6-year-old boy floats away in balloon- Page 7

[Bluemoon]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 1:30pm

The sheriff now says that it was all a "hoax and a publicity stunt". More serious charges than previously thought will be forthcoming.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/18/colorado.balloon.investigation/index.html
Updated On: 10/18/09 at 01:30 PM

[otis33]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 1:47pm

They believe the kids were totally involved and knew what was happening! These kids need to be taken away from the parents and given a chance at a good, sane & honest life.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 1:50pm

I seriously hope Federal charges will be filed and we can finally rid ourselves of these people from the collective consciousness of society once and for all.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 2:04pm

That's one busted dad. Look at the body language of the boys. They're miserable. Mom is very tense.

Updated On: 10/18/09 at 02:04 PM

[romantico]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 2:25pm

The Dad is still insisting it was not a hoax.Have they said what confirmed it for the police? Wonder if the Mom or the kids confessed. I have no idea what the plan was suppose to be. Was it just for publicity or was there suppose to be more of the hoax that never unfolded? I wish all the details would come out ASAP so we could move on.

[danmag]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 2:57pm

Any father that would set his 6 year old son up to have to lie to the police and the media is so beyond f*cked up that I can't even imagine.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:13pm

I'd wondered if he's an abusive SOB. Yes, he is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LAH6_KdUZ8

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:28pm

I want them dead.

[danmag]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:35pm

I hope he gets shivved in prison....

[Kalimba]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:49pm

The father should be placed on death row for that hideous early 90s hairdo he's been sporting. Or, put him in a balloon and pop it when it's at 10,000 feet.

[danmag]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:54pm

ROFL Kalimba!!!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 3:59pm

I knew there was no kid in that baloon, especially after I saw the footage of the thing taking off. It was far to light and bouncy to have an 70 lbs kid in it.

And when the dad came out yesterday with a box for questions, I knew he was going to rehearse the answers with his kid.

He's a major douche.

Updated On: 10/18/09 at 03:59 PM

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 6:26pm

LOL, Diva! That kid can't weigh 70 lbs! My son is 6 and weighs about 45 lbs. But I do see your point.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/18/09 at 6:45pm

And watch this...

I sure see some kid sticking his own (middle) finger in his mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvARUAlMQF0

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 9:33am

Now we have Dan Abrams on NBC basically attacking the Sheriff for making too much of this. This from a major media outlet -- of the four big networks who benefitted from the story, of course. Irony isn't lost on me. (MSNBC gave over 2 hours to cover it, and got record ratings.)

We hear so much about "the book being thrown" at certain offenders to set an example. So I say, throw the book bigtime here. To stop the insane sense of entitlement in this culture -- that everyone gets not only their 15 minutes of media attn, but an effing reality show to self-promote. I want to see serious charges filed so that this sort of instant exploitation of our collective curiosity -- and our empathy -- ceases. Full disclosure: I was one of the hoodwinked who watched part of the damend thing unfold. As a parent, I was deeply shaken thinking that boy's lifeless body might've been pulled out of that balloon base when it hit the ground (and feel especially stupid now learning what was obvious all along: that no passenger could ride in the cardboard box. Not even a cat.)

Let's throw some kind of book at these people and make them pay, at least financially. As it now unfolds, they are only getting more publicity. No doubt the Sheriff will become a new "enemy" in this story, and this sorry 15 minutes will extend. It's an appalling commentary on our times; let's at least learn a half a lesson from it, and block the next set of narcissists who feel entitled to having a camera on them for an entire afternoon.

[Bluemoon]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 9:48am

Excellent post, Auggie!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 10:41am

And let's throw a book at Dan Abrams while we're at it.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 10:45am

I say we send them up to space to live on Mars and never let them return. They'll love it and we won't have to hear from them or care about them ever again.

Yes, I am aware that they can run out of oxygen and whatever else up there.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 10:46am

I think the world would benefit greatly if all of bigwigs, narcissists, entitlement cases, crackpots and whoever else it is who brings down the class average would be put on a volcanic island. And then there's a huge eruption that creates painful havoc and causes the island to sink into the sea.

Edit: Marianne2, I like your idea also. Updated On: 10/19/09 at 10:46 AM

[mominator]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 12:56pm

Agree totally Auggie, and a very grand idea Marianne2

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 1:46pm

I see the video in which the kids use the word 'faggot' is now pulled off of Youtube...

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 3:39pm

I was in Vegas when this happened and they broke in on the local news with the story. We were just about to head out of the hotel room. We watched about 10 minutes of it and left. By the time we got downstairs, people were already talking about it.

Here in Denver on the local news, they are listing the cost of all of this on the news. I heard it even affected DIA. Today they showed a neighbor attacking a member of the media. What they are saying is that the neighbors of this family are really ticked off because they took time out to look for the little boy only to find out it was a publicity stunt. They still haven't said what the charges will be but their attorney said that they are willing to turn themselves in.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 3:42pm

So they've actually admitted that it was a hoax?

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 4:07pm

That's what the local news is saying.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=125302&catid=339

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 4:18pm

One of my coworkers was trying to fly back to Chicago from Denver when all this was going on. Most flights out of Denver were delayed because of this stunt.

$500,000 and 6 years sounds pretty lenient to me, especially when the parents involved their children as well.