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Balloon boy parents get jail time for hoax

21 Comments

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21 Comments
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I with Speedracer on this one. Too many of you are all to quick to allow the rich and powerful met out whatever decision they want on whatever grounds they want. It might seem ok now, because you are not on the receiving end. But one you very well might and it might not be your fault. Just one of the many reasons why you should shoot for fairness each and every time.

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Good luck in collecting any fines...they can't even pay their living expenses...

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"his 6-year-old son Falcon"

Falcon, huh?

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Not bad. In fact, I think the court got it just about right.

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I loved it when the kid dropped them in it on CNN. Who I feel for is the desperate man chasing that balloon trying to catch it in the field before it hit the ground.

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Soooo Happy!!! This is one seriously messed up family! Those kids need foster parents who will give them discipline!!!

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I wonder if a comment made by their kid that ruined the family and landed his parents in the slammer could be "Kids Say the Darndest Things" material. Maybe in four years they should submit that to the show. Putting Mayumi in jail also is the worst decision in the history of decisions made by judges. He has alread made an example enough out of the husband.

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Good.

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There are conflicting reports on the effects on DIA that day. Some news reports say SHUT DOWN, but all I can find in detail is that some flights were delayed, runways and approaches were changed, and that outbound flights were postponed from one runway for about 90 minutes. Not the stuff of panic.

Ft. Collins is northwest of the airport by about 60 miles, and prevailing winds are blowing east, so the north would have been affected. That makes sense.

Now SHUT DOWN sounds cataclysmic, with people stranded or forced to go home. Nothing of the kind happened. If things were not too crowded, you could send those planes off using the south runway. Incoming flights from the eastern and southern US probably did not get their flight patterns changed at all.

It is possible that someone missed a connection, but I doubt it. For most people, Denver is the hub. I guess people flying to Alaska via Seattle might have had trouble, but really...a flight like that is not going to wait for a connection from Denver?

The FAA FINE, not actual damages, but a punitive FINE will be 11,000 dollars. So it is hard to imagine the actual damage to air travel as being greater than that. So we have 11k from the FAA (not included in the court judgment), 9k for the farmer, let's say 15k for law enforcement tops, and what is the other 15k for?

I won't worry about this, but I hope someone is. This guy should pay people back for whatever damage he caused. Not a penny more or less.

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So many absurdly wierd stories come from the U.S.

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Just looking at it objectively, I wonder if they really did 40,000 dollars in damage. Their lawyer has said that he does not want to see just bills, he wants to see receipts too. I will second that. No EMTs were dispatched. There were no hospital helicopters. Airline flights get moved around for rumors of turbulence, bird flocks, etc. I admit I am being a devil's advocate, but the 40,000 dollar number seems a little high. It is a comment, not an assertion, so don't anybody get all huffy.

50 officers being paid 30 dollars per hour for 10 hours is 15,000 bucks. Were there REALLY that many people specifically involved in this? Kind of hard to believe. What could that many people really do but look up in the air and collect their pay? Or was it one guy looking at a radar screen? Or was it air traffic controllers just adapting to a reported hazard, which they do anyway?

The farmer who owns the field where the ballon landed is claiming 8500 dollars damage. Really? 8500 dollars for a small balloon landing?

If Heene gets rich on this, there should be money paid all around, but piling the charges on a family of five who appear to be living hand to mouth leaves me a little cold. He is also forbidden from making any money on this for four years, and he does not have much else going for him. The guy is pretty well ruined.

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"shutting down Denver International, using "

THAT never happened, I assure you. I think they changed some flight paths and runway assignments.

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I think 90 and 20 days jail isn´t all that big a deal. Having their reality-show deals smashed hurts them a lot more.

I wish the best for the kids.

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Why isn't she getting deported?

That was a key part of the plea-bargain I heard. The prosecuters didn't want to break up the family...

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Why isn't she getting deported?

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I think that they got off lightly considering shutting down Denver International, using federal, state and local law enforcement employee's time and lying to authorities. When Richard Heene choked up with tears in his eyes in front of the judge, that was a sham and he was really upset about the money that he and Mayumi chan are going to lose from not having their reality show. Hopefully when they are in jail, some brother will give him a good talkin to and Mayumi will see the other side of american justice and put the fear of god in both of them.

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Blatantly Stupid acts are now illegal in Colorado?!?!

Man, I have to move the family there! This restores the faith.

Peace,

Taka

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Next week...month or year there will be another publicity seeking moron who gets our attention. < :-)

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Oh yea, I should have read the whole thing! Jan, got it.

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They don't have to start serving their time until January, so it won't affect Christmas with their kids.

What an odd thing for them to do, though. I can't understand why some people are so hungry for publicity.

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Wow, right before Xmas throw their ass in jail?

Rich, when you get out, get a real job!

Mayumi, rethinking about saying "I do" now?

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