Cattle dog show draws top canine

The annual Wellfleet Fall Festival is quickly becoming much more than a place to gather for free watermelon, mud volleyball and great food. For the second straight year, the festival was the location for a sanctioned U.S. Border Collies Handlers Association cattle dog trial, which is a qualifier for the national event that takes place at the stock show in Denver after the first of the year. Wellfleet's Outback Stock Dog Association sponsored the event, which drew more than 40 dogs, including the top ranked dog in the nation. Small, but growing dramatically, the Outback sponsored event drew close to 200 spectators and it's a direction that Outback president Dennis McDaniel hopes to continue. "We called ourselves Outback because we are kind of out back of nowhere," he joked. "But this is something significant and is growing in popularity and growing fast." Border collies have been used for centuries to herd sheep and are extremely skilled at what they do. In the same fashion, the dogs are becoming more popular than ever for ranchers who are finding it harder and harder to find good old-fashioned cowboys. "This day and age, where can you find four or five cowboys at the drop of a hat?" asked McDaniel. "You can't. It's getting harder and harder to find cowboys and while it's not easy to admit, that age is almost over."...Telegraph

Out of harm's way

The best description of a pickup man, like many things in rodeo, can be found in a country and western song. In this case, from the cowboy poet and musician Gared Baker. "But there's someone out there watching, He knows when things are wrong, There's someone out there waiting, And it don't take him long, To move in and take over, When a cowboy needs a hand, There's someone looking after things, The pickup man." The pickup men are the rescue squad. At the Round-Up, in their signature red shirts and flowing white neckerchiefs, they assist in virtually every event, helping cowboys to the ground after bronc rides or ushering animals out of the arena. To the cowboy entangled in his rigging on a bucking bronco, the pickup man is an angel from heaven. "They're cowboy lifesavers," said Sonny Hansen, a Round-Up volunteer and one-time pickup man. As talented as the men they rescue, pickup men usually train their own horses and are proficient in a variety of cowboy skills. And they know how to act fast. On the Round-Up's large grass arena, their job is just a little harder. The grass is slick, and, in all that open space, the action even more unpredictable than usual. "Things go fast, and there's a lot of different things that can go wrong," said Bob Marriott, who's been a pickup man for 20 years. Nevertheless, he said, he looks forward to the Round-Up. "There's no rodeo in the world that gives you the same rush as when you first walk out on that grass," he said...Oregonian

On the edge of common sense: Ropers measure time in bronc years

Calf ropers are a peculiar group of talented cowboys. I would characterize them as more serious about their work than most. They have hobbies like small appliance repair and breeding orchids. Their calling seems to draw more of the accountant/engineering sort of mentality. Dean Oliver, Tom Ferguson, Dee Pickett, Mike Johnson and Cody Ohl are representative. They are modest, focused, hard working and responsible. Of course, every now and then there's a Roy Cooper or Joe Beaver who crashes the party, but in every bunch of good, hardworking border collies, there's always a couple that chase cars. Calf ropers have pretty good career longevity compared to, say, bull doggers and bareback men. Chad told me of his conversation with one of our old-timer rodeo friends. Chad noted the old-timer's son was entering the Pendleton Rodeo this year in calf roping. The dad kinda snorted and said, "He's pressin' his luck, he's nearly 50 years old!" "Wait a minute," said Chad, "You were 56 the last time you entered the saddle bronc, and that was in bronc years!" Bronc years is a measure of time much like dog years. A dog year is equivalent to 7 human years. A bronc year is equivalent to two roper years. In other words, a roper of any kind should be able to compete in rodeo twice as long as a rough stock rider...Amarillo.com

Song Of The Day #136

To get those feet moving and the ol' heart pumping this monday morning we'll offer two instrumentals by the bluegrass group 4 Wheel Drive from their 16 track CD No Doubt About It.

You've heard Yakety Sax and Yakety Axe. Well Ranch Radio brings you Yakety Banjo. It's a short little ditty so to keep that heart pumping the second instrumental is Indian Killed A Woodcock.

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Cowboy storage

By Julie Carter

If you have ever crawled into a cowboy's pickup, you know that the passenger seat is obviously considered the "storage place on the right side of the cab."

A cowboy's wife related her woes to me.

"Any time I go anywhere with my hero, he has to have the console down so he can set his beverage there, plus the phone, any important papers, his hat and any other junk he is toting around.

"Excess necessary equipment, such as rope bag, gloves, over reach and skid boots, saddle pads, water bottle, coolers for burritos, drinks, slicker, extra boots, spurs and anything else he happens to own, all end up in the passenger seat and floorboard.

"I'm not all that wide but still I do require some place to park my butt and my feet. I clearly remember back before full time roping bum days, when all the necessary working equipment, leggings, extra coats, vests, wild rags, etc., were parked there, too. He does own a two-seater truck. The single cab truck does have a bed that could possibly be considered to haul some of this junk and there is a storage space in the trailer.

"What I carry, fits in my pocket - the entry fees. What on earth would happen if I had to take a ton of make-up, books, clothes and possibly a watermelon or two for snacks?"

Traditionally, cowboys also fully utilize the storage space under the pickup seat. One can find almost anything ranging from empty medicine bottles serving as reminders to buy more, to the excess adult beverage cans consumed during the course of a business week. Usually a number of unidentifiable items suggest forgotten food from times gone by.

Storage priorities for cowboys are very easily established. They start and end with "his."

The kitchen table is a repository for all things that are of immediate importance in the Western Hemisphere. This would include the syringes, balling guns, ear tag pliers, any part of the knife sharpening equipment to include whet rocks and an assortment of things they simply don't want to put away.

In the filing process, but still on the table, are receipts for anything from a hamburger to a new piece of land. In addition, there are endless lists of things to be accomplished, checked on or fixed, projects for the future and anything that might be put on any other list. A list of list, of sorts.

Buried in this cowboy's mound of important things, which will almost preclude serving any meal on the kitchen table, is the insurance bill dated two months ago that has now guaranteed cancellation of coverage and the BLM lease with the same results.

In the barn, there are entire rooms devoted to storage of left over pieces of leather that are too small to use, ropes which have lost their vitality or had a miss in them. There is the kid saddle he had from 50 years ago and several pair of old leggings that are too heavy, too stiff and too patched to be worn.

Hanging are jackets fringed in tatters from wear along with a pile of old hats that are "too good to throw away," but obviously not good enough to wear. Under dust is the packsaddle that came with plans for a camping trip "one of these days."

And certainly, there are those sealed boxes of mystery content holding treasures of some great value. "I might need these some day," he will say.

At least one other room is devoted to storage of "spare" parts from the various pieces of equipment, furniture, watches, tools and toys. Parts that were left over after assembling.

"Some assembly required," are three very dangerous words for a cowboy, ranking right up there with, "I want you to meet my mother."

Julie can be reached for comment at www.julie-carter.com

Song Of The Day #135

Ranch Radio's gospel tune today is Trade My Cross by the bluegrass group The Abrams Brothers.

The song is available on their 13 track CD Iron Sharpens Iron

‘Battle of the badges’ between ATF and FBI

Agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are feuding over bomb investigations — racing each other to crime scenes, failing to share information and refusing to train together, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press. The report says Justice Department bosses have repeatedly failed to fix the problem. The Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, has drafted a preliminary report on the two agencies' repeated squabbles to claim jurisdiction in investigations of explosives incidents across the country — from Times Square in New York City to Arizona and the West Coast. FBI and ATF supervisors "tend to deploy their employees to the larger, more sensational explosives incidents, sometimes racing each other to be the first federal agency on the scene and disputing upon arrival which agency should lead the investigation," according to a draft version of the report. "Such conflicts can delay investigations, undermine federal and local relationships, and may project to local agency responders a disjointed federal response to explosives incidents in their area," the draft report found...AP

Want a Wiretap Warrant? No Problem, Court Says

Despite refusing to “endorse” the government’s tactics in securing a warrant for a wiretap, a federal appeals court is ruling that authorities could use the fruits of their questionable eavesdropping in prosecuting an alleged drug dealer. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court judge who last year suppressed the 50 grams of crack cocaine that was evidence in the case against a man originally suspected of plotting terrorism against the United States. The lower court said a magistrate judge erroneously issued the warrant, breaching the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, which was designed to strike a balance between law enforcement and “the privacy rights of the individual.” Warrants for wiretaps, according to the act, usually may be granted only after “a full and complete statement as to whether or not other investigative procedures have been tried and failed, or why they reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried, or to be too dangerous.” Under the law, wiretapping generally is not resorted to in situations where traditional investigative techniques would suffice to expose crime. The lower-court judge threw out the drug evidence against Alexander Concepcion, ruling “the government has shown that it has done little, other than the wiretap, in its investigation of Concepcion’s drug-trafficking activities.”...Wired

Goodbye, Number Five

Next time you get pulled over by a cop -- or stopped at random in a "sobriety checkpoint" -- you might want to remember the following laugh line: It's called the Fifth Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which reads, in part, that "No person... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." Ho ho ho! It's a laugh line, because, like, so many of the other amendments to the Bill of Rights, pleading the Fifth -- that is, declining to assist the authorities in your own prosecution -- is a sick joke. Or like them, is about to become one. Because cops may soon have the legal authority to forcibly extract blood from you in order to use that blood as evidence against you in DWI cases -- which are criminal proceedings. It's all part of a new federal program -- yes, another one -- the stated purpose of which will be to determine how effective a "tool" such tactics would be in the ongoing (and endless) crusade against drunk driving. If it is deemed "effective" (do you doubt it will be?), then it will become as commonly practiced across this formerly free land as all the other outrages against civility and basic legal due process we have already assented to. Neither sees -- or would give a damn about it, if they did -- the point. Which is that empowering cops to physically hold you down and draw blood from your body against your will -- to be used as evidence against you in a criminal proceeding -- is to rape the Fifth Amendment and thus, another basic and ancient tenet of the late great tradition we used to call the rule of law...AmericanSpectator

Boston launches flu shot tracking

Using technology originally developed for mass disasters, Boston disease trackers are embarking on a novel experiment - one of the first in the country - aimed at eventually creating a citywide registry of everyone who has had a flu vaccination. The resulting vaccination map would allow swift intervention in neighborhoods left vulnerable to the fast-moving respiratory illness. The trial starts this afternoon, when several hundred people are expected to queue up for immunizations at the headquarters of the Boston Public Health Commission. Each of them will get a bracelet printed with a unique identifier code. Information about the vaccine's recipients, and the shot, will be entered into handheld devices similar to those used by delivery truck drivers. Infectious disease specialists in Boston and elsewhere predicted that the registry approach could prove even more useful if something more sinister strikes: a bioterrorism attack or the long-feared arrival of a global flu epidemic. In such crises, the registry could be used to track who received a special vaccine or antidote to a deadly germ...BostonGlobe

Maine outlaws ‘distracted’ driving

Motorists, drop those cellphones. And lose the laptops, bag the Big Macs, and nix the newspapers and roadmaps while you’re behind the wheel. It’s now against the law to drive while distracted in Maine. More than a dozen states have passed laws making texting while driving illegal, and some states and cities have outlawed use of cell phones while driving. A bill in Congress would force states to ban texting or e-mailing or lose 25 percent of their annual federal highway funding. Maine legislators, however, reasoned that accidents can result from a number of distractions not just limited to handheld communication devices. Roughly 12,000 crashes in Maine each year - about a third of the total crashes in the state - stem from some kind of driver distraction, said Lt. Chris Grotton, who helped to develop Maine’s new law. “Our focus here was, instead of going after the device, let’s focus on the real issue - and the issue is distraction,’’ said Grotton. “I think it will mitigate accidents. It’s a step, but a big step.’’...AP

No mention here of kids...but you just wait...

Feds Now Regulate Garage Sales Nationwide

Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign. The "Resale Round-up," launched by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, enforces new limits on lead in children's products and makes it illegal to sell any items that don't meet those limits or have been recalled for any other reason. In order to comply, stores, flea markets, charities and individuals selling used goods — in person or online — are expected to consult the commission's 24-page Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers (pdf) and its Web site for a breakdown of what they can't sell. Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions...FoxNews

Bowing to the Global Tax Bullies

Do you think the Internal Revenue Service should have the right to share your tax information with foreign governments — even ones run by thugs and those that engage in human rights abuses and/or suppress freedom in their countries? A meeting was held in Mexico City last week under the auspices of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), whose implicit goal is to create a global high-tax cartel. It claims to be in favor of transparency and global economic growth. However, as with many domestic and international government organizations, the OECD's actions are often contrary to its words. In order to create a global tax cartel, the OECD needs to have tax information shared among nations — which means that the citizen of any country that signs on to this scheme may have his or her tax information shared with other member jurisdictions...Cato

Surprise winner of Obama stimulus spending: gun industry

Many gun-loving Americans are convinved that President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are bent on ripping rifles from their "cold, dead hands," as actor Charlton Heston once declared at a National Rifle Association meeting. But from the perspective of police departments – not to mention gunmakers – the Obama administration may go down as one of the most gun-friendly in history. Across America, police departments are using the taxpayer-funded stimulus bill to boost their arsenals with shotguns, handguns, and assault rifles. Among the general public, a record 1 million guns were sold across the United States in August alone, rebuffing expectations that, after 10 months, the post-Obama election gun-buying spree would abate. US gunmaker Smith & Wesson on Wednesday reported a 30 percent rise in sales in the first quarter, leading to unexpected profits and a rising stock price...CSM

Court’s Steroid Ruling Pumps Up Computer Privacy

A divided 11-judge federal appeals court panel has dramatically narrowed the government’s search-and-seizure powers in the digital age, ruling Wednesday that federal prosecutors went too far when seizing 104 professional baseball players’ drug results when they had a warrant for just 10. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-2 decision offered Miranda-style guidelines to prosecutors and judges on how to protect Fourth Amendment privacy rights while conducting computer searches. Ideally, when searching a computer’s hard drive, the government should cull the specific data described in the search warrant, rather than copy the entire drive, the San Francisco-based appeals court ruled. When that’s not possible, the feds must use an independent third party under the court’s supervision, whose job it would be to comb through the files for the specific information, and provide it, and nothing else, to the government. Judges, the appellate court added, should be wary of prosecutors and perhaps “deny the warrant altogether” if the government does not consent to such a plan in data-search cases...Wired

FBI figures: One drug bust in US every 18 seconds

America is a nation at war, overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at home. According to the newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report for 2008 every 18 seconds someone is arrested and charged with violating drug laws. Another striking figure in the report: of the 1,702,537 drug arrests in 2008, 82.3 percent were for simple possession of a contraband substance. Nearly half, 44 percent, were for possession of marijuana. According to San Francisco Weekly’s calculations, 2008 saw one marijuana arrest every 37 seconds...RawStory

Buying guns can be an ordeal

If Congress were to pass a law that required voters to get permission, in writing, from government before going to the polls, citizens likely would be up in arms, at least figuratively speaking. For some, figuratively might be the only way they could take up arms against injustice. Since the Brady Firearms Act required prospective gun buyers to pass a National Instant Check System background check before they were allowed to purchase a firearm from a licensed dealer, almost 1.8 million people have been denied. That’s not to say they were all criminals looking to buy a gun for their next robbery. (Some undoubtedly were; genius-level criminal masterminds are not nearly as common in real life as they are in fiction.) But if statistics from 2008 are any indication, an NCIS denial isn’t proof-positive that one is a criminal, a fugitive or anyone else legally barred from owning a firearm. According to The New Gun Week, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation, a new Bureau of Justice Statistics report says that last year 147,000 people were turned down for a variety of reasons. Of those, 28,000 appealed their denials; 11,000 of them were overturned, allowing those law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights. That’s a pretty slipshod system...OdessaAmerican

Student uses sword to kill intruder

A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a suspected burglar in a garage behind his off-campus home early Tuesday, hours after someone broke in and stole electronics. Some shocked neighbors said they heard bloodcurdling screams in an area just blocks from the university. Police held the student, a junior chemistry major who turns 21 on Sunday, for several hours, but no charges were filed by early afternoon, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Around 1:20 a.m., the student heard noises behind the home and noticed a door to the garage was open, Guglielmi said. He grabbed the sword and confronted the intruder — identified by police as Donald D. Rice, 49, a habitual offender who had just been released from jail. Rice was crouching beneath a counter, police said. The student asked him what he was doing and threatened to call police. "When he said that, the suspect lunged at him, kind of forced the kid against the wall, and he struck him with the sword," Guglielmi said. Rice's left hand was nearly severed — Guglielmi described it as "hanging on by a thread" — and he suffered a severe cut to the upper body. He died at the scene...AP

Nevada draws fire after shooting down Utah gun permits

Utah gun owners are protesting Nevada's decision to reject Utah-issued concealed-weapon permits. On July 1, the Nevada Sheriffs' and Chiefs' Association, which sets the Silver State's permit recognition requirements, dropped Utah from the list of states whose permit holders also may carry concealed firearms in Nevada. The reason: Utah does not require permit holders to prove their proficiency with a live-fire test on a shooting range. "You don't get a driver's license without taking a driving-in-the-car test," Frank Adams, the Nevada association's executive director, said Monday. The same should apply for weapons owners, he said. "You should at least show proficiency." The policy group Gun Owners of Utah this past weekend issued a call for letters and e-mails of protest after getting an alert from the National Rifle Association. On Monday, though, group spokesman Bill Clayton said the cause appears hopeless because Nevada authorities interpret their state law as backing up the ban. Nevada law requires permittees from other states to meet substantially the same requirements as Nevada holders, and Nevada requires a shooting test. "We don't want to impose any more burdens on permit applicants than are necessary," Clayton said, but other states do. "I guess for the time being that's a fact of life." Gun Owners of Utah sees no difference in safety records among states that require a shooting test and those that don't, Clayton said. So the group does not support changing Utah's requirements to regain Nevada's confidence...SaltLakeTribune