A State College company is at the center of a storm over the government’s partial shutdown.
A widely-circulated story published by CNSNews.com raised eyebrows — and created some major buzz on internet news services — following reports that the government approved the purchase of a mechanical bull seven days after the shutdown began.
As the story goes, the Utah National Guard bought the device from the State College-based Mechanical Bull Sales for $47,174 plus shipping. The implication was that the government was making frivolous purchases at a time when many government offices have been closed and tens of thousands of government workers have been furloughed.
The only problem with those reports — the owner of Mechanical Bull Sales and the Utah National Guard says they’re not true.
Mechanical Bull Sales is owned and operated by Gracienne Myers, the wife of StateCollege.com owner Dan Myers.
Gracienne Myers says she was indeed contacted by the Utah National Guard before the Government Shutdown. The guard had been using a mechanical bull at fairs to help attract new recruits. Their bull had broken down and couldn’t be fixed. According to Myers, the Utah National Guard agreed to buy two mechanical bulls. Myers says, “The national guard deal has been on hold ever since the government shutdown happened and no transaction has happened.”
StateCollege.com contacted the Utah National Guard for comment. Spokesperson Lt. Col. Hank McIntire says, “We did not buy a bull and we’re not contemplating buying a bull.”
According to McIntire, the Utah National Guard initiated the paperwork, but no contract was ever drawn up. He says authorization was given to purchase the mechanical bulls, but funding was never approved. He says “The authorization appeared on a federal website and that’s what the news organizations ran with.”
McIntire says no money was ever spent on a mechanical bull and will not be spent in the future. “We will make do with the bull that we have,” he says.
According to Myers the Utah National Guard came to her because “safety and durability were the main concerns.” Myers says “Mechanical Bull Sales builds the best looking bulls, using hot steel and cold steel and not fiberglass like most companies out there.”
Myers says she’s been inundated with calls from the media, “It started yesterday and they just kept calling.” Most of those calls included questions about the price quoted in the original story. “The $47,174 was for two bulls, not one,” says Myers.
Myers is originally from Brazil, but she is something of an American success story. When she arrived in the U.S. in 1998 Myers didn’t know English, and carried a dictionary to help her communicate. She started out putting together floral arrangements for a State College flower shop, working for minimum wage.
After getting married, Myers began managing her husband’s disc jockey business. Looking for ways to expand, she discovered that Mechanical Bulls were becoming a hot trend. She bought one to rent out to bars and private parties — eventually starting a side business that imported mechanical bulls from Brazil. The company now manufactures mechanical bulls here in the United States. Myers says her company is the world’s leading seller of mechanical bulls and has sold bulls to customers in 40 states and 38 countries around the world.
As far as the Utah National Guard controversy is concerned, Myers is disappointed. “I don’t have a contract. I’m wasting my time and not being productive,” she says.
To learn more about Mechanical Bull Sales click HERE.
