Last week, a local resident peeked out her window in the night to discover a bear munching away at her squirrel feeder.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife officials were summoned to Vestavia subdivision, which lies just inside the western edge of the Athens City Limits, and began considering ways the bear might be tranquilized and relocated.
One of those officials managed to shoot the bear late Saturday night -- but no tranquilizers were involved. The animal was dead after residents heard four gunshots ring out.
The two local papers -- The News Courier and Athens Now Online -- both posted the dead bear story as breaking news in their respective online editions.
And apparently, staking claim to having been first to post the story is just as newsworthy as the killing itself.
Doesn't matter to the bear, though.
He's still dead, no matter who was first to tell his story.
