Fair board makes clear: Zero tolerance for bullying

The Big Horn County Fair Board met on August 6. They heard firsthand of three incidents during fair week that caused them to vote on working toward stricter polices regarding bullying.  Board chair Rebecca Bates stated the board has a zero tolerance regarding bullying. 

A parent was at the meeting to discuss what happened to his child and her goat. Along with the parent was vet tech Sarah Holloway, who treated the goat. 

Addressing the board, Holloway wondered if everyone was aware of the issue. When it was noticed that the goat wasn’t feeling well, a call was made to have the goat checked out through a vet clinic. Holloway responded to the call. She told the fair board the tasks she performed on the goat are within her standard operating procedures. She did the exam and treated it properly with electrolytes and anti-diarrhea medicine. When she came back to the fairgrounds later, she saw the goat was up and running around. 

She added, “Some moms got involved. I’ll be honest, I think it was straight up bullying.” She said there was chaos and inappropriate behavior by adults. Her integrity was questioned as well by making comments about her not being a vet. “I’ve never said I was a vet to anybody.” 

Holloway stated that “the moms” continued to escalate the situation in her opinion, “to the point, where it was uncalled for. The goat was being treated. It was none of their business what was happening. It was none of their business as to what vet (clinic) was called. It was not their goat, and they were not the goat superintendent.” 

She then explained that she spoke to the goat superintendent, the fair manager and a fair board member. When she returned that evening on her personal time to check on the goat, a group of adults were standing outside the goat’s pen talking and likely stressing the goat out. 

Holloway has been involved with the fair as a mom, a fair superintendent and now professionally. She is concerned the drama will drive the kids and their parents away from the fair. In this case, videos of the goat were made and texted, another vet clinic was called and the state vet who was at the fair was asked to look at the goat.   The vet that was called did not come to the site but based on what she was told, agreed that the treatment was in order. The state vet agreed.   

Holloway left for a few days for vacation but continued to get updates from the goat owners. At the junior livestock sale, no one bid on the goat. She wondered if that was a coincidence. A family member of the youth ended up purchasing the goat.

Fair board member Tracy Haley said she had been told there was a goat not feeling well but wasn’t aware of all the drama and backbiting. 

Fair manager Catherine Foss told the board that the bullying party was contacted by her and told to stop. She also told the party that a vet clinic had been called to come to see the goat. In addition, she went to the barn three times that night before heading home, to make sure no one was bothering the girl or the goat. Prior to leaving, she spoke to a deputy sheriff to ask him to keep an eye on the barn. She provided him her personal cell number to call if an issue arose. 

Superintendents oversee the barn and have the authority to stop these types of situations. However, some superintendents aren’t comfortable in confrontational situations. The fair board discussed ways to make this clearer to the superintendents and the public in the fair book. There is currently verbiage in the fair book that states fair management has the right to exclude a person, an animal or business for cause.   The board is going to strengthen that language, add additional rules and will likely post this information in the barns for next year’s fair. They will also assign a board member to each barn, so if situations come up, the superintendents will know which board member they should contact. They will also put together a superintendent guidebook.  

A letter will be sent to those that took part in this incident letting them know that this type of behavior will not be tolerated in the future. 

The fair board also heard about two additional incidents. One was the egging of a horse trailer. The owners of the trailer also had damage done to a pickup. One of the large cement blocks used for a traffic control barrier was tied to the bumper of the pickup. When he started to drive away, the weight of the barrier tightened the rope so much that it did damage to the bumper and tailgate of the pickup. The tightened rope also scraped the side of a nearby vehicle.

In other business:

• Foss provided a fair recap of positives and negatives from public input received verbally and on a white board.

• Fair board members said they heard a lot about grandstand ticket prices. The plan is to have family packages available next year. 

• Foss requested input from the vendors and superintendents.  Their responses were provided to the fair board.