Seagull Musings Column for June 20, 2004
This week the Ole Seagull received a slick multi colored mailing piece ostensibly “From the Desk of Virginia Ferguson.” The front contains pictures of “Rockaway Beach Then …and Now.” The back contains text and the picture of a lovely lady that almost anyone would just love to reach out and hug and say, “I’ll do whatever you want me to do if it will keep that beautiful smile on your face.”
Virginia tells us that she remembers “Rockaway Beach the way it used to be” and asks for our “YES vote on Amendment 1” so that they will have the opportunity to revive their community. She then shares some of her memories about the way it used to be with “little shops and restaurants.We had an arcade and go carts for kids. At night, a band would play.Some people would dance; others would just enjoy the music as they sat by the camp fire.”
She then tells us how the government changed it all by building Table Rock Dam which turned their “warm water beach into an icy cold lake” and that “eventually tourists stopped coming, our businesses had to close down, and now, part-time seasonal work is all that people can find. It’s just not fair.” Virginia closes by saying, “We can’t bring back the past, but I hope you will do the neighborly thing and vote YES on Amendment 1 so that we will have the opportunity to revive our community.”
As the Ole Seagull read it and looked at Virginia’s smiling face he sadly thought, “Virginia, you’re right, ‘It’s just not fair'” but what “isn’t fair” is the very piece itself. Is it “fair” that the piece did not point out that the dam was built over 40 years ago or that seasonal work is not unique to Rockaway Beach and is, in fact, a way of life for a lot of families living in Taney County?
An Ole Seagull thinks that “It’s just not fair” that the piece didn’t even contain the word “casino” or “gambling.” Particularly telling is the “fairness” involved with the statements “We take care of our neighbors. We don’t want to ask for handouts or government giveaways.” Most people would have a tough time reconciling those statements with a plan to revive their community that relies, to a large extent, on intercepting the traffic that their Branson “neighbors” have developed over the last 40 years or so and spend millions of dollars a year to market.
It is estimated that about 3 million people a year will go to Rockaway for casino entertainment if Amendment 1 is approved. Although no one has said, unless an Ole Seagull misses his guess, about 500,000 to 800,000 of those people will be first time visitors coming to Branson because of casino entertainment being available in Rockaway Beach. The rest of the three million estimated visitors a year to the “revived” Rockaway Beach and its casino will be at the potential expense of their “neighbors.” It sure seems like a funny way to take care of ones neighbors and, at the very least, some in Branson could also say “It’s just not fair.”
From an Ole Seagulls perspective it really doesn’t make a lot of difference. Whether you’re from Branson or Rockaway Beach, “fairness” has about as much to do with the financing, power, and clout being used both for and against casino entertainment coming to Rockaway Beach as “family friendly” does. Why an Ole Seagull might actually bet that their primary motivation has more to do with economics than “fairness,” “neighbors” or being “family friendly” combined.
Gary Groman, a.k.a. “The Ole Seagull,” is an independent columnist and the editor of the Branson Courier. He may be reached by clicking here or by calling 417-339-4000.
