Follow up

Today, I found an article in the local paper in the area where the students put the dead black bear at the entrance of a university with an Obama sign on it. You can find the article here.

I find the conflicting information troubling. The commenter, Library Ghost, says that more than just Obama signs were on the bear, but the media and the university isn't reporting it. LG also says, which I'm pleased to hear, that many on the campus were upset. The article does mention that a dialogue has been opened up about the incident and racism and being aware of the consequences of one's actions.

The conflict is in the article. WCU's web site article . . . which I noted earlier. . . said the students picked the bear up while on a camping trip. There is mention of finding the dead bear while looking for firewood in the woods. And, the article cited above mentioned the whole camping scenario. But, there is a new twist . . . that originally the students left the bear but returned on Sunday to get it. (Again, if they knew it had been dead more than 24 hours . . . they should have known or seen that it was not still actively bleeding.)

But, here's the troubling bit. The recent article goes on to say that the bear actually had not been shot, but hit by a car and originally found by a newspaper carrier. The carrier reported the road kill to the Roads people, who retrieved it and took it to the local road maintenance area to bury it. When they were unable to access the equipment needed to dig a big enough hole to bury the animal, they say they left it inside the locked fence.

So, did the kids find it in the woods or did they break into a locked, government owned area and steal it? Troubling.