Last week, when we wrote about the 50th anniversary of Chuck Berry’s conviction in Roanoke County on a peeping charge at Lakeside Amusement Park, we noted that the incident had apparently faded from public memory.

But stories like that one tend to shake out what memories there are, and we heard from a few people with a connection to that day.

Here are excerpts from two reader e-mails, both of which hint at some of the racial attitudes and politics of the time.

P.E. Compton, of Little River, S.C., was a 10-year-old Roanoker at the time. He e-mailed that he remembers hearing about the incident.

“In addition to the charges against Chuck Berry, I also remember the discussions among white adults about how Berry had the 'audacity’ to try to enter the swimming pool at Lakeside,” Compton wrote. “Now, what all happened concerning the Chuck Berry incident is probably not as clear cut as it may appear in printed archives. It was a different time and I don’t mean 'the good old days.’

“I don’t have any idea what kind of guy Chuck was or is, but I feel comfortable in saying there is more to his Roanoke story than meets the eye.”

Cyril Cook, 70, of Vinton, e-mailed to say that he was at Lakeside that day and saw an apparently drunk Berry walking around the indoor pavilion, where the show was scheduled.

Cook wrote that the women’s restroom had a partition in front of the door to obscure a direct view inside.

After a particular woman walked in, Berry “hopped up so he could see over the top of the partition, again being stupid, as drunks do. He was arrested and hauled off to jail.”

But Berry came back to play the show after music fans in the packed room got raucous when the 8 p.m. start time passed, Cook wrote.

“Finally at about 11 p.m. he was ushered in,” he wrote. “He was still half drunk. Had to lean against a post to stand straight. He began to play and anyone who knows his music can attest he got pretty rowdy. He began to get with it and put on a real wild performance, enjoyed by all.”
Cook contends that Berry “wasn’t stalking or constantly peeping,” instead, “he was just drunk, acting stupid.”