Dear ropers,

By the time you read this newsletter it will be Dec. Yes a year has passed again! And some great ropings we have had! 2002 went into the second year of our AATRC association with leaps and bounds. Here at home we have been very happy with the growth of the AATRC. Looking into 2003 for even a better year. There are a few changes that we are intending to make in 2003. First of all, we will no longer be giving trailers as a high point prize. Extending the pay and adding a few more saddles will be the road we take. We want as many of you to leave with a check as possible! Also we will be including a few more Fear Not #6 point ropings to our calendar. Hoping to maybe have a separate finals for the Fear Not Ropings so the #3 guys can be included. But you guys that are pleased with the #4 ropings for 1?s and 2?s don?t be alarmed we will still have lots of our same AATRC ropings throughout the year! Also, mark on your calendar we will have another Rope With The Champs in August at Ada, Okla. This is a roping you don?t want to miss. Our 2002 roping was one of the most spectacular ropings that I had ever been to.
Results from Nov. are all in and to start it off we will look at West Monroe La. This was our first visit to West Monroe and what a facility it was! We look forward to next years roping there. On Nov 9th & 10th we had a #4 AATRC roping there. The weather was beautiful in northern Louisiana that Nov weekend. About 850 teams showed up to rope, which made a great roping. Especially since this was our first trip there. It wasn?t a first for Charlie Armstrong though! That is, not a first for him to win an AATRC roping this year! Charlie won Tunica Ms this year as a heeler and that wasn?t enough he also won West Monroe La as a header! Along with Jeremy Johnson. These guys were fast on three with a 23.13 on three. They came into the money round as 2nd high back and were the fast time winners in the money round with a 6.23. High back had a no time which gave Charlie and Jeremy the victory. 2nd place went to the 3rd call back Collin Hairgrove and Mike McMain. An 8.23 clean run secured their 2nd place win for saddles and cash. 3rd in the average went to Bart Lowry and Al Roark with a 26.03. These guys came from 7th call back position and roped a 7.67 to place them in third. Not only did that run place them 3rd but also won 2nd fast time and along with that Al Roark also won 3rd fast time which helped with points and won him the high point trailer with 22 points beating the others out by 1 point. Congratulation Al!
Next we go to our home state but a little north to Claremore Oklahoma. This roping was the last chance to win shootouts outside of our preliminaries. With 1364 teams total we roped all day till about 1:00 am on Saturday and finished up with 4 rotations of pre-entries on Sunday. Having such a great turn out enabled us to add $22,000 to our advertised payout. This entitled places to pay quite respectably! 1st place took home $4200 and 2 saddles and that went to Chris Clark (from Missouri) and Devon Stutenkemper (also from Missouri). 24.03 was the winning time for this team. Both of these guys had 2 callbacks in the top 10. Chris?s didn?t pan out but Devon Stutenkemper held his together and placed again in the 4th position with Rusty Waide to win buckles and $2400. When you look at points this gave Devon 27 points and that was good enough to win the high point trailer. 2nd in the average went to Bryan Beene and Dustin Starkey with a 24.25 they received 2 saddles and $3200. This team came from the 6th high position and roped a 7.74 to secure 2nd. 3rd in the average went to 5th high call back Ross Harley and Justin Johnston with a 24.36 winning $3000 and buckles. We also gave away a jakesteer to the top placing 14 and under kid that did not place in the average and that went to Tyler Merritt. High placing lady that did not win a buckle in the average would have went to Sally Weeks but she placed 7th and won a buckle so we moved down to Cristen Waddle and she took home the high lady buckle.
We are looking forward to our finals Dec. 6th, 7th & 8th! Looks like to be bigger and better that last years finals. Rickey Green will be here again this year. You can catch him doing mini seminars and he will be leading church services. Also we have a church roping scheduled for Jan 25th at the Hardy Murphy Coliseum in Ardmore Ok. Clay O?Brien Cooper will be holding church services there. The entry fee is free as long as you attend church services before the roping. We will be giving away a Running P saddle and 6 Hy-O-Silver buckles. The roping is strictly a draw with the head end being open and the heel end being capped at a #4. This roping will also be handicapped with seconds off. Mark it on your calendar and bring all your friends!
As we end this month?s newsletter let us be reminded of what this time of year is all about. As the shops become full and the wonders of were we would spend Christmas this year run thru our minds let us stop and remember the true reason for this season and that would be Jesus Christ. Christmas should be when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. The night he was born he was laid in a manger (a animal feeder) because there was no room for him in the inn. This was no place for a king to be born. But even from Jesus? birth his humbleness was shown. His mother wrapped him in strips of cloth and the angels in heaven rejoiced. You see me and you would have no hope in eternal life in heaven had not Jesus came down to this earth in form of a baby and died a cruel death on a cross then and rose back to life on the 3rd day. But just as so many in the world refused him as he walked and preformed miracle we to don?t give him his place today. Let?s start this December and put Jesus in front of all else. Lets not put in back in the manger because our house is to full. Give him first in your life this Christmas.
Fear Not Productions
AATRC
Buddy & Kelly Norman