Hometown of Bowe Bergdahl Delaying Celebration of his Release
BLACKWELL: For five long years the small town of Hailey, Idaho, held vigil for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl while the Taliban held him captive.</s>PAUL: When that news broke that he had been freed, Hailey were overjoyed, signs like this one went up all over town. As the controversy, though, over Bergdahl's release deepens, Hailey has been caught in the middle at this point.</s>BLACKWELL: CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Hailey and joins us live now. What is the mood like there now? There was a homecoming celebration planned but that's been canceled. How is it like now?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, last year they had done a big commemoration on the fourth anniversary of Bowe Bergdahl's capture. Several thousand people turned out for an event here in a park where he used to play as a young boy with where his parents would bring him. So many people around here are stunned as they've watched this saga unfold.</s>LAVANDERA: This moment was supposed to be an emotional triumph for Bowe Bergdahl's hometown of Hailey, Idaho. It has spiraled into a nightmare, and Stefanie O'Neil is heartbroken.</s>STEFANIE O'NEIL: It's a feeling of extreme sadness that we're not allowed or able to have this event for Bowe to welcome him back to the community. This is something to honor him, and we can't do that now, not at this time.</s>LAVANDERA: O'Neil and her family organized what was supposed to be called the "Bowe is Back" celebration in the park where Bowe Bergdahl played as a child. Last year on the fourth anniversary of Sergeant Bergdahl's capture, O'Neil organized the bring Bowe back rally. Bergdahl's parents were overwhelmed by the support.</s>BOB BERGDAHL, BOWE BERGDAHL'S FATHER: It's my privilege to know him I think better than anyone else. As a father and as a man I will defend his character until the day I die.</s>LAVANDERA: O'Neil says the town of Hailey was flooded with more than 3,000 requests for protester permits for the celebration as well as nasty threats and e-mails. The event was canceled because of security concerns, and Bowe Bergdahl's parents have remained out of sight. How are his parents?</s>O'NEIL: I think they were upset. I mean, I think in a way it was shocking to them that we weren't able to do this for their son. Again, he hasn't been able to talk, and so I think they're pretty saddened by it all.</s>LAVANDERA: While the yellow ribbons and banners declaring "Bowe is free at last" still line the streets and storefronts, inside city hall the angry e-mails and phone calls pour in. One woman wrote "If your town can still welcome this traitor home you're not part of the U.S. I know. An army veteran e-mailed to tell city leaders that ceremonies honoring Bergdahl would be a grave insult as well as a stain upon the reputation of our community. An editorial in the town's newspaper lashed out at those critics.</s>GREG FOLEY, "IDAHO MOUNTAIN EXPRESS": Five years of captivity is enough, bring him home. Leave him along and let him heal.</s>LAVANDERA: The "Idaho Mountain Express" editor Greg Foley says the backlash against Bowe Bergdahl has surprised many. What kind of reaction have you gotten to that editorial?</s>FOLEY: We had a lot of positive reaction locally, but certainly outside of our immediate area, there have been people who think that we're casting a blind eye on what they believe to be facts, where in our mind the facts of his capture really haven't been established.</s>LAVANDERA: Bowe Bergdahl's family friends say the homecoming celebration has only been canceled for now. They're not giving up on Bowe yet.</s>LAVANDERA: And Christy and Victor, the overwhelming sense here from a lot of people that you hear form is that, until Bowe Bergdahl's side of the story is publicized and gets out there, they wish that many more people would kind of reserve judgment on the whole situation. But clearly a sense of sadness and shock by just how quickly this story turned so negative. Christie and Victor?</s>PAUL: You can understand why they would want to celebrate him. Ed, real quickly, I know you said that the majority of people support him. Are there people in that community, though, who, too, question what other communities are questioning about Bergdahl? Do they feel like they need some answers as well or no?</s>LAVANDERA: You know, I think just like in many other places around the country there are those people who have those very same questions and those very same reservations, and they're worried about the details that have started to emerge so far. But I think people around here have lived this story far differently. These are people who have known Bowe Bergdahl's parents personally for many decades here in this community, so for them it's always going to be different. It's really just the story of a mother and a father who had to wait five years to get their son back, and everything else in a lot of ways for many people is extra.</s>PAUL: Just a good way to characterize it, people live it there differently and you get that. That's true.</s>BLACKWELL: Ed Lavandera, in Hailey, Idaho, thank you so much.</s>PAUL: So it's -- this is a fictional character, but it's linked to a real life horror story. Police believe Slender Man was this inspiration behind a brutal attack on a 12-year-old girl by two of her 12-year-old friends.</s>BLACKWELL: I can hear you asking, who -- what is Slender Man? Well, we'll get an answer for you.