If A Bear Falls In The Forest…..

Does it make a sound? Well, it does in South Carolina. It sounds like: "Thank God. Thank God, we got it back, It feels really, really good."

The missing bear was in the woods.

That's the word from Dino Riganas, owner of the statue of a red-clawed grizzly bear stolen from his future restaurant in Bluffton.

The statue was one of two that stood sentry outside Montana's Restaurant and Grizzly Bar. The restaurant closed down, but new owner Riganas hopes to reopen in the fall. He had been working for several weeks to get the restaurant ready.

While preparing for the grand reopening, he was disappointed to find one of the 450-pound wooden bears bolted into a stone pedestal had been stolen. When he showed up for work Thursday at 7:45 a.m., the bear was gone and the base of the second bear was loose.

Riganas offered a $1,000 reward, as was reported in Saturday's Island Packet, hoping the bear would eventually find its way home.

On Sunday evening, Riganas got his wish. He received a call saying his bear was in the woods.

A neighbor saw a green van pull up to some woods off Alljoy Road near Confederate Avenue around 6:30 p.m. The culprits dumped the wooden bear and drove off. The police were called, and they in turn called Riganas.

We're very happy for Mr. Riganas and his bear. We're also happy we were able to avoid that other bear-woods saying that would have violated our own comment policy.