DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Former Marine, 66, survives bloody hand-to-claw combat with black bear. “Standing 5-foot-9 and about 165 pounds, Yepez took on the bear late last week at his home in Midpines, a small mountain town in Mariposa County where bears have recently become a problem, according to KABC-TV. Residents have discovered their trashcans overturned and found bear droppings on their land. But, until now, no one had been attacked by one.” No one is, until someone is.