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Smokey the Bear fired for insulting Senator over 'gray hair' remark at state fair
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
12th August 2011
For the past 10 years retired school teacher Paul Hammock has volunteered as the voice of a 14-foot Smokey the Bear at the Ohio State Fair. But last Friday Smokey the Bear put his paw in it, when meeting Ohio Senator Robert Portman at the Columbus fair.
In character, the bear, who was celebrating his 67th birthday, made a quip that he had managed to keep looking youthful by dying his gray hairs. And jokingly, Smokey told the Republican Senator: 'That's a little trick you might want to try.'
A few hours later Mr Hammock, 65, from Clintonville, Ohio, received a call from the coordinator of volunteers at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources saying he had offended the Senator and Mr Hammock's vocal talents would no longer be needed.
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