Ritter Yantis

By now everyone knows the tragic story involving Jack Yantis, the rancher from Council, Idaho whose bull was mortally hit by an automobile. The bull was laying in the road, deputies had assembled and Mr. Yantis showed up with a rifle, undoubtedly to put the bull down. I showed up to my office the other day and called from my office to the office down the hall of good friend Steve Ritter, a fellow ag reporter. "Jack and I were both raised in the small town of Council, attended public schools together for all 12 years, grew up together, recreated together, went out and found our individual ways in life and carried on. He was married to Donna Peritis, used to be her name, they have dated since they were in junior high and our friendship goes back 35 years. He was raised by his parents who were cattle ranchers. Started out in Fruitvale is just outside Council and eventually had a ranch that was a little closer to town. They raise three boys and a girl. All three boys are cattle ranchers. His lifelong dream was to have a cattle ranch and he was a very good livestock man.