Cathell’s ‘Memoirs of a bad boy’ not a tell-all book

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Retired Judge Dale R. Cathell said he imagines his checkered past will surprise those who know him primarily for his years on the bench.

“You don’t exactly advertise your misbehavior,” he added.

Indeed, Cathell writes that many of his misdeeds remain unwritten.

“While I’ve done four or five shameful things in my life, I’m not stupid enough to share them with others,” he says in the foreword to his memoir. “I also don’t tell much about my early relationships with the opposite sex. It is enough to merely mention that in those days the bad boys got the pretty girls.”

Other memorable passages from the book:

On growing up ‘Dale’

“Of course, all the local guys thought Dale was a girl’s name and sometimes the teasing about my name got unbearable and a fight would result. By unbearable, I mean was it more humiliating to not fight at a fighting time than it was humiliating to fight and possibly get a whipping. Until late in life, I almost always chose the latter course of conduct. Got whipped a lot.”

On bullying

“I have mixed feelings about bullying. The context of today is not the same as it was when I was young. I got beat up. I was bullied and I bullied. I always thought it was part of growing up. I thought it was what helped toughen you for what was ahead in life. I still think so. But in my time, the bullying occurred in a much smaller arena than in today’s internet society.”

On dilatory judges

“If a judge is dilatory in the preparing and filing of his or her own opinions, that judge forfeits the moral and professional authority to exert pressure on other judges to be more timely in the writing and filing of their opinions. If that occurs at the top level of a state’s judicial system, it filters down to the lower levels of the court system. If a state’s high court is doing it, why is it wrong for us to do it may be a logical position to be taken at the lower levels. The high court sets the example — or should.”

Related story: The quotable Cathell