Ah’m Your Huckleberry …

You may have heard the news already that DNA evidence cleared Luis Diaz , 67, center, of two rapes for which he was dubbed the “Bird Road Rapist” and resulted in him spending the last 26 years in prison here . But do you know the local angle to this story? While working as a free-lance writer in Billings, Mont., years ago, ex-Silver Valley weekly publisher Paul Friend agreed to help a private investigator review the cases that sent Diaz away. Their work was instrumental in getting the case reviewed and Diaz ultimately released. In a phone call from his home in Mullen, Idaho, Paul was excited about the Diaz’s long-overdue release.