Tyson fine suggested for Children’s Home

Friday, July 18, 1997 | 9:36 a.m.

Lost in the hoopla over the sordid Mike Tyson ear-biting episode is how the state ought to spend the $3 million fine it collected from the heavyweight boxer.

Here's one idea: Use the money to keep alive the Southern Nevada Children's Home in Boulder City.

Opened in 1969 as a state-run facility, it has sheltered thousands of youths who would have trouble coping under foster care. The 1997 Legislature voted recently to close the home in three months, citing high costs for the number of children served.

However, the decision angered the Boulder City Council and other members of that community who questioned the advisability of forcing the children elsewhere.

Several lawmakers contacted by the SUN Thursday said they would consider using the fine to save the home. The problem is that it might require a special session of the Legislature to do so, and such sessions are rare.

Tyson's public relations adviser, Sig Rogich, a former U.S. ambassador and presidential campaign official, said he was intrigued by the idea of using the fine to help the children's home.

"We have no say about where the fine goes because it is directed to the (state's) general fund by law," Rogich said. "But if this allows the children's home to stay open, that would be a wonderful use of the money."

The fine was levied earlier this month by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, along with at least a one-year revocation of Tyson's boxing license. The penalties were for biting fellow boxer Evander Holyfield's ears during their June 28 bout at the MGM Grand. Tyson was disqualified at the end of the third round.

Tyson can certainly identify with the children's home. In 1978 as a 12-year-old, he was arrested for purse snatching in Brooklyn, N.Y., and sent to Tryon School for Boys in that state. He also lived in an informal group home setting under the legal guardianship of boxing trainer Cus D'Amato.

"Anything to help kids he would support," Rogich said of Tyson. "The state never should have allowed the home to close."

State Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, fought unsuccessfully to spare the home. But he said he'll raise the issue of using the fine to help the Boulder City facility when the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee meets later this year.

O'Donnell has a vested interest because he once served as an intake officer for the Home of the Good Shepherd, a privately funded girls home in Las Vegas that also closed down for lack of money.

He said that home, run by Catholic nuns, was considered successful because the aim was to "see if we could turn the girls around, and with a lot of them we did."

The senator cautioned, however, that use of the fine to spare the Boulder City home would only be a short-term solution. Gov. Bob Miller's plan, which was rejected, would have operated the home for 35 children at a cost of about $600,000 annually. Miller also would have allocated close to $1 million for renovations of the seven-cottage facility.

"In the 1999 Legislature we'd have to look to our friends to keep the home open," O'Donnell said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, chairman of the Interim Finance Committee, also said he would consider using the fine for the children's home. Raggio echoed O'Donnell, however, by expressing concern about funding sources to operate the home on a long-term basis.

"The problem isn't the capital costs, it's the continuing costs," Raggio said. "I would be open to looking at it, but even if we do, I'm concerned it wouldn't be cost effective down the road."

Assembly Majority Floor Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he'd do what he could to keep the children's home open. But he conceded he was unsuccessful in getting all the Democrats, who make up a majority of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, to support the home.

Democratic Assemblywomen Chris Giunchigliani of Las Vegas and Jan Evans of Sparks broke ranks and joined Republicans in voting against the home. The Senate Finance Committee, whose members include Raggio and O'Donnell, initially voted to keep the home afloat, but that committee reversed itself to go along with Ways and Means.

Giunchigliani said she used to support the home but fought efforts to privatize it. She said Volunteers of America Inc., which ran the home under a contract with the state, hadn't indicated a willingness to continue on in Boulder City. She also pointed to recent children's home staff resignations.

"It was never about the money," Giunchigliani said of her vote. "It was whether this (home) is meeting the needs of the child. Volunteers of America was not serving the type of child they were intending to serve."

She added that the fine is "something that ought to be looked at" as a potential funding source for the home. But she's also not convinced the home is the best atmosphere for the children.

"Is the goal just to keep the home open or to meet the needs of the children?" Giunchigliani said.

Supporters of the home have argued that the state purposely allowed the facility to fall into disrepair, thereby discouraging Volunteers of America from wanting to stay aboard.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said he doesn't think the fine could be spent on the children's home unless it was approved by the entire Legislature. The Legislature, which recently adjourned, hasn't met in special session since 1989. That's when Miller ordered lawmakers back to reverse a 300 percent pension increase they voted for themselves.

Comeaux said the Interim Finance Committee has the authority to allocate $9 million from a contingency fund that can be used to bolster state programs covered by the general fund. However, he said the fine earmarked for the general fund cannot be allocated unless approved by the full Legislature.

That means the fine would sit in the general fund and accumulate interest at least until the 1999 Legislature convenes.

If the Legislature does reverse itself and decide to renovate the children's home, the state AFL-CIO has offered to donate the labor. That could considerably reduce the renovation costs Miller had estimated.

Danny Thompson, the union group's political action director, noted that unions have donated labor for numerous worthy causes. One recent example was when Plasterers & Cement Masons Local 797 used its apprenticeship program to repair the sidewalk damaged last November by Jeremy Anderson. The 10-year-old received probation for the gross misdemeanor vandalism.

"If they (the state) have a program to rehabilitate those buildings, we would go to our people and ask if they would participate, and they always do," Thompson said.

archive