Nov 27, 2006 - 08:56:32 CST
With steers mysteriously disappearing and one blatantly shot and butchered on the side of a road, members of the Horse Creek Cooperative Grazing Association in southwestern North Dakota think it's time to beef up livestock laws."We just can't afford this every year," said Betty Steen, who lives with her husband, Bryant, across the Montana border near Baker. The couple said four of their steers disappeared in North Dakota's Slope County in July, costing them nearly $3,000.
Cattle theft often results in felony charges, but theft is only one problem, said Darryl Howard, chief brand inspector for the North Dakota Stockmen's Association.
"Presenting fake bills of sale, unlawful proof of ownership, unlawful branding ... these days, we don't deal with rustling so much in the old sense of the word as we do with fraud," he said.
"Just about all of the laws that we specifically deal with, the penalties are 1940s, 1950s, and we're to the point where we need to jump ahead at least 50 years," he said. "I think every last one of them is a misdemeanor."
Stockmen's Association members earlier this month voted to seek legislation next year to stiffen some of the penalties, making some crimes felonies instead of misdemeanors. Howard said the organization is still working on detailed proposals and has not yet targeted any specific lawmakers to champion the effort.
"We do want the laws to reflect the seriousness of the crimes," he said.
In one recent case, he said, a man who forged another's name on a livestock bill of sale to illegally claim ownership of an $800 horse was fined only $325. In another case, a state's attorney declined to prosecute a man accused of putting his brand on a stolen bull, because unlawful branding is only a misdemeanor, he said.
"The laws as they're written now, the penalties to (state's attorneys) are so small that they're not even interested in prosecuting," Howard said. "There's no room to wiggle (for) a plea agreement."
The association typically has between 50 and 75 investigations each year, and less than one-fourth of them end up in the legal system, Howard said.
Wells County state's attorney Kathleen Trosen said busy prosecutors have to prioritize cases. "If the Legislature says it's not as serious an offense, you put that down on the list," she said.
"If the Legislature and Stockmen's Association can convince the public that these are serious offenses ... then obviously they'll get more attention by prosecutors," she said.
Trosen compared the situation to the fight against the illegal drug methamphetamine, saying stricter North Dakota laws have resulted in fewer meth labs statewide.
Sen. Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee during the 2005 Legislature, said matching the punishment for livestock offenses to the current cattle economy "is certainly a viable argument." Cattle prices have been at record highs the past few years.
The North Dakota State's Attorneys Association won't decide until January whether to formally back the Stockmen's Association plans. Executive Director Paul Murphy, the lead prosecutor in Foster County, said more punishment could lead to more court cases.
"The bigger the penalty, sometimes (offenders) take it to trial because they have nothing to lose," he said.
Melvin Leland, who ranches in McKenzie County, said honest people who mistakenly break a law, such as failing to get a required brand inspection, might be less apt to come forward and make things right if punishments are increased. However, he said, stricter penalties are needed.
"Any time there's a law, there's outlaws," Leland said.
Trosen also would like to see stricter requirements.
"One of the things that we've seen is that people will be doing cow-calf shares, and ... not keep track of paperwork, sometimes as a way to defraud the other person," she said.
Trosen said prosecutors also want rules that leave "a nicer paper trail for everybody involved and also some harsher penalties so that there's some deterrence."
Paperwork improvements are being handled through policy changes rather than through the Legislature, Howard said.
He said the Stockmen's Association has successfully lobbied the Legislature for changes. During the 2001 session, for example, lawmakers made it a felony rather than a misdemeanor to alter an official brand ownership document. Howard said there was no opposition, and he expects little during the 2007 session.
"They do a very good job of validating the importance of their positions," Flakoll said of Stockmen's Association lobbyists.
Tougher livestock laws ultimately will give ranchers more peace of mind, Howard said.
"It will help us prosecute the cases that need to be prosecuted, to assure the cattlemen in North Dakota that the protection we offer is valid," he said.
PETA member wrote on Nov 27, 2006 3:52 PM:
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