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TALES FROM THE WEST TEXAS DUST
Once again, folks, I was stuck for ideas to write for this week--so I got desperate and decided to join another event. (yeah, I know--a lame excuse to join an event--but hey, I needed to fill up more column space!). It is a blessing in disguise, though--because I get to vent some steam of what I feel has really become some VERY tacky yard art in some of the businesses here in town. "What might that be?," you ask. I am referring, folks, to the now about to end Plainview Cattle Drive that has been going on since May. Here in Plainview, a, shall we say, absurd monument to our cattle industry has popped at a number of major businesses around the city similiar to what the city of Chicago, IL developed to draw thousands of visitors and massive publicity to itself in 1999. Let's say that since these cows were brought here to Plainview earlier in the year, these stupid cows have definitely become the target of both vandals and the butt of many jokes around town. According to the official site of the Plainview "Cattle" Drive [ http://www.moocows.net AND in which can also be found by going to http://www.myplainview.com ], the Plainview Convention and Visitors Bureau placed around 20 decoratively painted life-size fiberglass cows around town as a part of its 2000 Cowboy Days. "...Plainview has strong ties to the cattle industry. Agricultural income, which includes ranching, generates more than $200 million annually in Hale County, where Plainview is the county seat. More than 123,000 head of cattle are fed in the area each year. A 3,000-head diary recently opened near Plainview and economic development officials expect more dairies to locate near the city in the future. Plainview also is home to an Excel beef packing plant employing about 1,800 people...The 8 1/2-foot long and 4 1/2-foot tall, 100-pound fiberglass cows--dairy, Hereford, and Longhorn varieties--are mounted on concrete slabs and are in parks all over the city of Plainview as well as at the courthouse square, Ollie Liner Center, Museum, and Art Gallery," according to the "Cattle Drive" site. But what are some examples of this more public form of tacky yard art? Try these on for size: (1.) The Young Republicans at Wayland Baptist University did something that might appropriate for an election year, but in which doesn't necessarily make for an attractively-painted cow. I'll give you one clue--check out the emblem of the Repubican party and paint it on a plastic cow and see exactly what results you get. |
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