A Young Cowboy Rode His Horse Into A North Texas Taco Bell After A Rodeo

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Lathan Crump, 19, rode his horse, Hollywood, inside a Taco Bell in Commerce, Texas; of the 100 top paid public company CEOs in North Texas, one is female; Fort Worth's animal shelter adopted out 310 animals in one day; and more.

If you’re at a Taco Bell after a certain hour, you should anticipate a weird experience. For patrons earlier this month that was seeing a cowboy ride his trusty steed, Hollywood, into the fast food establishment for their third or maybe, fourth, meal of the day. Campbell, Texas resident Lathan Crump explained on Instagram: “Well ole Hollywood was a lil hungry after the rodeo so I road him in to grab a bite.” Eater said he did it on a dare.

What began as a post-rodeo tradition (getting Taco Bell, that is) became ultimate clickbait for internet audiences this week. And, the 19-year-old seems to be taking the newfound, if temporary, fame in stride. In some social media posts, he’s pretty thrilled and in others, he seems slightly harried.  

So, as the viral pulse of the web slows, we can all learn something from this. Riding a horse into a Taco Bell is most definitely a health code violation. But, until someone files a complaint, there won’t be legal consequences, unlike another Texan fined $266 last year for riding his horse through the drive-thru, according to Eater and KDFW. [Eater, Mashable, KDFW]

• There’s a new film festival in town, and it’s brought to you by women. This weekend the inaugural Women Texas Film Festival takes over Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. Every film presented at the festival has a woman serving in a key creative role: writer, producer, director, cinematographer, editor or composer. Founder Justina Walford sat down for The Big Screen about her mission to shatter some stereotypes about the kinds of movies women can make. Spoiler: Walford says women are better at horror than men. Listen to learn why. [The Big Screen]

• Regarding tacos, Dallas earned the “most improved” nod. We’ll take it. It probably didn’t hurt that West Dallas taqueria, Trompo, recently was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Bon Appétit magazine. Tacos of Texas writers Mando Rayo and Jarod Neece told Texas Standard the quality and variety of tacos in Dallas are a pleasant surprise. Some expert recommendations include gas station tacos at Fuel City, old-school Tex-Mex tacos at El Corazón and Monterrey style at Trompo. [Texas Standard]

• A study shows there’s only one woman in the 100 top paid public company CEOs in North Texas. Her name is Pamela Patsley, and she became the CEO of MoneyGram Internationalin 2009. KERA reported: “Patsley didn’t dwell on being a female CEO, nor ranking as one of the highest-paid women executives in 2009. Still, when she saw her name on the 2016 list of top-paid public company CEOs in North Texas, she was surprised.” But it’s the same story nationally. In the S&P 500, there are only 22 female CEOs — that's about 4.4 percent. [KERA News]

• The City of Fort Worth Animal Shelter adopted out 310 pets in one day. The shelter participated in one-day event as part of a national adoption initiative called “Clear the Shelters”. Reader’s Digest reported: ‘Typically, the Fort Worth shelter processes about 18 to 20 adoptions per day. At the 2015 Clear the Shelters event, the shelter found homes for 248 of its animals, and this year set a lofty goal of upping that number to 300 adoptions.” Nationally, nearly 700 shelters participated this year, and 45,000 animals were adopted. [Reader’s Digest]