I'm not a dis-interested party, but I will tell what I saw: 80 or so miners showed up and it pretty much filled up the room. We have a few vendors at the back of the room: Libertarian Party, Gould Engineering with his in-stream mineral extraction device, Uncle Fuzzy with a unique gold pan and info on the gold panning championships and the folks from Sierra Blaster who are selling a rock breaking device.
WMA's President Craig Lindsay presented what WMA is currently up to; talking about our recent trip to Washington DC to talk to the Western Caucus and explaining to them that there is a "Mercury Scam" that is being perpetrated against all industry in the US and that mercury is NOT BIOAVAILABLE in any environment where Selenium is found in the soil (like it is found in the Western US). WMA's VP Eric Maksymyk had everyone's attention at the Western Caucus meeting as lots of big business spends literally billions of $ a year, mitigating an element that literally has no effect on the environment. The Alaska contingent was very interested in the findings.
Craig also explained how WMA is gaining momentum and miners and others are stepping up to help out and to stand up and fight. He also covered how we have been involved with local, state and federal representatives in getting the word out.
Ray Nutting, El Dorado Supervisor talked about the successes the county has had in standing up and speaking out for their own county's residents. Ray is really a stand up guy- every county in the state needs to have someone like that representing them on a local level. I've been calling some of the attendees and the common thread of all the conversations was something to the effect of "I wish I lived in THAT county, Ray Nutting is awesome". Those were my same sentiments, too. Great guy.
Craig then answered some questions from the audience. Brandon Reinhart, the dredger who was cited in Plumas county stood up and gave us a update on his case. Another local patented claim owner stood up and told us a horror story about being accosted in the middle of the night by a warrantless raid on his mining operation. A local resident took the podium and talked about his experiences with working with the local county, as a mining claim owner.
The meeting then recessed for about 20 minutes so people could talk to each other and talk to the vendors in the back of the room.
When the meeting rejoined, Kirk MacKenzie from Defend Rural America stood up and spoke. We decided to bring him to the meeting, because he offers a good "30,000 foot view" of what is REALLY happening in Rural America. Some high points that I can remember:
1. Suction dredging is an awful term to describe what we do (from a PR perspective). And upon reflection, I think he is right. Maybe use something like "in-stream gold recovery" or something like that. He thought that as long as we used that term- on a public perception- the battle would be uphill.
2. 3000 "in stream gold recovery" miners (even if everyone participated) in becoming politically active, isn't enough to do anything. Especially in a state as large as ours, is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population. In short, no one cares about us miners. The good news is there are other groups out there that are also being attacked- with the same methodology as we are and they too need our help as we need theirs. The point was that if all of the groups who are being attacked banded together, we would have the numbers to make a difference. Over the years, on these forums, there have been people who have also said the same thing and have tried to unite all user groups. That may be another avenue WMA may pursue too.
3. "You need to know the game to be able to play" - that is my interpretation of what his next point was. He talked about the fact that most of the regulators have "jurisdiction" because no one who is being affected calls them on it. Once people understand their relationship to the regulators and authorities, then change can begin to happen- as those who are being accosted can -in effect deny that the attackers have ANY jurisdiction. That was a big point he made about road closures and the Klamath water wars.
Kirk made a bunch more points (but I cannot remember them all now) and all and all gave a really good presentation. I talked to quite a few members of the audience and the most common comment was "he was right on and didn't pull any punches"
Craig took a few more questions- another specifically about the mercury issue in CA and Rick Eddy, WMA's mercury researcher responded directly to the question. Then the meeting was adjourned and people hung around for another hour talking to each other and talking to the vendors.
As the organizer of the event, I think it went well. WMA is new to the whole putting on meetings and each one is getting progressively better. Personally, I have had zero experience in all of this, so it is trial by fire. Considering our organization has only been in existence for such a short time, I think we are doing a pretty good job (if I don't say so, myself). Maybe others who were at the meeting can give you their opinions, from their point of view. I welcome all constructive criticism.
Sorry, I seemed to have missed that one. 
Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner
