To the Editor:

As the principal daily newspaper in our area, you have an obligation to present news and current events accurately. That extends to your editorials as well. I was very surprised and disappointed in your editorial regarding bear hunting that appeared Tuesday, Oct. 22 (“Ban Bear Baiting,” Page A6).

Not only was the editorial itself nonsense, and nothing more than plagiarized comments from the Humane Society of the United States and apparently written by someone who has never set foot in the Maine woods — let alone attempted bear hunting of any kind — it erroneously stated that a “bear-baiting referendum” was to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. In fact, referendum proponents have not even collected enough signatures to place the question on a referendum in 2014.

Incredible. Does anyone fact-check your editorials? You owe your readers an apology, at the very least. There is simply no excuse for that kind of sloppy journalism.

Thom Watson
Bath