NEWS ROUNDUP

Wagon train carries on tradition of Old West Thousands of people are heading for Greeley this week for the Rocky Mountain Stampede. Most travel by car or pickup truck. But a few are using a more rustic form of transportation -- a wagon train. The wagon train is on the final leg of a two-week long journey. With their canvas tops gleaming in the sunlight like sails, it's easy to see why the pioneers called their wagons "prairie schooners." Before the railroads were built, this was how settlers came to the West....
Clown Livens Rodeos, and That's No Bull An aspiring bronc buster and bull rider back in the 1970s, Dave Copher learned a tough lesson about making a living as a rodeo cowboy. "I found out real quick that when you show up for a rodeo and don't win, you don't get paid," said Copher, an Edgewood resident. "When you show up dressed in a clown suit, running from bulls and telling jokes, you always get paid." That's how Copher found his true passion— fighting bulls adorned in colorful garb and face paint. In common speak, he became a rodeo clown. He has spent the past 25 years in that line of work, the last eight as a barrel man....
Special needs kids get taste of rodeo life Chris Balkcom, a 15-year-old Prescott High School student, spent an hour as a cowboy Wednesday, skillfully twirling a lasso over his head and looping it around the horns of a bull. “Last time I did so good,” Chris told volunteer Mark Trouten of Chino Valley. “I hope I do good again.” Horses with HEART (Hands-on Equine Assisted Riding Therapy), a Dewey organization that provides special needs children with horse-riding therapy, puts on the Happy Hearts Rodeo as part of Prescott Frontier Days each year....
State of Wyoming, Texas group settle trademark dispute A two-year showdown between the state of Wyoming and a Texas charity over rights to the bucking horse-and-rider logo has been resolved. The two sides this week signed a settlement agreement allowing Texas Stampede Incorporated limited use of the rodeo symbol. Texas Stampede, which stages concerts and rodeos to benefit children at two Dallas hospitals, has been using a bucking-bronc-and-rider since the group's inception in 2001. Wyoming claims it has featured the logo since 1918....
An ‘Exceptionally’ Good Time The eighth annual Exceptional Rodeo took place at this weekend's Redwood Acres Fair and Rodeo. The special-needs rodeo for people of all ages began in 1996 with about 10 participants. This year’s event had 130 registered cowboys and cowgirls. A few last-minute registrations brought the total number of participants to more than 150. Rodeo organizer Patti Prior said she could not have been more thrilled with the crowd....