Bearing all: Our item on the furry...

Bearing all: Our item on the furry creature who will adorn Sierra Madre’s Rose Parade float prompted a somewhat fiery response from Jay Preston of Westchester.

“I must take exception to your falling victim to the myth that the name of the Forest Service mascot is ‘Smokey Bear,’ ” he wrote. “It is just plain ‘Smokey,’ regardless of the cutesy Advertising Council ad campaign.

“Go to the source,” Preston continued. “When I was in school and Scouting in Sierra Madre, we all learned the song:

Smokey, the bear

Smokey, the bear

Prowlin’ and a growlin’

And a sniffin’ the air.

He can find a fire before it starts to flame.

That’s why they call him ‘Smokey’

That’s how he got his name. “ *

Hello, Forest Service? When we stopped humming along, we decided that, just to be safe, we’d go a prowlin’ and a growlin’ to the big guy’s handlers in Sacramento.

“Oh, you want Nancy Porter,” a Forest Service ranger said. “She’s the one who answers all the Smokey Bear questions for the whole western region. But she’s not here. She’ll be back Dec. 1.”

She’s on vacation?

“No, she’s gone to Hawaii and Guam,” he answered, “for the 50th birthday celebration of Smokey.”

If only we could get a look at what his birthday cake says.

*

Wipeout: Turning to other warning symbols, David Seaver sent us a photo that tells the sad story of a speeding surfer who obviously didn’t pay attention to a Manhattan Beach traffic sign.

*

Maybe this is what sent the surfer off course: Colette Meyer of Redondo Beach spotted the following in a local paper’s classifieds section:

“Lost 7-ft. Columbia boa constrictor. Lost on Halloween Sunday in Hermosa. Doesn’t bite. Lost in vicinity of 14th on beach.”

Sure, it doesn’t bite. But does it hug?

*

So many licenses to steal . . . : Someone ripped off the “94” sticker from the license plate of a Long Beach acquaintance of ours. When she acquired a replacement from the DMV, a clerk gave her this crime-stopper’s tip:

After applying the new sticker to the plate, run a razor blade over it in a crisscross manner, dividing it into segments. Makes it more time-consuming to remove.

Plus, who knows? The would-be thief might be intimidated at the thought of having to put the puzzle together again.

miscelLAny:

The MTA called it “a celebration of ordinary people who live in a celebrity-crazed world.” About 800 residents from Downey, Bellflower and Paramount were chosen Thursday to have their handprints, footprints and signatures cast into cement at a Metro Green Line station in Downey. Background checks were run to make sure that none of them had agents.