The Bear Facts

Bangor is so often in the news. You would think people would get wise to this and stop doing whatever it is that gives the city such ridiculous publicity.
The latest is the shooting of a bear in a city park by a state game warden. It was the spate of letters to the editor and on websites that is most disturbing. One writer described the warden as "running through the woods shooting." Another that the warden had callously shot the animal, that the bear had been "blown the bits."
Such exaggeration. Given the number of curious children who gathered to watch the bear, why did the letter-writers not wonder about the fate THEY might have suffered had the bear attacked one of them.

Our Shrinking Environment

They'll Blame It on Global Warming...

But, Really, What IS the Cause of All Those Fires?

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BIG SUR, Calif. (July 4) AP -- Independence Day is normally a booming time for tourism here, with visitors settling into cliffside vacation homes or trekking out to campgrounds nestled among the redwoods. But this year, the only out-of-towners in Big Sur are firefighters working around the clock to save the storied community from flames.

A ferocious wildfire burning through the Los Padres National Forest continued creeping closer to town Friday, after jumping a fire line and claiming several more homes this week. Locals who feared for their homes and businesses also had to worry about lost revenue during peak season.

The stubborn blaze, which has burned more than 100 square miles, was just one of hundreds raging around the state. On Thursday, officials reported California's first firefighter death this year — a volunteer who collapsed on the fire line in Mendocino County.

At least 20 homes have been destroyed near Big Sur since the blaze broke out June 21. The fire was only 5 percent contained by late Thursday.