Bear seeks necessities in kitchen

Late into the night of Aug. 20, it seems a bear broke through a screen of an open kitchen window of the Leiken home in Lakeview.

"It may have been the scent of the melon (on the kitchen counter) that attracted the bear," Ron Leiken said.

The bear also helped itself to some tasty, sweet treats in the freezer. Frozen cookies, brownies and bread.

Leiken said his family, two adults and three children, ages 10, 8 and 6, living in the home never saw the bear.

"We will be keeping the windows closed from now on," he said.

However, at 10:45 p.m. on the evening of Aug. 21, Leiken heard a noise in the house and turned to see one of his two cats running down the hall with a very scared look on its face ... then he saw the bear, in the kitchen.

"The light was on and I did have the window open for ventilation only and was going to close it before going to bed," he said. "I was still awake.

"It wasn't that big. I have seen a huge one around here. This one, when it was on all fours was about 2 feet high.

"I yelled at it and it jumped back on the counter and out the window.

"I was yelling out of fear and to scare it away."

Leiken said he called the Nevada Division of Wildlife dispatch on Tuesday and they took note of it.

"They also said they may want to put a trap up here, but they're all in use."

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Members of Boy Scout Troop 145 from Carson City may be looking forward to the start of school a bit more than most this summer - they may want some rest. The troop recently returned from a 10-day, 86-mile hike through the mountains of New Mexico at the Philmont Scout Ranch.

Reaching heights of 12,441 feet on Mount Baldy, scouts stopped to mountain bike, fly fish, pan for gold, rock climb and study conservation and ecology along the trek that lasted from July 28 through Aug. 9.