Rex White was serving as the city's chief of police when a riot broke out on July 6, 1978. According to a UPI story, the trouble started when White broke up a fight and put one of the combatants in his squad car. Some sixty people rushed out of their homes to confront White, pounding on the car and eventually chasing him back to the police station. Ten people were arrested in the incident, which White ascribed to there being "little to do in a small town on a hot day".