Risky behavior
To the Editor:
Regarding the Aug. 1, 2024, issue of the News Letter Journal: Naturally, I noticed the large front page photo of a young person riding a bull at the Weston County Fair. But I was appalled after reading the heading underneath the picture to find out that those involved were only 9-11 years old! Rodeo events like this are idiotically dangerous, even for adults. And then to realize that these im-mature children are being deliberately put into similarly perilous situations is to be almost wickedly indifferent to the safety and welfare of the participating children.
I hope it didn’t happen this year, but it’s nearly inevitable that eventually a child is going to smash their face into the rock-hard skull of some brainless bovine and require massively expensive surgery in an attempt to repair the gruesome damage done to the child’s teeth and facial bone struc-ture, all of which was totally preventable and unnecessary! Or, one of them is going to get stomped on with a spear-like hoof and will suffer possibly permanent internal or reproductive injures that they will have to live with the rest of their lives! And for what purpose? Just to give the uncon-cerned gawkers some laughs and a few seconds of entertainment. Stupid!
Remember, we’re talking about little kids here with their whole lives ahead of them. For adults (who God gave to protect the young) to put the children of the county at risk of permanent injury to their immature and developing bodies by organizing or entering them into this kind of an event fraught with obvious danger is, in this writer’s estimation, morally demented. These kinds of fool--hardy events need to be stopped immediately and permanently!
If all else fails, I hope that somebody in Weston County with some common sense and genuine concern for the welfare of the children there will find a smart lawyer who will sue the county under the child endangerment laws of Wyoming and put an end to these insanely hazardous exhibitions once and for all.
For a better world,
— Leonard Lang