This issue's opinion Well, I think things are really gettin' out of hand! About a week ago, there was a news story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (and probably in your home town newspaper) the the PRCA actually thought about changing the name of the calf-roping event to tie-down roping. This idea was developed to appease critics of using calves in competition. Hey, what's next, team steer gathering? Happily, the idea, at least for the present has been dropped. But it just goes to show you how far we've come in being subjugated by off-the-wall organizations to become "politically correct". For crying out loud, now we've got people out there worrying about the privacy rights of animals, and equating animals with human beings based upon animals' emotional equivalency with humans. Not that there aren't plenty of times when I'd rather spend time with our animal friends than some of those so-called intelligent human animals you run into on a pretty steady basis, but if this animal rights concept gets out of hand, we're all going to be in one heck of a shape. PRCA is pretty strict with regard to the care of animals used in events, and the calves, steer, and horses usually end up in better shape than the cowboys. The same is true for most business-animal relationships, since the care of the animals directly effects the product the business creates. But let's face it - animals are not humans, we shouldn't treat them as humans, only humanely. Joe Chernicoff, CAPA Exec. Director About Drug Store Cowboys Thanks to buckcreek.tripod.com Isn’t that like the Tobacco Store Indian? Not Hardly! The Tobacco store Indian was just a wooden statue but the Drug Store Cowboy was the real live thing. In the early days of the old west the cowboys had a special aurora about them, and were looked upon as idols by many, just as a lot of our sports figures are today. Whenever the cowboys came to town all the girls wanted to have a date with them. There weren’t too many boys in town, as ranching was the major industry at the time and by the time most boys were old enough to ride a horse and rope a steer, usually about the age of fourteen, they got a job on a ranch. As the west settled down and the towns began to grow, schooling became more important than going to work at an early age. As more people came to the small western towns the whole make-up of the town changed. The saloons of the early days gradually gave way to ice-cream parlors and soda fountains as gathering places for the young people. Nearly every drug store of the time had a soda fountain where the young people gathered. One thing did not change however. The cowboys were idolized by the girls and any boy wearing boots, western hat and with a bandanna tied around their neck was sure to get a date. The local boys, known as city slickers by the cowboys, were getting a little jealous. In order to get more dates the local boys started wearing boots, western hats etc., and hanging out at the drug store soda fountains to meet the girls. These boys in their fancy cowboy duds, most of whom had never been on or near a horse, soon became known as ‘Drug Store Cowboys.’ Times have changed again, we no longer have the drug stores with their soda fountains, but the cowboy mystic still persists. We no longer call them ‘Drug Store Cowboys,’ they are known today as ‘Rhinestone Cowboys.’ To experience this phenomenon first hand just drive By Billy Bob’s Texas on the north side of Ft Worth some night. The ‘Drugstore Cowboys’ are still around.

A Few Good Recommendations for Your Enjoyment A Tip of the Hat to the Vaqueros By Ronda Quaid: News-Press correspondent Today's rodeo, performed by professional athletes for big stakes in huge arenas filled with cheering spectators and covered by ESPN, has come along way from its roots in the 1800s roundup camps... For story - Click Here Sam Abell photography: Sam Abell: The Photographic Life", until September 15, 2002, at the University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA, USA Enjoy Real Country Music? Then read Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?- the Carter Family and their legacy on American Music, by Mark Zwonitzer & Charles Hirshberg, Simon & Shuster 2002. This is a good one! Toyah Taylor I spoke with Toyah Talor the other day. Toyah has been a studio doorway link with cowboyartshow.com for a long time now, and will soon be a Cowboy Artists and Photographers of America member. We're all glad to hear that Toyah is doing much better now, following some long-time major illness. Taylor was was "Cowboy Raised" in Pecos, Texas. His name was derived from a COMANCHE word meaning "Running Water". From 1965 to 1978, Toyah performed and competed on the professional rodeo circuit, and here's a photo from his early "up and down" days without worry or stress: This is Apache NFR bull in the Walt Alsbaud Rodeo String, 1967 Roswell, New Mexico. Toyah's work can be seen at seen when you enter here Rodeo Schedules RodeoImages.Com

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