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And so it starts for another year ...

THE OPTIMIST (Abilene, Texas) 03 March 04 Snake, rattle and roll (Joel Weckerly)
You haven't lived until you've eaten rattlesnake.
It's not so much the taste. Deep-fried rattlesnake is just about as tough to bite into as it is to imagine: if you are able to get through the bony backstrap [yes, rattlesnakes have bones], you'll find the meat tastes like a bland type of chicken.
It was the experience of swallowing serpent that-added to the many other occurrences-made Friday's Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round-Up Media Day a striking good time.
Meet Chris Soles, a member of the Sweetwater Jaycees. If you don't think rattlesnake hunting's a sport, don't tell this Sweetwater native. He and his buddy, Jaycees president Scott Cagle-who resembles Bonanza's Hoss-have been bagging rattlers since they were 10.
"My dad tells me I'm crazy," he says, smiling. "But I'm still afraid of snakes; I know what they can do. Other round-ups will have guys get in sleeping bags with snakes-that's stupid. We try to be more safety oriented."
I believed him until I met Rick Wilkinson, a 53-year-old veteran snake handler. During his demonstration, Rick walked all around two four-foot fe-males-"Just like humans, they're the meanest," he cracks-avoiding their venomous strikes. At one point, one of the snakes strikes from a table and clings onto his button-up shirt, hanging like a necktie. "Those don't count as snake bites," he quips.
Around the corner, seven contestants in the "Miss Snake Charmer" competition are chopping off snake heads and skinning them. Not exactly what I had in mind for a talent show. One short Jaycee named Terry leans over to me. "I've skinned six snakes in 90 seconds," he brags.
Finally, the much-anticipated rattlesnake hunt. This involves pumping gasoline through copper tubing into the back of a snake den and flushing them out and waiting for them to come out. And waiting. Twenty minutes pass, and one snake slithers out. A success!
I returned home a fearless man. I just hope that Jaycee was joking when he said he dipped my rattlesnake meat in venom.
Snake, rattle and roll

SWEETWATER REPORTER (Texas) 02 March 04 Jaycees make big impact at Capitol (J. Kyle Martin)
The Sweetwater Jaycees visited the Texas Capitol in Austin recently to demonstrate snake handling and promote the 46th Annual Rattlesnake Round-Up that takes place at the Nolan County Coliseum on March 12-14.
The Jaycees formed a public relations team which includes Jaycee presi-dent Scott Cagle, treasurer Riley Sawyers, Rodney Kinsey and Lorenzo Rangel.
They met up with State Representative Bob Hunter (R-Abilene) who gave them a guided tour of the state's Capitol.
"Mr. Hunter treated us with a lot of respect," said Kinsey. "He introduced us to so many people and stayed with us from early that morning until mid afternoon when we began packing it all up."
The Jaycees gave a demonstration on snake safety inside the capitol building for state representatives, their office aides, employees of the capitol and the general public who toured the building that day.
"We had groups of children that were really excited to see the snakes," said Sawyers. "It seemed like everyone enjoyed what we were doing."
"Riley (Sawyers) was the "star Jaycee" at the capitol," said Kinsey. "One of the kids approached him and asked him for his autograph."
The Jaycees said they met many people from outside the state visiting the capitol. They even met families from Michigan and Wisconsin.
"It was great exposure for the Jaycees and Sweet-water," said Cagle. "We really got our name, and what we do at the Round-up, out to a lot of people."
The PR team was told by Hunter that having something from the Jaycees or the Rattlesnake Round-Up in the capitol's museum would be a wonderful addition.
"It's a big step towards publicity," said Kinsey. "In all my years of serving the Jaycees and its public relations I never had a better response than this past week with Representative Bob Hunter."
Hunter will serve as the Grand Marshal of the Sweet-water Rattlesnake Round-up Review Parade.
Jaycees make big impact at Capitol