more bear stupidity...

CindyH · June 23, 2000, 11:40 AM

The short version:
A small town in Colorado is upset because someone shot a bear that was wandering around town.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>
"We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley."
By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned....[/quote]
It's always a really good idea to follow a wild bear around. Maybe they thought Yogi knew where the really good picnic baskets are.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>"We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on.' But he just made a gesture and turned around and ran the other way."[/quote]
Now, *there's* a good idea. Coax the bear into coming to you. Maybe you can pet it! (I wonder what kind of gesture Yogi was making!)

http://gazette.com/daily/top1.html

The long version:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Simla growls over bear's death

By Todd Hegert/The Gazette
Edited by Mike Braham; headline by Jeanne Davant/The Gazette

SIMLA - Small towns have a way of guarding their secrets, and in Simla, nobody's saying who killed the bear.
Police Chief Buddy Johnson knows who shot the wayward bear Thursday morning on a ranch along Big Sandy Creek just outside of town, but he refused to say who it was.

Town Clerk Carolyn Hamacher almost spilled the beans, but a last-minute call to Chief Johnson dissuaded her.

Erin Krutchi, a clerk at J.B.'s Quickmart, knows who did it, but she wasn't talking, either.

Even the Division of Wildlife won't say who it was, except that it was a rancher - one who was acting within his rights.

The bear was - depending on whose story you believe - either attacking a calf in a small herd of cattle or merely sniffing around.

"Either way, the rancher has the right to dispatch a bear near livestock," said Michael Seraphin, a public information officer with the Department of Wildlife. "One of the only reasons you can kill a bear out of season in Colorado is depredation of livestock."

By the time of its demise, the bear had become a celebrity in Simla, a town of 600 residents 48 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. The night before, a crowd of about 50 people had gathered to get a glimpse of the bear, and those who weren't there heard about it.

"The whole town was like - ," said Krutchi, finding herself at a loss for words. "It was like the biggest thing that has happened in the town's history, or it least in quite a while."

The saga began early Tuesday morning when a resident found the bear eating dog food in his garage and called the Division of Wildlife. Wildlife officer Steve Cooley and Chief Johnson searched for the bear, but to no avail.

The bear resurfaced that evening.

Roge "Little Rock" Clark was with a group of teens about 8 p.m. when he saw it.

"We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley."

By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned.

"It was more of a people problem than a bear problem at that time," he said.

He called the Division of Wildlife to see if the bear could be tranquilized and transported out of town. But the division chose not to do that because darting bears in the dark poses dangers for the bear, Seraphin said. Instead, wildlife officers told Johnson to disperse the crowd and let the bear leave on its own.

But Wednesday morning, James Follis, who owns J.B.'s Quickmart, and his father, John, saw the bear wandering down the street.

"We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on.' But he just made a gesture and turned around and ran the other way."

The bear's path out of town took it into ranchland near Big Sandy Creek, where it was shot at about 10 a.m., the Division of Wildlife said.

The news spread quickly through town Wednesday. Karan Clark, Little Rock's mother, got the word down at the post office.

"I went home and my daughters and I cried for an hour," she said.

Clark and other residents expressed anger Thursday that the bear had not been tranquilized and moved the day before.

"I can't help but think that because we're just a little 'hick' town, that the wildlife people didn't pay us much attention," Clark said.

That's not true, Seraphin said.

"We responded as soon as we got the first call Tuesday, and we didn't ignore the situation Wednesday," Seraphin said. "The fact of the matter is that it's not unusual for an occasional bear to wander out there, and 99 percent of the time nature remedies itself if the bears are left to wander back west to the foothills."
[/quote]

[This message has been edited by CindyH (edited June 23, 2000).]

pax · June 23, 2000, 12:05 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>"We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley."

By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned.

"It was more of a people problem than a bear problem at that time," he said.[/quote]

People are idiots.

Several years back, my husband and I were at a crowded shopping mall when we noticed that the security guards were all running down the mall in the same direction, talking into their radios.

At the same time, three patrol cars pulled up outside the entrance, and the policemen got out, all loading their rifles as they were running into the mall and going the same direction as the security guards had gone.

Bob and I looked at each other and decided it was a good time to leave the premises, having no intention of getting caught in the crossfire.

We were the only people leaving the mall. Everyone else in the mall was ... following the guys with the guns.

I wonder how many 'innocent bystanders' get shot for stupidity?

------------------
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
-- Edmund Burke

June 23, 2000, 12:08 PM

"We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on."

Darwin's Theory at work there.

Oleg Volk · June 23, 2000, 12:10 PM

Wrong...Darwin is asleep...the morons survived long enough to breed.

Danger Dave · June 23, 2000, 12:13 PM

Yeah, people are stupid. I remember a few years ago there was a hostage situation in my home town - a man had beat his wife with a hammer and was holding her at gunpoint. The police surrounded the place, but surrounding the police was a ring of gawkers, who brought their kids out to see the ruckus!!!
"Martha, grab lil' Timmy - we're goin' to a shootout!"

Family fun, eh?

paratrooper · June 23, 2000, 12:52 PM

They didn't want to "dart" it because darting at night poses a danger to the bear . How much of a "danger" was killing it ? Is it safe now ? I'm missing something .

------------------
TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA

mussi · June 23, 2000, 07:43 PM

Reminds me of that madman situation in March back in Chur,
Switzerland. A guy on some mind-altering drugs was shooting everything
with his miliarty duty weapon, including police officers trying to get
into the appartment building (they survived). However, about 100m
away, there was a huge crowd. Luckily for the crowd, a police officer
shot the guy straight in the head when he tried to leave the inside of
his appt. for the balcony, thus saving the bystanders.

Of course, hours later, the press is already on the sharpshooter who
saved lives, saying he could have shot the guy without killing him.
LEOs get mauled by the press when doing their job correctly.

[This message has been edited by mussi (edited June 23, 2000).]

beemerb · June 23, 2000, 09:53 PM

A few years back on a motorcycle trip my brother and myself where in Yellowstone park.There was a herd of buffalo about 150 yards off the road and traffic was stopped makeing a complete jam.Well wouldn't you know it,some idiot was out by the buffalo and 10 yards from one takeing pictures.I could see the headlines in the next days paper.

------------------
beemerb
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world;
and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
every day who don't know anything and can't read.
-Mark Twain

paratrooper · June 23, 2000, 10:41 PM

That was me taking the picture . An old lady asked me to do it since she had a cheap camera without telefoto capabilities . As I got real close to the first buffalo he actually spoke to me . He said " Hey Dummy , there's so many trees between you and that old woman you could have taken a close up of a nickel and she would never know . Now get out of here before we make you The Tourist De Jour ." I didn't realize I had stopped traffic until I came back . I remember you and your brother but I thought we were related since you kept talking about my momma . Small world .

------------------
TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA

[This message has been edited by paratrooper (edited June 24, 2000).]

radom · June 24, 2000, 01:29 AM

Does not say much for smarts of most folks in Colorado. But most are from LA,NY and other places that spawn idiots, not Colorado. Beem, was that the bozzo from France that got killed or another idiot?

Don Gwinn · June 24, 2000, 09:57 AM

Good Lord. OK, I have never followed the cops when they have their guns out. That strikes me as stupid indeed.

But when I was 13 and had just graduated the 8th grade, my grandparents drove me and my cousins out West. We encountered buffalo, and being the prairie hicks that we were, could not believe the awesome majesty of these big ol' hairy-assed cows. We decided to take pictures. Now, from the road, with a deep ditch and some high grass separating us, the buffalo were placid. But when I jumped the ditch with some difficulty and came floundering up through the grass, I got a warning similar to the one described above, though I didn't speak the language. I beat a very hasty retreat to the truck, where I was soundly mocked for being afraid of buffalo by people who had not stood close enough to smell its breath.
Neat photo, though.

Miss Demeanors · June 24, 2000, 12:49 PM

LOL Cindy! So did they find their picnic baskets before the Ranger took Yogi away?

------------------
Sandys' Homepage
RKBA forums
We are as one as we all are the same fighting for one cause -Metallica

Art Eatman · June 24, 2000, 01:14 PM

pax: On Charley Whitman Day, in August of 1966, people heard about the goings-on on their radios or TVs. Some left home, got in their cars, and drove to the area of the Univ. of Texas campus to see what was going on. A few of them got shot.

I played MP, working traffic at one intersection, where folks wanted to stop and look at the Tower. I had to scream at them to keep moving! I had already gotten an ambulance for one guy who was killed at 420 yards, and had seen a bullet barely miss a guy at about 550 yards. These idiots in their cars were at about 500 yards...

People!

Art

Grayfox · June 24, 2000, 09:32 PM

It must be something about fur. You got this big furry mammal with large teeth and claws and suddenly people wanna pet it, talk to it like a baby and get as close as they can.
Now if these same morons saw a harmless grass snake they'd probably scream and run like hell.
Weird ain't it?

------------------
There's no such thing as too much love, too much money or too much ammo.

June 23, 2000, 11:40 AM	#1
CindyH Senior Member Join Date: March 30, 2000 Posts: 430	The short version: A small town in Colorado is upset because someone shot a bear that was wandering around town. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> "We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley." By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned....[/quote] It's always a really good idea to follow a wild bear around. Maybe they thought Yogi knew where the really good picnic baskets are. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on.' But he just made a gesture and turned around and ran the other way."[/quote] Now, there's a good idea. Coax the bear into coming to you. Maybe you can pet it! (I wonder what kind of gesture Yogi was making!) http://gazette.com/daily/top1.html The long version: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Simla growls over bear's death By Todd Hegert/The Gazette Edited by Mike Braham; headline by Jeanne Davant/The Gazette SIMLA - Small towns have a way of guarding their secrets, and in Simla, nobody's saying who killed the bear. Police Chief Buddy Johnson knows who shot the wayward bear Thursday morning on a ranch along Big Sandy Creek just outside of town, but he refused to say who it was. Town Clerk Carolyn Hamacher almost spilled the beans, but a last-minute call to Chief Johnson dissuaded her. Erin Krutchi, a clerk at J.B.'s Quickmart, knows who did it, but she wasn't talking, either. Even the Division of Wildlife won't say who it was, except that it was a rancher - one who was acting within his rights. The bear was - depending on whose story you believe - either attacking a calf in a small herd of cattle or merely sniffing around. "Either way, the rancher has the right to dispatch a bear near livestock," said Michael Seraphin, a public information officer with the Department of Wildlife. "One of the only reasons you can kill a bear out of season in Colorado is depredation of livestock." By the time of its demise, the bear had become a celebrity in Simla, a town of 600 residents 48 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. The night before, a crowd of about 50 people had gathered to get a glimpse of the bear, and those who weren't there heard about it. "The whole town was like - ," said Krutchi, finding herself at a loss for words. "It was like the biggest thing that has happened in the town's history, or it least in quite a while." The saga began early Tuesday morning when a resident found the bear eating dog food in his garage and called the Division of Wildlife. Wildlife officer Steve Cooley and Chief Johnson searched for the bear, but to no avail. The bear resurfaced that evening. Roge "Little Rock" Clark was with a group of teens about 8 p.m. when he saw it. "We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley." By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned. "It was more of a people problem than a bear problem at that time," he said. He called the Division of Wildlife to see if the bear could be tranquilized and transported out of town. But the division chose not to do that because darting bears in the dark poses dangers for the bear, Seraphin said. Instead, wildlife officers told Johnson to disperse the crowd and let the bear leave on its own. But Wednesday morning, James Follis, who owns J.B.'s Quickmart, and his father, John, saw the bear wandering down the street. "We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on.' But he just made a gesture and turned around and ran the other way." The bear's path out of town took it into ranchland near Big Sandy Creek, where it was shot at about 10 a.m., the Division of Wildlife said. The news spread quickly through town Wednesday. Karan Clark, Little Rock's mother, got the word down at the post office. "I went home and my daughters and I cried for an hour," she said. Clark and other residents expressed anger Thursday that the bear had not been tranquilized and moved the day before. "I can't help but think that because we're just a little 'hick' town, that the wildlife people didn't pay us much attention," Clark said. That's not true, Seraphin said. "We responded as soon as we got the first call Tuesday, and we didn't ignore the situation Wednesday," Seraphin said. "The fact of the matter is that it's not unusual for an occasional bear to wander out there, and 99 percent of the time nature remedies itself if the bears are left to wander back west to the foothills." [/quote] [This message has been edited by CindyH (edited June 23, 2000).]

June 23, 2000, 12:05 PM	#2
pax Senior Member Join Date: May 16, 2000 Location: In a state of flux Posts: 7,520	<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"We were sitting down at the park when this big brown thing - I thought it was a dog at first - went by," Clark said. "We followed it down the street in our car until it turned down an alley." By 10 p.m., the crowd following the bear had swelled to the point that Johnson was concerned. "It was more of a people problem than a bear problem at that time," he said.[/quote] People are idiots. Several years back, my husband and I were at a crowded shopping mall when we noticed that the security guards were all running down the mall in the same direction, talking into their radios. At the same time, three patrol cars pulled up outside the entrance, and the policemen got out, all loading their rifles as they were running into the mall and going the same direction as the security guards had gone. Bob and I looked at each other and decided it was a good time to leave the premises, having no intention of getting caught in the crossfire. We were the only people leaving the mall. Everyone else in the mall was ... following the guys with the guns. I wonder how many 'innocent bystanders' get shot for stupidity? ------------------ The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. -- Edmund Burke

June 23, 2000, 12:08 PM	#3
KilgorII Guest Posts: n/a	"We were talking to him," John Follis said. "I was saying, 'Come on, boy, come on." Darwin's Theory at work there.

June 23, 2000, 12:10 PM	#4
Oleg Volk Staff Alumnus Join Date: December 6, 1999 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 7,022	Wrong...Darwin is asleep...the morons survived long enough to breed.

June 23, 2000, 12:13 PM	#5
Danger Dave Senior Member Join Date: April 21, 1999 Location: Dallas, GA, USA Posts: 791	Yeah, people are stupid. I remember a few years ago there was a hostage situation in my home town - a man had beat his wife with a hammer and was holding her at gunpoint. The police surrounded the place, but surrounding the police was a ring of gawkers, who brought their kids out to see the ruckus!!! "Martha, grab lil' Timmy - we're goin' to a shootout!" Family fun, eh?

June 23, 2000, 12:52 PM	#6
paratrooper Senior Member Join Date: March 31, 2000 Location: Kingman AZ Posts: 1,290	They didn't want to "dart" it because darting at night poses a danger to the bear . How much of a "danger" was killing it ? Is it safe now ? I'm missing something . ------------------ TOM SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA

June 23, 2000, 07:43 PM	#7
mussi Senior Member Join Date: January 17, 2000 Location: Berne, Switzerland Posts: 757	Reminds me of that madman situation in March back in Chur, Switzerland. A guy on some mind-altering drugs was shooting everything with his miliarty duty weapon, including police officers trying to get into the appartment building (they survived). However, about 100m away, there was a huge crowd. Luckily for the crowd, a police officer shot the guy straight in the head when he tried to leave the inside of his appt. for the balcony, thus saving the bystanders. Of course, hours later, the press is already on the sharpshooter who saved lives, saying he could have shot the guy without killing him. LEOs get mauled by the press when doing their job correctly. [This message has been edited by mussi (edited June 23, 2000).]

June 23, 2000, 09:53 PM	#8
beemerb Junior member Join Date: October 2, 1999 Location: AZ Posts: 1,759	A few years back on a motorcycle trip my brother and myself where in Yellowstone park.There was a herd of buffalo about 150 yards off the road and traffic was stopped makeing a complete jam.Well wouldn't you know it,some idiot was out by the buffalo and 10 yards from one takeing pictures.I could see the headlines in the next days paper. ------------------ beemerb We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world; and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men every day who don't know anything and can't read. -Mark Twain

June 23, 2000, 10:41 PM	#9
paratrooper Senior Member Join Date: March 31, 2000 Location: Kingman AZ Posts: 1,290	That was me taking the picture . An old lady asked me to do it since she had a cheap camera without telefoto capabilities . As I got real close to the first buffalo he actually spoke to me . He said " Hey Dummy , there's so many trees between you and that old woman you could have taken a close up of a nickel and she would never know . Now get out of here before we make you The Tourist De Jour ." I didn't realize I had stopped traffic until I came back . I remember you and your brother but I thought we were related since you kept talking about my momma . Small world . ------------------ TOM SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA [This message has been edited by paratrooper (edited June 24, 2000).]

June 24, 2000, 01:29 AM	#10
radom Senior Member Join Date: January 21, 2000 Posts: 1,357	Does not say much for smarts of most folks in Colorado. But most are from LA,NY and other places that spawn idiots, not Colorado. Beem, was that the bozzo from France that got killed or another idiot?

June 24, 2000, 09:57 AM	#11
Don Gwinn Staff Emeritus Join Date: March 9, 2000 Location: Virden, IL Posts: 5,917	Good Lord. OK, I have never followed the cops when they have their guns out. That strikes me as stupid indeed. But when I was 13 and had just graduated the 8th grade, my grandparents drove me and my cousins out West. We encountered buffalo, and being the prairie hicks that we were, could not believe the awesome majesty of these big ol' hairy-assed cows. We decided to take pictures. Now, from the road, with a deep ditch and some high grass separating us, the buffalo were placid. But when I jumped the ditch with some difficulty and came floundering up through the grass, I got a warning similar to the one described above, though I didn't speak the language. I beat a very hasty retreat to the truck, where I was soundly mocked for being afraid of buffalo by people who had not stood close enough to smell its breath. Neat photo, though.

June 24, 2000, 12:49 PM	#12
Miss Demeanors Senior Member Join Date: June 22, 1999 Location: Illannoy Posts: 1,382	LOL Cindy! So did they find their picnic baskets before the Ranger took Yogi away? ------------------ Sandys' Homepage RKBA forums We are as one as we all are the same fighting for one cause -Metallica

June 24, 2000, 01:14 PM	#13
Art Eatman Staff in Memoriam Join Date: November 13, 1998 Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA Posts: 24,798	pax: On Charley Whitman Day, in August of 1966, people heard about the goings-on on their radios or TVs. Some left home, got in their cars, and drove to the area of the Univ. of Texas campus to see what was going on. A few of them got shot. I played MP, working traffic at one intersection, where folks wanted to stop and look at the Tower. I had to scream at them to keep moving! I had already gotten an ambulance for one guy who was killed at 420 yards, and had seen a bullet barely miss a guy at about 550 yards. These idiots in their cars were at about 500 yards... People! Art

June 24, 2000, 09:32 PM	#14
Grayfox Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 1998 Posts: 1,885	It must be something about fur. You got this big furry mammal with large teeth and claws and suddenly people wanna pet it, talk to it like a baby and get as close as they can. Now if these same morons saw a harmless grass snake they'd probably scream and run like hell. Weird ain't it? ------------------ There's no such thing as too much love, too much money or too much ammo.