Fw: [Animal Rights Activist Resources] End of the rodeo Hutchison KS

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Subject: [Animal Rights Activist Resources] End of the rodeo Hutchison KS

HAHA poor babies. I wonder if activists or a little compassion had anythig to do with it.....insertBanner("news_leaderboard_728x90"); Former cowtown will no longer hold event, to organizers' and business owners' dismayBy Jordan Shay - The Hutchinson News - jshayhutchnews Every spring for the past nine years, teams of cowboys, cowgirls and horsemen and women have traveled to Ellsworth for its "End of the Trail" Ranch Rodeo and Spring Gather.This year, they will have to change their plans.The Ellsworth/Kanopolis Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors voted last July to pull its support of the event and transfer rodeo funds into the chamber's general fund."When you pull the funds, it's pretty difficult to operate," said Dennis Katzenmeier, general manager of the event.Katzenmeier said the ranch rodeo typically drew more than 100 competitors from surrounding states, along with their families, spectators, hired hands and judges. The competition focuses on "day-to-day" chores for ranch cowboys, such as roping, riding, branding, muggings, doctoring and wild cow milking. The issue will be discussed further at the chamber's Monday board meeting. Nick Schlecta, director of the chamber, declined to comment on the matter.The ranch rodeo "doesn't generate huge funds," Katzenmeier admits. But he said there are other less tangible benefits to the event; though area merchants are mixed about whether the cancellation will affect business. Jim Gray, co-owner of Drovers Mercantile Exchange, said Ellsworth's "unique western history" is what he and his partner have built their business on for more than 12 years. Drovers sells Old West-style clothing, "like you would see in the movies," as well as books, music and gifts that are all cowboy-oriented. The store also publishes a paper, The Kansas Cowboy, six times a year. "I think we've really done a good job of establishing a reputation here," Gray said. "Anything that takes away from that is not going to hurt just my business, but the community as a whole."Victor Kumar, manager of Best Western Garden Prairie Inn, said the hotel will "definitely be affected"; although it was hard to say how much. Barr, owner of ny Bingo's Hats, and Sunset Drive-In employee Ardith Kruckenberg both said the loss of the ranch rodeo won't affect business.Katzenmeier, who also owns a bed and breakfast in town, maintains the event has "a tremendous amount of value." He describes the ranch rodeo as "a lot of work and a lot of fun."The weekend also included a Ranch Horse Association of America-sanctioned competition in which winners moved on to the world finals in Abilene, Texas; a cowgirls ranch rodeo; and a kids ranch rodeo complete with stick horses and belt buckles for prizes.When the board first informed Katzenmeier and the ranch rodeo committee of its "withdrawal of administrative services" - which included collecting money and handling the books - the committee considered continuing with the event without chamber support. When funding was pulled, however, "it really put us in a bind," Katzenmeier said. Most members of the committee were uncomfortable with the financial risk of holding the ranch rodeo on their own, Katzenmeier said. They made the decision to discontinue the ranch rodeo Dec. 20. Katzenmeier said the chamber had other options than to discontinue the ranch rodeo."I hope that when communities small and large start making decisions working with money, they take a look at nonprofit organizations going to a lot of work with no benefits," Katzenmeier said. "Stop and realize what these events do for a community." Katzenmeier said he would like to "re-erect" the ranch rodeo in the future but says he will probably lose most of his current committee. "There are bitter feelings," he said.Gray agrees it would be a challenge."Without (chamber support), you would basically have to start all over again without seed money," Gray said. "Without that kind of support, you know it's tough to get something up and running again." Katzenmeier said the ranch rodeo was a good thing for Ellsworth, once a bustling cowtown at the end of one of the branches of the Chisholm Trail."Maybe it will be picked up and carried on, but at this point it's a dead horse," Katzenmeier said.The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different. -Hippocrates