Cass, manager of the Miles City Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply, brings agricultural experience and education to the position.

He joined the Navy after graduating from high school in Havre, and served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm as part of his four-year tour.

"I worked on farms and ranches after I got out of the Navy," Cass said. He noted that his wife of five years, Jana LaBree Cass, is an Ekalaka native and was Miss Montana in 2001.

He attended Montana State University-Bozeman, graduating in 2004 with a degree in agricultural operations technology. With that, he immediately went to work for the Bozeman-based Murdoch's. Most recently, he worked as assistant manager at Murdoch's stores in Montrose and Grand Junction, Colo.

"When this position came open, I came up here,"Cass said, adding that it's good to be back in Montana.

"It's a good company to work for. They're good hometown folks, not like a lot of corporate companies."

From his experience in other markets, and his months on the ground here, Cass has drawn some conclusions.

"The people are just really genuine and just hard working, uncompromising,"he said. "The rancher knows what he's got to do to make it, the kind of equipment he needs, and what's going to keep him going. He expects quality. He's not willing to compromise in that regard.

"You see so much community support here. A good example would be that data center meeting." (The early January meeting with state officials saw about 400 people support Miles City as the best location for a state backup data center.

Right now, both the agricultural and retail communities are being challenged by the turmoil in commodity markets being created by the world economy at large.

"Right now, it's tough, it's a very tough market," Cass said. "It's very volatile. Steel prices change at least once a month.

"Feed prices are very volatile. Soybean meal has been going up 200 to 300 percent in the last three months. Lick tubs have gone up $12 in the last nine months.

"Most of the changes have come over the three months. Fuel prices are compounding that."

Cass said he became familiar with the supply needs of the energy development industry in Colorado, and he is seeing a little bit of that market developing here as exploration ramps up.

"I like to take care of customers -- I really do," he said of his current post. "That's the thing about this position. Murdoch's lets me set prices, and that isn't too common."