Montana Issues 79
Citations On Trucks

HELENA, Mont. —(AP)— A week-long crackdown on truck traffic entering Montana from Canada resulted in 79 drivers being ticketed by state officials, but none of the citations were for violations of agriculture or livestock laws.

The tickets were written by Montana Transportation Department officers for weight, safety or permit problems found with the big rigs and their drivers.

The stepped-up enforcement effort, which began Sept. 21, was to continue through midweek, when Gov. Marc Racicot will decide whether to maintain the campaign, press secretary Anastasia Burton said Monday.

The intensive border-crossing inspections are part of an international battle over trade policies that U.S. producers believe put them at a disadvantage in competing with Canadian commodities.

Montana farmers, who staged a rally and four-hour blockade at the port of Sweetgrass last week, complain that Canada imposes import restrictions while the United States allows Canadian agriculture and livestock products to move freely into this country and undercut U.S. farm prices.

Governors in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Idaho have ordered similar crackdowns on inspections of southbound trucks crossing the Canadian border.

Racicot and North Dakota Gov. Ed Schafer planned to meet Tuesday with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman about the multistate campaign. Governors from some of the other affected states may participate via telephone.

Raymond Chretien, Canada's ambassador to the United States, has told Glickman that Canada will take retaliatory action unless the situation is resolved.

Dave LesStrange, branch manager for inspection services in Alberta, said Monday his government has no plans for a similar crackdown on northbound truck traffic entering Canada from Montana. "We see nothing advantageous for us in it," he said.

Montana transportation, agriculture and livestock officers stopped 2384 border-crossing trucks at seven ports of entry during the first seven days of the inspection program.

The 79 tickets, all written for transportation violations, represented 3.3 percent of trucks checked. Canadian trucks were cited 43 times.

Agriculture inspectors stopped 148 trucks and sampled cargo in 22 instances. All were cleared to continue.

Livestock officers checked 119 trucks carrying almost 12,000 head of livestock and found no violations.

Dave Galt, head of Montana's Motor Vehicle Services Division, said the tickets written by his officers represented the typical compliance rate for trucks from Canada.

But, he added, the goal was not to hand out more tickets.

"The governor's point was to make sure trucks entering Montana were in compliance with Montana laws," he said. "We put a net over the Hi-Line area and we've ensured people of Montana that these trucks entering Montana are in compliance."

Larry Petersen, executive director for the Livestock Department, and Will Kissinger of the Agriculture Department said the lack of violations among trucks checked by their officers is not surprising.

"That close to the border, they're pretty well checked when they go through," Petersen said.

Racicot, in deciding whether to continue the inspections beyond Wednesday, will determine if the number of violations makes it worthwhile, Burton said. The governor also wants to find out if the federal government will respond to complaints about the lack of free trade.

Collin Heath, general manager of the Alberta Trucking Association, said the intensive inspection policy borders on harassment. However, he said his members see a fairness in the fact that both U.S. and Canadian trucks are targeted.

"Our sense is that the Department of Transportation is just being more diligent in their truck inspections generally," he said. "We have no problem with that."

Although Alberta officials have not retaliated, that could change if states take a different tact, Heath said.

"If they got to the point where they were turning units around and refusing them entry, that would call out the wolves a bit and may result in something on our side," he said.