SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2019
Rockaway Beach Riot
Rockaway Beach, located about ten miles northeast of Branson, got its start as a family resort shortly after Powersite Dam was built near Forsyth in 1913, creating Lake Taneycomo. Rockaway Beach flourished for many years, but it began to wane after construction of Table Rock Dam and creation of Table Rock Lake upstream on the White River changed Lake Taneycomo from a warm water lake to a cold water lake. By the 1960s, Rockway Beach, with its arcades and other amusements, had devolved mainly into a summer hangout for young people.
In 1965, Rockaway Beach's reputation as gathering place for young people looking to have a good time was at its peak, and college students and other youth trooped into the small town by the hundreds throughout Friday, July 2 and Saturday, July 3. By Saturday night, an estimated 5,000 young people swarmed the town. The riot broke out just after midnight on Sunday morning, July 4, when Rockaway Beach marshal Jess Marler arrested a drunken young man who kept riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle after being ordered not to. Marler was placing the young offender in his police car near the town's Chamber of Commerce office across the street from Rocco's Gay Nineties tavern when a group of young people leaving the bar saw what was happening and tried to take the prisoner away from the marshal. They turned over the marshal's squad car, and the melee then grew "by leaps and bounds in a space of only a few minutes," according to a newspaper report the next day.
Someone promptly called the Taney County sheriff's department, and deputies, as well as Forsyth police officers, arrived within fifteen minutes. The incoming officers had no more than reached the scene when they were met by a "fusilage of rocks, bricks, cherry bombs and firecrackers." A deputy suffered burns on his right hand and left leg when he was hit by cherry bombs, and a rock flung through the back window of Sheriff Lyman Cardwell's car narrowly missed the lawman's head. As the riot escalated, the young people started hurling rocks at the windows of stores and shops and stepping up the firecracker and cherry bomb barrage.
At about 12:30 a.m. the handful of law officers discreetly retreated to the edge of town and summoned reinforcements. After additional officers from Christian County, Greene County, Stone County, and other neighboring jurisdictions arrived in the wee hours, the platoon of lawmen invaded the heart of Rockaway Beach to try to retake possession of the small town. They were met with "round after round of rocks, boards, cherry bombs and firecrackers hurled by the youths." When the officers stopped their cars, young people would pile on them and begin rocking the vehicles, trying to turn them over. After battling the rowdy youths for over three hours, the lawmen finally managed to disperse the crowd, and they began rounding up and arresting some of the offenders. In all, a total of 127 young people were arrested and taken to the Taney County jail in Forsyth. Some were placed in cells at the jail while others were guarded in nearby buildings or on the courthouse grounds. The detainees appeared before a Taney County magistrate on Sunday. Most, charged only with offenses like possession of intoxicating liquors, paid fines and were set free, while eleven were sentenced to terms in the county jail on more serious charges such as resisting arrest and property destruction. In total, almost $5,000 in fines and costs were levied against the youthful offenders. Most of the young people arrested came from the St. Louis area, while some came from other Midwestern cities like Kansas City and Wichita. Very few were local kids.
Rockaway Beach businesses suffered a total of about $8,000 in damages. In the aftermath of the riot, some of the business owners lamented the decline of Rockaway as a family resort. "This used to be a fine resort center patronized by families," said one man, "but the college and high school kids have ruined it."
A few business owners, however, especially those who catered to the young people, defended the youths. One owner of a restaurant and nightclub, for instance, complained that he'd lost two to three thousand dollars in business over the weekend because he'd been forced to close down by law officers. He also complained about the tactics used by the police in arresting the youths, claiming that officers hit a number of young people over the head with sticks and invaded motel rooms without warning to pull people out and arrest them. The nightclub owner added that 98 percent of the young people were good, all-American kids.
Most of the officers, of course, disagreed. One lawmen reported that he and his comrades had found eight boys and three girls in one cabin and that all of them were nude. Another group of officers found 22 boys and girls in a two-room cabin, and all of them were also nude. One veteran lawmen partially blamed the hotel and motel owners, who, he said, rented a room to two or three young people and then let 10 to 20 stay in it. The only time the motel owners called the police, the officer complained, was when the youths started "tearing the place up."
In addition to the deputy who suffered the cherry bomb burns, two or three young people also suffered injuries in the riot. One young man who received shotgun pellet wounds said that he didn't know where the pellets came from but that he didn't see any officers with shotguns.
Law enforcement maintained a strong presence in Rockaway Beach throughout the rest of the weekend and into Monday. Fifty-four more young people were arrested during the day on Sunday and into the early morning of Monday. Two or three times renewed outbreaks of rioting were feared, but the strong police presence kept a lid on things. Taney County prosecutor Peter Rea, who personally arrested one of the youthful offenders, defiantly proclaimed, "These kids are not going to make another Fort Lauderdale out of Rockaway Beach." (This was a reference to rioting that had occurred the previous year at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a noted destination for fun-seeking college students during spring break and other vacation times.)
Sources: Joplin News-Herald and Joplin Globe
posted by Larry Wood | 9:50 AM 
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