HENDERSON - There are certain things that go together. Peanut butter and jelly; Henderson and Tri-Fest; the courthouse and Charlie McCollom.

A Henderson District Court judge for nine years and a Henderson County Attorney for 24 years before that, the 68-year-old McCollom was a fixture in the local judicial scene until his retirement on Jan. 5.

He will tell you that the how and why of his chosen career path goes back to his father, who died when McCollom was very young, and his mother, who gave birth to her fourth child just four days after her husband's death and proceeded to raise her children alone.

"My father died when I was 4, and I didn't really get to know him," McCollom said. "My mother would talk about my dad. She'd tell me about how he had gone to Duke to be an engineer, but his father became ill, so he had to drop out of school and come back here to help his mother. He never got to finish college."

McCollom said his father was active in the community and even participated as a member of the school board who led a campaign to raise taxes in order to build a new school.

"My mother told me that my father thought being an attorney would be interesting, and I think that peaked my interest in being an attorney," he said.

"Also, when I was about 3, my father and my uncle tried to buy an orchard. They signed papers and all of that. They worked to clear the orchard and take care of the trees and the effort paid off. The trees started looking beautiful.The owners tried to back out of the sale after my father and uncle had done all of the work to restore the orchard," he said.

"A judge wouldn't let the people back out of the sale and that impressed me that the judge helped my family," McCollom said. "So what I always wanted to do was be a judge so I could help families. That is where I came from."

While stories of his father sparked his interest in the legal profession, McCollom said it was his mother who, by example, taught him the life-lessons of hard work, perseverance, generosity, financial savvy and 100 other things that helped him fulfill his dream of becoming an attorney and ultimately, a judge.

"My mother is amazing," he said. "I'm very fortunate and it all goes back to my mother."

McCollom said he didn't intend to retire for a few more years, but Kentucky's pension crisis and a new law that went into effect in July prompted him to alter his plans.

"As a judge, I feel the most important thing was being able to help people," he said. "I've had people come back and say, 'Judge McCollom, I dislike you but I appreciate you making me go to rehab. It changed my life.' It gave me some self-worth that I was doing something to help other people."

"But a new law was passed in July of 2017 regarding people arrested for failure to appear in court for payment of fines and court costs. They don't get to see a judge anymore and jailers get to decide whether to convert fines over to jail time at $50 a day," he said.

"It doesn't make any sense because we are losing an opportunity to help people," McCollom said. "If I don't get to see people and find out why they missed court, I can't help them. There are some very legitimate reasons why some can't get to court like if he/she was in the hospital or if there was a death. If I don't see them and talk to them, then I can't find out if they need help getting a job or if they need to go to rehab or attend Bank on Henderson to teach them to manage money."

McCollom said while he will miss helping people in his role as a judge, he is already finding ways to lend a hand within the community.

"I'm going to start helping people through VITA or the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. I'm also going try to be a junior achievement advisor," he said.
"If I can't help people as a judge, I'll do it another way."

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