Of bears, bad judgment, unreal conclusions and very real tensions

[Sequoia]

We want to acknowledge that in an editorial published in the Wednesday edition, we reacted too soon, without waiting to learn that the bear dumped on the Western Carolina campus was killed by a car and was not shot.

The university’s original statement said the bear was shot, but investigators later determined a vehicle hit the bear, shattering its skull.

That means those involved did not, as we thought when the editorial was composed, take an innocent life in order to make a political statement. We are sorry we jumped to the wrong conclusion and enormously grateful we were wrong.

Seven students who have not been identified by the university took a dead bear they found in the woods while on a camping trip and dumped it on campus, according to Chancellor John Bardo. If that’s the case, they showed an appalling lack of judgment, but they are not, as we suggested, terrorists.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881024016

North Carolina has become a real battleground state, one that could influence the outcome of the election.

(Sarah Palin will be in Asheville on Saturday)