Oregon Rodeo Bans Free Chewing Tobacco
9/22/2005 Pendleton, Oregon Rukmini Callimachi The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) Bryan Richardson hadn't learned algebra when he straddled his first bull at age 13. By then, he'd already been chewing tobacco for four years, starting when he was 9. The two habits - chewing and riding bulls - have long been partners on the professional rodeo circuit. But this past week, one of the nation's oldest rodeos took its best shot at that marriage. Tobacco companies were prevented from giving out free samples of snuff at the Pendleton Round-Up, where for 95 years cowboys have come to test their mettle. Now 24, Richardson goes through one tin of Copenhagen a day, relying on its familiar rush to get through each violent ride, as he did this weekend when he mounted Poison and rode the snorting brahma bull to first place. His prize included a hand-hewn saddle, a pair of trophy spurs, a fancy cowboy hat - but no free snuff, a staple that men on the rodeo circuit have come to depend on. “At $10 a can, that's $10 bucks a day and $70 bucks a week. You do the math. It's expensive,” said Richardson of Dallas, Texas. “It's just about so expensive I was thinkin' of quittin' this week, now that they're not giving us any for free.” “It should be free,” lamented Zack Oakes, a 22-year-old bull rider from Meade, Wash., who said he, too, started chewing when he was 9. “It's dang sure nice for them to help us [...]