SIKESTON RODEO KICKS OFF TONIGHT

SIKESTON -- Rick Young of Tickfall, La., gets a kick out of the rodeo and said he is real upbeat about today's start of the 1997 Sikeston Bootheel Rodeo.

Or maybe he said he gets kicked at the rodeo and is looking forward to being beat up.

Either way, Young, a professional barrel clown, is going to be right in the thick of this weekend's rodeo action. Young said he has a simple job: He plays mind games with infuriated 2,000-pound animals with horns.

"My wife and my banker make me do it," he said, adding that he'd rather face down the bulls than his wife and banker. "They don't have any mercy."

Young said he at least has job security.

"No one else wants to do it."

When the 45th annual Bootheel Rodeo opens tonight and runs through Saturday night, Young will be center ring providing comic relief for the audience and refuge for the bull riders. The 63-year-old Young, "with a 90-year-old body," has been a rodeo clown for 35 years.

He said the 2,000-pound bulls get smarter the more they're in the ring. That doesn't bode well for the 170-pound Young and his protective 220-pound barrel. Young said a bull will sometimes get a horn in the barrel and toss it, and him, around like so much hay.

Young said he began bull-fighting when in college and found he wasn't big enough to play football. "I enjoy the challenge of getting up against the bulls," he said.

Young isn't the only one excited about the start of the rodeo. Sikeston Chamber of Commerce president Steve McPheeter has about 40,000 less-painful reasons for being happy.

The rodeo is Sikeston's largest tourist draw and one of the state's biggest events, McPheeter said. Sikeston's hotels are usually full for the event with repeat visitors booking a year in advance.

EVENTS

Wednesday, Aug. 6

* Rodeo parade

* PRCA Rodeo with George Jones -- Rodeo grounds, 7 p.m.

* Sikeston Factory Outlet Stores -- sidewalk sales, special guest appearances

* Historic Downtown Sikeston -- sidewalk sales, pony rides