?

Juanita Vero: [00:21:08] Okay.

Landee Holloway: [00:21:08] So we've been around for eight years, eight solid years now.

Josh Slotnick: [00:21:11] Do you guys design a little bit different plan for each person?

Landee Holloway: [00:21:15] So our treatment provider does a treatment plan. And so that is specific. Otherwise there's expectations and phases that each person needs to accomplish. All of our participants are required to give back to the community in the way of community service, and they need to accomplish their treatment goals, along with making sure that their substance free as they're moving from phase to phase.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:21:39] So you've been around for about eight years or so. Where would you like to see the program eight years from now?

Landee Holloway: [00:21:47] We continue to do training and I think it's fantastic where we are. We're just making little, little changes here and there. We've been evaluated. Our success rate is fantastic. I'd like to see the program continuing. I would also like to say that I do believe at some point in the near future, there's going to be a felony DUI treatment court in Missoula, but that is still in the works. But we've been instrumental in some of our members from our team of helping promote that. And I do believe that's going to be a really good asset. Do you.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:22:14] Think that would that be district court.

Landee Holloway: [00:22:16] Or district court.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:22:17] Would be district court? Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:18] So what would make a DUI a felony DUI versus a misdemeanor DUI?

Landee Holloway: [00:22:23] Well, Montana law is the fourth. Dui is a felony, DUI.

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:28] Fourth.

Landee Holloway: [00:22:28] One fourth or subsequent. And you're going to see folks every once in a while that might have up into the ten, 15 DUIs on their records. And so for me, coming from that felony system previously, it was important to continue to work with those folks, just getting into the system and not going on to the additional funding that the Supreme Court needs to obtain. We do a lot of our grant funding. You all have been great to a hard fund. Our court coordinator, after a certain amount of time, we've proven that she's beneficial to Justice Court and to the community. And so we chase money for a lot of our clientele. And I want to continue to work with the misdemeanors.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:07] What's the general landscape of drunk driving laws in Montana?

Landee Holloway: [00:23:12] General landscape. That's kind of a loaded question. Um, Commissioner.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:16] Unload it, however well said.

Landee Holloway: [00:23:18] Well, we are always way high up on the charts for drunk driving and fatalities, meaning Montana, Montana. Okay. But then by virtue of Missoula being a college town in Montana, we also get up there as well. When you ask about the landscape, We continue to see DUIs. They've been kind of holding steady for a couple of years. What we're seeing, though, with regards to some of those DUIs out of the toxicology reports, out of the crime lab, is that there's more poly substance, which I refer to earlier, that it's not just alcohol and marijuana. There's also controlled substances and medications. And a lot of times when those blood warrants or those search warrants are getting in for blood and we're getting those toxicology reports, there's people with more substances in their system and the BAC levels are much greater there. I can't remember what the last report is, so I want to be careful throwing out a stat that I don't know, but it's been exceptionally high on what the BAC levels are. So those the streets can be dangerous out there. What we do know though, with regards to drinking and driving, the younger generation is doing a better job of finding drivers and finding and not actually drinking as much. And so.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:35] Are we. Seeing as many sort of DUIs among younger people as we used to just. They're using different substances or just generally speaking, less DUIs with younger people.

Landee Holloway: [00:24:46] Well, I don't know that I've ever have seen any recent data for that. I do know that in the courtroom, because of the charges that come from Highway patrol or the sheriff's department, I have seen some younger kids getting DUIs. I mean, 16, 17 year olds. And and, you know, I realize that substances are are an issue in our, you know, in our world and our state and our community. And so trying to get those folks into treatment real fast is a good thing too.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:25:10] So if someone is out there listening and is thinking to themselves, I've got a friend or family member who I'm, I'm worried about is driving under the influence and any suggestions?

Landee Holloway: [00:25:22] So I think having a direct conversation. I think, I think sometimes we're afraid to bring those conversations to the table. And, you know, I think we've all watched TV and saw those interventions where you bring everybody around and have a conversation, but have a conversation, reach out and see what kind of resources are in the community. And you know, there's groups like Al-Anon, which is for the family of alcoholics and Al-Anon for the families of those who are other controlled substances. There's the the Group of AA, but those are only a few of the programs. I mean, a lot of the churches have different groups these days that help support folks. You can get into a chemical dependency assessment or evaluation in a lot of different agencies and therapists around town. When folks come into the courtroom, we often will refer over to, say, partnership health because our federally qualified health care system, as you all know, but they have some services as well.

Juanita Vero: [00:26:21] How about for the person to initiate that conversation? Because that can, like you said, can be pretty scary. So what are the tools or where does the person go to learn how to initiate that?

Landee Holloway: [00:26:32] You know, those that internet is really good.

Juanita Vero: [00:26:34] Um.

Landee Holloway: [00:26:35] But I think personally is that you have to speak from the heart and you have to talk about how your feelings are when you're talking to someone else and demonstrate that this is having an impact in their life or it's harming, potentially harming others. I think if we get back to what can we do personally in our own lives and our own circle of friends, if we're out somewhere where there's an event where people are consuming beverages and it would appear that they're not safe to drive. I mean, really being direct about that because drunk drivers on the road are killing people every day in our state and in our country. And so what can we do to help prevent that? Have a plan. Get a ride if you're going to imbibe. I know that sounds kind of cheesy, but.

Josh Slotnick: [00:27:17] No, that's.

Landee Holloway: [00:27:18] Good. Um, but yeah, and you know, [00:27:20] I think that I will echo something from our other agency that we work with Drive Safe Missoula is that there is no safe amount. And to really make sure you're taking into consideration what your risks are to the community and you'll hear me if you come in and watch citations every day. I say it all the time. If you're operating a motor vehicle, you're driving a weapon. You're driving that weapon down the road, and you could hurt anybody on the inside or the outside. And so I think it's a great responsibility we have. And to remind people it's a privilege to operate a motor vehicle. It's not a right. And we have an obligation to keep be safe and to keep our community safe. [00:27:52]

Josh Slotnick: [00:27:52] So I want to go back to the kind of broader scope of what you do. Thanks for all that on record. It's super interesting and inspiring. So given that you've been doing this for ten years, have you seen any notable changes in the kind of issues that are coming before you? The kind of people that are coming before you? It seems to be maybe something like that might describe society in a way that we hadn't thought of.

Landee Holloway: [00:28:18] I think you're referencing just to who comes into the courtroom.

Josh Slotnick: [00:28:21] And what, what sorts of things brought them there? Yeah. What are their real changes? Or it's pretty much like it was ten years ago.

Landee Holloway: [00:28:27] You know, I think in the criminal side of things, there's a lot of similarities. I know that's what a lot of people think of justice. But remember, we have this civil department, right? And so we do landlord tenant cases and collection cases. Covid has had a huge impact on people and unemployment and the just the higher cost of living. So we see a lot of people come into the courtroom and their pro se, right? They're representing themselves and justice court. You don't have to have an attorney. You can represent yourself. But I think that you you just feel the weight of the housing and the cost of housing and people's limited funds. I see that a lot in the courtroom. And although we need to follow the rule of law, I think it's important that as a justice of the peace, that I always make sure that I'm addressing those issues with compassion and seeing people for who they are, because these are folks that are having pretty huge stressors in their life or situations that come into the courtroom. And I think we all want to be seen and heard.

Josh Slotnick: [00:29:22] Oh, that's good. Thanks.

Juanita Vero: [00:29:23] Tell us about court clerks.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:29:25] Yeah. What does the clerk anyway?

Landee Holloway: [00:29:26] So I think that oftentimes people see Judge Beal myself as the face of Justice Court. But you have to know that we have fabulous people behind us, working and setting us up and doing all the the work that a court clerk does and preparing the record and taking the minutes and, and being the face who deals with the public on a regular basis. We have ten court clerks and a court administrator and two court coordinators. So we have a very large staff, and I'm very proud of our staff. They just was talking to a couple of attorneys this morning that said how our staff is so efficient and always helpful. And and I know that Judge Beal and I can't say enough about our staff and our court administrator, Jesse Barish does an amazing job of of keeping everybody on track.

Josh Slotnick: [00:30:12] That's great.

Juanita Vero: [00:30:13] We're so lucky.

Josh Slotnick: [00:30:14] Yeah, we are, we are. We've had the great privilege of chatting with Jesse many a time, and we're super excited that she's chosen to work for Missoula County.

Landee Holloway: [00:30:22] Yeah, she is wonderful.

Josh Slotnick: [00:30:24] So our last question, have you stumbled into some little nugget of culture in the last few weeks months that you feel like is worthy of passing on. This is a book or a movie or a podcast or something someone said that was interesting.

Juanita Vero: [00:30:37] A song or a.

Josh Slotnick: [00:30:37] Song or a poem, anything.

Landee Holloway: [00:30:39] Wow. You know, one of my last books I read, I was just so touched by it. Um, and this is completely off track of what Justice court is or justice of peace. But Theo of Golden, it is a book by Alan Levi, but it's truly about compassion and healing and how we can help one another. It's one of those books that sucks you in because it's so warm, and in the end, you're bawling because it's just about life. And I just think that when we deal with so many complicated things, we just need to have those heartfelt moments and to really hang on to them. So Theo of Golden.

Josh Slotnick: [00:31:16] Oh, that's a great way to end. Thanks a ton for coming by.

Landee Holloway: [00:31:19] Thank you for your.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:31:19] Time and give your staff our regards. And thanks also.

Landee Holloway: [00:31:23] Yeah, they I will do so. Thank you.

Juanita Vero: [00:31:26] Thank you. Thanks so much.

Landee Holloway: [00:31:27] Thanks for having.

Juanita Vero: [00:31:28] Me.

Josh Slotnick: [00:31:28] For listening. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the agenda. If you enjoy these conversations, it would mean a lot if you would rate and review the show on whichever podcast app you use.

Juanita Vero: [00:31:38] And if you know a friend who would like to keep up with what's happening in local government, be sure to recommend this podcast to them.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:31:44] The agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners is made possible with support from Missoula Community Access Television, better known as MCAT, and our staff in the Missoula County Communications Division.

Josh Slotnick: [00:31:56] If you have a question or a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode, email it to communications@missoulacounty.us.

Juanita Vero: [00:32:03] To find out other ways to stay up to date with what's happening in Missoula County, go to Missoula dot.co/Updates.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:32:11] Thanks for listening.