Brain and Brawn Beats Brick

Twenty year old Josh Lowe of Provost proves his power smashing through a couple of two inch thick pieces of concrete at the hall on Saturday, March 5. “It was quite a jump for me” advancing to this level, he says, from one slab of concrete that he broke at a black belt testing last month. Lowe, who has taken taekwondo for the last seven years says concentration is important—but the concrete still stung his hand. ©Provost News Photo. Print version in March 9 edition of The Provost News. Want to Subscribe to The Provost News? Click here.

‘Canadian Cattlemen Will Remember This For a Long Time’
• Rancher Disappointed Over Lack of Compassion as U.S. Border Remains Closed to Live Cattle

Cattleman Pete Bobryk said that he is disappointed that American cattlemen “aren’t more compassionate” to the problems of their northern ranchers in Canada.

The Czar rancher and thousands of others like him were trying to make sense out of a decision by a Montana judge last week.

A United States lobby group called Ranchers and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) was granted an injunction by the Billings, Montana judge on March 2 to keep the U.S. border closed to live Canadian cattle. The judge included a safety concern to consumers in that country over the bovine spongiform encephalopathy controversy (see other story this issue).

The injunction was aimed to postpone the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) March 7 implementation date of the minimal-risk rule and prevent imports of the cattle for an indeterminate period of time. Boxed beef however can still pass into the foreign country.

Bobryk says he doesn’t think there is anything to do but wait it out. But, he said when the border does re-open “the Canadian cattlemen will remember this for a long time—and they should.” He predicts that the Canadian side of the border will see the build-up on the packing industry here.

“It’s sad, the human nature (displayed) . . . they (U.S. cattlemen) benefitted for two years. They should not think only of themselves.”

Another Czar rancher, Larry Swanson who bought a few head and also sold some cattle on Friday morning told The News in an interview at Provost Livestock Exchange that “you get your hopes up” and then the border doesn’t open. Even though he was sceptical that the border would re-open when it was scheduled to this month “It was a shock” when he discovered the Montana ruling. Swanson, who is also an M.D. 52 councillor says that cattlemen “will just have to winter the storm. Life goes on.”

Rest of story in March 9 edition of The Provost News.
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