Heading out of Riverbank and going to Oakdale on Highway 108? This is a new
billboard posted along the way - promoting the Buck Tobacco Sponsorship
campaign. It is targeting several rodeos, including Oakdale's, where tobacco
companies are among the sponsors. The Stanislaus County Health Services
Agency is part of the campaign and is paying for the billboard. Campaign
representatives have asked the Oakdale Saddle Club, which sponsors the
city's rodeo every April, to end its sponsorship arrangement with U.S.
Smokeless Tobacco Co., maker of Copenhagen and Skoal, among other products.
Mike Wagner, a Saddle Club board member, maintains that the tobacco company
is a responsible sponsor. He said the club will ensure that the smokeless
tobacco sampling tent at this year's rodeo will be nowhere near concessions
that attract youngsters.