Brawley, California - You can't blame Gene Bryson, a sheriff's deputy in Wyoming, for handing in his badge.  His superiors told him he'd have to give up his cowboy outfit and start dressing like a cop instead of a deputy, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens.

Bryson has worn a Stetson on his head, cowboy boots on his feet and a western style vest for the 40 years he's been a deputy.  "That's what looks good to me in the sheriff's department. It's Western. It's Wyoming."

His boss, Sheriff Stephen Haskell, wanted no exceptions to the new dress code he had instituted: black trousers, a tan shirt, black work boots and a black ball cap.

But Bryson, who seldom has heard such a discouraging word, was not about to give up his cowboy outfit.  He said: "That's the way I dress.  Three hundred sixty-five days out of the year."