1/23/09 La Pine
 
By Doug Johnson
 
About a year and a half ago, La Pine Park and Recreation District Chair Person, and Rodeo Association member Tony Debone asked Senator Ron Wyden to help find a new location for the La Pine Rodeo. Currently the rodeo is held on private land, land the owner wants to develop.
 
"You know having a permanent home for equestrian activities and the rodeo in town is the goal of this whole thing," Debone says.
 
Nothing is final yet, but Senator Wyden's office believes it can help secure about 320 acres of Bureau of Land Management land just south west of La Pine on Sixth Street. If the transfer occurs, the La Pine Parks and Recreation District would manage the land. But since the district is already struggling to secure it's own funding, the BLM would have to transfer the land's title to Deschutes County. Last fall, a permanent tax levy failed, and the only income the Parks and Recreation District receives is from recycled cans. Many programs have been cut, and several buildings have been shut down.
 
"If we do go out for a tax base again and we don't get it, the park district wouldn't even accept free land at this point in time," Debone says.
 
Deschutes County Commissioners say as long as the costs are minimal, the county doesn't mind holding title of the land.
 
"Of course there will be some over head costs, and we'll have to handle paper work, but we don't have to buy the ground or we don't have to put up any substantial amount of money," says Deschutes County Commissioner Dennis Luke.
 
When a permanent structure for the rodeo would be built, still hasn't been worked out yet. The land transfer must still be approved by the BLM.