Two men sentenced to wear dresses

Friday, October 26, 2001
Mike Lafferty
Dispatch Staff Reporter
The judge gave them two options -- 60 days in jailhouse orange or an hourlong walk down Main Street in a frock.

Jason Householder and John Stockum, convicted recently in Coshocton County of criminal damaging for tossing beer bottles at a car, chose the dresses.

Denting the car, however, was not what drew the unusual sentence from Municipal Court Judge David Hostetler -- it was their rude behavior toward a woman in the car.

"It's not illegal to be obnoxious, it's just rude,'' Hostetler said yesterday. "Throwing the beer bottles put them across the line and into my clutches.''

Householder, 23, and Stockum, 21, both Coshocton residents, will serve their sentences from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. today

Hostetler's sentence has drawn support from locals.

"I may close up long enough to go see,'' said Tina Dobson, who operates a downtown gift shop.

"I'm going to be a little excited to see how it turns out, but not too excited,'' said Larry Miller, a probation officer who has the job of making sure the sentence is carried out.

Householder and Stockum were riding with another man in a car Oct. 13 in Coshocton when they stopped next to a man and a woman in another car, authorities said.

One of the three men made a derogatory comment toward the woman, then the trio followed the couple through downtown, about 65 miles east of Columbus. At one point, Stockum and Householder threw several beer bottles, denting the car.

The third man in the car, who was not identified and did not throw bottles, was not charged.

Hostetler has a reputation for unusual sentences. He said the overcrowded Coshocton County jail forces him to be creative.

"I've got a jail with 52 people that's supposed to hold 36,'' he said. "You run out of options.''

The judge frequently orders people convicted of a second or third speeding violation to write essays. When vandals were found guilty of throwing eggs, Hostetler ordered them to write "I will not throw eggs'' 1,000 times.

When vandals broke $19,000 worth of automobile windows, Hostetler ordered them to auction their possessions to pay for the damage.

"I got everything from paintball guns to baseball-card collections,'' he said.

When Householder and Stockum appeared before Hostetler Oct. 18, the judge ordered them to be more respectful of women and fined them each $250.

"I ought to make you walk up and down Main Street dressed as a woman,'' Hostetler told the two men.

He ordered them to dress "demurely.''

"We're not doing the bikini top and thong,'' he said. "It's got to be a dress, and it has to be respectful. They are going to don a wig and a little makeup.

"Both have sisters who are going to help.''