By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - Karter Isabel, 17, of Niles, is adding an interest in horsepower to showing dairy cows.
A junior at Niles Senior High School and a Mechanicsburg 4-H club member, Karter in Tuesday's Cass County Fair dairy show exhibited the junior champion heifer, a Holstein named Suzie.
Karter, who works on a farm, showed two dairy feeder steers, two pigs, two dairy cows and a beef steer.
But it's at the mention of horsepower when the former football player's eyes really light up.
He's going to be driving in his first demolition derby at the Berrien County Youth Fair in Berrien Springs.
While it seems ironic it takes an amount of preparation to get a vehicle ready to wreck, Karter's car wasn't done in time for Cassopolis competition.
But "I'm going to try to drive here next year," he said Wednesday.
Another Niles teen, Viking senior Julie Kater, 18, won dairy feeder steer showman Tuesday and exhibited the reserve grand champion dairy feeder steer with a Holstein. She belongs to Helping Hands 4-H club.
Julie qualified for her first trip to Saturday's Showmanship Sweepstakes.
Draft horses, not surprisingly, loom as her most imposing challenge.
After graduating in 2006, Julie wants to attend Kalamazoo Valley Community College and become a nurse.
At Niles High she plays volleyball and softball and participates in Drug-Free Players.