Dear members and friends,

   Sometimes I wonder what our country is becoming. I sit in church and remember back to the traditions of my youth. I was suspicious that some of these traditions were some kind of torture caused by my parents. You parents can remember these traditions. Wearing your best clothes to church, maybe even a tie. A tie, that has to be a torture device. How about acolytes, carrying the  light of Christ into the place of worship and having to sit down front by yourself and sit still with that robe on.  How many of you got to take a walk outside with your dad because you were disrupting the service by not sitting still or being quiet in the house of the Lord?  There was a respect for the reverence in the place of worship.

   How many traditions can we think of that have been lost or are being taken away? The announcer at National Finals said something to the effect of, " They can take away prayer from our schools, remove In God We Trust from our coins, Take One Nation Under God out of our Pledge of Allegiance, or take the Ten Commandments out of our Public buildings. But, they will never take Prayer out of Rodeo.

     I want to discuss two words: Tradition, a custom or belief passed within families or groups from one generation to another. Respect: to have a good opinion of someone, look up to.

     To uphold the Western Heritage.  To continue to have a Heritage in our sport, we have to have traditions. We have rules and a rule book to uphold traditions. I saw a lot of slacking in our dress code at the Bowling Green Rodeo. Not by just our state but by all the states involved. I won't bore everyone with writing the rules. But, when I see shirt tails out and sleeves rolled up more than two folds, and past the elbow, I don't see the respect for the rules and traditions. I watch as calf ropers push the sleeves up on both arms and just bend the rules a little bit. I watch goat tiers finish their runs with half their shirt tail hanging out and the instead of tucking it in they pull it the rest of the way out and walk out of the arena.

     Respect, respect for the traditions and respect for the rules, respect for ourselves, and the respect for others. I see the deterioration of our traditions and the loss of respect for others and ourselves.

     I have the job of  upholding the rules or traditions of our sport. I will discuss one more word with you all.  Example: a model, a sample of what others are like, a person punished as a warning to others.  Be a Model, to others, of our traditions. Do not be a Warning. Read the rules and uphold traditions that get us the respect our sport deserves.

     Great Rodeo this weekend. We had a few firsts this weekend. Way to go Austin, Cody C, Luke, Cassie your getting faster every run. I know I don't remember all the accomplishments so forgive me for that. 

                                                                   See you at Sturgis,

                                                                        Russell S. Kreider

                                                              Ky. High School Rodeo National Dir.