The annual Gates County Rodeo is coming next weekend. If you’ve never been to a rodeo, and chances are, being a sophisticated, erudite resident of metropolitan Hampton Roads, you haven’t, you might want to check it out.

I lived in western Arkansas for about a year and once, against my better judgment, went to what was called a &uot;Bull Bash.&uot; It was probably the best time I’ve ever had at a spectator sport.

I’ve never seen anything as exciting.

The bulls are huge and mean and they don’t want to be ridden. Riders get thrown around like rag dolls. It’s pretty cool.

I don’t know if a regular rodeo can compare to a bull bash, but you ought to give it a try.

On Thursday, May 5, the News-Herald will be publishing a special tabloid section on the event. Read our section, buy some snuff and a spit can and head on down to Gates next Thursday. Take your mother, the next day is Mother’s Day.

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For News-Herald advertisers, we’ll be having a special deal come out on Friday, May 13. For that week, you’ll be able to buy a 1×3 ad for $13 (A 61 percent savings) and add spot color to your ad for just $13 (about a 75 percent savings). Call your advertising representative for details.

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Also on advertising, you might want to ask about our VIP program. This is something we launched in February at invitation-only events. It was a deal to get your ad in the paper multiple times each week at a ridiculously low rate. Our plan was to offer it only during the month of February, but it went over so well – with more than 40 businesses jumping on it – that we’re rolling it out again for a brief time. Again, call your advertising representative for details.

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I don’t really understand the uproar over the finger found the in the chili at Wendy’s. I bet if they had looked really hard, they might have found ground up pieces of dead cow. It’s just as gross.