Appointment of W. E. Kees Jr. as superintendent of the State Colony and Training School drew protests Friday from officials of two state associations concerned with mental health.
Dr. Loyd W. Rowland, director of the Louisiana Association for Mental Health, said in a letter to the state department of institutions: ". . . you have appointed the wrong man."
Rabbi Nathaniel Share, president of the Louisiana Association for Retarded Children, said in a prepared statement, that Kees "lacks the training and other professional qualifications' \ for the job.
Both protests expressed disappointment that the institutions board did not name Dr. William P. Hurder, clinical director at the Pineville institution, as head man. Dr. Hurder worked with Kees in dual authority at the state colony until Tuesday, when the institutions board promoted Kees from his position as administrator of the school for feeble minded.
Dr. Hurder Resigns The next day Dr. Hurder submitted his resignation in a telegram to Dr. William E, Barker, Plaque-mine, chairman of the board, which said, in part:
"I accepted the position and the responsibilities of clinical director of this institution in June, 1954, with the understanding that I would have the authority and the co-operation necessary to carry out a professional program. This has not been the case."
He is a graduate of the Louisiana State university medical school and Has a doctor of philosophy degree in psychology and physiology from Ohio State university.
Kees is a former mayor of Pineville.
Rabbi Share referred to Dr. Hurder's resignation as "a, tragic blow to the hopes which a vast number of Louisiana citizens had j placed in (the) institution."
He said Dr. Hurder's appointment in June was interpreted "as a pledge that henceforth the state colony was to. be taken out of politics and that the sole consideration was to be the welfare of the 1150 retarded persons in its charge."
