NOBULL: R-CALF USA Retains Dudley Butler to Help Defend COOL
| R-CALF USA Member Alert |
| To: R-CALF USA Members, Affiliates, and Friends
From: Bill Bullard, CEO Date: August 12, 2013 Subject: R-CALF USA Retains Dudley Butler to Help Defend COOL Background: Your R-CALF USA Board of Directors voted unanimously to hire Dudley Butler and Harlan Hentges to help R-CALF USA defend country of origin labeling (COOL) against the lawsuit filed July 8 by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Canadian and Mexican cattle associations, and several meatpacker trade groups. Dudley Butler is the former Administrator of the USDA Packers and Stockyards Administration and has a law practice in Mississippi. Harlan Hentges is a former R-CALF USA Private Property Rights Committee Co-chair and has a law practice in Oklahoma. R-CALF USA and its attorneys are working right now to draft a motion to intervene and related briefs in the lawsuit. Dudley Butler and Harlan Hentges have agreed to cut their usual legal fees in half to help R-CALF USA members defend COOL. Fort Pierre Livestock Auction, Inc., Fort Pierre, South Dakota, already contributed $10,000 to give R-CALF USA a jump start toward its fundraising effort. We estimate our legal action to defend COOL will cost approximately $60,000. Though subject to a final approval, we are planning to invite our state affiliated cattle groups to join with us in our motion to intervene. So far the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming, and Buckeye Quality Beef Association (OH), and Murray County, Oklahoma Independent Cattlemen’s Association have informed us of their desire to join with us in the suit. Action: We need your help in raising the remaining $50,000 we will need to defend COOL. Please consider sending a donation and ask your friends and neighbors to do the same. Any amount of donation will be greatly appreciated. Some of our members said they will send us $1 per head from their cattle sales this fall, which represents the same amount that will be deducted from their checks for the Beef Checkoff Program – only the money they send to R-CALF USA will do ten times as much good, they said. To help defend COOL, please send contributions to: R-CALF USA P.O. Box 30715 Billings, MT 59107 Thanks for your support and we’ll keep you informed of our progress! |