County sheriff in Colorado says "balloon boy" incident was a "hoax" and a "publicity stunt."

Source: CNN TV & web site

The case of a giant Mylar balloon, which ascended into the sky late last week amid fears a 6-year-old boy was aboard, has been determined to be a "hoax" and a "publicity stunt," Larimer County, Colorado, Sheriff Jim Alderden said Sunday.
Richard Heene has told reporters that a runaway balloon incident involving his son was "absolutely no hoax."

Richard Heene has told reporters that a runaway balloon incident involving his son was "absolutely no hoax."

Earlier in the day, sheriff's deputies and detectives were seen entering and leaving the house of Richard Heene.

Heene is the storm-chasing father whose giant Mylar balloon ascended into the sky late last week, sparking fears that his 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard.

A dispatcher with the Larimer County Sheriff's Department declined to release any information about the search.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/18/colorado.balloon.investigation/index.html

---

On now live on CNN. Interesting how this story has captured the news media & America. Looks like they are going to throw the book at them including felonies; which they should. The Jiffy Pop look a like balloon could not support the boy's weight. I'm sure we are not going to hear the end of this story and somehow the Heene's will make money from this hoax. Stay tuned... they will be on Larry King soon :)

Fox news & the teabaggers will blame Obama for this. At least it keeps Rush and company off the news for a few days.

might raise a lot of money and partially redeem these scumbags.

She is just as much a part of the freak show that is a daily part of life in the modern day USA.

in person.

so the police during the incident had physicists who estimated it could easily carry a child the size of Falcon.

that the balloon could lift and carry the child away, then they had NO choice available but to follow that dang thing until it landed. IF it could have carried off the child ~~ first priority IMO was to do whatever was necessary to protect the child. There simply to me is no debate over that issue.

Dealing with a hoax, however, is a completely different issue and the parents IMO present a danger to their children.

purposely gave them the wrong dimensions.

But the Alien Autopsy was one of the best hoaxes of all time! One of the best hoaxes of all time!

Well, who among us is surprised? But I feel for those poor kids.

risked. I believe that the FAA had to divert Denver flights - and that moves it into federal jurisdiction.

Hang the fucking asshat - put him away for the maximum number of years and immediately send his kids to foster care. Seize all his property and sell it at auction. Then suspend all but 2 years with the condition that he cannot receive any compensation for his "story", and, for 50 years, cannot appear on any shows or in any movies and cannot grant interviews. If he violates any of the conditions, he goes back in for the full sentence.

MSNBC broke away from The President to cover this.

THAT should tell us a lot about their sense of priorities.

All major cable channels, turn off the President of the United States, we need to follow the fate of a 6 year old in what would have been a freak accident, but, of course, it wasn't.

Fire the folks at the mainstream media, and get someone competent in those jobs.

Four hours of our lives lost to this schmuck and his family.

that a family farm has lost most of this season's winter wheat crop due to the rescue vehicles driving all over their planted fields.

The Heene's didn't care who they hurt in their shameless attempt to gain fame.

week? It seems like many farms can do so this late in the Southwest. There is, after all, only 4 to 10 acres lost to the emergency vehicles and press, and I think taxpayers and media would be willing to pay for a re-planting, including the cost of re-plowing, and re-seeding.

I don't want that family to lose. I am not local, so I don't know how much of a loss it is to this "family".

Can you link me to some credible sources for details?

I have seen many winter wheat crops lost to early snows, to other problems, and re-planting happening in two to four weeks, with little loss.

about not being sure how they are going to proceed; it's somewhere on DU. I don't source every fucking thing I make reference to, if that's ok with your highness.

It's a SERIOUS loss. Farming barely makes money most years for people. And BTW, do you not realize that replanting costs, too?????? The money spent to plant what they did may as well have been stolen right out of their pockets by the Heenes.

"Winter wheat is a type of cereal that is planted from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere. Winter wheat sprouts before freezing occurs, then becomes dormant until the soil warms in the spring. Winter wheat needs a few weeks of cold before being able to flower, however persistent snow cover might be disadvantageous. It is ready to be harvested by early July"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_wheat

Yes, two chronicle years, but it grows and flowers and produces a crop by the following July, when planted in the fall.

Also, I think a few acres used for the "rescue" of the fake balloon boy could be re-planted before Novemeber, and SHOULD be, at a cost to the state and media, and, ultimately, to the father of this balloon boy.

Had the balloon landed in a crop of late harvest feed corn, the corn would be lost, entirely! I'm just suggesting that there is a way of rescuing this field and those few acres, of course, at an expense to someone, and needless, given this foolish father's actions.

In other words, all is NOT lost, but this is a serious property destruction, that needs to be reimbursed.

I don't source every fucking thing I make reference to, if that's ok with your highness.


robo's odd post requesting a detailed accounting of wheat damage as well as the estimated timeframe for crop restoration and then your retort makes this is one of the most hysterical things I've read at DU.



:rofl:

Balloon Landing Turns Crop to Crap

Posted Oct 17th 2009 8:20AM by TMZ Staff

The infamously boy-less balloon caused even more trouble than we thought on Thursday -- because its landing also wreaked havoc on a valuable wheat crop desperately needed by a local family.

TMZ spoke with Doug and Joanna Abbott who told us their 300-acre wheat crop was destroyed mostly by emergency vehicles racing across their field to chase the balloon -- which also caused its fair share of damage.

The couple tells TMZ: "It does make you wonder what kind of attention the family was after by using this little boy."

Sadly, we're told the field only produces a crop of wheat once every two years, which means the couple will have to wait two more years to see the full fruit of their labors ... all because of some giant empty publicity stunt balloon.

We asked if the couple would be considering their legal options -- but they wouldn't say.

From: http://www.tmz.com/2009/10/17/balloon-boy-landing-wheat-crop-destroyed/#ixzz0UK9FjeE7

Otherwise, others will line up with stupid stunts to get Hollywood's attention, and someone's going to get hurt or worse, not to mention the abuse of public services.

things. And the crazier people feel they need to act in order to be the "latest reality-show thing," the more dangerous it all will get.

I think Child Welfare should look into how these kids are being cared for by their vaudeville huckster parents.

Need I add they are some lousy parents who shouldn't have spawned.

Source: BBC

A sheriff in the US state of Colorado says the parents of a boy mistakenly believed to have been carried away by a helium balloon will face charges.

Sheriff Jim Alderden was speaking after interviewing the parents of Falcon Heene, aged six, for a second time.

The boy was feared to have been in a weather balloon which flew away on Thursday, but was later found at home.

Sheriff Alderden had earlier said that he did not think Richard and Mayumi Heene were behind a deliberate hoax.

He has not specified what charges will be brought, but the couple have not been arrested.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8312912.stm

---

also at MSNBC : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33340547/ns/us_news-life/

The article later says..

A search warrant is being obtained for the couple's home in Fort Collins, and Sheriff Alderden raised the possibility of federal charges, saying that he was talking to the Federal Aviation Administration.

How do the media know there's a search warrant pending and what good is it going to do if they have advance notice that enables these fraudsters to hide and/or destroy whatever it is they might be looking for?

Who actually let the fart go? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujE6BRCTvsM

for being picked on by the other white media.

I thought that was a little too obvious.

in this thread, nothing is obvious, intelligence has fled.

He states his marital status as "single." Hmmm must be news to his wife.

http://www.myspace.com/sciencedetective

Holy cow. This was dated October 16th.

This guy is unhinged and I fear his response to all of this. His wife and kids need a safe house. He looks like he will blow anytime.

My sister-in-law had a similar sort of discovery when she looked up her then husband's myspace profile. Aside from "single," I think he had indicated he didn't want kids (they have a daughter). Needless to say, they are no longer married.

As for these morons, I eagerly await a time when the "news" doesn't include them.

Well it could be that he wasn't real computer savy. Maybe single is the default unless you change it to Married - I remember some friends of mine got facebook accts, and it wasn't until a bit after they joined that facebook said so and so is now married - so it was something they had to actively change. And I remember noting that my facebook page defaulted to doesn't want kids, I noticed that and I'd never checked that box.

Although it's lame enough for it to be real. :shrug:

and hurricanes, and stuff.

I doubt it's fake, but it doesn't mention the wife and kids.

They are different. I don't know if he has a Facebook page.

BUT the MySpace page DOES SAY:

"richard's Details
Status: Single
Zodiac Sign: Virgo"

From CNN: Larimer County Colorado Sheriff Jim Alderden Announces Balloon Boy Falcon's Dad Richard Heene To Be Charged: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXt0wZcnr_c

"Read between the lines". Yep, we've been doing that for a couple of days now, about time you caught up.

I think we all got played... yeah the media hyped it, but even the sheriff believe it.

The sheriff is an obvious idiot.

very disappointing, makes me sad.

See if you can follow this:

Do the simple physics.
Do the simple math.
Do a simple observation.

Figured it out yet?
Okay- a little clue:

Ever had a HELIUM BALLOON as a kid?
Ever tried to lift something with it heavier than an ounce or so?

Figured it out yet?

Clue #2:
Figure the VOLUME of the Balloon.

Roughly 15 feet in diameter, 3-5 feet thick at the center, tapering to the sides.

Use the formula for the volume of an ellipsoid (you can find that using Google.) Depending on how generous you want to be with the height and radius values the volume comes out to be between 200 to 300 cubic feet of helium.

Got it yet?

How much does a 6 year old boy WEIGH?

Answer: normally 40 something pounds.

Got it?

Here's what you get when you add this information up.

1 cubic foot of helium can lift .067 pounds (you can check that value using Google.)
A 200 to 300 cubic foot helium balloon can lift no more than 20 pounds.

Of course it was a freakin' hoax. The really sad thing isn't the losers that perpetrated it. What's really sad and SCARY is that the people who are supposed to protect us couldn't figure it out and spent thousands of dollars chasing the damn balloon.

What a freakin' dumbed down country we have become.

landed that it looked too small to lift anything of consequence.

from the talking heads on CNN while the stupid thing was IN the air.

I'm a dumb hick farmer and I could tell something was seriously wrong with the whole scenario. I did have the advantage of helping the meteorological techs launch weather balloons when I was in the service. Very big balloons to lift a really small payload.

Bottom load: Take home message, don't trust the freakin' experts on the telly vision machine to tell you the truth about anything these days. The media is about entertainment not about information.

I like the fact that you admit you've assisted meteorologists in launching such things; this tells me you know things the rest of us poor rubes (99.9% of us) didn't know.

So I can't be too harsh on people who may have been worried about a small child after the initial (seemingly false) report; most folks aren't going to get out the slide rule to figure out gaseous volume and size of balloon, you get what I'm saying?

At least one, if not both, of the parents need jail time and/or to pay for the rescue efforts, near as I can figure. And I am just a dumb hick systems analyst.

I do agree with your final assessment, though. :-)

If I remember correctly, One of the articles I read said they checked with a science teacher (or something like that - don't remember who for sure) and it said a balloon that size could lift 80 lbs, and the boy was 34 lbs. I wish I could remember which article.

Small child and it was reported he was in it ~~ people were concerned.

Asshole parents ~~ those children NEED to be protected from them. What's next? They REALLY put the child in danger?

Sheesh...

and the problem is that in order for that device to lift 80lbs it would have to have a volume of 1200 cu ft. Of course that doesn't factor in the weight of the balloon skin and the compartment under the balloon nor does it consider the fact that the launch was well above sea level which has a significant effect on lift.

That said, the only geometric shape that will give you a volume of 1200 cu ft when you are constrained to the measurements provided by the talking heads on the media during the great balloon hoax is an ellipsoid. If you use the largest dimensions I heard which were 20' in diameter and 5' of height you can get that volume but you have to plug in a value of 3' at the edge of the device. All you have to do is look at a picture to see that isn't accurate. As soon as you change those values to 5' of height and 1' at the edge you're right back at about 20 to 30 lbs of total lift.

Friends I don't have these formulas at my fingertips. There are web sites that provide the formulas, hell they even have calculators that crunch the numbers for you, all you have to do is put in the measurements. Don't trust me, check it out for yourselves.

Most importantly be very leery about trusting the media "experts" these days. Apparently they are part of the entertainment circus and simply say what will bring the most viewership to the program they're on.

Oh, by the way, just in case you missed it. Expert business economists have announced: THE RECESSION IS OVER!!!! Go buy a bunch of shit! (You might want to check that out for yourself rather than just trusting the "experts")

who supported the whole hoax during the news cycle. If that's the best they can do in calling BS on something that even I could figure out then how the bleep are we supposed to trust these "experts" on issues like the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, the threat of WMDs, etc. etc.

I must admit this situation and the media (with their pet experts) response to it really has me creeped out.

an "expert" that didn't even have a TV on.

photo processing at the time. It didn't act like it had any weight inside. It kept rolling. I didn't think the kid was inside. I told my wife and someone here that I thought the kid let it go then hid when he realized he was in trouble.

Even though I couldn't tell the size, the partially inflated envelope and the actions of the balloon made me think there was no passenger. Even a string on a kids balloon weighs down the balloon to the point where it acts bottom heavy.

Once it was aloft, it was extremely hard to tell exactly how large it was with no frame of reference. It wasn't apparent how small it was until it was on the ground.

But the family knew exactly how big it was (they probably even had drawings) and I find it hard to believe that, having just filled it with helium, they didn't know that it was barely able to lift its own weight, let alone a six year old child. I mean c'mon, anyone who has ever played with a helium balloon has an idea of its buoyancy just from handling it. Did they provide any of this information to the police? Apparently not.

I agree with the kid: "We did this for a show."

bank on the general stupidity of the media, and the failure of law enforcement to ask for the exact dimensions of the "flying saucer."

A perfect storm of fools.

We're like retarded monkeys compared with them.

Dark Ages indeed.

This type of minutia is never recorded historically.

You mean while their societies were busy torturing people? Oh, wait...

:thumbsup:

It looked like one of those old "own your own UFO" baloons. It didn't look like it would have been able to carry a ham sandwich much less a kid without collapsing instantly.

And, cops not being physicists, it would have taken some time to get a physicist to do the math. When it was up in the air, they had no reason to think the Heene's were scumsucking liars.

Source: Associated Press

Fort Collins, Colo. - A sheriff said Saturday that his office will file criminal charges in the case of a 6-year-old boy who vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

After the boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with sheriff's officials for much of the afternoon, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be, but he did say the parents spoke to investigators voluntarily and weren't under arrest.

Alderden previously said that if the balloon ordeal was a hoax, the parents could be charged with making a false report to authorities, a low-level misdemeanor.

"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said Saturday. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-balloon-boy18-2009oct18,0,1099334.story

"Ha Ha!"

I'm real tired of that mentality. If they made a false report, and I am not convinced it was knowingly false yet, then charge them with a misdemeanor, which is what is merited.

what is it, anyway?

I'm worried about the kids - Falcon, especially. Who knows if he will be blamed for the reveal, and who knows how he might pay.

We DUers are so vicious sometimes. How is that a progressive attitude?

This is not a violent crime, whatever it is. It deserves a formal rebuke but not time in the pen. I'd rather see Dick Cheney there!

The woman who swapped with the wife said little Falcon uses a lot of bad language. That's not good, but it's not criminal. But, coupled with how they let the little guy barf on tv without batting an eye, this should set off a red flag. Maybe CPS needs to take a look at the family, for the good of the children.

Who knows what his father threatened him with?

they DEFINITELY should get time, even if it's just a couple of weeks.

false reporting is also a misdemeanor in my jurisdiction. (fwiw, lie to the feds and it's a felony. they are WAY harsher).

it only becomes a felony in many jusrisdictions, if the false statement is sworn and made under the penalty of perjury.

regardless, false reporting, whether it's the duke "rape" case, or any other false report, diverts govt. resources from REAL crime in order to investigate the false crime. in cases like the duke case, it's especially odious, because it directly harms the falsely accused. in this case, that aint the case, but it is still an attempt to pervert the justice system and deserves SOME time.

when law enforcement speaks to (alleged) victims, they operate under the assumption that they are being told the truth. and when "victims" make up stories, it perverts the system.

it needs to be dealt with.

prosecutors are generally loathe to charge people for false reporting in many cases (rape, DV) because it's politically incorrect. and that's horseshit.

but this case doesn't even meet those criteria.

IF it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that daddy knowingly made false material statements to cops about his "missing" son, he should be punished.

and I'm no authority.

IF it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly provided false material statements to police, he should be punished.

the word IF shows that i personally have not come to that conclusion one way or the other.

iow, i agree.

that are fraudulent. I am the subject of one such case. No way should any attorney be allowed to publicly libel people in order to help him and his client shake down an insurance company.

but they should have to pay for all the manpower and money that was devoted to saving Falcon.

that lost a whole field of winter wheat to their shenanigens.

Tens of thousands of resources were wasted chasing the balloon, flights from Denver International Airport were grounded, and the poor family who owns the farm where the balloon landed has lost their crop for the year thanks to all the police vehicles chasing the balloon.

Deterrence is necessary in this situation. If these wackos get away with a fine and nothing more they'll concoct another twisted scheme to get themselves on tv.

1) I don't want to discourage people from making reports to the police. I don't want the slightest fear in their head that if they screw up an honest report somehow they end in jail.

2) follow the appropriate law. This is a misdemeanor. I'm sick of "creative" prosecutions using laws and regulations for purposes they were never intended for.

3) I am not convinced this was a hoax yet. I can come up with scenarios either way.

4) I am not convinced the jailing these parents will do anything but annihilate these children.

5) I am truly tired of America's need to apply maximal punishments in every situation.

Unless you have some truly novel argument, You will not convince me otherwise. As such, have a good night.

I assume making a false report to the police has this one year maximum.

If by some miracle it turns out it wasn't a hoax, then of course they shouldn't be jailed. They'll get a trial like anyone else. If they are found to be guilty then, if I were the judge, I would sentence them to the maximum sentence available under the law, and require restitution for all the money they caused to be wasted.

I also hope the family that owns the farm finds a good lawyer to sue the Heenes for causing the destruction of their crops and property.

Not that these are such great parents

I agree that jail will not solve this. They need to fine his ass to recoup the money the Colorado taxpayers spent on his little adventure.

"You said we did it for a show..."

people who call the FAA to report a pilotless balloon loose
are guilty of a felony?

really? are you sure about that?

They are talking about charging him with a class 4 federal for his false report to the FAA.

2 other class 3 felonies (conspiracy and endangering a child) and a misdemeanor (filing a false 911 report).

class 0 is about his class, i figure.

yea, it looks like the sheriff, stinging with embarrassment
and humiliation for his incompetent handling of the matter
will seek to have those charges filed. Obviously
the sheriff doesn't want to pay for the crop damages
his clowns unnecessarily caused.

so he'll try to press charges, but will the DA file them?

They better have a lot more than we've seen so far before
they file, or we might just have to make a law prohibiting
idiots from filing charges in such circumstances.

The family committed a fraud. Period.

by the vehicles- this lowers the yields for decades unless expensive deep plowing is done which costs lots of $$$

Why is locking people up so desirous to so many? Is it because causing others pain makes others feel better some how? Locking them up will cost a hell of a lot more than giving them the psychological help they obviously need.

If you just fine these nutjobs, they'll see it as nothing more than a cost of doing business. This whole charade was an audition for a reality tv show. They had been pitching a show for months and weren't getting anywhere, so they figured (correctly) that this was a good way to get attention. What's to stop them from pulling shit like this again?

vigilante justice, but some just call it
a lynch mob. Why mince words?

As I said up-thread, they're entitled to a trial like anyone else. If they're not found guilty, I have no problem with letting them go free to cause more trouble (except I'll still hope they're found civilly liable for ruining the farm family's crops).

I don't think it is over the top at all.
If you had ever watched the dynamics of a lynching,
particularly one orchestrated by the media, you
wouldn't either.

But, although I replied to an individual post I should
make clear I was not referring to any specific poster.
Truly.

But since you specifically mention it, your hope that they must pay for
the crop damage either pre-judges their fault, or assesses
liability arbitrarily irrespective of fault. Don't you see that?
Isn't this "shoot, aim, think" response getting it backwards?

Here, at a minimum, negligence is clear.

instigating a massive police chase, which results in substantial damages to the farm family victims.

If that's your case, you better settle.

no negligence
no causation
no case.

Let's assume this was all one big mistake. The negligence is still obvious.

Would a reasonable person keep a giant balloon in the backyard? If so, would that reasonable person put a chamber in the giant balloon capable of holding one of his own kids? If so, would that reasonable person keep the balloon in such a manner that the kid had open access to it? If so, would that reasonable person fail to ensure that his kid was not in the balloon? If so, would the reasonable person fail to secure the giant balloon?

What caused the farmers' crops to be ruined? Would they have been ruined but for Mr. Heene's conduct?

This is pretty close to an open and shut case. If you're still not convinced, I'm sorry.

'Open and shut' isn't a case, its the clear sign of no case.

None of those things you mention are, in themselves,
acts of negligence. It seems to me that 'but for' the
police trampling the crops the crops wouldn't have
been trampled.

Again, what fact are you relying on that demonstrates
clear negligence? What connection to the damaged crops.

The fact that someone owns a balloon?
That a balloon got loose?
That someone has a six year old that is missing?
That police trampled crops (they do that all the time for fun).

Next you'll be telling me that an automobile collision
is evidence of 'clear' negligence, open and shut. Its not.

Sorry if (through bizarre logic) you don't agree with the above,
yet even if there were a case of negligence here that would survive
summary judgement, declaring its outcome before trial as a pretext
for vigilante justice, for encouraging a mob to denounce and
inflict harm on a family... is just wrong.
Can we agree on that much?

were for filling up our jails with so everyone would see how 'tough on crime' they were. No wonder we have the highest prison population in the world. It's the solution for everything. It's scary really.

As for filing false reports being a crime in this country? Apparently only if you're one of the little guys.

Presidents can make false reports that get us into two wars, get over one million people killed and nothing happens. Yellowcake, mushroom clouds!! Look at what those false reports cost.

The media focused on this story and now everyone is screaming for revenge without any thought about what throwing their parents in jail would do to those children. Yet, the welfare of the children is supposedly why everyone paid so much attention to this story!

Meantime the same media has never once encouraged even an indictment of those who lied to get us into war.

Fake concern over something like this serves to keep the American people outraged over comparatively minor incidents so they don't have to focus on the real crimes. Imagine if all this air time were given to the lies that killed over one million human beings. I think I'll reserve my outrage for real crimes, committed intentionally with full knowledge of the devastation and toll on human lives, those lies would create.

(i still presume it was just a lost balloon
and a lost kid, all over-hyped by the media)

House arrest, mandatory counseling, parenting classes, etc. Tearing families apart just leads to long term problems. Or do you suggest we just lock the kids up now too? Prison and foster care are more costly in dollars and psychological damage.

Perhaps need to figure out why people are feeling this need for fame or infamy. These kind of stories are becoming all to frequent. This week we had lotto woman, TSA woman and UFO man.

Hells no. Lockup isn't the answer and will just make them martyrs. Let them calculate the cost to the taxpayers and garnish the bastard for the rest of his natural life.

More usefully, also make them liable for the entire cost of the search operations.

... it was knowingly false. For crying out loud.

that thinks these parents didn't commit fraud. They did. There is no doubt of it now.

with some real criminals, like Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld eg. Cheney can shoot someone in the face, not to mention his war crimes, and nothing happens.

The worst this guy may have done was to participate in a publicity stunt. Big deal. We have people dying every day for lack of healthcare and no one responsible for that tragedy has had the book thrown at them.

I frankly think everyone ought to get their priorities in order and leave this family alone. They are a little different than the average family, but that isn't a crime. America can not laugh at itself. The child is safe, punishing the father will really be a punishment for the six-year-old who will forever believe he got his father in trouble. Anyone who's been around a lot of 6 year-olds knows that they are very capable of assessing a situation like this and ending up blaming themselves.

So much concern yesterday for the child, today the child doesn't matter.

Yet that apparently included ruining a farm family's income for the year and damaging their ability to produce income for years ahead.

Who knows if those yoyos even have enough money to compensate the farm family for that? Or when and if they'll ever receive it?

Is that your idea of no harm?

This publicity stunt will have ramifications for that farm family for quite some time and the Heene's need to be held responsibile for the damage their little stunt caused. The farm damage is the saddest part of this whole affair imo.

on edit: the possible abuse of the kids/wife is also very troubling, didn't mean to suggest that the farm damage is the only issue of concern in this event.

Plus they shut down DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

assinine stunt. It just pisses me off to no end.

Property damage is harmful financially, but can be fixed. I would like to see some coverage of the crimes that have taken the lives of so many innocent people. Even half the coverage this story received would be nice.

How about some coverage of the children in Afghanistan who are dying of starvation, being sold by their parents in an effort to try to save their lives. Or how about using some of the time given to this story, to the facts about the people of Afghanistan, few of whom are without some deformity, missing limbs, missing fingers etc. (those who are still alive) as a result of the bombings we pay for? What about THEIR farms? Polluted now by whatever deadly chemicals we are spreading all over the world from our bombs etc.

Sorry, I just can't get excited over this story when I see how little the media and apparently even Democrats care about human beings dying, being tortured, poisoned by DU, children playing with parts of bombs etc. I also believe that no one cares about this farmer and all the concern now being expressed is just a way to justify the totally out of proportion coverage of a story that no one will even be thinking about in a couple of weeks. And not one of those using his situation will remember his name once the cameras are gone. By then we'll be on to the next 'outrage' and the same people, hooked on TV drama, will move on along with the media to wherever they go next.

I feel the most sorry for the boy - who, if it is as many of us suspect - being forced to lie to the police.

They are frauds.

I didn't think it would be long before the law descended upon them. And they deserve it. What a classy act.

And the kids should be taken away.

This seems like a case where money for services not rendered to others by authorities busy on this matter must also be addressed.

Another thing I thought of - could the father be abusive towards the little boy - if he was running and hiding from his father for 6 hours - that seems rather extreme, and throwing up when questioned - possibly worried his father would get mad at him - or maybe he's just extra sensitive. Either way I think it should be looked into.

Meg

But I'm assuming, and that's kind of lame on my part. But that's what the little voice in my head said.

It's a lousy story. And I think those kids are being used as props/shields for their potential benefit/fame.

when I first saw this story, a day after it first started, I felt strongly there was something wrong with it.

Just like when I first saw Susan Smith pleading for some carjacker to return her kid, I knew there was something wrong.

Sometimes it helps not to be caught up in the hype of a story as it first develops.

They are the real victims in this mess.

who will love and provide for the kids? A better solution would be probation and restitution rather than the big house. The kids need the parents. But if the allegations of parental abuse can be strongly proven then I'd support foster care.

:toast:

What makes you think that?

I'm sick of the pieces of sh*t who hide behind their kids whenever they're caught stealing, writing bad checks or in this case pulling off a massive publicly stunt that not only played with people's emotions but caused the taxpayers a huge amount of money.

Remember these dirt bags had their kid hiding in a box in the attic for hours and coached their kids to lie not only to the media but law enforcement.

Child Protective Service exists to remove children from parents who are either reckless or incapable of raising children. The kids should be removed until the parents have a mental evaluation, complete counseling and complete a court ordered parenting class.

Now that the lie-detecting law enforcement has busted the Heene parents, I wonder if any charges for child endangerment would be sought for the Heenes taking the kids to storms.

Actually, there may be ground yet to cover, though where it goes I don't think I want to know.

who knew they were on a reality TV show were the family.

Next up, NO ONE KNOWS! :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLh53EAZSLw

odd people. to say the least. they seem to like publicity.

and you can play the balloon boy game online
http://www.balloonboygame.com/

He knew exactly how to trigger the scatterbrained "ooh, SHINY" reaction of the MSM.

Jeez, anyone with a brain could have realized that a small balloon cannot lift a child.

i don't know the climate but the balloon had a very large surface area--- like a parachute... and not being familiar with the Wizard Of Oz, i don't know if a balloon as defined in many of these replies ASSISTED BY STRONG WINDS could have lifted or carried a small child.

i have seen parachutists carried miles sideways by the wind WHILE SCIENCE would tell us they should be falling at some specific rate

"i have seen parachutists carried miles sideways by the wind WHILE SCIENCE would tell us they should be falling at some specific rate"

Please say this isn't serious.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

but for once I refrained from voicing my opinions till now...

I mean, "wife swap" and the other reality TV crap?!!!

And people think he's NOT a publicity hound?!!!

Seriously?!!!

I would think that they are UNFIT PARENTS, too!

Those poor kids - now THEY will have warped senses of the world and how to behave and properly interact with people...

I don't usually watch wife swap, but happened to catch the episode years ago that those whackos were in... as soon as I saw the headline (after the fact) about the kid in the balloon, I assumed the story was a hoaxed pile of BS, because the parents were such attention seeking idiots.

Worst part...charges or no--those two asses will still end up with a show, or some form of vast income as a reward for their deception, EVEN if they go to prison.

I am SOOOO sick of the loonies running (and profiting from) the asylum :(

...all are quite young and even if their parents deserve to be charged, it still sucks for the kids.

Or for people who will befriend them in the future. Have they been taught to do everything "for the show?"

They haven't lost any credibility because of this.

show what amounts to one of the biggest farces of the decade, since the US Supreme Court declared Bush a winner in 2000?

To be punk'd means to have been fooled. They took the bait hook, line and sinker. Dropping everything else to carry the story coast to coast of the boy in the runaway balloon, only he wasn't. It was all a fabricated story which took two-weeks of planning to come to fruition.

If that's not the definition of being fooled I don't know what is.

I have no patience for people who stage stuff and commit what amounts to fraud.

This stunt cost taxpayers enough money. Lock 'em up, and I don't care to read people chastising me for my opinion.

No, not really. I just can't see the value to anyone in pursuing criminal charges here. What it boils down to is that a lot of people (including me) were apparently punk'd -- and when you embarrass people in positions of authority (obviously NOT including me), you've got to expect they're going to be looking for generous amounts of salve for their bruised egos.

Restitution, sure. The Child Services people should probably be casting an eye in Heine's direction, too. Granted, he appears to be a 100% publicity-seeking flake, but that isn't against the law.

And I don't think the sheriff's office or any of the other agencies involved should feel any embarrassment over this, anyway. They all did exactly what they should have done, given the flawed information they were apparently working with.

(That's today's opinion. Should it come out that M/M Heine purposefully gave Falcon a dose of Ipecac before the interviews, I'll even contribute the rope.)

And hang a few frools too, just cause they are too
damn stupid to be worth keeping in the gene pool.

That ought to put the half-wits on their toes too, some of
them need to do a better job pretending intelligence,
lest they be next.

hey.

BY NATE TAYLOR • OCTOBER 19, 2009

=snip=

When asked if investigators and prosecutors were likely to meet this week, Jensen said she could not answer that question with any certainty.

In a statement to the media, sheriff's spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said the meeting won't take place until next week.

"We know many of you are remaining in the area in anticipation of the arrest of the Heenes," Campanella said. "In deference to your schedules, we want you to know that we do not anticipate completing our reports and presenting this case filing to the district attorney until next week.

Jensen also said a court file has not yet been created in the Heene case.

"There will not be a court file until charges are actually filed or an arrest has been made," she said.

A copy of the search warrant sheriff's investigators obtained on Saturday is not available to the public.

More: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091019/UPDATES01/91019009/Balloon+boy+update++No+meeting+between+sheriff++prosecutors+until+next+week

but lots of money spent unnecessarily from being punked
by the media, punked by his staff, and punked by his punk.
the poor pathetic twit.

so naturally, he must spend whatever it takes to assemble
a mountain of evidence... mountains
which adds up to... pffffui.

great going idiot.

along with a fine of about 100k.

The Sheriff may be talking a tough game right now because he's pissed off about being played, but none of the charges (save filing a false police report) really have any merit. Attempting To Influence A Public Servant is a bribery or intimidation charge, and seems to have no real applicability to this case. Contributing To The Deliquency Of A Minor will be nearly impossible to prove, since it's not illegal to tell your kids to lie, since the kid didn't actually do anything dangerous, and since the 5th protects against making statements to the police that are self incriminating anyway. Conspiracy is a secondary charge that requires the prosecutor to show that one of the two other charges were pre-planned...if the other charges don't stand, conspiracy falls along with hit.

Heene was a jerk, but it's not illegal to be a jerk. What the sheriff SHOULD do is file a civil claim against the family for the expenses related to the search. He'll be working triple jobs for the next 20 years to pay THAT off.