I suppose it should not be a surprise that people in Bowe Bergdahl's tiny Idaho hometown are getting inundated with furious phone calls from Americans who are ... angry that Bergdahl is from there, apparently? Angry that the town was going to welcome the POW back without punching him? Whatever the reason, America's creepiest not-patriots are taking it out on any town official
whose phone number they can find.
Jane Drussel, the president of the Hailey Chamber of Commerce, has been fielding dozens of angry calls.
"Well, (I feel) disappointment number one, just absolutely total surprise at how bad some of them are," she told NBC News on Tuesday. [...]
"All these five years, never a word of any negative nature whatsoever. And now, after two days, I was shocked when late at night, watching (TV) I started seeing the dragon's head roar. Comments that are just off the wall."
The calls aren't just to the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce, but to the town store Drussel owns—unclear what the patriot's problem is on that one. The town was originally going to have an event celebrating Bergdahl's release:
Stephanie O'Neil, a Hailey resident who is organizing the June 28 celebration dubbed "Bowe is Back," said that they're preparing for a crowd of 10,000 to 15,000 people, including about 2,000 bikers from Boise's POW/MIA organization.
... but have since
cancelled it, citing concerns that the town of 8,000 could not handle the even larger national influx of supporters and—more worryingly—protesters that would show up in the wake of the current media storm. It should be noted that the town had had a
Bring Bowe Back event every year he was held in Afghanistan, but now that he's freed they've had to cancel it over concerns for public safety.