CLINTON, Iowa - Many of the rides at the Clinton Jaycees Carnival remained shut down Friday after state inspectors declared them unsafe to ride on Thursday, and a Jaycees official could only promise to do better next year.

Six of the rides operated by River City Amusements of Cleveland, Texas, will not be in operation for the duration of the carnival, which runs through Sunday in conjunction with River Boat Days and is the major fundraiser for the Clinton Jaycees, said board member Bart Leavens.

Leavens said it is too soon to know what impact the situation will have on the fundraising efforts, and said the problem is "obviously disappointing."

"I feel lousy about it," Leavens said. "I feel like the city of Clinton deserves better than this."

Floyd Fodness, manager of the carnival, said several of the rides were declared unsafe because minor repairs made to them were not done in accordance with state law.

He said he had certified welders fix cracks on some of the rides, but the state required him to have an engineer develop a plan for the repairs and have non-destructive testing performed on them when the repairs were complete, which he was not able to arrange on a holiday weekend.

"I had a certified welder out here to fix this stuff, but that's not good enough for them," he said.

Fodness said the problem may have started last week, when trucks carrying some of his rides were impounded in Kansas due to safety concerns on their way to the Henry County Fair in Illinois, and that the government agencies involved had singled him out.

"If they just simply don't like you, there you are," he said.

Leavens said the Jaycees were notified by people from the Henry County Fair of problems with the River City Amusements rides.

"He promised us he'd be up and running at 100 percent this week," Leavens said.

Pat Ryan, a member of the Henry County Fair board, said board members were disappointed with the number or quality of rides Fodness had in operation at their fair last week, and that some of the rides were not in operation.

Ryan said the carnival receipts were significantly less than in years past.

"It just totally killed our fair," Ryan said. He said the Henry County Fair board won't hire River City Amusements again.

Fodness said he plans to have the rides operational in time for the Cedar County Fair in Tipton, Iowa next week. Fodness said he also offered to come back to Clinton in August to give the Jaycees a chance to make up some of their lost revenue.

Leavens said the Jaycees board would make a decision about that offer.