Where I Stand 1961 — Hank Greenspun: Baby’s death a reminder of swimming-pool dangers

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 9:08 a.m.

Note to readers: This column by Sun founder Hank Greenspun appeared on Aug. 31, 1961.

The adorable little fellow looking at you is 13-month-old Tony Anselmo. Despite all of the death traps modern society has contrived for little children, Tony did succeed in living another five months after his loving and proud parents took this picture. But the little fellow finally got trapped and at 18 months of age will be buried today at Woodlawn Cemetery.

I was at the hospital the other night with Vince Anselmo, father of the baby who was pulled from a neighbor's pool a little too late to restore life in his tiny body after he toppled into the deep end.

How the little guy disappeared from the cart in which he was playing with his brother in the front yard is a mystery, for the neighbor's house is completely fenced, and Tony is not around to tell how it happened. Even if he were, there would be difficulty understanding him, for he was at the stage where his little mouth was just beginning to form words without knowing meaning.

Somehow, faces of little dead boys do not appear to be dead. There are no careworn lines, parched skin, tired, worn-out features of old faces that are resigned to death and seem almost to welcome the surcease of living.

The baby, lying on the hospital stretcher after doctors, firemen and nurses worked over him for 2 1/2 hours, seemed fresh and vibrant, almost as if he would soon open his eyes and spring into the arms of his mother, who clutched him frantically screaming, "My baby! My baby!"

The father, burying his face in the baby's hair and kissing his head, kept repeating, "It can't be true. It's all a nightmare. It just can't happen. I know I'll wake up and find it is all a bad dream."

Vince is the managing editor of this newspaper and toils harder and longer in the people's interest than all of the public officials around this state. His wife, Marion, brings his dinner to the news desk, and many were the nights that little Tony played on the desk while his father ate.

The joy this baby brought to many of us intensified the tragic devastation I felt looking at his still little form at the hospital.

The city of Las Vegas is intensifying its efforts to police swimming pools and punish those who permit themselves the luxury of a pool, but refuse to bear the responsibility of seeing that it does not become a death trap for some darling little youngster.

I doubt very much if Vince will give any consideration in stories to those caught violating the law.

A swimming-pool code similar to the city's was proposed at a County Commission meeting some months back, and pressure from some greedy developers caused it to be discarded.

A tour of county housing areas will show lavish homes with swimming pools built right to public sidewalks without a blade of grass to protect the public from the dangers of pools.

Water and fire hold a strange fascination for tots, and too often childish curiosity is answered by horrible death. Any person who owns a swimming pool and thinks so little of others that the condition of the pool presents a peril to the wandering feet of little children is guilty of criminal negligence. If the death of a child results -- it's murder.

Any public official who refuses to take a stand on measures to safeguard the lives of our children for fear of offending some special-privilege groups should be purged from public office.

Those county commissioners who permitted the proposed county code to die should attend the funeral today for little Tony Anselmo. They should not be permitted to go callously on their way, ignoring the petitions of parents to save their children from these horrible dangers.

Perhaps the grief of stricken parents might arouse some consciousness in the black souls of spineless public servants.

Baby Tony Anselmo's death will not be in vain. I believe his father, Vince, will use this newspaper to its utmost to ensure that other parents never will have to undergo the nightmare of burying their baby -- a little victim of the neglect or avarice of public officials who will not do their duty.