- April 18, 2024
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Forty-eight years after Robert Rouse opened for The Beach Boys with his high school band, he won a statewide judicial award and had a day named after him by the county.
BY PAULA BUCK | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Judge Robert Rouse had a great July.
Following the Florida Bar Association naming the Ormond Beach resident its 2013 recipient of the William M. Hoeveler Judicial Award for excellence in professionalism, the Volusia County Council proclaimed July 11 Circuit Judge Robert K. Rouse Jr. Day.
“Judge Rouse is truly deserving," Kimberly Westberry, director of information technology for the county, read from the proclamation. "Over the years, we have all come to admire the intelligent, committed person he is ... (the) unsurpassed competence."
But Rouse is quick to credit others with his accomplishments: his fellow judges, county workers and Cindy Manoski, his judicial assistant.
“I am touched and somewhat surprised about hearing such nice words," Rouse said, in response to the proclamation. "They are usually reserved until someone passes."
Before going into law, Rouse "helped open up Disney World." He managed the restaurants at the Polynesion and Contemporary resorts. But after one "particularly long Christmas day," he sat down with his wife and started considering other paths. She, Donna, suggested law school.
And before he knew it, Rouse was attending the University of Florida.
Rouse accepted his statewide award in Boca Raton, with his eldest daughter, Kelly. Now a grandfather of three, he says he appreciates the "joy of having adult children." In fact, Kelly even made a documentary in 2008 about Rouse's time playing in a high school band. The movie, "Cracking the Egg: The Untold Story of the Nightcrawlers," was screened at the sixth-annual Daytona Beach Film Festival.
"Robbie" Rouse sang lead for the Nightcrawlers in the 1960s, even though he started out playing saxophone.
"I wasn’t all that good," he said, "so I switched to vocals.”
In 1965, the band’s hit single, “Little Black Egg,” made the national charts. It was first performed on Easter Sunday, when the Nightcrawlers opened for The Beach Boys.
“We sounded a little more like folk music on that one," Rouse said. "But my favorite influences were really Otis Redding, James Brown and The Rolling Stones.”
Now serving in the Seventh Judicial Circuit, Rouse has traded his microphone in for a gavel, presiding in the Deland courthouse, where he has worked since 1995. Rouse has held the position of chief judge and handles a variety of civil cases.
“I enjoy the interaction, the pace, meeting deadlines," he said. "I never get bored.”
Faced with an abundance of social and financial challenges, Rouse established a Racial and Ethnic Fairness Workshop to combat inequality and also developed a jail-diversion program for the mentally ill.
Attorney Matthew E. Romanik, of Damore, Delgado, Romanik, and Rawlins, in Daytona Beach, cites the judge’s emphasis on consideration and fairness as one of his top qualities.
“Judge Rouse always takes the time necessary to permit advocates to fully explain their positions," he said.
Rouse was even once considered for a position on the Fifth District Court of Appeal, he says, but felt that working as a civil trial lawyer had greater appeal. He was appointed to the circuit bench in 1995, and later, he authored "The Principles of Professionalism for Florida Judges," a document he said he is particularly proud of, and one that is displayed in law offices and courtrooms statewide.
“We want the consumers of legal services to see clearly stated values designed to establish and maintain decorum," he said. "My favorite one, I think, is that we are bound to use ‘surnames preceded by the preferred title’ in an effort to accord everyone the same level of respect.”
The Hoeveler Award is meant to honor "strength in character," "competence," "dedication to the ideals of justice" and "diligence in inspiring others."
