Can you really trust a Mormon?

Las Vegas was pretty much founded in 1844 by John C. Fremont, when he led an overland expedition west and camped at Las Vegas Springs

Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City traveled to Las Vegas to protect the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and in 1855 began building a 150-square-foot fort of sun-dried bricks made of clay soil and grass, a substance known as adobe. Eventually this fort would become the Flamingo Hotel and Resort. Unfortunately, this would not happen until a photographic wallpaper with a fake Vegas skyline could be printed.

The Mormons planted fruit trees, cultivated vegetables and mined lead for bullets at Potosi Mountain. Mormon pioneers abandoned the settlement in 1858, partly because of Indian raids. But they didn't go far. In fact, the Mormon's returned when the settlement of Las Vegas springs became more formal with the Nevada gold rush.

From those early beginnings and throughout the history of Las Vegas, who has been in charge of counting and accounting for the cash flowing through those one armed bandits, table games and endless restaurant keno runs? The gangsters? The guy running the casino? Robert DeNiro?

Close.

Actually it was usually a Mormon. Early gaming facility owners realized that in most cases, you couldn't corrupt a Mormon. Oh sure, there was the instance of David Smith, a Mormon accountant who was fired after over 32$ was discovered missing from Sam Binion's Horseshoe in 1947, but generally speaking, Mormons were as honest as the day is long, to borrow a phrase from Casablanca.

In fact, Mormons ended up working at banks throughout the southwest for similar reasons. Mormon bankers actually fronted cash to early casino operations for building, expansion and no doubt various other activities that were not exactly spelled out on the loan application.

Nowadays, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) currently make up about 12 percent of the Southern Nevada population and in December 1989 dedicated a Mormon Temple in Las Vegas. The temple spires are visible in the foothills of Sunrise Mountain to the east of the city.

The point of this story? Las Vegas trusts Mormons, with tons of unmarked, unaccounted for cash. That's not to be dismissed.

I would like to trust a Mormon. But, I was promised a videotape from a Mormon television reporter in August of 2004. I'm still waiting for the videotape. Now, in the Mormon's defense, he's been reporting in the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast for weeks on end, probably without ANY Yoohoo to speak of...

But my confidence in the 'trusted Mormon' has been shaken. I'm not sure if the faith can be restored.

I'll pray on it.