Posted on 03/07/2010 12:24:01 PM PST by SLB
CHEYENNE-- Like many other states, Wyoming has a list of official state symbols, from a state tree to a state butterfly.
But on Wednesday, Wyoming became the first state in the nation to have an official state code.
In a state Capitol ceremony, Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed into law legislation making "The Code of the West" the official state code.
The code is composed of 10 principles outlined in Jim Owen's book "Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street can learn from the Code of the West." Among them: "Always Finish What you Start," "When You Make a Promise, Keep It," and "Ride for the Brand," which means putting the welfare of your group above personal gain.
Owen, a retired economic investor who now lives in Austin, Texas, said the rash of corporate scandals over the past couple years motivated him to put on paper some core values embodied in that timeless American symbol: the cowboy.
By his own admission, Owen isn't a cowboy himself. He spent a year researching for the book by reading more than 100 Western books, watching dozens of Western movies, and reading hundreds of letters sent in from ranchers across the West.
Owen says Americans -- especially young Americans -- can learn a lot from core Western beliefs of right and wrong.
"I grew up with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and they were my heroes," Owen said. "And today, my hero is the working cowboy. And it's that optimism, the courage, the hard work that built the country. We've gotten away from these common-sense core values."
Owen said he's now focusing on introducing the Code of the West to schoolchildren throughout the country.
"We need to inspire youngsters to do the right thing," he said, "and think about some of the issues of character and what you're doing and following your dream and listening to your heart."
The code will also be prominently featured in the atrium of the new UW College of Business building, which is currently under construction. The business school has also incorporated the Code of the West into several of its business ethics courses.
"We use it as a framework to help our students think about how they would conduct themselves in the business world," said Brent Hathaway, dean of the UW College of Business. "It's just become ingrained in our coursework and how we try to behave ourselves -- it just made sense to kind of have that as an inspirational code that we want to live by."
In addition, the business school, along with the Wyoming Business Council and other groups, helped fund a 30-minute "Code of the West" documentary.
The documentary, produced by Owen, includes several state legislators extolling Wyoming and cowboy ethics.
State Sen. Jim Anderson, the Glenrock Republican who sponsored the bill making The Code of the West Wyoming's official state code, said that by officially recognizing the principles, Wyoming is declaring to the world the values and ethics that Cowboy State residents hold dear.
"The thing that appeals about this to me was these are the things that I was raised by," said Anderson, whose ancestors first came to Wyoming in 1869. "These are the things that I see my 84-year-old father-in-law live his life by."
Contact capital bureau reporter Jeremy Pelzer at (307) 632-1244 or Jeremy.pelzer@trib.com.
The Code of the West
1. Live Each Day with Courage
2. Take Pride in Your Work
3. Always Finish What you Start
4. Do What Has to Be Done
5. Be Tough, But Fair
6. When You Make a Promise, Keep It
7. Ride for the Brand
8. Talk Less and Say More
9. Remember That Some Things Are Not For Sale
10. Know Where to Draw the Line
On the Web
See a trailer for the Code of the West documentary at http://vimeo.com/7931683
They had to copy North Dakota for sure. The code of the west was written here by Pier DeSmet and Pierre Wibaux when Wyoming still belonged to Texas. It was truly wise of those folks down there.
What fun to have a whole “Western Village” -
Anything he had, he deserved
Is this open to the public now?
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