3-18 IAN Scrap Metal

 As if it isn’t difficult enough eking out a living from the land as in farming and ranching, imagine battling common thieves while you are at it.

 You hear about home builders being raided all the time in new construction sites where thieves break into homes being built and steal copper wire and copper plumbing fixtures for sale to scrap dealers. Let’s take this to the farm where miles of irrigation pipe  on thousands of acres of untended land lay relatively vulnerable to conniving creeps who can steal it in the middle of the night. When they show up at scrap dealers in the near future, it’s going to be a little bit more difficult to unload their bounty because tighter records are going to be kept. There is a proposal that is being referred to as the scrap metal bill. Here is Jake Putnam, reporter for the Idaho Farm Bureau: “The bill would require scrap metal dealers to take photos of people who sell them metal, scrap metal and all the stuff that they bring in such as copper wire and pieces of . irrigation pipe,as well as taking pictures of the vehicle the scrap metal dealers are using, the vehicle's license plate and the item being sold.  it gives farmers and ranchers another layer of  support, a safety net against thieves.”