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If the balloon boy's parents are guilty of a hoax...


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What seemed peculiar to me was the father's reaction.."Man.." sighing, then seeming very uncomfortable and awkward, and rambling on about things that seemed to have nothing to do with the boy's answer or even related to the question. There could have been any number of responses that would have seemed more normal-- asking the child what he meant if he didn't know, or if he did understand, explaining it to the interviewer, etc. I just felt that the man's demeanor totally changed when the boy said that, like it took all the air out of the room. It is interesting that the other boys didn't react. I would have thought that they would have been unable to control that. On the other hand they didn't seem completely tuned in during the interview, either, so maybe it slipped past them, or else maybe since they were older, they were able to keep a straight face and just keep quiet. I don't know for sure, of course, but I would think that in interviews with the family and looking at various videotapes, police will be able to tell whether or not this was a hoax. While this videotape obviously has made them look more closely at the family, I'm sure that the conclusion will not be based solely on what the boy said.

 

Gotcha. Looks like you were right. They are now saying that charges will be filed, though not what charges.

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I was rewatching some of the video clips, and I saw that the one where the father is holding his son and starts crying and saying that he was sorry for yelling--well, it looks really fake. I know, hindsight and all that, but did anyone else notice?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/16/colorado.balloon.boy/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

 

Yes. I watched it as it aired live right after they "found him" and started suspecting a hoax then.

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I was rewatching some of the video clips, and I saw that the one where the father is holding his son and starts crying and saying that he was sorry for yelling--well, it looks really fake. I know, hindsight and all that, but did anyone else notice?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/16/colorado.balloon.boy/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

 

 

No. That won me over and I had to rethink my initial emotions. That clip made me pause. It felt genuine. of course, now I am back to thinking they are vapid and shallow and watch too much TV.

Edited by LibraryLover
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It is being reported that charges against the father will be filed on Monday. They were looking into federal charges since the local charges for a hoax would be only a misdemeanor. The federal charges would probably be something like sending aloft unauthorized aircraft and interference with air traffic (since they had to divert planes going to the Denver airport).

 

I also read an article from a person Richard Heene hired to prepare a script for a show he wanted to have made. His description of Richard Heene and his dealings with him seem like he may very well have mental health issues, possibly bipolar.

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I met a young man about a month ago who was involved in sending up weather balloons, and we discussed his and similar projects, and one thing he said was that they do something (that's very cheap and easy, I think just involving pieces of aluminum foil or something) to comply with air traffic guidelines, so I don't think it's unknown in the ballooning community.

 

I am not a big fan of making people pay for being rescued, but when someone knows at the time that the call is made that no help is required OR goes out of their way to break laws (e.g. tresspassing) to get into a situation, I think it's only fair that they take financial responsibility. If someone's child is really upstairs sleeping without anyone knowing it and no one can find that child, that's not the same as deceptively calling the police. What happened was troubling in any event.

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Well, the Sheriff has finally come to the conclusion that it was a hoax.....I know last night he said he was filing charges, but still couldn't quite say the word hoax.....now he finally has. About time.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_balloon_boy

 

 

And they are going all out in their recommendations for charges:

 

 

Child Protective Services is investigating the children's "well being".

 

Even though the children were a part of the lie, no charges are being filed against them because of their age. I'm glad about that, as I think it's obvious to everyone who watched Falcon barf on TV twice that HE is already feeling guilty about his part it in, but like a "good son" he did what he was told. I just hope that these boys gets some guidance about how to choose between doing what's right and doing what an adult tells you to do. A VERY difficult concept for children to handle....heck, even some adults have trouble with the "what's right vs. what your boss tells you".

 

I also hope that Falcon gets some help for even more emotions he's going to have to deal with over the next many months as he watches his parents go through the legal system and all because of his comment. I'm sure that's not going to be easy to handle for someone so young, and it's going to take a lot of help for him to understand that the fault for the parents going to jail is on the parents, not on a little boy for telling the truth (or slipping the truth out accidently). I see a very mixed up kid if this isn't handled correctly.

 

Also a bit worried about the other two boys....I totally understand that they lied because they were told to do so by their parents.....but the fact that they did not even react when Falcon slipped up was brought up many times as pointing to it NOT being a lie.....and now of course that gets turned around to the thought that these boys are so GOOD or at least so COMFORTABLE at lying that they don't react when someone screws up and their lie is exposed.

 

Another thing that I read was that the police were called to the house sometime last year for a domestic dispute....the wife had a slight injury but refused to press charges so everything was dropped (sadly very common in abuse cases). Makes you wonder if part of the reason the kids lied so easily was fear. Shudder.

 

Well, this story is going to be widespread for a long time....I hope that it plays out better for the children than my skeptical brain is jumping to conclusions.

 

 

Ok...and how many of us are also sighing with relief that this family didn't homeschool? I know with their rather offbeat lifestyle there was questions early on about it, and of course we all worry when the homeschool card is played, lol. :001_huh: The sad part was that this dad seemed to be teaching his kids a lot of science after school, normally a great thing and something sorely lacking in the average public school family.....it's all the other stuff he was teaching that was the bad part.

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If you really want to get a glimpse into the life of the Heene family just watch that episode of "Wife Swap". It was very revealing. On the show, his wife appears to go along with everything especially the idea of no rules. I think the husband actually has some kind of personality disorder and it overtakes everyone and everything around him. I think the wife probably does not have a mind of her own and has been living in his shadow. I wonder what would happen if she woke up and thought for herself? Regardless she still is responsible for exposing her kids to this kind of dangerous behavior especially driving into storms etc.

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I'm happy to hear this. In addition to all the time and costs involved in the rescue, delayed flights, etc. I read that the balloon caused major damage to the wheat field it landed it, destroying a farmers income.

 

Very bizarre story (behavior) and what a sad situation for the kids.

 

 

I am also very glad to hear he is being charged. I hope they add in damages to award the farmer. What an #$@

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