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The passing of a poet:
Buck Ramsey,
one of the most revered figures in
cowboy subculture, died earlier this month at the age of 59 in his Amarillo home.
Ramsey, who it is said once worked the range with classic literature in his
saddlebags, was interested in verse as a child, but took to writing seriously in
the 60s after a horseback riding accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.
He helped perpetuate the myth of the literary cowboy, recounting tales of bunkmates who
compared translations of Homer and became biblical scholars in their spare time.
"Ranching people are probably the readingist culture in the country," he told the
Houston Chronicle in 1995. His own efforts came to fruition in the late
80s when he was one of two Texas poets chosen to read at the Elko cowboy
symposium. Following that, Ramsey received the National Heritage Fellowship from
the National Endowment of the Arts
and the National Cowboy
Hall of Fame's Golden Spur Award. His poetry and renditions of cowboy songs have
been performed at the Smithsonian Institution and the Gene Autry Western Heritage
Museum. Ramsey's Anthem, the
prologue to the epic poem And As I Rode Out on the Morning, is regarded as
one of the best contemporary pieces of writing in the cowboy tradition.
 Safe streets in San Angelo: Last year was a slow one for homicide detectives in San Angelo. The city of 90,000 people escaped 1997 completely murder-free. Though the city's homicide rate is normally a far cry from that of larger Texas cities -- there were two killings in 96, three in 95, and five in 94 -- San Angelo does suffer on average about five slayings a year, based on data compiled over the last ten years. Murder rates have only been tracked in San Angelo since 1974, and the city's most bloody year to date was 1985 when 11 citizens were killed. Actually, the central Texas locale hasn't experienced a killing for eighteen months now, so if the population can maintain their even keel they just may enjoy a two-year homicide hiatus. A local view of Vanna: After sponsoring a sweepstakes in Time magazine which received a lukewarm response from potential tourists, the Houston Image Group, the city's own private non-profit publicist, has another diversion in mind. This time they've invited the longest-running television game show, Wheel of Fortune, to tape ten shows in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in April. Currently, Wheel of Fortune has a larger audience than syndicated reruns of both Seinfeld and The Simpsons, and brings in an average of 260,000 viewers from Houston alone. The Houston shows will be announced on air weeks beforehand, will have a specially-constructed Houston-centric set, and will use local contestants, audience members, and prizes from Houston businesses. Because the shows will air during the May sweeps, they translate into about $3 million in free advertising for the city -- a 30-second spot on the show sells for about $75,000. For information on how to get tickets to the tapings or how to be a contestant, call KHOU-TV at 713/284-7765. (1/15/98) |
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