NELSON, British Columbia — After burning their draft cards during the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of Americans avoided jail by fleeing to Canada.

Many settled in the small town of Nelson, British Columbia (search), just across the Washington state border. Now, 30 years later, the mayor of Nelson and some other Canadians are planning to honor the draft dodgers with a two-day festival and a larger-than-life monument depicting a Canadian helping two scared American men.

Though the festival and statue unveiling are still two years away, the war of words is just beginning.

Veterans of Foreign Wars (search) leaders are outraged by the monument, as are others in the United States who see the plan as a slap in the face. Some have written to Nelson officials to say they’ll never visit the town again.

The Canadian government did nothing to discourage Americans from heading north of the border so many years ago. In fact, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (search) rolled out the red carpet, saying the draft dodgers had his complete sympathy.

Tell ya what. If the Army came knocking on my door telling me that I would have to fight, well, I guess I would have to tell them to kiss my hairy white ass.

Come get me, but bring your guns, cause I ain't going without a fight.

The "disgusting cowards" are the motherfuckers that would send children to fight their war.

Reminds me of something Woody Guthrie once wrote:

I will point a gun for my country
But I wont guarantee you which way

Doesn't it take a certain courage to incur the condemnation of one's society, and pull up stakes and move to avoid an action personally considered as immoral?

Are the cattle who move quietly along the loading chutes, the courageous ones? Or would you more accurately apply that to the example who kicks out the slats and runs like hell into an uncertainty?