The Visor

Balloon boy event proves to be a joke

October 30, 2009

Danielle Hale

Some people are starved for attention and will do anything for it. It doesn’t matter to them who is hurt in the process. The Heene family, of the notorious balloon caper, loves attention and they made up a story about how their son, Falcon was in danger.

This family is not the typical American family and they enjoy attention. They have been on the show “Wife Swap” twice, most recently in March. The sons have made many videos that are online.

“They’re unusual, yes, of course. He’s sort of a scientist-slash-inventor. They’re storm chasers — they go after tornadoes, hurricanes, things like that,” a neighbor told CNN.

The father, Richard created a silver balloon, which was 20 feet long and 5 feet high, and at times reached 7,000 feet above the ground. The brother, Bradford, was an eyewitness saying his brother, Falcon was in the balloon.

The balloon was found 90 minutes later in a field near Colorado Springs. Since it was thought by authorities that there was a six-year-old boy in the balloon they closed all flight paths for the Denver International Airport.

When the balloon landed authorities rushed to the balloon but there was no Falcon. He was later found in the attic. His father had yelled at him so he was hiding- at least that was his initial story. He had heard his name being called but didn’t respond.

When asked by his father on-air why he didn’t respond, the boy replied, “You guys said we did this for the show.”

It was decided that it was probably a hoax and authorities began to research.

“We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances,” said Sheriff Jim Alderden. “We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren’t additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance.”

Charges are pending.

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