MASSIVE ownage...

[Homeslice]

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The sheriff who said he believed a couple was being honest when they reported their son was set adrift on a homemade helium balloon now says criminal charges will be filed in the incident.

[Dave]

hehehe

[Homeslice]

now child protective services has been called...

[Dave]

that one im surprised has taken this long

[derf]

http://gawker.com/5384319/colorado-s...nt-for-tv-show

At a press conference in Colorado, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden has come to a conclusion on the case of Richard Heene's Balloon Boy: "It has been determined this was a hoax, a publicity stunt to market a reality show."

Felony charges will be brought up against the Heene family, it seems. Warrants will be brought up against them. They don't know when the Heene's are going to be arrested. They're going to be going thorough Heene's computer and seeking out co-conspirators. "On the bizarre meter, this rates a 10," noted Alderden. They didn't search for drugs. They didn't do a through search of the house, and should've looked at the attic. They didn't.

They don't think they're overreacting. "Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempting to influence a public official" are among the charges, which add up to a Class 4 Felony. The only federal agency that's been brought into this is the FAA. It's "seriously doubted" that the children will be facing any serious charges. The ACLU might represent the Heene family in the case. Child protection has been notified. They've pulled a case number and will be conducting an investigation.

The sheriff's office believes this had been planned for two weeks. The idea was as we'd suspected-to launch this thing, create controversy by making people think the kid was "onboard," all in lieu of getting The Grand American Prize: a reality television show. Heene has no education after high school, and he's not a scientist. They are still being presented with the story that he was in the attic. On a first time felony offense, Richard Heene is seemingly unlikely to go to jail.

As for our tipster, Robert Thomas, they are aware of him, their efforts to locate him have been have been unsuccessful, and they have also been unsuccessful in their attempts to contact him.

Who knows how this thing's going to play out. A verdict, a penalty, there's really no telling at this point how Richard Heene's going to handle the charges against him or the social and emotional tax on the
Heene. But what we do know is that the story of the boy in the balloon, filled as it was real feelings of terror and relief, is now merely the latest illustration of the sorry state of our reality TV-addled culture.

Blame the Heenes, of course, but also blame the rest of us glued to 40" hi-def images, waiting for the latest fix of manufactured conflict and emotion to get us through to the next blog post. Yes, Gawker is as bad as everyone else. But we also know that the page view counts on our reality show recaps dwarf anything we put up on, saying, the death spiral of the publishing industry.

All I've taken from this sad saga, really, besides the fact that reality television is as bad for people—literally, people, children: from the Gosselins to the Heenes—is that the harder you try to set the truth adrfit, the more obfuscation you bury it under, and the piles of bullshit you throw on top of it, the more gravity is skinned from it, so that it, like that goddamn balloon, rises up, up, up and out in plain view, for everyone to see, completely out of reach of the person from which it had to come from.

The first bit of truth that will be lost, no doubt, is how we all are complicit in this saga. If we and you hadn't tuned in on Thursday afternoon or clicked through on Saturday — if we weren't conditioned to lap up whatever reality freak show Richard Heene knew we wanted, this would never have happened.

But fame — and what passes for genuine drama — is a hell of a drug. So this sad story (that I'd rather someone had have written before it happened, mostly, because kids were involved, and they shouldn't have been) is of about the image of a balloon that might've had a kid in it and was that much more terrifyingly captivating. If you watched, you felt terror, and you felt like shit for watching it. Between Wife Swap and the video of Falcon Heene may or maybe not being on the balloon, there's no question that America's got strong, strong voyeuristic impulses. How do you think we turn a dime around here?

As quickly and as easily as this website purchased the proof that Heene's story was a load of shit. And you're left with no good angle to go at this from. We've entered the vindictive phase of the story as
we wait to see just how dearly Richard Heene will pay for wasting the time of the Fort Collins sherriffs, the FAA, the media and — perhaps most importantly — all of us who bothered to watch his hoax unfold
this past Thursday.

It seems all too easy to paint to Heene as the crazed villain. But truth: it's stranger than fiction. In this case, it's the story of a guy with a dream that's become too common: quickfire fame, notoriety,
a reality television show. Heene had tasted that nasty once-forbidden fruit of easy notoriety on Wife Swap. Twice. And the Heene family didn't look great then, either: Heene was a father with a short temper
who couldn't discipline his kids. He was eccentric and a guy of questionable stability, but when you score it with music, sound effects, and frame it between commercials, it looks a lot less harmless than it actually is. We want to think all reality television is edited down to make some of these people look like more exaggerated characters than they are. In some cases, that's absolutely the case. In the case of shows like Wife Swap, it isn't.

Last night, at a bar — where all good points are made — someone put it out there: If this guy loved his wife, would he have swapped her on TV? Nobody can speak for Richard Heene, but you know: this thing goes deep into murky waters, to say the least. Here's a guy who wanted fame so badly, he'd make America think his kid was on a balloon. Even for a moment, he was okay with the perception that he'd somehow neglected to keep his kid from floating away. I don't have kids, just parents. And if I thought they felt that way for a second, I'd probably hate them for a very, very long time.

If what Robert Thomas says is true, it's also the story of guy who is, on some level, ill. The desire and availability of fame fed into that.

And again, the kids are now the victim. He shouldn't have put his family on TV in interviews. He shouldn't have kept making them go through cover. When Falcon Heene said "You said we did it for the
show," it was that moment of truth: the innocent one can't lie. You can't teach a kid how to be that deceptive, you can't establish that strength. It doesn't work. Under enough pressure, it breaks. And Heene
didn't even bother to work hard enough to get it right, or instill enough paternal love to the point where Falcon couldn't say anything but that.

As for us, how culpable are we for the damage Falcon Heene's gonna experience? My bosses beat someone else to the punch and got a good story that turned out to be true. If it wasn't us, at that point, it
would've been someone else. And from what I understand, there were others in line. Not a shocker. About as much as Wolf Blitzer, Nancy Grace, whoever the hell else covered this. Media blackouts on breaking, exploitative news are rare (which is what makes cases like David Rohde's so interesting). The starter pistol was fired, we just got their first. It happens.

[CasterTroy]

They're having a hard time really finding WHAT they can charge him with since there's really no precedence for "publicity for reality show"


I’d bet they charge him civilly instead of criminally and fine him the $2million for the cost of hijacking NORAD and the EMS response bills

[Homeslice]

Another reason why I don't bother watching any reality TV.