1st Annual Hidalgo County Cowboy Dinner and Dance

Honoring Rural Families, Rural Traditions - Preserving Our Rural Heritage

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Animas Community Building, Animas, NM

The Hidalgo County Cattle Growers, Women Involved in Farm Economics (WIFE) and the Tobosa Cowbelles are hosting the First Annual Hidalgo County Cowboy Dinner and Dance to be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at the Animas Community Building, Animas, NM. Dinner starts at 6:00 pm and the dance at 8:00 pm.

Music provided by The Delk Band (www.thedelkband.com), Bucky Allred and Dee Ford with special performances by Kip Calahan-Young, Kyli Rose Moore, Junior Gomez and other local talent.

Many of us can remember going to Saturday night dances at the school gym in Hachita, the old Legion Hall in Cotton City or even the all-nighters at Cloverdale. Families, friends and neighbors would come from miles around to share a meal, visit with one another and enjoy an evening of dancing. We can certainly refer to those days as “the good ole days” and we want to show our younger generation what it was like and allow our older generation to remember the way it was.

This is a fundraising event. All are welcome. There will be no admission charge. However, your contribution will be appreciated and will serve as your admission to the Cowboy Dinner and Dance.

Fifteen percent (15%) of the net proceeds will go to benefit the Hidalgo County Fair Association. The balance will be shared by the Gila Livestock Growers Association and the Catron County-based Americans for Preservation of Western Environment (APWE) (www.amprowest.org) as they prepare for potential litigation and to also fund efforts to inform our urban friends and neighbors of the devastating impact the wolf reintroduction program is having on the people and communities that are forced to live with wolves on their ranches, in their yards and in their communities.

The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program (www.nowolves.info) has evolved into an assault on our rural way-of-life by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) with the help and support of extremist environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildearth Guardians and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

Today, the people and communities in and around the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area (BRWRA), which encompasses the Gila and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, are bearing the brunt of this unbelievable program but efforts are underway to spread the destruction beyond the boundaries of the BRWRA. The FWS already has plans in place to release wolves in Mexico just thirty miles south of the New Mexico border and less than 75 miles south of Animas, New Mexico before the end of the year.

The Mexican Wolf Reintroduction Program has been grossly mismanaged by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and our ranchers and rural communities are paying the price. The program is a bust. Ranches have been lost, local businesses are suffering, elk hunting in the Gila will never be what it once was and, most importantly, rural families are being put in danger every day.

The FWS operates under federal law that requires them to work with and coordinate with local government to insure that federal programs are not in violation of local laws or local custom and culture. Federal law requires the FWS to consult with, cooperate with and be consistent with the laws and rights of local government that represents the people. FWS is either not aware of these federal laws or they just plain don’t care because they will run over local elected officials who may feel threatened or intimidated by the actions of federal agencies.

For contributions, please make checks payable to Gila Livestock Grower’s Association for “Preserving our Rural Heritage”. Bring your check to the Cowboy Dinner and Dance or mail to Gila Livestock Grower’s Association (GLGA), HC64, Box 30, Magdalena, NM 87825. Credit Card contributions can be made at www.wolfcrossing.org.

Joe Delk (575) 644-3082___Judy Keeler (575) 549-2520