On the subject of Paul Shepherd:
For those that don't know much about Paul Shepherd, he is a miner himself and is the voice of the people. I have had the privilege to speak to this fine gent on numerous occasions but I recall the first time I met him was when he showed up at our steelhead "fish camp." I had just done some gold pan sampling along the banks of the Clearwater (steelhead fishing & gold panning go hand & hand in my little world) when I was approached by a stranger who took great interest in my findings. At the time, I was completely unaware as to who Paul Shepherd was and just accepted this man for what I saw in him, a "down to earth" common guy. We continued conversing throughout the next hour on the subject of mining. Surprisingly, he was well versed on the subject and had done some placer work himself. It wasn't until hours later that someone from camp informed me as to his name and his relationship to politics. Talk about being mystified. Prior to this encounter, I had believed our place with politicians was in "Area 51" - pretty much alienated us miners. However since that day, Mr. Shepherd had convinced me otherwise and has been a strong supporter of the mining industry. I believe in this bill (as he does) and urge all those interested in mining to email and/or call the Idaho State Legislature. Kudos to 2cmorau for passing on this valuable information.
