Blaine County Official Asks Media to Leave

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho county commissioner held a press conference in the hometown of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl on Wednesday to tell reporters and outsiders to leave the town and the Bergdahl family alone.

The Times-News reports that Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen said people should stop attacking Bergdahl, his family and the people of Hailey for standing by him. Schoen said the town only wanted to see the local man reunited with his parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, after spending five years as a prisoner of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Schoen said people in Hailey are sick of the attention and they're tired of being questioned by reporters. The commissioner also cautioned people from rushing to judgment about whether Bergdahl should face military charges over allegations that he abandoned his post.