Bonnie June Ayres v. Gilbert J. Long

This is an appeal by Norma Ayres, the natural mother of Bonnie June, her minor child, from a judgment entered by the Circuit
Court of Washington County, Missouri, declaring Bonnie June to be a neglected child and placing her under the control of the
Washington County Division of Welfare with the temporary custody in Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Benson. Inasmuch as our review of
the record, transcript, and exhibits before the court reveals no neglect, we reverse and remand with directions. Charles married Norma in Washington County on April 23, 1960. At the outset they purchased a home, but because they failed
to keep up the mortgage payments the home was lost. After living for a short period with Charles' mother, Mrs. Dean, the couple
rented an apartment in St. Louis. By 1964 they had four children, and in the same year Charles began to have serious drinking
problems. His propensity for violent conduct within the family and toward its members coupled with the misuse of alcohol reduced
the marital relationship to a series of separations and short-lived reconciliations lived out in furnished rooms amidst an
atmosphere of poverty, unpaid bills, deprivation, and physical cruelty punctuated by the birth of five children prior to the
final separation in July, 1967. During the separations the participants resided with family or in-laws in Potosi.