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Black bear spotted in Rock Island area
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A cellphone photo provided by Melissa Stembridge shows a black bear as it passed her house in the Rock Island area.
The Azalea Hills community is abuzz after a resident spotted a black bear wandering through the neighborhood Wednesday morning.“I was scared to death,” admitted neighborhood resident Melissa Stembridge when she saw the moderate-sized black bear lumbering near her house just after 8 a.m. “It’s not something you see every day. Our neighborhood is very busy and my fear is there are children and elderly who live here.”Azalea Hills is a densely populated, but rural, subdivision located at Mud Creek near Rock Island. The neighborhood is surrounded by dense forest and is only a few miles from Rock Island State Park.Thinking the bear might do harm, Stembridge contacted the sheriff’s department.