Balloon Episode a Publicity Stunt?

[Kermit]

IMO, one of the better articles about the hoax

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and- ... sh/?cid=hp<img src="/images/chat/Emoticon14.gif">eastoriginalsR1

Good article but I take exception to the statement that the parents should lose their children.

[JDinSD77]

I used to know David Lane, the family's attorney now, back in the day and I can tell you if he's involved there's some prospects of big money coming to the family. It's sick what this country or world has come down to, the generating of money based on anything scandalous or as unseemly as all get out. I actually don't blame the family. I blame any corporation that pays or better said rewards these stunts. People make a big deal of the Gosselin's making a million or two from TLC for their show, but don't realize they make many more millions off their "fake exclusive" interviews with the mags and the rags that shovel the **** down our throats. Seacrest out....

[Thinkinproblem]

He is just a reeking slime bucket of a dad to sell his kid for a greasy buck. That kid is going to be called Balloon Boy all his life--there must be child therapists lined up at their front door and around the block.

I have a problem with networks who decided to "cover" the original story. Was there any Journalism practiced? Did any of the networks bother gathering facts? So a bright silver thing was floating through the air! So what! This freak of a dad made absolute fools of the tv stations. I hope this can serve as a lesson to them not to go drooling after ridiculous stories.

[MaryS]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/12/bal ... index.html

Jiffy_Pop

Lawyer: 'Balloon boy' parents to plead guilty to hoax-related charges
November 12, 2009 9:45 a.m. EST

(CNN) -- The Colorado parents in last month's notorious "balloon boy" case will plead guilty to offenses for creating a hoax that their son had flown away in a large balloon.

Richard and Mayumi Heene are to plead Friday morning in Larimer County Court, according to a statement issued by Richard Heene's attorney.

Mayumi Heene is expected to plead guilty to an offense of false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor of the lowest level, according to the attorney.

Richard Heene is expected to plead guilty to a felony offense of attempting to influence a public servant.

Though the Heenes could receive jail time for the charges, the prosecutor has recommended probation, Richard Heene's attorney said.

The threat of deportation for Mayumi Heene was a factor in the plea deal negotiation, the attorney's statement said.

"Mayumi Heene is a citizen of Japan. As such, any felony conviction or certain misdemeanors would result in her deportation, even though her husband and children are Americans," the statement said.

"It is supremely ironic that law enforcement has expressed such grave concern over the welfare of the children, but it was ultimately the threat of taking the children's mother from the family and deporting her to Japan which fueled this deal."

Prosecutors in the case could not be immediately reached for comment.

On October 16, a large silver balloon came loose from moorings in the Heenes' yard and floated over Colorado. Mayumi Heene called 911 and said the couple's 6-year-old son Falcon was inside the craft.

Millions of people across the country watched the saga on television for nearly two hours as military aircraft tracked the balloon in the air and rescuers chased it on the ground.

Mayumi Heene later admitted the whole thing was a hoax and that Falcon was safe in their home the whole time, authorities said.

Watch the moment the hoax was revealed http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/12/bal ... index.html

Court documents released last month said the couple hatched the plan about two weeks before the incident and "instructed their three children to lie to authorities as well as the media regarding this hoax."

Their motive? To "make the Heene family more marketable for future media interests," the documents said.