Page 4B Thursday, May 27, 2021, PECOS ENTERPRISE This Week In History star attraction of wide-open island By BARTEE HAILE foot longer pier and the fanciest patrons of the Balinese Room, into oblivion and the history open Galveston in “Texas by mailing a check to Bartee Backed by a new crime- casino this side of Havana. by deploying a private patrol books. Depression Era Desperadoes.” Haile, P.O. Box 130011, Spring, fighting attorney general, who The Maceos offered their dubbed the Night Riders. Read more about wide- Order your copy for $24.00 TX 77393. campaigned on a pledge to free-spending clientele more Times change and so do clean up Galveston, the Texas than no-limit games of chance. attitudes, as Galvestonians Rangers finally got their wish Band leader Phil Harris, who learned too late. After World and padlocked the Balinese held a benefit for victims of War II, mainland Texans and Legal Room on May 30, 1957. the 1947 , state legislators in particular The combination nightclub- comedians like Bob Hope, took an increasingly dim view INVITATION FOR BID casino had been the crown George Burns and the Marx of the brazen defiance of state REEVES COUNTY, TX jewel of two Sicilian brothers’ Brothers and singers such as law on the Island and resolved Island empire for three Peggy Lee were but a few of the to do something about it. #21-011 decades. The rich and famous well-known headliners at the Attorney general Will Reeves County will accept sealed bids for the following: came to the Balinese Room Balinese Room. Wilson was serious about ROOF REPAIRS & COATINGS ON COUNTY BUILDINGS for the high-stakes gambling The most frequently asked keeping his campaign to “close Pre-Bid Meeting to be held on June 3, 2021 at 9:00 AM (CST) at the Reeves County and live entertainment that question is “How did the down Galveston.” The Maceo featured big-name performers. Maceos get away with it?” organization might have Library located at 315 S. Oak St., Pecos, TX 79772. Legitimate barbers by Gambling was against Texas weathered the storm like others Interested parties may obtain specifications from and submit bids before 2:00 PM trade, Sam and Rosario (Rose) law and Galveston, though an in the past had it not lost guiding (CST), Thursday, June 24, 2021 to: Maceo came to Galveston in island, was still a part of Texas. genius Sam to cancer in 1951. Reeves County Purchasing Department 1910 following a seven-year For one thing, the Balinese Wilson gave the Rangers Reeves County Annex 2 Building stopover in New Orleans. After Room had air-tight security. carte blanche for an 1714 Schmidt Dr. Pecos, TX 79772 became the law of Not just anyone could walk in unprecedented crackdown, the land in 1919, the Maceos the door, especially anybody and they did not disappoint. (432) 287-0222 opt. 7; [email protected] like countless other Americans with a badge. The years have The lawmen succeeded at last made extra money by selling not dimmed the memory of in making a case against the Opening of bids will be at 2:00 PM (CST), Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 1714 Schmidt illegal alcohol on the side. Ronnie Maceo, who told Texas Maceo operation that led to Drive in Conference Room 212, Pecos, TX 79772. The brothers soon caught the Monthly in a 2019 interview: the permanent closure of the Bids will tentatively be awarded at 10:00 A.M. (CST), Monday, July 12, 2021 during eye of Dutch Voight, boss of the “You didn’t wind up in the Balinese Room in May 1957. Commissioners Court meeting in the third floor courtroom, Reeves County Courthouse, Beach Gang, who persuaded gaming room by accident. For the next half century, th them to quit cutting hair for The pier extended far out the ghostly reminder of 100 E. 4 Street, Pecos, Texas 79772. full-time bootlegging. When into the Gulf and had many Galveston’s wide-open era federal agents rounded up checkpoints. First, you got the stood empty. Then on Sep. 12, To be published in the Pecos Enterprise on May 20 & May 27, 2021. Voight and other violators of thumbs up from the walk-up 2008, Hurricane Ike blew it the , the Maceos window at the seawall. Then were left in a perfect position you were allowed to proceed to take control of the Oleander another couple hundred feet City’s underworld. down the pier to the coat/hat Legal Sam and Rose expanded their check booth. You needed an part interest in the Hollywood additional ‘all-clear’ to proceed Club, an early prototype of to the dining room. the Balinese Room, into full “And, if you somehow got ownership. They ran their illicit past all the sets of guarded enterprises, which included doors and you didn’t belong everything from prostitution there, you were escorted out to bookie parlors, from the rather quickly.” downtown Turf Grill/Athletic Every bit as important as Club. the elaborate precautions was In 1929 the ambitious Sam Maceo’s razor-sharp mind brothers opened Maceo’s and charming personality. He Grotto at the intersection of 21st played the part of the genial Street and Seawall Boulevard gangster to perfection and within walking distance of The sold the entire town, from Galvez, the luxurious hotel civic and business leaders to preferred by visitors with the men in the street, on the money to burn. Three years idea that gambling and other and a facelift later, The Grotto victimless crimes were good for was turned into a Chinese the economy. restaurant called Sui Jen. A Gently but firmly, Maceo 200-foot pier that stretched kept locals who could not afford out over the Gulf enhanced the to play out of the casino. For dining experience of customers the lucky few granted access to who liked to listen to the waves the slot machines and tables, while they ate. a strict limit was set on how The anti-Asian backlash much they could lose. unleashed by the Japanese Sam polished his public attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 image with generous donations necessitated another name to Island churches and change. The Sui Jen became charities. He made strolls along the Balinese Room complete the seawall safe for ordinary with South Seas décor, a 400- citizens, as well as out-of-town Tumbleweed Recording oral history By TUMBLEWEED SMITH Dr. Stephen Sloan is head of Baylor’s Institute for Oral History, recognized as one of the best in the country. Last semester he taught a course on the Vietnam War. “All my students did interviews with Vietnam Veterans. One of my students came to me after one of his interviews and said, ‘I had never heard of oral history. I want to do more of it. I really enjoyed it.’ For students it’s an eye opener. Something in a textbook can be quite distant and impersonal but it makes it very real and relational once they talk to someone who has experienced some of these events.” The archives at Baylor’s Oral History Institute have more than 5,000 interviews, collected since the program started in 1970. “We’ve always had good support and keep up to date with what the latest trend is.” Dr. Sloan teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses on interviewing and archiving. He also conducts online workshops. “Last spring with all that’s happened with Corona Virus I pulled together an online workshop on how to do remote oral history as well. We got the National Oral History Association to sponsor it and we had over 500 participants from all around the world. Our next online workshop is scheduled for August.” Sometimes the interviews become part of an audio or video documentary on a specific topic. “We’ve done all sorts of things with those interviews once we have them. We’ve done oral histories about liberating World War Two concentration camps; we’ve done theatrical productions, museum exhibits. There are several ways to use oral histories. Now most of our interviews are on both audio and video. The first thing we do is capture the interview then build it into the collection. We transcribe everything we do, have the interviewee review it, the interviewer review it, and then it goes into the collection.” One student is doing interviews on how the pandemic has affected the homeless community in Waco. “He’s doing interviews with those who have been challenged in that way and also with folks who work with that segment of society.” In doing face-to-face interviews, students get to see and hear the interviewee’s expressions of emotions. “Students find out these individual stories can offer a very different picture of the history of something in a textbook. I think oral history is one of the most valuable things I do as a teacher. It certainly makes students more aware of the world.”