W - Before the Olympics, before the ski resort of Whistler existed, before the athletes' village was built, there were garbage dumps. And those piles of trash attracted black bears like a free keg attracts tailgaters.

An estimated 100 bears still live around Whistler Village, showing up at the ski lifts, prowling behind the upscale restaurants and poking around the bobsled track.

Fact: Before the start of competition, a black bear wandered to the edge of the track near the top and then scooted under the railing and back into the woods. The sighting startled Canadian luge veteran Jeff Christie, who was waiting to take a practice run.

Christie sized up the situation and decided to wait the bear out, telling reporters that in his red speed suit he was afraid he'd "look like a giant salmon."

So what's a poor resort to do?

You can't be shooting around multimillion-dollar ski homes and kids in their "Hello Kitty" ski outfits.

The nonprofit Get Bear Smart Society is running a campaign to get folks to lock up their garbage and to persuade government officials to use bear aversion tactics - similar to what Maryland's Department of Natural Resources does in Garrett County. After capturing a nuisance bear, humans play loud sounds and shoot rubber bullets at the bear's behind as it is released. Sometimes the tough love works and the bear moves on.

Bear-human conflicts that end up with the animal being killed have dropped 50 percent over the past decade.

But paying for the program isn't easy.

During the Olympics, one way has been selling thumbnail-sized pins depicting a bear cub, a Maple Leaf and the word "Whistler."

Tom Thomson - no relation - came up with the idea, and paid for making 8,000 "cubby pins." He gave more than half to the schoolchildren in the region. The rest he's selling at markets and shops for $5.

Thomson played football in the 1960s for the Edmonton Eskimos - No. 70 - and taught school for 30 years before retiring and winning a seat on the village council last November. He paints, mountain bikes and snowboards when he's not being a one-man Chamber of Commerce.

He bought a place in Whistler in 1970 after a skiing trip, when he looked down into the valley and was blown away by the natural beauty.

"I've watch it go from a dump to a fairyland," he says of the past 40 years.

After his election, Thomson became liaison to two Whistler bear committees.

A cubby medallion was planned as a keepsake for athletes who competed in the skiing and sliding events at and near Whistler. But when the Vancouver organizing committee reversed its decision and decided to award the medals for those events in town rather than Vancouver two hours away, Thomson's medallion was downsized.

"It morphed from something for athletes to a keepsake for the kids and fans," Thomson says. "It's quintessential Whistler."

The cubby pins have been a runaway success. The Get Bear Smart Society wants to place an order for more pins to help fatten its treasury for the lean times after the Olympic crowd leaves.

It's my favorite pin of these Olympics.

The clock has started on setting regulations for the next two hunting seasons.

So far, it appears they might include increased opportunities for hunters of sika deer, turkeys and foxes. The Region A hunting district for white-tailed deer might be expanded from Garrett and Allegany counties to include a hunk of Washington County. Seasons for Regulated Shooting Areas could begin earlier and end later for captive-raised upland game birds and flighted mallards.

A meeting of stakeholders added options:

•Opening bow season for deer statewide on Sept. 5.

•Making crossbows legal statewide during vertical bow season for deer, forest game, upland game, furbearers that may be hunted and migratory birds. It would still be illegal to use a crossbow to take waterfowl.

•Extending the season for red and gray fox for shooting until Feb. 15 in both furbearer zones.

The entire plan can be found on the DNR Web site.

Pete Jayne, associate director for wildlife management, says previous proposals have generated a lot of public comment - online and on the DNR Web site, and those comments usually result in some modifications of the package.

The public meetings are March 7 at 7 p.m. at Annapolis High and March 9 at 7 p.m. at South Hagerstown High.