By Steve Browne
Valley City Times-Record

A $45,000 bond posted by Arlen Sommers’ Triple-S Cattle Co. was paid to two livestock producers who filed claims against the company last March.
Wayne Carlson, livestock services program director for the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, confirmed that the entire bond had been paid to two cattle owners, covering 79 percent of the money owed them by Triple-S.
The state requires any licensed livestock dealer to post a bond to cover debts owed producers, according to Carlson. The size of the bond depends on the volume of purchases, with a $10,000 minimum, and is reviewed yearly.
The Department of Agriculture issued a cease-and-desist order to Triple-S to stop doing business last March, after a cattle seller filed a bond claim against the company for failure to pay for cattle.
Sommers criticized the Times-Record for putting the account on the front page of the paper, claiming “you broke me,” and called the Times-Record “a scandal sheet.” He later apologized for those comments.
“Everybody will be paid off and I’ll be doing business with a nationally-known livestock company very soon,” Sommers said.
Carlson said forfeiture of a bond does not prohibit anyone from doing business in the future, if debts are paid.
“And there’s always a chance he could work for somebody else who carries a bond,” Carlson said.