LIVING HISTORY
12
VERO AT 100
On February 15, 1925, the night of the first raid of the Vero Theatre by
Sheriff James R. Merritt, My China Doll was playing. The 1923 musical
WORLD FAMOUS comedy starred Barbara Bronell.
Ruffner’s first law enforcement was to forbid all boxing, a
popular sport. A few weeks later, he took more giant steps by
declaring everything was to be closed, including restaurants,
on Sunday except churches and a few other businesses. “The
sheriff stated that it is his plan to enforce the laws throughout
the county and to begin with the Sunday laws and then take
up each of the other laws and enforce them,” the Vero Press
later reported. “It is not likely that Vero will get another taste
of Sunday law enforcement in view of the manner in which
violations were handled by the authorities in Fort Pierce.”
Controversy ensued when Fort Pierce “calmly ignored”
the Sunday law. Less than three weeks later, Ruffner resigned
and the governor appointed Merritt sheriff six
months before his term in office was to begin. Ruffner was
sheriff for just 15 months, but during that short time, he put
into place laws and law enforcement that set the stage for
Merritt’s tenure as sheriff.
VERO THEATRE CLOSING
The Vero Press published seven pages announcing the opening
of the new Vero Theatre in October 1924. The Fort Pierce
newspaper had no such companion announcement, perhaps
trying to downplay the new theater to the north as unwelcome
competition for the Fort Pierce Sunrise Theatre, which
opened the year before in 1923.
On Sunday, February 15, 1925, the new Vero Theatre was
almost filled to capacity for the showing of My China Doll. >>
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