To: Bear Board Factotum Ed Waggener March 27, 1997

From: BB Member Montgomery

Re: Bear sightings in Knott Co.

Enclosed are our documentary photos of a Mother Bear with Cubs, taken in Knott County, KY, 2/22/97. Dr. Steve Montgomery, Board Certified Psychiatrist of local acclaim, will vouch that this was NOT a hallucination (although a delusion has not been completely ruled out.).

B.B. Member "Superman" & I are now off to W. Texas and the southern New Mexico Mts. Be assured that we will be ever vigilant in our documentary search for the common brown bear of that region.

Yours truly,

s/Jackie Montgomery

Thanks. This is the kind of dedication which is above and beyond the call of duty. When you and Superman, (For those who have not met 3 year old Ryan Montgomery, Superman is his current incarnation; he refuses to take his cape off at any time, lest he be caught out in Columbia and somebody might need the aid of his powers) get back to the good old U.S. of A-or have we already annexed West Texas?-I am sure that you will have great adventures to tell about. We just hope that you don't stay so long you miss the bears in the blackberry patches along Oak Grove Road.

BRBB Member Montgomery filed her report on a beautiful Tipi Press, St. Joseph's Indian School, notecard, a picture of an Indian Camp on a lake, which she rechristened "Bear Camp in Pre-Columbian Kentucky, Ah-Bare County."

Coincidentally, paleontologist Theodore "Teddy Bear" Turner, says that this shire was not named for the Revolutionary War hero, as is commonly thought, but that the name is a corruption of the Indian word for the land around Clear Springs Road, which the Semi-Holes called "Land of A Bear," hence, Abear County, which was perverted to Adair County-a cruel, unsubtle mockery of the aritculation of a young Civil War camp follower who couldn't pronounce her duhs.This heartless ridicule caused the young woman to sob.A road named for this incident evolved in much the same way, from "Trail of Tears" to "Bypass Option IB." It is firmly validated historical facts such as these which show how much interwoven bears, Indians, Republican hill onions, and the Midwestern work ethic are in the living fabric of this vast Adair County we love-from Feathersburg to Low Gap, from Bear Creek to Bennett Ridge, and all points in between. -Ed.