Las Vegas City Commission Minutes, November 20, 1957 to December 2, 1959, lvc000011-522

call the Board? CONNIE MORMON: I never went through this procedure before. COMM. WHIPPLE: You had made a promise when you had previous trouble. Don't you feel there should be cooperation between you and the Child Welfare Board? CONNIE MORMON: I didn't think. I was befuddled. It was Helldorado weekend and I was very busy at the nursery. MAYOR GRAGSON: When did you call Dr. Carr? CONNIE MORMON: It was Monday morning before Dr. LaCanna was able to reach Dr. Carr. MAYOR., GRAGSON: What day was Dr. LaCanna there? CONNIE MORMON: The doctor was there the day he came down with the mumps. MAYOR GRAGSON: How long after the boy was admitted did you realize he had the mumps? CONNIE MORMON: The day after he was admitted. I believe he was admitted on May 14th and then took sick on the 15th. I had gone to Morton Galane's office and received a call while I was there and found out the child had the mumps. Dr. LaCanna came but couldn't reach Dr. Carr until Monday. COMM. WHIPPLE: You say you tried hard to cooperate with the Child Welfare Board. Don't you think this would have been an excellent opportunity to call them and tell them of your problem? CONNIE MORMON: You are right. JACK PURSEL: The physical make-up of the isolation room is that it is a bedroom with two bunk beds. When we visited there the Tuesday following this child's admittance this child was on top of one of the bunk beds. I question the isolation as it seems to be the only bedroom on the premises. CONNIE MORMON: The isolation room has four beds. A sick child is placed there until its mother can come and take it. Then the room is properly aired and cleaned. I asked Dr. LaCanna where I could bed them down; they were bedded down on my cots, which are the finest cots I can buy. What was I to do? MR. GALANE: Is this license conditioned on this very room? JACK PURSEL: As a bedroom. DIANE SCHNAER: Before I came here as a nurse, sometime in the past the records show that Mrs. Mormon did appear before the Child Welfare Board. The problem then was how to get money from mothers so she could get paid. She could have come to the Board when this child came down with the mumps. The Juvenile Home would have taken this child. If she had called me, I would have called the Juvenile Home to take him with the contagious disease. MR. GALANE: The father had not deserted the child. What about the Brodsky child from the Peter Pan Nursery with the mumps? Who gave permission for this? DIANE SCHNAER: I was not aware they had any mumps at the Peter Pan Nursery. DON DANIELS: I believe there are qualified people on the Child Welfare Board and what they have observed each time in visiting this nursery, all in accordance, that this is not fit to remain a nursery school. They must have real good reasons to feel her license should be revoked. MAYOR GRAGSON: This Board is only interested in evidence and not opinions. Do you have any more witnesses, Mr. Galane? MR. GALANE: Mrs. Mormon would like to make a statement in her own words and in response to some of the charges. Her interests are at stake. CONNIE MORMON: Domestic help is very difficult in this town. Most of them are not dependable so we try to get the best we can. I am not with my employees at all times. If there are complaints and a woman sees a child being dragged, why don't they tell me? If they knew, why not call a meeting and discuss it? The other nurse would discuss it with us. I get a citation or read it in the paper before I know about it. I am not entirely guilty. If I am, then every nursery in this town is guilty of something. I wouldn't be stupid enough to jeopardize my fine home and investment. I am trying to do my best. The Board comes in. They walk in, they walk out. They ask for my records, look at them, and walk out. If the food is inadequate why don't they stay to see how the children like it? Mr. Sheppard said I am equipped to take in children with disease. I take good care of my children. How can I cooperate if I don't know what to do? I have problems with tourists children. I have problems in my big nursery that we have never had before. We need help and can only get this by working together, not one against the other. This is true. I don't know what else I can say to this Board. MAYOR GRAGSON: What do you have to say as to your methods of punishment, the red pepper and so on? CONNIE MORMON: This method has only been used four, or say six, times. I have used it when I have had a bad biter and have taken a pinch of chili pepper to put in the child's mouth. This is no different than "Thum" from the drug store. The mother is told of this when she comes after the child. If the mother does not want her child punished, they tell me. Every child is different. Some are very good, 7-22-59