‘highspeed’ Holland Should Man Up

State Senator Bruce "Highspeed" Holland seems to have no respect for hard-working law enforcement officials or the court system.  

Last week, Holland was convicted on the misdemeanor charges of fleeing, careless driving and improper passing during a high-speed police chase through Perry County.  Holland expected the court to believe he didn’t notice the flashing blue lights of a police car that chased his Nissan 350Z sports car for 16 miles in speeds that at times went over 100 miles per hour.  Judge Elizabeth Wise certainly didn’t believe him and convicted him on the aforementioned charges.  Holland received a $890 fine and 400 hours of community service.

Even though law enforcement officials and witnesses testified that he did flee from the police, Holland still maintains his innocence and vowed to appeal his conviction at the Circuit Court level.

Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley had some choice words for Holland’s actions in Saturday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:

"It just demonstrates a continuing cavalier attitude.  I’m not going to stand idly by while he (Holland) disparages law enforcement and the courts of Perry County.

Jegley said that if Holland appeals he’ll face a jury trial of his peers who will likely find Holland’s actions troubling. 

Jegley went on to say:

“He (Holland) needs to man up and take his punishment and be done with it. You drive at those kinds of speeds on those kinds of roads under those kinds of conditions, you are endangering human life, period,” Jegley said.

Jegley noted that typically defendants in this type of situation get immediately handcuffed and spend 10 days in jail.

Due to Holland’s disrespectfully cavalier attitude to the police, he has created a monster political problem for himself.  Republican Senate minority leader Ruth Whitaker (R-Cedarville) had this to say to the Arkansas News Bureau in a Saturday article:

"When you are sworn in, you swear to uphold the law and obey the laws of the state of Arkansas.”

“That is very upsetting to me as minority leader and as chairman of rules of the Senate. I am embarrassed for the Senate and his apparent disregard for the law,” she said.

The article went on to note: Whitaker stopped short of calling on Holland to resign but said, “I think an honorable person would give serious thought to resigning.”

Instead of apologizing and asking for forgiveness, Holland refuses to be held accountable and offers up lame excuses on why he led police on a high speed chase through two counties.

Senator Bruce "Highspeed" Holland is a complete embarrassment to his district and probably should resign due to his flagrant disregard for the law and his utter disrespect for police who put their lives on the line every day. 

However, based on his actions to-date, Holland won’t do that because that would require him to take responsibility for his actions.  He joins a growing number of Republican legislators who also refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

The silver lining in this whole affair is that based on this issue alone Holland will probably lose to one of his primary challengers or the Democratic nominee in 2012.