Smokey Bear turning 80

Rick Patrick  rick@greenepublishing.com The iconic symbol of a bear wearing blue jeans, carrying a shovel and urging people to take care when using campfires is one of the oldest advertising symbols in the nation. Smokey Bear has his roots in the early 1940’s, when the United States was at war with Japan. During the spring after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese submarines surfaced near the Californian coastline and fired shells that exploded on an oil field, dangerously clo