A turning point came during officer Jacobson's testimony about surveilling the Parks' home. He told Judge Nancy McAllister that he saw a bear walk up Ms. Parks' driveway and onto her deck.

Although Mr. Jacobson conceded under cross-examination that he never saw Ms. Parks feeding bears, he said that the animals he observed were obese.

Officers had been alerted by a neighbor, Gerry Douglas, who testified that he compiled more than 60 video clips of bears on Ms. Parks' property. Asked by defense lawyer Dunkeson if he had ever personally witnessed Ms. Parks feeding a bear, Mr. Douglas conceded he had not. However, he told the court, "I have seen he door open up there, on the patio, and I have seen a hand with food slide out."

Prosecutors called Ms. Parks' cousin, Kurt Schmid, 79, who testified that Doris Parks insists she is her own person and does what she wants.

Biologist Harris told the court that he examined the video evidence and concluded that some bears in the footage appeared "huge" considering that it was spring and the bears had only recently emerged from hibernation. He said he was "kind of amazed" that the bears returned to the same place so often.

Testifying in her own defense, Ms. Parks said she only feeds raccoons and birds, noting that raccoons "have very good manners." She added that she is cautious around bears, but "I have never seen a bear hurt anyone."

The jury took only 30 minutes to deliver its verdict, finding Doris Parks guilty of "intentionally feeding, or attempting to feed, large wild carnivores or intentionally attracting large wild carnivores to land or a building." Sentencing is due later this month.

I'd like to thank reporter Brandon Cline of the Chinook Observer for his close-up coverage of the trial. It's a shame that in these tense and troubled times, so much breaking news is easily overlooked.

(c) Peter Funt. Distributed by Cagle syndicate.