John Chelminiak, Bellevue Councilmember and Bear Mauling Victim, Returns to Council
UPDATE: Chelminiak tells the Daily Weekly that he's "feeling great" and that he has several surgeries on his head planned before the end of the year. He also says that he and his family will be heading back to their vacation home near Lake Wenatchee in the next couple weeks for the first time since the attack. 
Your average Bellevue councilmember may someday be remembered for helping to improve transit or approve a new shopping center. John Chelminiak is not an average councilmember. When he retires, there's little doubt that any talk of his legacy will begin with the story of how he once fought off a bear at Lake Wenatchee. And that's when he retires. For now, the still recuperating city leader is back to work, having been welcomed back at a Bellevue City Council meeting Monday night.
The attack went down on Sept. 17 when Chelminiak was walking his dogs near his Lake Wenatchee vacation home. During the walk, a gaunt and malnourished black bear leaped from the bushes and charged him, pouncing on him and biting and clawing his body and face until he was able to fend the creature off twice and get away.
The attack cost Chelminiak his left eye and left him severely scarred. The bear was tracked down and killed by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife agents.
But the councilmember still has one good eye and all four limbs. And his return to the council comes just in time to work on the 2011-12 budget and the East Link light-rail project, both big ticket items on the council's agenda.
Here's a still ragged looking Chelminiak recounting the "horrendous fight" that his great grand kids will be telling their children about someday.
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