Powder River Examiner -

Dear Editor,

I am a retired rancher from Powder River County, member of Northern Plains Resource Council, and along with other ranchers and consumers, have been fighting for mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling for nearly 20 years. We’re not alone; we have worked with producer groups Montana Cattlemen’s Association and Montana Farmers Union on COOL.

We had it in Montana in 2005 and led the way for federal COOL in 2013, and our goal at the last legislature was to restore COOL for our ranchers and consumers. We worked closely with respected Senator Al Olszewski from Kalispell to introduce this bill. Sen. Al Olszewski stood up for ranchers and fought against the big four meatpackers.

We were disappointed with Senator Ken Bogner’s vote against the COOL bill, Senate Bill 206. If he truly supports COOL, we are interested to hear why he voted against a state policy and instead voted for a meaningless resolution that promotes voluntary COOL?

We have voluntary COOL now, it isn’t working.

COOL is not a political issue. Ranchers deserve an honest market, and consumers have the right to know where their meat comes from.

Senator Bogner, if you believe in COOL, let’s team up and make it happen.

Sincerely,

Walter Archer

Billings, MT