Lynch to get a hero’s welcome

This mountain town is bearing witness to the magic and machinery of celebrity. The homecoming on Tuesday of former PoW Jessica Lynch has inspired fanfare worthy of a visiting head of state. ‘‘Welcome Home Jessica’’ are on sale for $5, and a CD featuring a song about her — She was just nineteen, became America’s queen — is available for $10.

Lynch’s celebrity status is undisputed here. ‘‘We are great Jessi people — this whole county is Jessica people — and we don’t like anyone to say anything bad about her,’’ said Ray Watson, 79, a member of the county’s Board of Education, a former school principal. (LAT-WP)