CODE OF THE WEST LIVES ON AT LODGE.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Odds and ends from around the Valley:

If the Duke, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, and all those larger-than-life movie and TV heroes were a big part of your life growing up, stop by the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City next Thursday and pay your respects to their memory.

It's a Wild West celebration, benefiting the Happy Trails Children's Foundation, created by the late Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and will feature an art sale and exhibit by nationally renowned Western artist Katie West.

A long list of grizzled former cowboy actors is scheduled, including Ernest Borgnine, Ben Cooper, Dale Robertson and John Locke - my favorite bad guy who bit the dust over a dozen times in TV shows like ``Gunsmoke,'' ``Wagon Train'' and ``The Virginian.''

``I was outdrawn and gunned down by some of the biggest cowboy heroes of our generation,'' Locke said proudly.

Also attending this unique show will be Grace Boyd, Hopalong Cassidy's widow, and Julie Ashley, a granddaughter of Roy and Dale.

``I love events like this because it allows me to give people real insights into my grandparents, who were their heroes growing up,'' Ashley said Thursday.

``People always ask me if I knew them well, as if my grandparents were too busy being Western stars to spend time with their grandkids. The truth is they were very, very involved with us, instilling their faith and ideals in all their grandchildren.

``The world misses them as Roy and Dale. I miss them as Grandma and Grandpa,'' Ashley said.

The Wild West celebration and art festival runs 4-8 p.m., Aug. 8, in the cowboy museum and exhibit room outside the Sportsmen's Lodge coffee shop, 12825 Ventura Blvd, Studio City.

A $5 donation to benefit the foundation set up for needy children is being requested. Autographs and photos with Western stars will also be available.

For a preview of the Western and patriotic oil paintings and fine line engravings that artist Katie West will exhibit at the show, check out her Web site - www.katiewestart.com.

This must be cowboy month in the Valley because there's another charitable Western event coming up on Aug. 18, also at the Sportsmen's Lodge, which has become a home away from home for a lot of local old cowboys and Western character actors.

This one hits close to home for me because it benefits the charitable activities of a great group of guys who call themselves the Reel Cowboys. They're western actors, stuntmen and writers who provide positive male role models for kids who have been abused and are afraid of men.

The cowboys support shelters for abused women and children, and the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, which cares for the homeless.

Many have old breaks in their bones from filmed fight scenes - and they've fallen off horses more times than they can remember - but during the annual Christmas dinner and show they hold at the shelter for the children and their moms, these old cowboys get down on their hands and knees to give the kids some fun with ``horseback'' rides.

What they're really giving is trust and love. If that sounds like something you think is worthwhile, stop by the Sportsmen's Lodge from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 18, for a jam session put on by the Big Country Corporation, a popular country and western band.

For $37, you get a lemon herb chicken lunch, entertainment, dancing, and the chance to hang out with some great old cowboys whose hearts are bigger than the Wild West.

For ticket information, call [phone].

And finally, too often the good works and deeds of small service clubs doing big things in the Valley go overlooked.

The Tarzana Lions Club, celebrating its 50th year anniversary this month, is one of those clubs.

Over the years, club membership has gone as low as five members and as high as 36. At last count, said member Sally Fick, there were 28.

That's not a lot of people to help build a park in Tarzana, support the Wilderness Camp for the Deaf in Wrightwood, and provide college scholarship money for needy high school students, including a $1,000 annual scholarship to a student with a sight or hearing disability who will be attending California State University, Northridge.

Not many Lions to help financially support the San Fernando Valley's Association for the Retarded each year, or the American Retarded Children's Association, and Valley Village, an organization for sight- and hearing-impaired youths.

And not many members to collect thousands of pairs of used eyeglasses that are sent to Third World countries for poor children and adults, and, closer to home in Van Nuys and Tarzana, provide free eye screenings to those who cannot afford them.

You get the idea. You don't need big numbers to do big things. For 50 years in their community, the Tarzana Lions Club has been proving that.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Above, ``Heeding the Call'' by artist Katie West, right, links Western movie hero Roy Rogers with Americans' patriotic spirit at the battle of Iwo Jima.