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OUT IN THE COUNTRY CITY KIDS CELEBRATING WESTERN LIFE.


Byline: Heather MacDonald and Nicholas Grudin Staff Writers

AGUA DULCE Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations:

In Mexico:
  • Agua Dulce, Veracruz
In the United States:
  • Agua Dulce, California
  • Agua Dulce, El Paso County, Texas
  • Agua Dulce, Nueces County, Texas
 - Before this weekend, Nayla Hetman het·man  
n. pl. het·mans
See ataman.



[Ukrainian het'man, from Polish hetman, from German dialectal hötmann, hetmann, captain; akin to German Hauptmann
 was afraid of horses. Now, the 9-year-old says, she wants one of her very own.

Hetman and about a dozen of her classmates Classmates can refer to either:
  • Classmates.com, a social networking website.
  • Classmates (film), a 2006 Malayalam blockbuster directed by Lal Jose, starring Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Indragith, Sunil, Jagathy, Kavya Madhavan, Balachandra Menon, ...
 from the International French-American Academy in Irvine traveled back to the Old West to learn not only about the cowboy cowboy

Horseman skilled at handling cattle in the U.S. West. From c. 1820, cowboys were employed in small numbers on Texas ranches, where they had learned the skills of the vaquero (Spanish: “cowboy”).
 way of life and horses, but also self-confidence, respect and independence.

``I like that the horses can tell if you are a bad person or not,'' Hetman said, waiting to chow down on grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. ``I was really glad that they liked me. I'm not scared of them anymore.''

The students, who now call Orange County home but hail from all over the world, came to the Inner City Slickers Ranch in Agua Dulce to experience a distinctly American culture, said school founder Arwa Hetman, Nayla's mother.

``It is important that they know and appreciate how people once lived in the West, and what that says about America,'' Arwa Hetman said. ``And in the process, they are learning about themselves.''

Michael McMeel, a former drummer for the 1970s rock band Three Dog Night, and his wife, Erlinda, created the camp in 1994 while doing charity work with kids in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or .

Doing social work in downtown L.A. after the 1992 race riots This is a list of race riots by country. Australia
  • Burrangong (1860-1861) - Lambing Flat riots
  • Broome (1905,1914,1920) - Broome riots
  • Redfern (2004) - Redfern riots
  • Palm Island (2004) - Palm Island death in custody riot
, McMeel was shocked by the poverty he witnessed. In response, he set out to provide kids with an opportunity to see beyond the lines of ethnic division, racial conflict and economic challenge.

A day on the ranch could provide that new perspective, he thought.

``When kids come to the ranch, they come with a certain attitude - they come with this lack of excitement in their eyes,'' McMeel said. ``I find that the horse, being as big as it is, kind of wakes them up. They have to get present in the moment because they can get hurt by this 1,500-pound animal.''

McMeel's ranch, tucked away in Mint Canyon in Aqua Dulce, is full of rusty and dusty movie set props and is home to 20 horses, along with sheep and cattle.

The Inner City Slickers Ranch is a part of the Awareness Foundation, which seeks to provide ``recognition of the dignity of the human spirit without qualification,'' according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 its Web site. (For information on Inner City Slickers or the Awareness Foundation on the Web, visit www.innercityslickers.org.)

About 15 times a year, a bus loaded with kids will descend de·scend  
v. de·scend·ed, de·scend·ing, de·scends

v.intr.
1. To move from a higher to a lower place; come or go down.

2.
 upon the ranch and make it home for a day or a weekend, when McMeel gives the kids a taste of what it was like to live in the Wild West.

``I built an Old West Town, so they have to sleep in an Old West Town - they're up at 5:30 in the morning to do the chores,'' McMeel said. ``The kids aren't allowed to bring up CD players. They have to wear their hats straight.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color -- ran in SAC Sac: see Sac and Fox.

SAC - 1. An early system on the Datatron 200 series.

[Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)].
 edition only) Luai Hetman, above, falls into the arms of ranch hands Daren Jeffrey and Jesus Benitez on the ranch belonging to former Three Dog Night drummer Michael McMeel. Two youngsters, below, peer out of a window of the Western Town at the Inner City Slickers Ranch in Agua Dulce.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer
COPYRIGHT 2003 Daily News
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Aug 11, 2003
Words:560
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