Sheriff suspects a "media outlet" was in on the Balloon Boy hoax

[LostInAnomie]

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 17 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091018/ap_on_re_us/us_balloon_boy

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The parents who set off a worldwide drama by reporting their 6-year-old son was inside a flying saucer-like helium balloon hurtling over Colorado concocted the stunt to market themselves for a television show, a sheriff said Sunday.

Alderden said the alleged hoax had been planned for at least two weeks and that investigators suspect that other individuals and a "media outlet" that he would not name were in on it.

"We do understand, looking at some of the documents already, that at least one of the media outlets has agreed to pay them some money with regards to this particular incident," Alderden said.

He said he was not talking about a news organization, but "there are so many of these shows that kind of blur the line between entertainment and news."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much do you want to bet it was TLC or one of the other reality show channels?

[mucifer]

1. I think I'd rather see a media outlet prosecuted than the family.

It would be fun.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Do both.

We can do both.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. i vote for both.

das parents were bahstahds. And now that kid's life will be pretty much ruined. Balloon Boy? Fraudster? Gas man? Don't mind him, he a floater. No, he's in the attic.

[imdjh]

15. Third to both. And I do mean both, the whole fam damnly

[Obamanaut]

18. Another for both, with a 'rec' nt

[Crabby Appleton]

38. both nt

[Maru Kitteh]

61. put me down for BOTH also n/t

[Drunken Irishman]

2. Sue 'em.

Ruin 'em and give their kids to competent parents.

[imdjh]

17. Take away KUSA's helicopter and their pilot's license.

[951-Riverside]

34. Why?

Richard heene was the one who called media outlets (before calling 911) and told that his son was in a balloon. They like most people in the country honestly thought this kid was in the balloon. I don't see what they did wrong, they actually helped rescue crews by tracking it.

[we can do it]

55. +1

[gateley]

3. I was wrong - I gave the family the benefit of the doubt.

When will I ever learn?

[imdjh]

19. You're probably a good person. I'm not. I made up my mind about these folks on sight.

[Drunken Irishman]

26. Yeah...you're an asshole.

:D

[gateley]

35. Hey! You're a good person, just more discerning than I am,

which is a GOOD thing!

[Marr]

62. Oops- mispost. :p

Oops-

[stray cat]

46. thankfully thats why he is a police chief and I hope you are not.

[Regret My New Name]

22. Nothing wrong with giving the benefit of the doubt...

It's only a problem if you don't get rid of the doubt when the evidence becomes clear.

[gateley]

36. Well put. nt

[PatSeg]

44. I did too

as I've seen the media go after parents too many times when they were already under a lot of stress. I hate assuming the worst of people.

[gateley]

47. I think a big part of my problem is that I can't imagine doing

'whatever' myself, so I assume others wouldn't do it either. How's that for naive? :hi:

[PatSeg]

54. Same here

and I have a very vivid imagination. This family just seems so surreal to me.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. I'd say "unbelievable," but really, nothing is unbelievable any more.

I live in a constant state of shock.

[depakid]

7. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest

[panader0]

8. I thought I heard that millions were spent by the government over this

The FAA was hoxed, which is a very serious crime. Dad should lawyer up.

[Democrats_win]

9. What about the farmer's field where the balloon landed?

No one has said if all of those rescue cars driving through the field did any damage to the farmer's crops. Maybe the field was fallow.

The possibility of damage to the crops is probably the only real damage in this case. The rescuers were already on the job and would have been paid anyway. The whole thing put money in the media's pockets because people tuned in.

I feel for these people because the Larimer county sheriff is a piece of work himself. It's like a perfect mini-storm. The sheriff once had a running feud with bicyclists from a neighboring county over riding two abreast. The state legislature later legalized the practice under certain conditions.

[eShirl]

11. I read a news story that the family's wheat field was ruined

mostly by all the rescue, etc., vehicles

and that the field only has a crop every other year (not sure the details of why)


edit:
here it is

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/17/balloon-boy-resuers-destr_n_324706.html
Balloon Boy Rescue Team Destroyed Family's Wheat Crop (VIDEO)
TMZ is reporting that a family's livelihood may have been destroyed when rescuers trampled a wheat field while chasing the balloon thought to be carrying 6-year-old Falcon Heene. The family told TMZ that they will now have to wait another 2 years to harvest another crop.

[imdjh]

20. I'm suspicious of that too. How much damage could they do? It's wheat.

[eShirl]

25. O.o

[Odin2005]

57. I suspect you didn't grow up in the country.

For one thing it's certainly WINTER wheat, has to lie fallow (grow alfalfa) for a year. And domesticated plants are surprisingly delicate, they are bred for maximum yield and that means less energy going towards making the plant hardy.

[rufus dog]

39. City boy here, so need some insight

How can a field be wasted for two years? Wouldn't the field be fallow at this time of the year?

[Stephanie]

52. Winter wheat

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

[Stephanie]

51. Crop rotation - they let the field lie fallow

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

[kestrel91316]

12. The emergency vehicles indeed ruined a family farm's winter wheat crop.

[alphafemale]

28. There was a post earlier about this. It was some kind of family farmer that really needed that crop

And it's something they can only harvest once every two years.

[Billy Burnett]

33. Maybe they could hoax a crop circle in the field and make some dough or leverage a show. n/t.

[fizzgig]

65. the sherrif is a right wing attention whore

i live in his county and have spoken with him a number of times. he's had a christmas tree decorating party in front of the sheriff's office the last two years because he believes there's a war on christmas. six years ago, he tried to get the coroner to arrest a county commissioner. i can't remember the details, but it was so unbelievably absurd. the two of those have had several public pissing matches over the years.

all this media attention is like christmas come early for him.

[cwydro]

10. Curiouser and curiouser.

This is beyond weird.

[snagglepuss]

32. Ditto. nt

[tomm2thumbs]

13. once they got the computer, I'm sure we are gonna find out just which channel was involved

these reality shows are never real and I wish the news channels would stop calling them 'reality TV' because they are scripted. Anyone got any thoughts on a better name? I'm thinking Stunted TV because they are all a series of stupid stunts and watching them stunts your brain.

[tblue37]

49. Staged TV?? nt

[tomm2thumbs]

50. I like that much better +1

[AntiFascist]

14. Uh oh....

:rofl:

[EmeraldCityGrl]

16. Oh please let it be TLC.

I'd love to see them go down in flames.

[Regret My New Name]

23. TLC, as in, The Learning Channel?

If so, given the numerous comments about TLC, they must have changed their programming a lot since I used to watch it... Perhaps that's why I haven't watched it in years; nothing I find interesting

[EmeraldCityGrl]

27. I think it's TLC that has the

Jon and Kate plus 8 show. I don;t watch it so am not positive, but I think that's the one.

[Codeine]

31. They totally changed.

Used to be educational, but now it's low-budget, easy-to-produce "reality" programming geared toward women.

[Regret My New Name]

48. Yeah, I looked it up and saw the programming...

It looks like they pretty moved away from TCL meaning The Learning Channel. I remember back in 96-99 I used to watch it. I remember various science related shows and whatnots.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

21. Now this aspect of the story is interesting.

I'm curious as to what they define as a "media outlet." To me it's a publication or broadcast which carries news stories to the public, but there's no telling what they mean by the phrase.

I'd also like to see it covered how cable "news" permitted themselves to be reduced to little more than a cheap, choreographed pseudo-reality show.

I know I'm dreaming here, but it would be great if this could begin a wake-up call to Americans as to how ludicrous their trusted news sources really have become.

[Tansy_Gold]

29. trusted + news source = oxymoron

at least, most of the time. . . ..

[Lone_Star_Dem]

30. Sadly true.

As it is now they've lowered the journalistic bar so far legless reptiles have little problem navigating over the top.

[Marr]

64. I'd like to see a real expose of this as well.

I assume it was a promotional stunt coordinated by the producers of some reality TV show, but with so much media consolidation, it can be hard to tell where entertainment stops and "news" begins.

Do you remember how Glenn Beck was initially promoted on Fox News? They did wall to wall reports on the guy before his show even launched, put it in their "news" and everything. It was very bizarre, but I saw no coverage of that process at all. The top-down promotion of Beck was a lot more interesting than Beck himself.

[ampad]

24. WTF

What could be added to this story to make it even more weird? I just cannot wrap my head around this today.

[Skidmore]

37. Sounds like a FOX kinda stunt.

[Junkdrawer]

40. Unless Murdoch is an idiot, he would have worked this through a tabloid...

outlet.

But one can hope for a MAJOR fuckup...

[rufus dog]

41. Oh my if that is true then I'm in church next Sunday morning! N/T

[951-Riverside]

45. Might explain why the sheriff told the media he's not doing anymore interviews unless...

Its with Bill O'Riley.

Larimer County needs a new Sheriff.

[cbdo2007]

67. There is a channel called Fox Reality Channel which has some of this real/fake stuff on it

Like it's got the show where the people try to set up cheating spouses and then bust them in the act. They also had one where they were catching criminals where they would tell them they won a free day at a spa and they would come cash in their reward so we would get to see them at the spa and everyone would just be making fun of them there the whole time until the end when they told them they were under arrest.

They do have Househusbands of Hollywood which isn't bad but the rest of the shows on FRC are REALLY bad.

[Politicalboi]

42. It's probably

FOX.

He said he was not talking about a news organization, but "there are so many of these shows that kind of blur the line between entertainment and news."

[conscious evolution]

60. That describes Faux News to a tee.

[ecstatic]

43. ABC? Were the Wife Swap cameras rolling during all of this? nt

[Horse with no Name]

53. These people had their 15 minutes of fame

and wanted more.
Shame on them all.
Prosecute them all.

[Stephanie]

56. Here's Heene's former asst's story:

http://gawker.com/5383858/exclusive-i-helped-richard-heene-plan-a-balloon-hoax

[Odin2005]

58. Oh PLEASE let it be Discovery/TLC.

[Maru Kitteh]

63. I'm watching Storm Chasers right now on Discovery. I like some of their programming.

TLC on the other hand has been utterly worthless for years now.

[busybl]

59. Please be fox, please be fox.

[Junkdrawer]

66. Kick

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

68. CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC etc, etc are strangely silent on this aspect of the story...

Hmmmm... Wonder why....

:think: